Playback on MacbookPro 16inch

Hello guys!

I would like to ask you, how your MacbookPros 16, can handle 4k footage on your DavinciResolveStudio?
Can your macs play 4k footage smoothly?

I recently bought new MacbookPro 16 and was testing the new machine with 4k footage.
Honestly I am quiet disappointed. I’ll explain it in following example.

When I have 10 seconds long sequence filled with few 4K clips and each clip is like 1 or 2 seconds long, it's literally impossible to play the sequence smoothly in real time. Playback is really choppy even in quarter resolution proxy mode.
Although when I try to play only one 4K clip 10 seconds long, It plays really smoothly without any problems.

Do you guys have similar playback experience or Am I missing something?

Thank you for your response!


Clips I am working with: GH5 4k, 8bit, 59.94fps clips.

specs:
____________________________
DavinciResolveStudio 16.1.2
macOS Catalina 10.15.3
MacBookPro 16 inch 2019
2,3 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9
64 GB memory
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB
2TB SSD

I have yet to find a laptop that does it.

Stefan,

By coincidence today I made some tests with files from my Fuji XT3: 4K, H.264 and H.265, long GOP and All-I, 25 FPS, 400 Mbps, to check the performance of DR and find best settings for my cam. All run good on my MBP. Even when my Dell U3818DW wide screen is attached. I added some color grades, NR, Fusion titles, sharpening, no problem. OK, some stutter in transitions on first playback but after they’re cached everything runs smooth. BTW: I didn’t use optimized media if that matters...
I thought 4K, H.265 would give my MBP a hard time but luckily no. Only the cooling fans run high sometimes. Also rendering without crash or delay.

Oli

Hello guys!

I would like to ask you, how your MacbookPros 16, can handle 4k footage on your DavinciResolveStudio?
...Clips I am working with: GH5 4k, 8bit, 59.94fps clips.

specs:
____________________________
DavinciResolveStudio 16.1.2
macOS Catalina 10.15.3
MacBookPro 16 inch 2019
2,3 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9
64 GB memory
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB
2TB SSD

That looks like a powerful laptop and very similar to the configuration I was considering.

What codec are you using for the clips from the GH5? Have you tried using the highest bitrate codec to see if that makes a difference?

Edit
The previous post seems to indicate various codecs should be fine... certainly after first attempt is cached.

As long as one doesn't use the 10 bit and/or 422 versions of H.264/5 it should be OK with DR Studio.
But since Apple split with Nvidia, there is no hardware to decode those formats.

As long as one doesn't use the 10 bit and/or 422 versions of H.264/5 it should be OK with DR Studio.
But since Apple split with Nvidia, there is no hardware to decode those formats.

Is I wrote above the 4K footage recorded with H.265, 10 bit runs fine on my MBP. I have half the RAM. Although it was 420, because I recorded to the SD card

FEF24D68-4717-4129-866B-99353AB35555.jpeg (36.64 KiB) Viewed 5013 times

Hey guys!

Thank you all for your answers! Unfortunately, the problem still persists.

Hey Oli, may I ask you how your GPU can handle playback of your 4K footage? Every time I play the sequence even without any grading or any nodes applied, the GPU is always 100% loaded. Is that a normal behaviour?

I tried the Blackmagic RAW speed test and it looks be fine. I really don't get it. Does your playback is perfectly smooth even when your clips are like 0.5 - 1 seconds long?

____
Hey RIck.Lang! I tried to use every kind of formats and bitrates from GH5, also MOV and H264 but without any differences. The playback with fast cuts is still choppy and GPU load maxed out. :/

Thank you for your answers guys, I really appreciate that!



specs:
____________________________
DavinciResolveStudio 16.1.2
macOS Catalina 10.15.3
MacBookPro 16 inch 2019
2,3 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9
64 GB memory
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB
2TB SSD

For another test if you have not already tried this, ensure that all data and cache etc are stored on the internal SSD.

For another test if you have not already tried this, ensure that all data and cache etc are stored on the internal SSD.

Yes of course, each clip I am working with is stored internally on SSD. I can record a quick video to see the playback on my machine.

Very strange that one long clip is fine, but several very quick clips are not. That must be a clue to solving the problem.

Two points here: the OP is @60fps and the one report of success here doesn't specify fps. That could be the difference.

Also, as noted above, there's no GPU acceleration for 10 bit h264/5, so it's unclear why the GPU should be at 100%, unless some GPU-intensive fx has been added, or there's smart or user caching going on.

John, the clips are 8-bit.

Hey guys!

Thank you all for your answers! Unfortunately, the problem still persists.

Hey Oli, may I ask you how your GPU can handle playback of your 4K footage? Every time I play the sequence even without any grading or any nodes applied, the GPU is always 100% loaded. Is that a normal behaviour?

I tried the Blackmagic RAW speed test and it looks be fine. I really don't get it. Does your playback is perfectly smooth even when your clips are like 0.5 - 1 seconds long?

Stefan,

mind: my test was 4K 25 fps. Today I shot another test clip with 4K H.265 400 Mbps 60 fps Long-GOP and shot the video attached with my iPhone.
[Edit: trying to figure out how to upload a video here ] Playback is 60 fps. No color grading applied, no cache activated.
After some basic colorgrading: no change. After NR: playback in Color down to 16 fps. Switched render on to Smart and after the blue bar appeared playback was back to 60 fps.

You may want to share your footage so I can run a test. Inform you project/timeline settings along.

Result from BM Raw Test

Bildschirmfoto 2020-03-10 um 20.56.56.png (725.09 KiB) Viewed 4912 times

[edit 2] Can't upload a video. here's the link: https://oliver-wendel.de/fujiforumpics/4K-60FPS-Test.mov

Another test with 4K H.264 60 fps: same result as above. until I applied NR it runs without a problem at 60 fps. with NR: 15 fps playback, after caching back to 60 fps.

(fan goes crazy...)

Hello again guys! Thank you for your tests and answers! I really appreciate it!

To better explain my problem with playback I decided to record a quick video.
You can watch the video here:

As I wrote early, the playback was good and stable when the single clip was playing. The problem is when I try to play multiple short clips (like 0.5 second long). I'm kinda confused with that, because even PremierePro has no problem with 4K playback with that fast cuts. Do you have similar experience with playback of that fast cuts?

What do you think of it? Thank you for your response!

Stefan,

I tryed to replicate your issue. Footage:

Fuji XT3
UHD, 59.94 fps, H.265, 400Mbps, Long-GOP

Chopped it into pieces of 0.5 sec., re-arranged order, total length 6 sec.

DR settings: Proxy Mode>off, Render Cache>None, not using optimized media

-> Playback in 59.94 fps.

After adding an adjustment clip over all clips with basic color correction (no NR), playback goes done to 57 fps and then increases to 59.94fps.

Again: share your footage and I can test it on my Mac.
Oli

Hi Oliwend!

Thank you again for your patience with my problem with playback!
I really appreciate your tests you made with your footage.

I decided to share the clips from GH5 I'm working with to better understand my issue.
I also prepared XML and DRP files you can import to your resolve and get exact the same timeline I've got.
There are 3 clips from GH5 chopped to multiple short clips.

You can download all files from my G-drive here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Let me know your results! Thank you and wish you all the best!

I have exactly the same problem with my MBP 16 (i9,16,5500 4gb) version Resolve 16.2 by the way, I noticed many more problems: if you switch the interface to Russian, the commands on the keyboard stop working (even elementary com+c, com+v) When you scroll through the keys JKL (L) - does not work. But most of all I was killed by the video playback, I did not expect to see this (it killed me) Actually I bought MBD under DR... You should try to check 16.1.2 (where at least the keys worked...) You will have to settle for FCPX. By the way, the latest update of FCPX and Catalina supports H264 decoding. What about Resolve?

Stefan,

I experience the same with your footage. The part with the short clips plays choppy, even the fps indicator is green and shows 59,94 fps.

After setting Playback > Render Cache > User and
Selecting all the short clips > right click > Render Cache Color Output

the blue bar appears and it plays back smoothly.

Then I deleted all render cache and created optimized media. Again: smooth playback!

I don't now if that helps...

Regards,
Oli

I told you there is hardly any laptop up to it, in particular not by Apple.
My iMac is showing the stuttering too, while both CPU and GPU work at their limits. Get a serious machine if you want to edit 60 fps UHD with massive compression natively.

Alternatively, transcode to a lightweight offline codec and replace the clips before rendering.
You could even try transcoding to ProRes 422 HQ and use it for finishing.

Uli,
It isn‘t that bad... While the longer clips play without problems (no cache, proxy mode full resolution), DR has trouble displaying the very short snippets which are in a row. Even there‘s no color correction, forcing to render cache the color output, solves the issue. Working with optimized media (via DR, not transcoded beforehand) leads to smooth playback also. I didn‘t check my GPU/CPU activities but I think the fan is some indication for the workload. It was quite for the whole time during my tests with the footage.

Also the tests with my own footage (4K, H.265, 60 fps) showed that our MacBooks are capable to some extend. Granted, heavy color grading and Fusion FX would lead to problems. But then there is the option to use optimized media.
I‘m not a professional editor nor do I use RAW footage. Means the 2016 MBP is fully capable for my use case with 4K and/or high frame rate footage. Of course, just my humble opinion.
Oli

Hi guys,

thank you all for your answers! I'm glad, that I'm not the only one with that problem. I really don't get it. Single playback is smooth, scrubbing through multiple clips is smooth but that case with fast cuts is not. Even Premiere Pro can handle that native 4K clips without any problems. It seems I will have to use Resolve mainly for colour related work. That's a pity, because resolve is really powerful all in one tool.

After setting Playback > Render Cache > User and
Selecting all the short clips > right click > Render Cache Color Output

Oh yeah Oli, I realized that too, with render cache on, it's playable.

by the way, I noticed many more problems: if you switch the interface to Russian, the commands on the keyboard stop working (even elementary com+c, com+v) When you scroll through the keys JKL (L) - does not work.

I've got also many other problems with resolve on Mac. For example when I hit shortcut command to switch tool to blade, trim or selection mode, my mouse freezes for a second. It's also really annoying behaviour. When you're like working with clips and moving around with mouse over the timeline, In the moment I hit the shortcut to change selection mode to blade, pointer freezes for a second. Is it happening to you too?

Anyway, thank you all for your time and effort! I really appreciate it!


specs:
____________________________
DavinciResolveStudio 16.1.2
macOS Catalina 10.15.3
MacBookPro 16 inch 2019
2,3 GHz 8-core Intel Core i9
64 GB memory
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB
2TB SSD

Hi,

Any resolution for this issue? I have the same smooth playback on my MBP 2019, 16" 64Gb, Core i9, 2T and AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8Gb

I have an screen video record, please let me know the email to share it, it´s to large...

Please, HELP!

Regards.