Macs Need T2 Security Chip to Play 4K HDR Netflix in macOS Big Sur

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Apple’s upcoming macOS Big Sur operating system introduces HDR video support and allows Netflix users to watch content in 4K HDR for the first time. However, it turns out that only Macs with an Apple T2 Security chip are compatible with Ultra HD streaming….

The following Macs have the Apple T2 Security Chip, and can therefore stream Netflix in Ultra HD on macOS Big Sur:

iMac introduced in 2020
iMac Pro
Mac Pro introduced in 2019
Mac mini introduced in 2018
MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in 2018 or later

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Nathan Parker, OscarCP

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I have the last MacBook Pro (now running Mojave) made and sold before the first one with a T2 chip — but still with a convenient diversity of sockets to plug things in such as USB, HDMI, Ethernet cables in, no butterfly keyboard and no questionable touch bar instead of function keys (cool, but so what?).

My existential question here is: what may happen to my entire ability to stream at any resolution, never mind a super-high resolution I feel not the slightly tiny bit of interest in (but seems like a bad way to hog band width to no worthy purpose I can discern, unless it is remote over-the-Internet brain surgery?) when I move my non-T2 chip Mac to start running Big Sur?

Is it going to be — because, let’s say, someone at Apple forgot that not everyone doing that will have a T2 machine — that I won’t be able to see ever again “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” streamed from Amazon Prime, right now for the eight time in the last fourteen years? (Yes, I am that big a fan.)

And, by the way, these are real, serious questions I have, even if phrased a little snarkily.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

that I won’t be able to see ever again “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” streamed from Amazon Prime,

I don’t ever stream. I rip/download and copy over to my local Streamer device connected to my network.

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Nathan Parker

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Alex, I also got all the BTVS’ DVDs (the whole seven seasons), I just find it more convenient to stream the show. But there are also other very important things that I can only stream without overcomplicating my existence, such as all those magnificent cartoons I keep writing about. Here, to be more precise:

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/shawn-the-sheep-etc-animated-shows-in-netflix-to-watch-while-self-isolating/

So I am very concerned. It looks like a looming existential crisis is soon to be coming at me.

Ripping the videos of those shows and movies is not such a simple matter, at least with a Mac. Only way I know to do this is by streaming the show and recording it as it shows up on the monitor. But that is a hassle that takes all the fun out of it, besides producing some gigantic files (I have an HD Retina screen); that can be compressed, but it means fooling around with yet another application. And, of course, if Netflix or Amazon do ever get wind of this, Guantanamo is going to be a great place to be compared to what will await me. So: already very worried about the future, and now this.

Any practical recommendations for dealing with this issue are most welcome.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

Any practical recommendations for dealing with this issue are most welcome.

On a Mac (and Windows) you have the best (and free) rip, convert…software ever written, Handbrake.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/rip-dvds-using-handbrake

You can also rip DVDs with the free and excellent VLC.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/rip-dvd-vlc

I keep all my movies, TV shows, music.. on my streamer (5TB) for immediate access whenever I want.

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Nathan Parker

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Edit : The streaming of 4K HDR and T2 are only Netflix’s requirement as Macs can stream iTunes 4K HDR without the need of T2.

You can buy/stream Shaun The Sheep on iTunes :

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/tv-season/shaun-the-sheep-series-1-vol-1/id278257710#see-all/more-seasons-in-series

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Nathan Parker

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Also note this is for 4K on Netflix only. Other resolutions on Netflix will work, and other 4K providers will work.

Nathan Parker

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Thanks Alex and Nathan.

I have “handbrake”, it’s just that it looks to me that you have to, first, record the picture with some application while it is being streamed and shown on screen — I never found something that worked well enough for me — and then compress the huge file that results, thanks to my ultra-high bpi Retina screen, into something reasonably sized, like 4 GB or so. That would be using “handbrake.”

Yes, I know that the “T2” requirement is just for “Netflix only”… That’s the plan. I just don’t expect the plans of mere mortals, even those exalted ones that work for Apple, to be always well implemented, that’s all. So I worry.

And then there is this little issue of being sent to some place worse than Guantanamo I’ve already mentioned. So I fret.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker

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I think Handbrake can rip DVD’s without needing to screencast them first.

Nathan Parker

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OscarCP

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Nathan. Thanks, but how about ripping streamed video? If I already have the DVD, then I rather just use it as such. Streamed video is what I would like to save to an external HD or SSD. Except for that Guantanamo thing.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

Streamed video is what I would like to save to an external HD or SSD.

The best streaming video capture app is Camtasia (Mac, Windows).

https://www.techsmith.com/blog/record-live-streaming-video/

DVDs are not even HD at 720×480. Ripping with Handbrake you can upscale the video to full HD and audio to 5.1/AC3…

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Nathan Parker

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Alex, I bought and tried Camtasia. It did not work for me. Should have tried the free trial version first, but I had seen such glowing reports about it that did not do that…

I have, in fact, tried a few different applications for the same purpose and all have been disappointing.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker

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To my knowledge, all screencasting apps are blocked from screen recording protected streaming content. There might be some hacks/workarounds, but streaming video usually blacks out when the screen recording app is running so someone can’t illegally capture it.

Other than that, Camtasia is solid for screencasting overall. ScreenFlow is also very good for Mac-only environments. I use both (Camtasia when I need to share projects with Windows users and ScreenFlow when I need to work in a Mac-only environment).

Nathan Parker

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Nathan, that’s right about ripping Netflix shows (as well as any DVDs — and even taking static screenshots!) being very verboten by macOS, or by something else that comes along with it in all Macs. I have tried downloading and ripping from Amazon, and that worked, sort of. “Sort of” not because of blocking by Amazon, but of several annoying difficulties using the software already mentioned and a few others. It would have been possible to rip movies and shows episodes, but because of the trouble I had to go through for that, multiplied by the number of rippings I had in mind,  I decided it was just not worth doing.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker

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Disney movies now available in 4K through iTunes in select countries (no T2 needed

After several years of waiting, it appears that Disney and Apple have reached a deal to make 4K versions of Disney films available through iTunes. A wide selection of Disney movies is now showing as 4K in the iTunes Store, with additional support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos….If you’ve already purchased a Disney film in HD on iTunes, it should be retroactively upgraded to 4K so long as there is a 4K version available. Not all Disney films were produced in 4K, so availability will vary…

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Nathan Parker

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