Hardware Acceleration and Decoding/DRM iMac18,3 Monterey

[spyderfyre]

I need some help getting everything running properly and without manual overrides.
I have OC 079 installed on my machine:
Z170-HD3, i7 7700k, Radeon RX 560

I set everything up according to the KablyLake guide here

1. I enabled my onboard iGPU in bios and used:

AAPL,ig-platform-id | data | 03001259

OK. that means no need for framebuffer-patch-enable and framebuffer-stolenmem

Now, the we go with this configuration DRM does not work without manual overrides in Terminal. ex.

defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDAVCDecode -boolean yes

which gets rid of the "VDADecoderCreate failed. err: -12473". error. and

defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDKE -boolean yes

which is a temporary workaround for forcing AMD DRM for streaming Apple TV and iTunes. which also needs to be deleted after use to allow FaceTime to go back to functioning properly. Still:

FairPlay 1.x only audio and black screen no matter what I try
FairPlay 2.x/3.x works after forcing with with defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDAVCDecode -boolean yes
FairPlay 4.x works with defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDKE -boolean yes

I know all of this is related to whatevergreen.kext so here's my question:

Is it possible to completely override the use of the iGPU (disable it) and use the dGPU instead so all hardware acceleration, decoding and proper DRM support functions like say the MacPro7,1 where everything just works without any manual overrides? Thank you

 

[milmber]

defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDAVCDecode -boolean yes

which gets rid of the "VDADecoderCreate failed. err: -12473". error

This should not be necessary.

Check your BIOS and ensure intel graphics is set to Enabled instead of Auto

Is it possible to completely override the use of the iGPU (disable it) and use the dGPU instead so all hardware acceleration, decoding and proper DRM support functions like say the MacPro7,1 where everything just works without any manual overrides? Thank you

MacOS decides which decode to use based on the SMBIOS model. MacPro SMBIOS has more support as there is not Intel integrated graphics available on a real MacPro with a Xeon CPU.

Shiki (which was merged into Whatevergreen) did address some of this (See https://github.com/acidanthera/WhateverGreen/blob/master/Manual/FAQ.Chart.md and https://github.com/acidanthera/WhateverGreen/blob/master/Manual/FAQ.Shiki.en.md), however it is no longer supported by the developer and Shiki is completely disabled for BigSur and later.

Also see:

UnfairGVA, DRM, Sidecar, FeatureUnlock with AMD GPU >=Big Sur · Issue #2018 · acidanthera/bugtracker

I have posted this in the InsanelyMac forum but got no feedback. I am essentially attempting to enable the AppleTV DRM without sacrificing the SideCar reliability as I think it was possible with Sh...

github.com

WEG documentation/questions · Issue #2036 · acidanthera/bugtracker

Forgive my ignorance, I am digging deeper into some features of the WEG code around GVA and found a few things which puzzle me: The latest release of WEG includes the following logic inversion of a...

github.com

WhateverGreen AMD DRM decoder override breaks FaceTime Video decoding · Issue #1600 · acidanthera/bugtracker

Hi @vit9696, I have noticed that when setting com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDKE to true to force hardware decoding (as per https://github.com/acidanthera/WhateverGreen/blob/master/Manual/FAQ.Chart.m...

github.com

What is noticeable is that you only need to execute defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDKE -boolean yes only when starting a movie. Once the movie window is open you can execute defaults write com.apple.AppleGVA gvaForceAMDKE -boolean false and the movie will continue being allowed to be played and FaceTime will work.

As a workaround can be "automated" using an Automator script to run at FaceTime/AppleTV app launch and close.