Upgraded to 16.2 and lost audio, But only when shot on Pixel

Hello all!

We've been using Resolve to edit for our YouTube Channel since 12.5 and we've never had a riddle we couldn't solve buy lurking on the forums or YouTube, until now.

We shoot with Canons, GoPro, DJI Action, etc, but sometimes the best camera is the one you have with you, in our case the Google Pixel 3 and 3XL

Since upgrading to 16.2, any video shot on either of these phones has problems with audio, Sometimes it's muted, no audio, even though it's present in the waveform. I don't think anything has changed in the phone recording as this now affects all video shot in the distant past as well. All our old projects have this issue where the audio is missing, either completely or chunks of the clip is missing.

Observations:
It only affects the clips shot on the phones, All other cameras we use work fine.
The clip plays fine in the source viewer but when added the timeline, the issue presents.
Sometimes the audio is completely gone, sometimes there are chunks missing, the missing chunk can sometimes be different from one playback to the next...
The clip plays fine in any other player, VLC, etc...
If I reencode the clip with Handbrake it seems to be fine in resolve, even if I just pass through the AAC audio.
Sometimes audio on other tracks affects the clip from the phone, music tracks for example.

I've uploaded an unlisted video to YouTube to illustrate the problem better in case I was unclear. The first clip in the timeline is straight from the phone, the second reencoded with Handbrake, AAC passthrough.

This is a link to the 57M, 20 Second clip used above if someone wants to see if they can replicate.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hBhvqW ... sp=sharing

I've checked my project settings and I think they are all right, everything's set to 1080p30 - We're hoping this is an easy project setting fix as we have several videos edited (and played fine before the upgrade) and now they won't render correctly.

Many Thanks in advance!

Jason

The best camera may be the one you have, but the best formats for editing frequently aren't available on those cameras - DNx/Cineform/ProRes - so external conversion of lesser formats to better formats may be a worthwhile approach.

I think a lot of problems people are posting about could be solved by transcoding. MP4/H.264, HEVC/H.265, whatever highly compressed intraframe codecs are so much more processor intensive. They're not good for editing.

Thanks for all the help guys, invaluable...

It's just so disappointing because it worked perfectly before we upgraded to 16.2 and we have so many projects 90% completed with snippets of video with chunky audio.

For anyone else that stumbles on this, I've found a utility called HBBatchBeast that is a slick GUI that automates Handbrake Transcoding. It even replaces the original file so we don't need to relink all the clips in Resolve.

The stupid thing is that I'm just using h.264 passthrough, The files come out the same size, h.264/AAC but at least Resolve 16.2 will play them now.

I ran into that exact same issue today when editing a video shot on my Pixel2 Phone. It was driving me crazy. 2 simple little clips. On one the audio played. On the second the audio played sometimes and sometimes not.
But after taking the phone's audio into Adobe audition, Converting it to a wav file, then bringing it back into the Resolve project. That audio plays without issue. Now I know. The phone's audio codec doesn't play nice with Davinci Resolve.

My wife and I are experiencing the same thing from video shot on our Pixel 2 phones using 16.2.0.55.

I have gone back and re-opened videos that were edited with previous versions of resolve without a problem, and the audio errors are present there too.

For reference, this has NOT happened on any version of resolve from when we started using it (14) through the previous version (16.1).

For those of you who blame the codec used by smartphones, please note that the only change in the equation has been the version of DaVinci Resolve used. While I'd love it if we could get to a more editor friendly codec, we've been working this way for quite a while now.

I have tested running the files through Handbrake, and yeah, the previously posted workarounds do the trick. I'd prefer to not have to go through that process through.

And if you don't see it as a bug in Resolve, try this: Take a clip you have problems with, and pass it through Handbrake so that you no longer have problems with it. Then load BOTH clips into Resolve. Put the fixed one on your timeline first, then the original right after it. Play the whole thing, you hear audio from both clips. Next drop the playhead halfway through the second (the original) clip, and hit play, and you'll have no audio. Then drop the playhead anywhere on the first (the modified) clip, hit play, and let it go all the way through. You'll have audio on the original clip where you didn't just a few seconds ago.

Just to be thorough, I've also tested using Filmic (I'm sorry, FiLMiC - ugh) 6.9.3 build 643. I've got it set to 1080p 30fps, 32mbps, hevc codec, and 48khz audio. And there's no problems with video recorded that way. So this is specifically an issue between video recorded with the Pixel's native camera app and Davinci Resolve 16.2.0.54 and 16.2.0.55.

The problem is caused by some phones using a variable frame rate to aid exposure. Resolve, and a lot of other NLEs will not play it properly. This is why transcoding using something like Handbrake to produce a fixed frame rate works. Remember, Resolve was designed as a professional NLE and was never intended to play raw phone footage.

Jason, this is the MediaInfo of your clip.

I agree with Charles, variable frame rate files shouldn't be used for editing. However the odd part of your problem is that it worked with previous versions of Resolve. Don't know why they would consciously remove compatibility without warning. At the least Resolve should flag it for you and transcode. All of which makes it actually sound like a bug. You are not the only user with this problem, hopefully they will look into it for you.

Running into the same problem here with my Pixel 3 footage since the update. Super appreciate the answers have have confirmed re-encoding to a constant frame rate solves the problem. (and massively increases the source file size

Looks like 16.2.1 fixes this problem. I'm now able to hear audio fine with my phone footage (Pixel 3 XL). However, Resolve still seems to struggle with the variable frame rate and the video lags behind. So I guess you still should transcode, but at least it doesn't seem to be broken.

Solved!!!!

I'd been transcoding Gig's of video every day just to get Resolve to work. I hoped that 16.2.1 had fixed it but alas not... Like others posted, the audio works, but no video.

So I went on the hunt again and found this video: "How to fix DaVinci Resolve Media Offline with HEVC H.265" on YouTube (I'm not allowed to post URL's)

Even though it was from DR15 days, it's still relevant. It suggests getting the "HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer", 10 seconds later all my problems are solved!