Dropping Frames with DeckLink Extreme 3D+ in FCP 7.

[Jesse Coane]

I’m having a similar experience on a new system I just put together. 2012 iMac with ultrastudio mini monitor + 12tb pegasus thunderbolt raid. Premiere, Resolve, FCPX, all play back great, but FCP7 drops frames left and right if I go out the blackmagic box. Just tried setting audio to built-in while leaving video-out on and the dropped frames stop.

It’s brand new system and have been too jammed up to reach out to blackmagic. Will soon.

Jesse

Director / Editor
http://www.jessecoane.com
@jessecoane

[Ron Burton]

Hey sorry, I didn’t have time to try the OS downgrade. It’s still something I want to try. Meantime, I’m wondering if the dropped frames error is bogus. I turned it off the warning and I can’t see any dropping frames. If I turn the warning on, the error pops up within a second, though.

Are you seeing the dropped frames or just the warning message?

Mac Pro 5,1
OSX 10.8.2
Blackmagic v. 9.6.9
FCP v.7.0.3

[Jesse Coane]

I’m not using a Decklink Exteme (UltraStudio Mini Monitor) but I was able to fix the drop frames warning by downgrading to Blackmagic drivers 9.6.8.

Just noticed that Blackmagic posted new drivers today. 9.7 Will try when I get home today.

Jesse

Director / Editor
http://www.jessecoane.com
@jessecoane

[Jan Miltenburg]

I had the same problem with 2 macpro’s 4.1, os 10.8.2, fcp 7.03 and bm decklinck hd extreme 3d
Downgraded both systems to 10.7.5 and replaced the tdecklinck driver by version 9.5.3.
Everything is now running oke. Friday we are going to test with an macpro 3.1, 10.8.2 and differend bm drivers.

[Paul Jay]

Same here.

The latest 9.7 driver is just as bad.

You can’t even play a color bar without dropping frames when the Blackmagic Video Playback is enabled.

Disabling Audio playback from the blackmagic makes it work again but no solution.

Its easy to reproduce. We’ve tested it on multiple systems. Also systems with a clean instal.

Hello Blackmagic?

[Brandon Kraemer]

I have been through 3 driver versions now and 2 OS versions (10.8.1,2) and this problem has been 100% consistant ever since I switched from AJA to BMD hardware. Very frustrating.

BMD basically said there will be no fix for this and blamed Apple for changing something in the OS.

I have been doing this for a really long time and I can’t remember a situation where such a significant hardware feature wasn’t repaired by the next driver revision.

It’s very disappointing.

[Jesse Coane]

Make sure you report the problem to Blackmagic.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/

As much as the finger is being pointed at Mountain Lion, I was also told this. “The issue is still open with the engineers and if there is something they’re able to do, they will do their best to implement it.”

Jesse

Director / Editor
http://www.jessecoane.com
@jessecoane

[Dustin Foster]

I apologize for wearing my pessimist pants this morning. Sadly, I just don’t see them putting much effort into this fix. I spoke with BM on the phone and they thought it was being addressed in the latest patch; well that was November. I absolutely agree with you Jesse that we have to keep reporting it. I just find it hard to believe that BM is stumped by this, It makes me think that they are writing FCP 7 off. The only thing I have done is turn off the WARN WITH DROPPED FRAMES, I still hear the “crackling” but I am at least able to get through an edit, client reviews have become exporting REFERENCES and playing back. <—–worst workflow ever.

[Jesse Coane]

I hear ya. The more people that report it the more attention it will hopefully get. This may be too optimistic, but 10.8.3 should be out soon. Maybe there is a chance it fixes what mountain lion broke.

Jesse

Director / Editor
http://www.jessecoane.com
@jessecoane

[Brandon Kraemer]

Turning off drop frames warning still results in a barely playable sequence. It’s far worse with ProRes media than Uncompressed-10 bit for what that’s worth.

If I switch the audio output to the line out of the mac vs audio follows video it solves the drop frames issue but the audio then plays about 3-5 frames out of sync which is unacceptable.

Premier doesn’t have this issue so I agree it seems that Apple induced something that caused this issue but it seems like something solvable if history is a guide and that makes me too wonder if BMD is looking at this issue in the rearview mirror.

Having filed and followed up on a support ticket, BMD told me it was unlikely to be fixed and couldn’t be consistently recreated on their end.