FCP X and Blackmagic Ultra Studio Express dropped frames

[Andrew Swarbrick]

HI Craig and Bret,

I am about to respond to Blackmagic having run some tests.Below is the main body of the email:-

Okay here are my findings regards the dropped frames

1. Media Express software does not drop frames at all

2. FCP X has been set up as Pro Rez 422 Render to match optimised clips, 48 KHZ sound

3. Audio in System preferences has been set to Blackmagic. It plays out via the BMUSE and shows on my PPMS via XLRS out of BMUSE and also as Embedded audio via HD SDI into my JVC grading monitor VU Meters. I have two speakers connected to the JVC grading monitor which provide the monitoring sound output, to remove latency as much as possible. I have not enabled AV Output, so there is no picture on my grading monitor. NO DROPPED FRAMES AT ALL SMOOTH

4. With AV Output on so we have a picture enabled it drops frames immediately. With the warning on it stops immediately. With it off you are looking at about 1 to 2 seconds before it runs to speed. It either stutters or is a freeze frame, then bang it start to run. This makes reviewing cuts less than ideal unless you build in a decent run up. Once up to speed it runs fine

5. Reset of SMC and PRAM makes no difference

I am going to send BM UK a screen recording of the dropped frames to see what they say. I have this feeling that they will say it is within tolerance. If it is I am unimpressed. In the days of digibeta, when I had a BM SD SDI Decklink card to capture digibeta and monitor playback on a CRT grading monitor it never stuttered in FCP Studio. Sighhhhhh!

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

[Andrew Swarbrick]

I have checked that APP Nap is off, background rendering is off. It makes no odds. I have also the GUI set up to use the least amount of processing power in relation to height of timeline clips etc. As I have said without BMUSE FCP X runs fine. As soon as the AV output is enabled the picture takes a second to catch up. Audio seems unaffected.

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

[Andrew Swarbrick]

Further Update

Just to let you know I have plugged the BMUSE into a 27″ IMAC, last years model, running OSX 10.10.5, FCP X 10.2.2. I only had access to a thunderbolt LACIE Drive. But again pro res 422 optimised clips into FCP X. All settings correct. SAME PLAYBACK ISSUE. Also latest Desktop Video 10.5

So It cannot be the mac hardware as that is two macs tested

It cannot be the Blackmagic Box as hardware as it wouldn’t work smoothly with DaVinci Resolve 12 and BM Media Express.

It can only be some sort of bug in the driver that affects FCP X and the mac, somehow it makes the box incorrectly buffer the run up for the first 24-40ish frames of playback. As if the box/or its pipeline with the mac cannot handle the sudden stop start of editing. As this is the issue, not long playback, but the stop start nature of editing.

Audio is not affected.

As I stated yesterday I have a faulty Ultrastudio 4K lying around the studio that had an embedded audio issue, however it does not stutter on picture playback at all! It may well be that the guts of the Ultrastudio 4K as it has to process a 4K signal is better at handling 1080??

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

[Chad Smith]

Did you get this sorted? I have experienced dropped frames as well. Sometimes a full reboot helps. Sometimes not. I wonder if a T-Tap has the same issue?

[Ben Neufeld]

I’ve also been having issues with FCP X and an ultrastudio mini monitor on a 27″ 2012 iMac. Seems to be worse though, FCP X will frequently crash when skimming or after playing back. At first I thought it was just a problem with my system, but then I noticed that the same issues were occurring on an identical system. Interestingly, no issues on non-2012 iMacs that otherwise are identical.

I’ve rolled back to Desktop Video 10.5. Seems to be pretty stable in FCP X, however now I’m having crashes on delivery in Resolve unless I unplug my ultrastudio.

Ben

[Paul Golden]

I can confirm that this is happening on my setup as well.

Specs: nMP 2013; 8-core; 64gb RAM; 2xD700; Pegasus R6 TB Raid; BMD UltraStudio MiniMonitor TB; FCPX 10.2.3; BMD Desktop Video 10.6.8

I have noticed that the problem is especially painful when cutting with JPEGs as storyboard reels. If I check the “warn of dropped frames” pref, it stops playback almost immediately. I thought maybe this was a graphics card brand issue, so I tried my 2012 MBP with Nvidia cards connected to the same RAID and monitor. Same result. Dropped frames.

I exported the sequence out as XML and brought it Premiere Pro CC 2015.3 and it plays back fine with no hiccup.

For me, it seems worse when cutting with JPEGs. If I turn off AV Output, the sequence plays fine. I guess the only thing left to try is another TB output device like an AJA T-Tap and switch to the BMD Mini Monitor when working in Resolve.

Does anyone have experience using a different output device?

[Darren Roark]

The BMD drivers are a big mess and have been for some time.

[Paul Golden]

This is where I’m a little confused as to who’s responsible. If the BMD UltraStudio MiniMonitor works fine with Resolve and Premiere, but not FCPX, is it Apple who needs to look at FCPX’s AV Output or BMD who needs to update their drivers?

I will try to test by getting an AJA T-Tap and seeing if there’s an improvement.

[Ben Neufeld]

I think it’s a BMD thing, as earlier versions of their firmware is still stable in FCPX. Just an FYI–I’ve spoken with BMD support a bunch about it, and it’s now a known issue. I’ve been told the product managers are going to address this “in some future update”.

For now 10.4.3 on El Capitan is very stable for me in FCPX. Only crashes like once a day.

Ben

[Darren Roark]

[Paul Golden] “This is where I’m a little confused as to who’s responsible. “

In this case I’d say BMD as you can revert back to older versions and it’s fine.

It’s probably a case of them trying to fix a problem and they create two new ones.