How to get airplay display working with dGPU and headless model

[Jaco1960]

I'm have installed Catalina on a headless (imacPro1,1) configuration with the internal Intel video disabled. HW acceleration, handoff, DRM playback with Netflix, etc are all working nicely. The one thing that fails to work is Airplay display. I have seen several references that this requires use of the iGPU, which means switching to e.g. a model imac19,2, but I have never been successful in setting that up with DRM working for e.g Netflix.

Anyone that can help with either getting Airplay display to work on a headless setup or DRM to work on a setup that uses the iGPU?

 

[jaymonkey]

I'm have installed Catalina on a headless (imacPro1,1) configuration with the internal Intel video disabled.

@Jaco1960,

You system will not be running a "Headless" configuration with the IGPU disabled and using iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS.
iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS is for workstation class XEON W series CPU's .... these CPU have features that your CPU does not.

You have a desktop class CPU, recommended SMBIOS to use with i7-8700 is iMac19,2 which uses the same CPU.

Enable the IGPU in BIOS with Vega 64 set as primary, configure with headless PlatformID :-

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-in's Last Update: 22nd Jan 2021 (Add note about OpenCore config.plist modifications) About this Guide Note: This guide was written when Clover was the boot loader of choice as such the config.plist examples in this guide are mostley Clover specific ... if...

www.tonymacx86.com

Cheers
Jay

 

[Jaco1960]

@jaymonkey,

Thanks Jay. I updated the system and enabled the IGPU, set dPGU as primary, changed the SMBIOS to iMac19,2, entered a headless platform id, generated new serials, etc. The result are that Airplay display is still not working and now Netflix no longer plays in Safari. This brings me back to the same questions. How to get Airplay and DRM (for Netflix) properly working?

Cheers

Jaco

 

[jaymonkey]

Thanks Jay. I updated the system and enabled the IGPU, set dPGU as primary, changed the SMBIOS to iMac19,2, entered a headless platform id, generated new serials, etc. The result are that Airplay display is still not working ...

@Jaco1960,

On most Mac's Airplay requires IGPU (configured as headless on desktop systems) as it uses IQS for the stream encode ..
Not sure why it's not working for you ..

Which headless PlatfromID are you using ?
What version of MacOS ?

Make sure Lilu + WhatEverGreen is installed correctly ....

Cheers
Jay

 

[Jaco1960]

@jaymonkey,

I use the latest beta of Catalina with OpenCore and had the GFX0 > IGPU patch still active. Airplay is fixed now . The headless platformID used is 0x3E920003. The one problem remaining is video playback for Netflix. I tried shikigva=1 and 57 and 60 and the "defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA forceATI -boolean yes" combination but none of these work. The weird thing is that this works perfect when using the iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS. What am I missing?

Cheers
Jaco

 

[jaymonkey]

I use the latest beta of Catalina with OpenCore and had the GFX0 > IGPU patch still active. Airplay is fixed now . The headless platformID used is 0x3E920003.

@Jaco1960,

Headless PlatfromID 0x3E920003 is correct .... happy to read that Airplay is now working.

The one problem remaining is video playback for Netflix. I tried shikigva=1 and 57 and 60 and the "defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA forceATI -boolean yes" combination but none of these work.

DRM is a bit of a black art on Hackintosh systems ... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
I'm no expert on it, everything I know about I put in the DRM section of the Lilu + Plug-in's guide ..

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-in's Last Update: 22nd Jan 2021 (Add note about OpenCore config.plist modifications) About this Guide Note: This guide was written when Clover was the boot loader of choice as such the config.plist examples in this guide are mostley Clover specific ... if...

www.tonymacx86.com

You should try forcing DRM to decode on the IGPU which is what is default for all iMac's with headless IGPU's

defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA forceIntel -boolean yes

If that does not work then try resetting MacOS DRM settings back to defaults.
The procedure is in the DRM section linked above.

The weird thing is that this works perfect when using the iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS. What am I missing?

Thats a very good question ... I have read that Coffee Lake CPU's can be the most difficult to get DRM working correctly. Unfortunately I don't have a Coffee Lake system myself so am unable to test.

If you do find something new that works please let me know so I can expand that section of the guide.

Which browser are you using ?
Have you tried other browsers ?

Cheers
Jay

 

[pastrychef]

@jaymonkey,

I use the latest beta of Catalina with OpenCore and had the GFX0 > IGPU patch still active. Airplay is fixed now . The headless platformID used is 0x3E920003. The one problem remaining is video playback for Netflix. I tried shikigva=1 and 57 and 60 and the "defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA forceATI -boolean yes" combination but none of these work. The weird thing is that this works perfect when using the iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS. What am I missing?

Cheers
Jaco

The only way I know of to get DRM working consistently on Coffee Lake and Coffee Lake Refresh (I have not tested other generations) is by using iMacPro1,1 system definition. I don't have Netflix so I've never tested that, but I have tested Amazon Prime videos in Safari and it worked fine. Purchased iTunes videos also stream without problems in iTunes.

AirPlay video works fine using iMacPro1,1. I've tested with my Apple TV.

I see no reason not to use iMacPro1,1 especially if you need DRM working. Plus, you don't have to mess with any shiki settings or force AppleGVA changes. It just works.

 

[Jaco1960]

@jaymonkey @pastrychef ,

I did some testing and conclude that the best option is to use iMacPro1,1 with disabled iGPU

So next problem is to tackle SideCar. Anyone has some tips to get this working?

Cheers,

Jaco

 

[pastrychef]

@jaymonkey @pastrychef ,

I did some testing and conclude that the best option is to use iMacPro1,1 with disabled iGPU

View attachment 428615

So next problem is to tackle SideCar. Anyone has some tips to get this working?

Cheers,

Jaco

Yup, my conclusion was same as yours. iMacPro1,1 works best.

My iPad is too old and doesn't have Sidecar support so I can't test...

 

[jaymonkey]

I did some testing and conclude that the best option is to use iMacPro1,1 with disabled iGPU

@Jaco1960,

Thank you for testing the various configurations and posting the results ... very interesting.
It's been know for a while that DRM on 8th and 9th gen Intel CPU's can be troublesome.

Your testing along with @pastrychef's confirmation would indicate that if DRM is important then the best option is to use the iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS with the IGPU disabled ...

Do you mind if i post your findings in the DRM section of the Lilu + Plugin's guide ? (with credit obviously)

So next problem is to tackle SideCar. Anyone has some tips to get this working?

I'm in the same boat as @pastrychef ... my iPad is to old to use SideCar ...

Cheers
Jay