Choppy playback with S1H 6K footage.

Hello everyone!

I'm having a really annoying issue and that is very choppy playback when using the Panasonic S1H's 6k and 5.9k H.265 footage recorded in V-log and in the media pool, I have changed the input colour space to Panasonic V-gamut. Thats literally all I've done, no effects, nothing.

My drivers are all updated and I'm on the latest version of resolve 17.1

My computer specs are
i7-8700k overclocked to 4.7GHz
RTX 2080 overclocked
32gb Ram

The issue is that these specs should be able to playback the footage in resolve in realtime. As seen in Gerald Undone's Youtube video linked here:

(EDIT: Can't seem to link a time stamp to this video link, so if you jump to 2 mins and 15 seconds, you can see what I'm talking about.)

Ive checked in resolves preferences to ensure that CUDA is enabled and that my GPU us selected. I've literally done everything. But playback is arouns 5-11fps and sometimes the framerate indicator turns green at 24 fps but the actual footage is choppy and freezes. LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO EDIT.

I really dont want to go the route of optimized media or proxies because for 46 minutes of 6k footage, it literally takes 3 hours to render out proxy files! (dont understand why this is so long either even though im using a fast ssd)

My CPU reads around 40 to 70% during playback whilst my GPU sits between 7 and 15% spiking to 20% sometimes. This is completely different to what Gerald is experiencing in the youtube video.

Could really use a helping hand if anyone knows anything.
Regards, Prahlad

You can't ask anyone here to watch a 15 minute promotional video. Is he playing back the footage in Resolve? Or some other application?

6K h.265 may be playable in real-time in a video player, but that doesn't mean a color grading application can do the same in real time. As far as I know, there is no GPU acceleration with 10 bit h.265 footage, assuming you're using the Studio version. There is no GPU acceleration with the free version.

You might want to reduce the timeline resolution to HD, and see if you get better performance.

I have a good rule of thumb which I think applies here.

If you shoot H.264/5, edit with Proxies.

If you don't want to use proxies, don't shoot H.264/5.

Thanks John for your reply!
Im using the studio version.
the YouTube link that I have attached it to a specific time stamp (you only need to watch about 10 seconds). The youtuber's not promoting anything, he's just showing how s1h h.265 5.9k plays on an i7-8700k and a gtx 1080 inside of a resolve timeline (no timeline half/quarter resolution) just the actual files.

His results show that he can get real-time playback with this codec.

Regards, Prahlad

EDIT: Oh now I see that the forum has embedded the YouTube video rather than the timestamp, my apologies.

If you jump to 2 mins 15 sec, you can see what I'm talking about

Thank you Jim for your response!

As mentioned before, the proxy route will mean I have to wait over 3 times the length of the footage for it to convert to proxies (using resolves new generate proxies method) which is highly inefficient for me. If I have the specs to play it back in realtime, why won't it Haha!

It's not a matter of choosing to shoot h.265. From now on I'll try stick to 4k. But when I do want to shoot 6k for personal projects, H.265 is the only option. Thus why I invested spec'd out PC!

Regards, Prahlad.

when I do want to shoot 6k for personal projects, H.265 is the only option.

With that camera.

The rule of thumb suggests other cameras are...better.

If I have the specs to play it back in realtime

I don't think realtime is a sufficient standard to reach for. I want really great scrubbing as well, even with some effects applied. That's where proper editing formats like Cineform, DNx and ProRes will always outperform H.264/5.

Hence the rule of thumb.

Makes complete sense Jim and I fully agree with you on that.

Ideally, in a professional working environment, you would want to record in prores or raw flavours. I'm not a professional myself and this is the camera I'm stuck with hahaha!

Just thought that if others can use this h.265 codec easily, then how comes in my case I cannot.

Regarding this:
sometimes the framerate indicator turns green at 24 fps but the actual footage is choppy and freezes up.

Do you have any insight into this?

OKAY PEOPLE WE HAVE A SOLUTION!

so I basically downgraded resolve studio from 17.1 back to 17 and the playback is now 100% smooth as butter.

Finally managed to get realtime h.265 for 5.9K.

Also, funnily enough, my M1 MacBook Pro 13 inch can play the 5.9K smoothly in resolve studio 17.1 hahaha

Thanks to Jim and John for the replies

Regards, Prahlad.

Makes complete sense Jim and I fully agree with you on that.

Ideally, in a professional working environment, you would want to record in prores or raw flavours. I'm not a professional myself and this is the camera I'm stuck with hahaha!

Just thought that if others can use this h.265 codec easily, then how comes in my case I cannot.

Regarding this:
sometimes the framerate indicator turns green at 24 fps but the actual footage is choppy and freezes up.

Do you have any insight into this?

Make sure your viewer (top right cones 3 dots settings) is set to display all video frames.