Firmware 7.9: Camera Freezes Upon Ending Clip

I'm having an issue with 7.9 where, upon pressing "record" to stop recording a clip, the timecode will stop but remain red. In this state, I can neither resume recording nor enter "play" mode. I upgraded directly from 7.3 (not 7.7.3) to 7.9.

I've read Kristian Lam's recommendation to upgrade from the last released firmware. Should I downgrade back to 7.3 and upgrade through each firmware iteration to 7.9? I assume I can omit the betas.

I've already tried to upgrade from 7.7.3 to 7.9 but I was still able to replicate the issue.

Try the Camera Factory Reset when on 7.9.

As per usual BMD has released a fantastic update (the UI refresh is really well thought out!) that unfortunately has been advertised as a general release despite being un-tested. 75 FPS removed, HFR frame rate reset, zoom scrolling becoming stuck, auto HD crop on prores, white balance change.

Also as per usual BMD doesn’t write up a very good change log (I think gyro stabilisation still isn’t listed as a new feature?!) so it’s hard to know whats changed, what is intentional or what is a bug.

Most worryingly is what you have described above is being described on various FB groups as well plus a few posts here, a freeze when closing the file, often with corruption, most of the time on the T5’s, but a Cfast user also reported similar.

Best cause of action is to always treat firmware updates like a beta and to never use them for anything critical.

Most worryingly is what you have described above is being described on various FB groups as well plus a few posts here, a freeze when closing the file, often with corruption, most of the time on the T5’s, but a Cfast user also reported.

I’ve been testing the T5 with a Kondor Blue cable and just let it run for even up to 40 minutes and so far it’s been consistently performing well. I even tested 2.8K at 120fps HFR BRAW 5:1 and 8:1 without any drops. Also tested 6K at 50fps HFR BRAW 12:1 for a good 23 minutes without drop. Also 6K at 24fps BRAW 3:1 without any glitches for 30+ minutes. This was on the P6K.

Most worryingly is what you have described above is being described on various FB groups as well plus a few posts here, a freeze when closing the file, often with corruption, most of the time on the T5’s, but a Cfast user also reported similar.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one encountering the issue. I've been in touch with Blackmagic's support team and it seems like they are, as of yet, unaware of this issue. My issues are also happening on 2TB T5's.

Try the Camera Factory Reset when on 7.9.

Ok, I did this and I've had promising results but I don't think I'm out of the woods yet. It previously never occurred to me to do a factory reset because it was a fresh firmware install. After performing the reset, I was unable to reproduce the freezing by pressing the "record" button to end a clip. I repeated this process 3-4 times last night with each of the recordings lasting about 1+ hours. However, I tried to run a longer test overnight and I saw that the camera stopped recording on its own at about the 1:15 mark and, again, I was unable to resume recording nor enter the play menu.

So, it seems like the factory reset did help somewhat. I have not been able to replicate the "stop recording" initiated freeze since the factory reset; however, it does still does a "self" initiated freeze. Because I left it on overnight, I can't say for certain whether the this happened when the camera exhausted the SSD's capacity, or it did so with capacity still remaining. I'm recording in BRAW Q3 60FPS when the drive indicator estimates about 5 hours of record time remaining, which has surely already passed.

I will try to replicate the "self" initiated freeze in the daytime and report back.

Unrelated: I was able to replicate the "stop recording" initiated freeze when it was recording in BRAW 1080p 5:1 previous to the factory reset

"Self" initiated freeze happened again at 22 minutes

. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test verified this drive to have 435mb write/430mb read.

As per usual BMD has released a fantastic update… Best cause of action is to always treat firmware updates like a beta and to never use them for anything critical.

It is odd that some updates can have problematic items that appear for some users and not others. But I agree it is our responsibility to test camera updates before using an update on critical shoots. Still though we expect updates have run the gauntlet of quality control tests before being released. However being human, we are prone to error and testing every possible combination of items is truly not possible.

And sometimes a few users may perceive an error in a change where the item might be considered a subjective judgement. The issue of the loss of 75 fps recording clearly appears to be an oversight in testing against the published performance specifications and something I don’t ever test on an update.

But I remember the 7.3 firmware update that changed the appearance of the coloured lines focus assist that some felt was a clear error and made that function useless. I’ve been cautious about the coloured lines intensity in the past before 7.3 because I felt it was unreliable in that it could lead to a false sense of security that everything was in focus where I had demonstrated to myself that it wasn’t reliable. So I thought that was corrected in 7.3 although I admit it was too ‘aggressive’ and had to switch my colour from Red to Green to see it at all on a Medium strength. Finally 7.9 introduced an effective slider to very the intensity of the focus assist. Good solution which is better than previous capabilities.

By the way I use the Lens Toolkit f8 app that includes a slider to define my Circle of Confusion formula. Instead of the default variable of 1500, I use 1700 for greater confidence when setting my lens focal distance.

Most worryingly is what you have described above is being described on various FB groups as well plus a few posts here, a freeze when closing the file, often with corruption, most of the time on the T5’s, but a Cfast user also reported similar.

Would you please point me to those FB groups? I can't seem to find other accounts of this happening. I'm on the cusp of getting a replacement.

Here is what I've found elsewhere on this forum:

Hi!

Since the 7.9 update, recording on my Samsung T5 SSDs now fails after 5 seconds each time (dropped frame). This is on both my 2 tb, 1tb, and 500gb. ALL of these worked prior to the update with no problems.

Only after formatting the card over and over again in camera, turning off and on the camera, unplugging and plugging the SSD back in does it finally work. And then itll work for that shoot and the next day im back to square one with the recording failing.

I'm using the same cables (that came with T5) that ive been using for a year.
It does not matter if i lower the quality recording, it fails no matter what.

Any ideas?
Thank you!

I am very happy with version 7.9. The improvements in autofocus and gyroscope-based stabilization look fantastic to me. And I haven't had any problems since I installed it. I want to thank the BMD team for the effort you make to continually introduce improvements. Thank you.

Also as per usual BMD doesn’t write up a very good change log (I think gyro stabilisation still isn’t listed as a new feature?!) so it’s hard to know whats changed, what is intentional or what is a bug.

It's clearly listed there with the download link on the support page:

"Blackmagic Camera 7.9 also adds the ability for all Pocket Cinema Cameras to record the camera motion sensor metadata to Blackmagic RAW clips for stabilization in DaVinci Resolve"

CleanShot 2022-07-10 at 11.12.35.png (38.03 KiB) Viewed 10772 times

It's clearly listed there with the download link on the support page:

Yep fair call it's listed in the description, but strangely omitted from the change log. It's like there is an inverse law when it comes to change logs for BMD, the more features they add the shorter the log!

Screen Shot 2022-07-11 at 8.12.30 AM.png (119.26 KiB) Viewed 10752 times

I am very happy with version 7.9. The improvements in autofocus and gyroscope-based stabilization look fantastic to me. And I haven't had any problems since I installed it. I want to thank the BMD team for the effort you make to continually introduce improvements. Thank you.

FWIW, and it doesn't come across in this thread, but I appreciate the addition of in camera stabilization enormously - which is why I want so badly to get this firmware to work on my camera. I'm using the camera to record scenic roads, so you can imagine how this feature would come in handy with all the road imperfections. This is another example of Blackmagic delivering enormous value to the user.

Back to the topic at hand, I just picked up a fresh T5 ssd and Kondor Blue cable from B&H and will do more testing today.

Edit: I was able to replicate the issue with a brand new 2TB T5 with Kondor Blue cable. I was recording at BRAW 4k Q3, though in the past this could do this with BRAW 5:1 1080p. I've been unable to replicate this issue with firmware 7.7.3. At this point I'm gone stop testing, go back to 7.7.3 and hope that the next firmware fixes this issue.

I know most of this thread is about the pocket cameras, since that is firmware 7.9. but this issue where the camera freezes is something I've been dealing with on my Broadcast G2, ever since I updated to 7.8. I updated to try out their new RTMP stream built right into camera...which works flawlessly. and then I took the camera out on an important shoot and ran into this clip freeze.

At first I chalked it up to a non-approved card;
When I bought the camera I looked at the approved list and the card I got was on it at the time.
The Angelbird PKT SSD2GO MK2 1TB is what ive been using since I got the camera in December and it worked great. After updating from 7.5 (stable firmware) to 7.8 (beta) I had the freeze, lost one hour of footage on a 2 hour clip. rechecked the website and the card had been removed from the approved list. The WISE PTS 1TB was the new approved card so I picked one up. Tried to replicate the problem and it happened again.

The website claimed BRAW 6K 5:1 at up to 50fps was supported. It failed this test after only a minute.

At this point I guessed it was the firmware, maybe some kind of bug. I backloaded firmware 7.5 and tried testing that maximum 6k 5:1 at 23.98. 20 minutes in and the freeze occurred again.

Worth noting is that you can tell when the freeze happens, its not when you press the record button to stop. It happens while recording and the countdown timer in the card slot at the bottom of the screen will stop counting down. That's when the freeze occurs. So if you pay attention to that, it's no longer a guessing game.

Testing with CFAST Angelbird AV PRO CF 256GB at 6K 5:1 50fps, the card filled up completely without freezing.
Seems to be an SSD problem currently.

Thank you for sharing, Alvin. I will keep an eye on the countdown timer in the future.

Also, I've found another account of this happening on the Blackmagic subreddit here with a BMPCC 6K.

Edit: And another here. They lost footage from a wedding gig, unfortunately, and gave their client a full refund.

I have replicated the freeze real easy, on my second go...

Same as above, corrupted file, no countdown on the disk and unable to stop the recording, had to remove the battery to get it to turn back on after shutting down as well. I have a video that I can post if requested.

Pocket 4K, Samsung T5 2TB with tilta cable that has worked flawlessly in the past.

I have only managed to replicate this with exFAT, OSX Extended (HFS) seems fine.

Im going to try with Cfast now.

Thank you for sharing. I was able to replicate this on OSX before.

Here's another instance of this happening, finding out in real-time on a wedding shoot, unfortunately.

I tested with BRAW and ProRes, Wise 1 TB Portable SSD, HFS+ and no problems.

I think some units will experience this and others will not. That being said, how long did you run your tests for? An extended run might trigger it for you. When I was reproducing this, clips under 10 minutes generally did not replicate this issue. Also, it will not happen every time. I've gone as long as 40 minutes without an error. However, it's a bit of a disappointment when a 1:30 hour recording gets truncated to the first 8 minutes.

Here's another instance of this happening, finding out in real-time on a wedding shoot, unfortunately.

Fortunately I had 4 cameras, 2 of them ended up having issues (though another camera, a pocket 6K pro, ended up having the same problem later in the night. It first popped up as a disk write error (exclamation Mark over the record button). Restarting the camera seemed to fix it until it just froze.

I’m really disappointed with blackmagic on this one. I’ve had my pockets since they were released and they have always been reliable up until this update.


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I apologize for my ignorance, but is it possible to downgrade blackmagic cameras?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I apologize for my ignorance, but is it possible to downgrade blackmagic cameras?

Yes it is, I've done it several times trying to isolate the issue. Just go to the Blackmagic support page and download the 7.7.3 camera software. I would skip the 7.8 beta as someone had this issue on that version as well. I'm glad you had backups on hand.

I do not use an SSD, but only angelbird CFast 2.0 cards.
but after reading all this, I had to test it on my 6Kpro with firmware 7.9.

I was able to continuously record 6K DCI 3:1 BRAW 3 hours 40 minutes on my T5
and even after the automatic stop by disk full the file was perfectly playable.

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Hi,
I'm glad to have found this thread and wanted to chip in and say I'm having the same issue:
I’m using a pocket 4k powered from the mains power supply/charger so presuming it’s not power related, using a Samsung T5 2TB connected with a fasgear 10Gbps USB C cable I’ve seen recommended in the facebook group (or original T5 cable) recording 4k DCI Q3 which looks to be approved for the T5 by BM.

Same issue: Can't stop / close out of record.

I initially bought a 2TB T7 drive hoping it would work and had this issue so sent it back and got a T5, maybe the T7 would have been ok after all seeing as its now happening with the T5 too but at least I'm now using an approved drive.
I'm going to revert back to 7.3 but it's a shame to lose the gyro function.

For anyone interested I first reported it in this Facebook group where I was told the firmware was at fault.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/896900333767779/

Certainly perplexing and frustrating and risky on a client shoot. Perhaps the lack of a response from BMD is an indication of the complexity of finding a solution and likely BMD won’t issue a corrective firmware update until their confidence is high.

In my experience USB-C cables can be bad one day and good the next time you try using it. That doesn’t make sense from decades of experience where something used to stay bad once it’s broke. Even blaming it on cables that have gone bad seems only one of a few possible causes as there are apparently examples where replacing cables with what should be higher quality wasn’t an effective solution. The most expensive USB-C cable I bought from a local PC supplier when I had a good cable go ‘bad’ sits in a box and was never used successfully. And the ‘bad’ cable is good again!

@Neil
The T7 would never have been reliable, independent of the firmware version.

@Neil
The T7 would never have been reliable, independent of the firmware version.

Plenty of people reporting the contrary so I wouldn’t be so committed to that train of thought.

Rolling back to 7.73 seems to have fixed it for me on my 4k & T5 combo, been rolling for an hour now and stopped without issue.
I think tomorrow I’ll leave it rolling for several hours and see.
For anyone else testing this issue who hasn’t caught the telling signs yet, it’s when the drive capacity counter stops counting down that the issue has kicked in, your counters will keep rolling.
If the capacity counter stops decreasing by the minute then it’s happened so watch that not the timers.

Well, I've been bitten myself by a T7, long before firmware 7.9.
But everybody has the right to his/her own experiences.

Well, I've been bitten myself by a T7, long before firmware 7.9.
But everybody has the right to his/her own experiences.

Exactly

Post my experience and hope it will help Blackmagic designers and other users: I bought my BMPCC4K at the end of May from an official Blackmagic UK dealer. The machine arrived with 7.3 firmware already installed and a copy of Resolve Studio 17 included. I did some HD tests in ProRes with this firmware to test the machine. Meanwhile Blackmagic has released firmware 7.9 and I have updated my machine. For the update I did as Blackmagic recommends and that is I removed the lens, the SD card, I did not leave anything inserted, only the car with the power cable. I have been experimenting with this firmware, and everything seems to be running smoothly. I just pointed out as other users of the "problem" of 75 fps in 4K 2.40: 1 but already Blackmagic has said it will solve. Hearing the users and their problems with this new firmware I got a little worried and did some tests. In the meantime, having arrived now in this world slowly, I bought all or almost everything that is needed to make this machine work well. And here is my experience now. I connected a 1TB Samsung T5 via usb-c with the cable I found in the Samsung T5, and made 4K 2.40: 1 recordings in BRAW 3: 1 at 60p. The first was 26 minutes long, the second 43 minutes. The problem that when I stop recording on T5 the machine crashes to me did not happen. Clips are recorded regularly. There is no block. I plugged the machine into the socket with its power supply.
P.s. I have formatted the T5 with the machine and not with the PC.

Today we announced Blackmagic Camera 7.9.1 update for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras which includes improved reliability when recording in all formats to external USB-C media disks. In addition, this update improves the record button response which means you’ll be able to start and stop recording faster. Plus, there’s improved reliability when updating the camera software and it fixes an issue where Blackmagic RAW clips with a LUT applied may not preview correctly in camera.

This update also fixes an issue on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K that prevented users from setting frame rates above 60 fps when shooting in the 4K 2.4:1 resolution. Frame rates up to 75 fps can now be selected allowing you to record smoother slow motion footage. Also, this update improves the accuracy of the motion sensor metadata recorded from the gyro sensor in the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, improving the effectiveness of the stabilization feature in DaVinci Resolve 18.

Blackmagic Camera 7.9.1 update is available now as a free download from http://bmd.link/k3K7pL

Thank you! I was excited for this release, as i have been experiencing dropped frames exactly after 5 seconds of recording (6k pro, samsung t5, only when connected to external power). However, my same issue persists even after this update. Do you have any information or fix for me?
(i have varied cables, tried with 1tb, 2tb, and 500gb T5s, and reset camera and updated several times)
Thank you!

… experiencing dropped frames exactly after 5 seconds of recording (6k pro, samsung t5, only when connected to external power)…

Have you removed the internal battery? If the battery is not fully-charged, it might be drawing power from the power source so the power to the external drive drops. Please remove the internal battery to try. Perhaps try with nothing else connected to the camera except the BMD mains power adapter and the T5.

If that’s not successful, we need a boatload of information about your batteries, your “externa power” and everything connected to the camera.

What are your recording settings such as resolutions, codecs, BRAW or ProRes? Anything else that affects the data being stored?

Is the T5 old or new, mostly full at this time or freshly formatted in camera? HFS+ or exFAT? Anything that might be relevant?

[quote][/quote]

Thank you so much for your response!
I just ran 20+ different tests on my 6k pro on firmware 7.9.1 with different cables, drives, and power sources.
The only method i could get to work is if i only had the BMD internal battery in when i turned on the camera, and then i connected external power once the camera was already on. If external power was connected (i tried both mains and npf 12v battery plate) before the camera was turned on and then i turned on the camera, recording would fail. It behaved the same if i had the internal battery inside the camera at the time or not.
Each time it failed at exactly 5:03 and it did not matter what resolution or bitrate.

So at this point i have to leave any external power unplugged, turn on my camera, connect external power, and then i can record without any dropped frames. Although i dont want to rely on this in the field.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Sorry Rick, i forgot to respond re the drives: they are all 1-2 years old, freshly formatted, and exFAT. all three of my drives (1tb, 2tb, 500gb) behave exactly the same. And everything still works fine on previous firmware versions before 7.9

Thank you so much for your response!
I just ran 20+ different tests on my 6k pro… at this point i have to leave any external power unplugged, turn on my camera, connect external power, and then i can record without any dropped frames. Although i dont want to rely on this in the field.

Any ideas?

I wish I knew, but at this time, I’m stumped. I wonder if others who have problems with their external SSDs should give this procedure a try too. You may have stumbled across the cure. But hey, it’s still penicillin and you’ll be famous if it works!

I appreciate your dedication to finding a solution. Great to see it’s working!

BMD will likely be interested in reading your post. This apparently odd procedure may not always be needed and I’m sure you’ll test for that before a shoot each time until normalcy returns. I hope 7.9.2 corrects this assuming there is another minor correction due to a few outstanding issues to do with electronic lenses.

Thank you so much for your response!
I just ran 20+ different tests on my 6k pro on firmware 7.9.1 with different cables, drives, and power sources.
The only method i could get to work is if i only had the BMD internal battery in when i turned on the camera, and then i connected external power once the camera was already on. If external power was connected (i tried both mains and npf 12v battery plate) before the camera was turned on and then i turned on the camera, recording would fail. It behaved the same if i had the internal battery inside the camera at the time or not.
Each time it failed at exactly 5:03 and it did not matter what resolution or bitrate.

So at this point i have to leave any external power unplugged, turn on my camera, connect external power, and then i can record without any dropped frames. Although i dont want to rely on this in the field.

Any ideas?

That's definitely not an to be expected behavior - I would contact BMD support asap for RMA.

Thank you so much for your help!

I'm happy to report with 7.9.1 I've been unable to replicate this issue. I've run several multi-hour tests, filling up my oldest (2000.04.30) 2TB T5 on Q3 @ 60FPS. A big thank you to all the people from Blackmagic who worked on this issue and the people here who brought this to their attention. I will post an update if there are any more developments.

I did a shoot for a friend yesterday and it was the first time I used ProRes recording on the camera and MacOS formatted media. My friend has a Mac/FCP so I thought it would be better to go this route. I experienced the aforementioned freezing after stopping recording for the first time since I got the camera 2 years ago. Videos were not corrupted but I did have to adjust VLC player settings to smooth playback on win11. Not sure if being in the forest close to a river (humidity?) contributed to this issue as the last time was on a beach when the same freezing happened two years ago.

When I switched back to Braw and Exfat on same media (sd card) and did some test recordings I had no further problems.

I have the same problem. i have 2 bmpcc 4k camera. i have updated both. one of them have problem that camera freezes upon ending the clip. it happened for a 3 minute recording and around 27 minute recording. the record status stays red and you cannot do anything but to turn off the camera and the whole recording is gone. nothing was saved. i wish bmpcc will have the option to split the continous recording or fix this issue. the recoding i did cannot be redo since it is an event forum.

I can confirm that this issue is still existing. We have two BM Pocket 6k Pro with the most recent Firmware 7.9, both have been running on T5 SSDs for the last year and we never had a single problem. But since yesterday one of the cameras freezes when stopping the recording. It does not always happen and i couldn´t find a pattern when this problem is occurring.
But my guess is, that the Samsung T5 might be the problem. I mean why should the camera start having these kind of issues out of nowhere without updating the firmware or changing any settings.
I did the factory reset as someone previously mentioned and will use another T5 for recording in the future. I hope this issue is getting fixed soon!

I can confirm that this issue is still existing. We have two BM Pocket 6k Pro with the most recent Firmware 7.9, both have been running on T5 SSDs for the last year and we never had a single problem. But since yesterday one of the cameras freezes when stopping the recording. It does not always happen and i couldn´t find a pattern when this problem is occurring.
But my guess is, that the Samsung T5 might be the problem. I mean why should the camera start having these kind of issues out of nowhere without updating the firmware or changing any settings.
I did the factory reset as someone previously mentioned and will use another T5 for recording in the future. I hope this issue is getting fixed soon!

You have to update to 7.9.1