Mac hardware acceleration

[mario64]

I just downloaded VLC 3.0 excited to try the new HEVC hardware decoding. Sadly, playback is still a jerky mess. This is on a high end 2017 MBP. Is there some setting which has to be enabled to get this to work? Thanks

[jasmino]

What are the minimum hardware requirements for HEVC hardware decoding?

[mario64]

I can't imagine a maxxed out 2017 MBP wouldn't meet them. Using IINA now. It handles HEVC just fine

[billgates]

There is stuttering for me on hevc files, really bad, I can jump back to vlc version 2 and it plays fine

[dfuhrmann]

They are some fixed for HEVC decoding coming in version 3.0.1. You can try a nightly build from nightlies.videolan.org if you want.

[montas]

Downloaded VLC 3.0 and it finally plays 4K HEVC fluently. I'm using macbook pro mid 2015.

[billgates]

They are some fixed for HEVC decoding coming in version 3.0.1. You can try a nightly build from nightlies.videolan.org if you want.

Some videos have freezing screens but the audio still plays on my Macbook Air Mid 2011 VLC 3.0.1 nightly Feb 14th.

[billgates]

They are some fixed for HEVC decoding coming in version 3.0.1. You can try a nightly build from nightlies.videolan.org if you want.

My problems continue in the nightly builds, if the video file has surround sound audio there is skipping and freezing video.

[fkuehne]

Please note that for hardware decoding of HEVC, a Mac with a sixth‑generation Intel Core processor or newer and macOS High Sierra is required. It will not work on older Macs or older macOS releases. Thus, all Macs with a Skylake or Kaby Lake CPU are supported, which means:

* MacBookPro October 2016 and newer
* iMac 5K, Late 2015
* iMac 21.5, 4K and 5K, June 2017
* iMac Pro

Thus, any Mac mini, MacBook Air, Mac Pro or earlier releases of iMac or MacBook Pro are not supported and will continue decoding H.265/HEVC in software leading to a very high CPU load.

On iOS, HEVC hardware decoding requires an A9 chip or later.

Note that H.264 / AVC hardware decoding is supported on any Mac and any iOS device running VLC 3.0.

[billgates]

Please note that for hardware decoding of HEVC, a Mac with a sixth‑generation Intel Core processor or newer and macOS High Sierra is required. It will not work on older Macs or older macOS releases. Thus, all Macs with a Skylake or Kaby Lake CPU are supported, which means:

* MacBookPro October 2016 and newer
* iMac 5K, Late 2015
* iMac 21.5, 4K and 5K, June 2017
* iMac Pro

Thus, any Mac mini, MacBook Air, Mac Pro or earlier releases of iMac or MacBook Pro are not supported and will continue decoding H.265/HEVC in software leading to a very high CPU load.

On iOS, HEVC hardware decoding requires an A9 chip or later.

Note that H.264 / AVC hardware decoding is supported on any Mac and any iOS device running VLC 3.0.

I'll roll back to VLC 2.8

Disappointed since the bug I reported long ago, not saving encoded output selection, might be fixed in VLC 3 I found

why can't VLC 3 give the same playback compatibility as an option for older hardware like mine, if I might ask.

[fkuehne]

Do you have a ticket on trac for that bug report? Is the feature you want that VLC will always output encoded audio by default?

Regarding hardware decoding, this is not a choice made by us. A CPU needs physical support for HEVC to decode. If the decoder is not there, it cannot be used. Regarding the requirement of macOS High Sierra - Apple did not include the necessary drivers to access the hardware decoder in previous releases of macOS.

[billgates]

Do you have a ticket on trac for that bug report? Is the feature you want that VLC will always output encoded audio by default?

Regarding hardware decoding, this is not a choice made by us. A CPU needs physical support for HEVC to decode. If the decoder is not there, it cannot be used. Regarding the requirement of macOS High Sierra - Apple did not include the necessary drivers to access the hardware decoder in previous releases of macOS.

I did not report a bug I posted a topic I can report a bug in the system.

https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=139851

I have a Mac Mini connected hdmi to a receiver and sometimes after opening files on vlc the hdmi (encoded output) option becomes un-checked. The option unchecks after changing inputs on the receiver to another hdmi then back again I need to go to the menus and check the box to hdmi encoded output again. In VLC 3 it has not happened to me yet. Could VLC 3 support legacy operating systems? I did not see that it is just for the latest Mac os. I have 10.12 and if VLC 3 could use the hardware encoder.

[fkuehne]

The H264 Hardware Decoder is fully supported on 10.12 and earlier. It is just the Hardware Decoder for HEVC which is not, but your Mac mini doesn't have it either way. The vast majority of files is still encoded in H264 these days.

VLC 3.0 itself requires macOS 10.7 or later, so it can run on very old Macs.

Great to hear that we fixed that audio-device selection issue for you.

[billgates]

The H264 Hardware Decoder is fully supported on 10.12 and earlier. It is just the Hardware Decoder for HEVC which is not, but your Mac mini doesn't have it either way. The vast majority of files is still encoded in H264 these days.

VLC 3.0 itself requires macOS 10.7 or later, so it can run on very old Macs.

Great to hear that we fixed that audio-device selection issue for you.

But I am using HEVC files that is why I am getting choppy and freezing video, is there any way for VLC 3 to use the 10.12 hardware decoder if the user has 10.12 and earlier like VLC 2.8 uses until at least Apple allows hardware decoding on 10.13?

[fkuehne]

No, the HEVC Hardware Decoder can only be used on 10.13 and with the Macs listed above. It is not available to VLC on earlier versions of macOS. This is a new feature in macOS!

For software decoding, the performance in VLC 3.0 will be as good as in 2.2.8 or slightly better.

[billgates]

No, the HEVC Hardware Decoder can only be used on 10.13 and with the Macs listed above. It is not available to VLC on earlier versions of macOS. This is a new feature in macOS!

For software decoding, the performance in VLC 3.0 will be as good as in 2.2.8 or slightly better.

But my performance in an older mac on VLC 3 cannot be improved?

Am still confused I am not an expert here. so... I think my issue is that the old hardware decoding that ran smoothly for me in vlc 2.2.8 is unavailable in vlc 3... but you are going to make software decoding run just as good to make video smooth on version 3 as it used to be on version 2? I hope I am able to use VLC 3 and HEVC files soon! Until that I'll stick to the old version.

[billgates]

No, the HEVC Hardware Decoder can only be used on 10.13 and with the Macs listed above. It is not available to VLC on earlier versions of macOS. This is a new feature in macOS!

For software decoding, the performance in VLC 3.0 will be as good as in 2.2.8 or slightly better.

Also my Mac Mini is older hardare but it has an Nvidia 320M not a good card but that should be good enough to decode HEVC, correct?

[fkuehne]

I fear that our discussion is looping.

No Mac mini is capable of decoding HEVC in hardware. Period. There is nothing we can do about it. Apple did not update this product line in years and the last time they did, HEVC wasn't invented yet.

Regarding performance with our software decoder: it should be roughly the same in 2.2.8 and 3.0. Maybe 3.0 is a tad faster, but not too much. As your experience is different, there is a bug, which we need to fix. Can you provide more Information about your HEVC files? Notably encoding profile and bit rate? Or would be possible to share a (small) sample with us?

[billgates]

I fear that our discussion is looping.

No Mac mini is capable of decoding HEVC in hardware. Period. There is nothing we can do about it. Apple did not update this product line in years and the last time they did, HEVC wasn't invented yet.

Regarding performance with our software decoder: it should be roughly the same in 2.2.8 and 3.0. Maybe 3.0 is a tad faster, but not too much. As your experience is different, there is a bug, which we need to fix. Can you provide more Information about your HEVC files? Notably encoding profile and bit rate? Or would be possible to share a (small) sample with us?

Got it, so the software decoding in 3 is the problem I am having.

Is this enough info?

https://i.imgur.com/VKjvyQe.png

Looking at another hevc file I have that is not giving me trouble, could it be this 50fps that your software decoding is having trouble keeping up with?

[fkuehne]

Yes, it is quite likely that 50fps is too much to be decoded in software. Does the file play for you correctly with 2.2.8?

[billgates]

Yes, it is quite likely that 50fps is too much to be decoded in software. Does the file play for you correctly with 2.2.8?

It plays perfect in older versions of vlc.

[fkuehne]

Please share this file with us then! Please use https://streams.videolan.org/upload/ to avoid any copyright issue and give me the file name via PM.

[potatis]

I suppose support for 6th gen Core Kaby Lake with macOS 10.12 will be out of the question. It's that forced APFS file system which broke down my Mac, can't have that happen again. Maybe I need to look for a fusion drive equipped mac or somehow force install 10.13 with HFS+ on SSD if possible.

[billgates]

Please share this file with us then! Please use https://streams.videolan.org/upload/ to avoid any copyright issue and give me the file name via PM.

I am having trouble uploading, can you help or is there another option of sending a file?

[vash1]

Thanks for your valuable answers Felix!

Looks like my issue seems to be very related: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=143132