Forum Discussion
Blur Background on Mac OS
Both of my macs reported in "machdep.cpu.features" only AVX1.0. I executed this command
sysctl - a | grep avx
On one mac (blur disabled) I got
hw.optional.avx1_0: 1
hw.optional.avx2_0: 0On another mac (blur enabled) I got
hw.optional.avx1_0: 1
hw.optional.avx2_0: 1
ericsarSo you are in the same boat as the rest of us with 2013 era Macbooks.
There is no Avx2.0 so Microsoft disabled all bluring and background features.
There has been no resolution to my knowledge.
Thanks for this update and the links. However, I didn't see where the fix is, except for what "Alex" says: "We have fixed the issue to enable Background effects and Background Blur for machines with AVX CPUs."
Did I miss something?
- Looks like Microsoft have updated and start accepting again AVX1 computers.
https://office365itpros.com/2020/04/06/teams-meeting-background-image/
https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/908686-bug-reports/suggestions/40115269-blur-option-disappeared
I have a mid-2013 MacBook air that has AVX2 but still cannot use the background, and yes, it was previousy available. The fact that Zoom and other similar products easily do background processing on AVX1 processors shows that AVX2 is not required....it's just a decision that the Teams development group have made to not have to code to two versions of the AVX CPU instruction set extensions. AVX2 introduced 256 bit integers and added FMA (more efficient floating-point operations), so I'm sure that made it somewhat easier to code some of the operations, but it's absolutely not a technical requirement...it's a decision to orphan somewhat older processors that are still extremely capable for background processing.
The proof is in the pudding: Zoom flawlessly runs background (video-based, even) processing on the same CPU that Teams refuses to do background processing at all (even where they used to do blurring), with no major stress on the processor. Zoom does have a reasonable cutoff: there are combinations of older processors and GPUs where Zoom won't do background processing, but it's a far more appropriate cutoff that doesn't unnecessarily exclude very capable CPUs.
So please don't frame this decision as one that was necessitated by the March of Progress or super creaky old CPUs or something...this is just about the Teams development group not wanting to write additional code to support a previous and marginally older but still extremely capable version of the AVX CPU instruction extensions.
Teams uses the AVX2 cpu capabilities to deliver this visual effect without taxing the cpu or gpu, any alternative would be likely to be unacceptable as your machine would be struggling. Staying with old hardware is fine, but there's a practical limit to how new features will back port.
Gotcha, Grandswiss. Thanks for clarifying this. So we'll just have to wait for Microsoft then. Calling MS Teams Team... any chance you can provide an update on this soon? 🙂
- ericsar
The authors of the „yices“ app provide two sources: one with AVX2.0 instructions (the dafault) and one without AVX2.0 instructions. So the yices app users are happy as the authors provide an alternative for old HW.
However, this does not help for our background blur unless MS provides an AVX2.0-free solution as well. kathysgeek, I see. I found this page in my search for a solution to the message,
hw.optional.avx2_0: 0:
https://yices.csl.sri.com/faq.html
Any thoughts on whether this is worth pursuing?
