FCP X and Blackmagic Ultra Studio Express dropped frames

[Bret Williams]

You likely don’t have it set to match the frame rate and or size of the sequence. For example it’s outputting 24p and your timeline is 29.97i. Or vice versa.

[Andrew Swarbrick]

Hi Brett,

Thanks for your reply. No i am afraid the video desktop app and the fcp x timeline and av output in prefs all match 1080p 25. The issue is with dropped frames 8 out of every 10 times i playback,stop,start etc. The grading monitor also displays the input as 1080p 25. It also does it regardless of whether 422 pro rez or prorez hq. The box definately trips up fcpx and im not sure why. It cannot be a fault as resolve 12 is flawless with the same setting or relative settings

A

Andrew Swarbrick (BA Hons Film & Photography)
Off-line and On-line Editor

[Bret Williams]

Resolve 12’s playback capabilities are definitely inferior to X, so something is awry. Is your sequence 4K by accident? I did that recently, but I was amazed at how everything still played back in RT for the most part on my 2012 iMac.

[Andrew Swarbrick]

Hi Brett,

Thanks again for the reply! I wish that it was as easy as my stupidity as then I could get this resolved!!! As far as I know everything is all lined up as it should be. 1080p 25 timeline, Pro Rez 422 or Pro Res 422 HQ if using BMPPC. Sometimes transcoded (or optimised internally), sometimes not. Video desktop set to HD SDI 1080P 25 and embedded audio 1080P 25. My monitor acknowledges the input.
Everything matches across the board. The issue is not that FCP X doesn’t work, it just drops frames immediately and if you have the warning box on, then naturally the playback stops. If not it struggles on until it either updates from a still frame or runs up to speed, which takes a few seconds. once ‘up to speed’ to use the sold 35mm film term it runs smoothly, perfect. It scrubs ok and advances one frame at a time okay. It just cannot play ‘without running up to speed’. It takes a second, maybe two to overcome the drop frame issue. This of course is no good for editing. I am away from the edit suite for a few days due to school things, but will look into it again on Monday. As I said if I was a noob then ok, but as an experienced editor who has been using FCP since its inception and the old SD SDI Decklink cards, I cannot understand what the issue is. V odd, especially as you say that Davinci Resolve 12 has inferior playback!

Blackmagic contacted me via email today so we begin the long process to, not sure what the issue is.

A

Andrew Swarbrick (BA Hons Film & Photography)
Off-line and On-line Editor

[Bret Williams]

I’ve got the same ultrastudio hooked up to 2012 iMac and it’ll play avchd 4K off Pegasus R4 raid with some dropped frames. But I just turn off warnings. 1080p is generally warning free, but I leave it off because every once in awhile it’s a nuisance. When things visually look like they’re dropping, I usually have it left of the wrong frame rate or am accidentally editing 4K instead of 1080. In resolve I have to drop that same 4K footage to 1/4 to play back decently. 2012 does a good job at 1080p, but the app seems to just suck up all the GPU to do it. Sometimes it’ll report I don’t have enough GPU for the app to run and I’m running the 680mx 2gig. X never has these GPU issues and just seems to work. That’s been my experience.

Do you have latest driver for ultra studio?

[Andrew Swarbrick]

I have had some more feedback from Blackmagic, so when I some downtime in the suite on Monday, I will run through somethings they suggest and let you know how I got on. I would say there is something in FCP X as it wouldn’t work in resolve if it was hardware. I will start a new project and set it up exactly as the PDF section for setting up a FCP X project describes in ultrastudio. Maybe it is a render and timeline clip mismatch. Maybe not. As ever thanks for your response Brett>
A

Andrew Swarbrick (BA Hons Film & Photography)
Off-line and On-line Editor

[Andrew Swarbrick]

I am using the latest Desktop Video 10.5 which is I assume the driver for ultrastudio??

Andrew Swarbrick (BA Hons Film & Photography)
Off-line and On-line Editor

[Dave Jenkins]

I look forward to hearing your finding as I have a problem with my Ultra Studio 4k where it skips for the first couple of seconds then plays fine.

Dajen Productions, Santa Barbara, CA
Mac Pro 3.5MHz 6-Core Late 2013
FCP X

[Eric Sternberger]

I have the same problem here with a 6core 2013 MacPro and a BM Mini-Monitor..

[Craig Alan]

Also I have had things break with Mac OS updates and drivers from BM. And the calls to tech support are time consuming. Before all the bugs and third party drivers are fixed we ar on to a new OS.

Here’s a thought though: is it possible something is being done in the back ground in FC when you are getting these dropped frames? Even though FC lets you continue to work, things do slow down and get buggy at times with background tasks in progress.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.