Media Express Frames Dropping

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Rackanak

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Media Express Frames Dropping

PostSun Jul 01, 2018 4:54 pm

Trying to figure out why our frames keep dropping. I've searched old posts and they aren't our situation. We're capturing on a new iMac that is only using Media Express. We are trying to capture at ProRes 422 and it will record about 5-30 minutes then drop frames and stop the capture.

CPU usage while recording averages between 25-35% but never gets above 40%.
We have 5 TB available on our SAS external drive. Black Magic Disk Speed Test shows that on our drive it's writing 300 mb/s and reading 330 mb/s.

We have the speed, we have the cpu. I can't figure out why it keeps dropping frames.

2017 Retina 5k iMac
4.2 GHz i7
32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Radeon Pro 575 4096 MB
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Eric-Jan

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostMon Aug 06, 2018 11:49 pm

Which capture device ? :roll:
Intensity Shuttle, ATEM Mini, Video Assist 5"(mini USB), Hyperdeck ShuttleHD,Analog to SDI mini-converter, software: Davinci Resolve 15 on Sierra, Resolve 18 on Catalina. (Using Apple OS 32 & 64 bit on different MacBook Pro's
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Rackanak

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 3:04 pm

Thanks for the rolling eyes emoji - definitely needed input.

It's a BMD Ultra Studio HD
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Eric-Jan

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 6:05 pm

Strange, HDD gets full fast ? equipment gets overheated ?
Intensity Shuttle, ATEM Mini, Video Assist 5"(mini USB), Hyperdeck ShuttleHD,Analog to SDI mini-converter, software: Davinci Resolve 15 on Sierra, Resolve 18 on Catalina. (Using Apple OS 32 & 64 bit on different MacBook Pro's
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Rackanak

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 6:48 pm

Yeah it is strange. The HDD is not the issue - there aren't any errors and it has 2 TB available consistently. All of our equipment is in our production room which is definitely cold so I can safely say it's not getting overheated.
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Eric-Jan

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostWed Aug 08, 2018 8:07 pm

Also no unsuspected mains power surges/spikes ? , radiating RF interference of nearby equipment ? bad connections, cables ? cables near power supplies ? bad cooling fans ?
do these occurrances take place when you or other people are present ? night or day time ?
I guess the device is powered by the Thunderbolt connection ? could it be there are too many devices in your setup depend on this, and at a certain moment, it can't draw enough power, for a short monemt ?

it's just guess work from my side, because it's such a strange thing, when everything else checks out.
Intensity Shuttle, ATEM Mini, Video Assist 5"(mini USB), Hyperdeck ShuttleHD,Analog to SDI mini-converter, software: Davinci Resolve 15 on Sierra, Resolve 18 on Catalina. (Using Apple OS 32 & 64 bit on different MacBook Pro's
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Rackanak

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostSun Aug 19, 2018 4:41 pm

All our RF is in a separate room and all our cabling is fairly new so it shouldn't be an issue with any of it failing. We also record 4k with our ki pros which sit right next to our iMac and they never mess up. The room is temp controlled. We rarely use the equipment at night but it fails at the same rate then too. I tried just recording to our ssd in the iMac and it still has the issue. I'm out of ideas too.
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Eric-Jan

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Re: Media Express Frames Dropping

PostMon Aug 20, 2018 4:31 pm

Since external devices seem okay, i can only guess that the interface between the capture device and the Mac is at a too slow speed or between storage and Mac is slow, could there be a mis match between Thunderbolt or your USB interface is there a hub between those ? all devices are direct linked ?
Only other issue could be, that somewhere there's a faulty device, and you should try one of these devices in an other system,
Intensity Shuttle, ATEM Mini, Video Assist 5"(mini USB), Hyperdeck ShuttleHD,Analog to SDI mini-converter, software: Davinci Resolve 15 on Sierra, Resolve 18 on Catalina. (Using Apple OS 32 & 64 bit on different MacBook Pro's

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