Catalina - Safari Crashing on Video Issue

[tasc]

I also gave a try with WEG 1.3.5 and Lilu 1.4.0, tested shikivga=16, 128,144 with SMBIOS 18.2,19.1 AND macpro1.1. In all cases I get red screen with audio on Netflix and Amazon Prime in Safari. I think there are still some changes will be added to WEG in final release For now, I am using Kodi to get 1080p Netflix

I'm basically in the same boat here. I get a hard freeze in safari/netflix with iMacPro1,1 and safari and running the latest weg (1.3.5) and lilu (1.4.0) with or without shikigva=16. I'm using an AMD Rx560.

Also a side note to be careful when entering this boot arg as I see a lot of people typing it in as "...vga" instead of "...gva".

 

[dogansan]

I'm basically in the same boat here. I get a hard freeze in safari/netflix with iMacPro1,1 and safari and running the latest weg (1.3.5) and lilu (1.4.0) with or without shikigva=16. I'm using an AMD Rx560.

Also a side note to be careful when entering this boot arg as I see a lot of people typing it in as "...vga" instead of "...gva".

Tasc,thanks for warning on gva, but of course, it is a typo here, I actually always use gva.
Good news is there is now WEG 1.3.6 and Lilu 1.4.1 and it now plays Netflix in Safari with Shikigva=208 for my AMD R9 270 and i7-3770K Ivy

 

[KarlKupermang]

Good deal, dogansan. However, I think we may be comparing two very different things here. dogansan's R9 has a very different AMD chipset than the Polaris chipset in the RX 400/500's.

Still with my RX 580, I am getting the exact same issues I have been since moving to Catalina. I tried the builds of 1.3.6/1.4.1 and a lot of different shikigva combinations, all to no positive effect. This still isn't resolved.

 

[rwebb]

I tried WEG 1.3.6 and Lilu 1.4.1 with shikigva=208. The only way I could get Netflix to play on Safari without crashing is to start a DRM video on the TV app and then open Netflix. Netflix plays without problem until i quit the movie on TV. Then Netflix gets unstable.

I don't know if this is due to the changes dogansan recommended or this worked before and I just didn't try this combination of running apps. When I have time I'll check into this further and report in if I find anything.

 

[KarlKupermang]

Alright. So there's good news, and not so good news.

The not so good news is that right now, it appears that Netflix/Prime DRM will NOT work on Polaris cards with Catalina.
The good news? is that vit9696, developer of WhateverGreen, is aware of it (according to a thread on another forum. Here's a handy chart for compatibility and what flags to use (unfortunately, Polaris cards are not among the "select AMD GPUs right now) that he put together. Over on that thread they're seemingly trying to work out what's going on, and there's a bunch of people chiming in. I'm watching it with baited breath hoping for better news. But at least we can stop banging our heads against the wall with our RX580's and similar cards and wait til they identify and fix the problem.

 

[Qres]

Here is my setup: macmini8,1, Lilu1.4.1, WEG1.3.6, shikigva=80, RX460, UHD630. Netflix on Safari and Apple TV+ both work. OS:10.15.1 and 10.15.2.
By the way, thought VideoProc shows H.264 decord failed, no signs of CPU loading increased.

 

[KarlKupermang]

Here is my setup: macmini8,1, Lilu1.4.1, WEG1.3.6, shikigva=80, RX460, UHD630. Netflix on Safari and Apple TV+ both work. OS:10.15.1 and 10.15.2.

Good to know. Over on the applelife thread it seemed like it was only the Ellesmere series cards in the RX 400 range that were failing, so you got lucky.

 

[dogansan]

Good to know. Over on the applelife thread it seemed like it was only the Ellesmere series cards in the RX 400 range that were failing, so you got lucky.

I would like to say I am using a kext named PitcairnGVA_10.14.4.kext , without this Netflix does not work. I thought it might help

 

[a1k0n]

Any news? Same Problem here. SMBIOS iMacPro 1,1 + RX 580 Nitro Safari freeze under Netflix and Plex with watchdog Error an reboots. Mojave all works fine

 

[rwebb]

This is how I have made Safari work with Netflix. It's a kludge but it works consistently.

Info: SMBIOS iMacPro 1,1. IGPU off in BIOS. No WhatEvergreen (it should work with or without WEG). Catalina 15.2. RX 580.

VDADecoderChecker reports hardware acceleration is fully supported. DRM content in TV works. DRM content in Quicktime player works. Netflix works in Safari only if DRM content is playing or is paused in TV or Quicktime Player.

I wrote an applescript app that opens a DRM test file in Quicktime player, mutes it, hides it, and pauses it. I set the app to open at log in. As long as the DRM test file is paused in the background, Netflix, AmazonPrime, and NFL.com work like they should in Safari.

A band-aid not a real fix.