Sonoma freezes / crashes when playbacking videos in Quicktime

Unfortunately the bug is still present with Sonoma 14.2. In my case I have a Samsung 4K TV connected as a second monitor to my Mac Mini. After some time running a mp4 file with Quicktime everything freezes. As soon as I remove the connection to the TV the freezing stops. Notes: (1) the TV doesn't even need to be on: only connected. (2) The TV is connected via HDMI (no USB-C to HDMI adaptor). The first monitor (DELL 4K)is connected via USB-C to Display-port cable.

The problem is as follows. It occurs when BOTH of the following conditions are met:

1) The Mac is connected to an external monitor (in HDMI), via the Apple multiport AV adapter.

2) The external display is set to "Mirror" (video recopy), in the "System settings".

I work around the bug by setting the external monitor to "Main Screen".

I've had NO system cash for ~1 month with this TEMPORARY solution!

APPLE CLEARLY NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING!

Still having this bug with Sonoma 14.3 on BOTH my macbook pro M1 and macbook air M1.

Screen mirroring to an external monitor seems to be the culprit. If i disable it, or just disconnect the monitor, everything works fine. Issue happens with either the HDMI output of my macbook pro M1 or using a USB-C dongle with displayport.

Apple support suggested formatting my mac, but i read people here who did it without luck. I'm quite suspicious when both macs have the same issue, with very different sessions.

I think it's just a huge bug that went under Apple's radar. I suggest everyone to contact apple support and direct them to this thread.

I have quicktime, VLC, youtube in picture in picture mode and the Playstation remote play app crashing really fast here.

@mirave This is it! Where you said you have a Samsung TV... I have two 4K Samsung TV's connected to my 120hz LG monitor. One TV is connected to the HDMI out and the second is via a Type-C to HDMI adapter. They are both in clone mode of the main LG monitor.

Now I've just disconnected one of the TV's (HDMI output).. opened a quicktime video. It hangs, same issue. Then while it's hanging! .. then, before the system resets completely, I disconnect the second TV (connected the HDMI adapter). Then it comes back! System now responsive and I can play any video I like in any player I like.... just with only one screen connected.

Well at least I know what's causing it. But it would be nice to connect more than one screen to this Studio! It might be because I'm using clone.. or using a type-c adapter. So it's clearly a 100% Apple issue, GPU driver probably. No need to completely re-install your entire systems.

My wife also has the same issue on her Macbook Air M1, with Sonoma 14.2.1.

Tried with both ugreen usb-c hub with hdmi as well as another microsoft hdmi/usb-c adapter I had. Tried with 2 hdmi cables, 2 monitors, but always freezes the same way that's described here.

EDIT: @Bruko's suggestion seems to be working for me so far:

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I was able to solve the problem for myself. It seems to be related to the setting for the external monitor. I used to use mirroring, but after switching to using the monitor as an external monitor, the problem has disappeared.

Now I can use the QT Player in every situation.

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Instead of mirroring, I do an extended display, and I've been able to play this video for ~5 minutes so far, moving the mouse, opening different apps, navigating menus, etc.

Thanks Bruko! (for now) :D

As far as I'm concerned, the problem only appears when I'm watching a video with QuickTime. That is to say, DIRECTLY with the app open OR in preview (space key) in the Finder.

Since I first noticed this (extremely annoying) problem, I open all my videos with VLC. Since then... the problem has gone away. Having said that, not having to use QuickTime is not a bug resolution in my opinion (and even then... I'm being kind when I say "bug". We're still talking about a complete machine crash here!!!! 😡)

Also (I share my experience), on my side, the problem ALWAYS manifests itself by the video freezing (but the sound continues), then a progressive blocking of ALL THE MAC!

It's impossible to unblock anything. Once the video is frozen, it's certain that within ~1 to 1.5 minutes, the Mac will crash completely, then reboot...

Note that my Mac was affected by the "Pink Screen of the death" when it was new! This bug has been resolved by an update to macOS (Pink Screen and Restarting on M1 MacBook … - Apple Community)

Please Apple -> Resolve this rapidly…

I have buy an expensive Hadwarve (Mac), EXCTLY, so I don't have the problems of the PC world on my Mac!!!!

Happening for me on 14.2.1. Everything locks up when playing mp4 in QT and OS will crash out to login page if left alone for ~30 seconds or so. (no other apps running) Unplugging the HDMI monitor before the crash wakes everything back up and avoids the crash but as is, I cannot play the videos with HDMI connected.

(PS: I opened a bug report with Apple)

I was able to solve the problem for myself. It seems to be related to the setting for the external monitor. I used to use mirroring, but after switching to using the monitor as an external monitor, the problem has disappeared.

Now I can use the QT Player in every situation.

I have had problems with several video players incl VCL & Quicktime.

Got a tips from ICANHEARUNOW here on Apple community that Elmedia Video Player works with Sonoma on Mac.

Efter downloading Elmedia (free version) and have used it for over a month without any problems.

Kerri

https://www.elmedia-video-player.com/

I have migrated everything from a Time Machine backup after a clean install. I know that this should not solve anything if there is some corrupted file in my user library, but (1) this was quickly done and who knows? (2) Doing the same on my MacBook Air M1 seems to have solved the problem. On my MacMini M1, no way. Don’t ask me why, especially because the contents of both Mac are very similar, since I migrated from the MacBook to the Mini when I bought it some time ago.  

Then I completely erased and recreated my user on the Mini, and the bug was still happening! After disconnecting the HDMI to my Samsung TV (second monitor), the problem disappeared. This sounds crazy, but I already had a lot of software and connection problems with this TV… I have no explanation for this, but since then I played hours and hours of mp4 with Quicktime. So I think that anyone should try disconnecting every connected equipment. I still have to reconnect this TV and see what happens. 

After a nice talk with an apple support staff, I have found out that the problem appears to be tied to my particular account, possibly related to a third party app.

Therefore, when I playback video on a different account on the Computer, the problem seems to not occur.

They advised me to create a new account and migrate only files, not settings or library.

Update: I finally made a clean install and restored data from a time machine backup. Problem NOT solved! Then I created an admin user and from there I deleted and created my normal user again, so any corrupted user file should not survive. This NOT solved again. My Mac is M1 mini connected to a Dell Monitor and a Samsung Q80 TV. For other reason I had to physically disconnect the TV. Since then no more Quicktime bug, running mp4 for many hours. This seems weird but I’m interested to know if someone could solve the same way.

Same problem here. Quicktime player with screen mirroring via HDMI on external monitor. 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max running Sonoma 14.3.1.

Video freezes at first but audio keeps playing. Then machine crashes/restarts after about 20 seconds. I unplugged the monitor and it was able to play the same movie files without issue.

Found this on Reddit and it WORKS in full : in System Settings display settings turn OFF "Automatically adjust brightness."

QuickTime, Safari - both work playing video in mirrored mode through an external display.

I found the problem is tied to my USB->HDMI adapter.

The problem only occurs when the adapter is plugged in and removing will even unfreeze the mac.