Choppy audio playback at edit page

Hi there...

I know there are several threads at this forum and a lot of tutorials all over the internet but i have to bring this up again since non of that solves the problem.
Our 3 main editing station are suffering the very same issue. The audio playback is choppy as hell(worst at the edit page). Please see specs at signature! And here is a screen capture https://f.io/CHqsStEM
No matter what we try, change settings, update drivers, disable audio devices, tinkering bit-depth or sampling rate, using built-in audio from realtek or external audio devices, etc....it is always the same.
Audio playback (again worst at edit page) is a nightmare. It is almost impossible to edit because every few seconds the audio switches off. If you're lucky, it comes back after a while, But only to switch off again a moment later.
I'm digging the forums for days now without any success.

Do you have any ideas left?

Thanx in advance, Andreas.

P.S.: We don't want to switch back to Premiere. But at this point Resolve is not useable as an NLE.

[Peter Chamberlain]

What is your timeline frame rate?
Source clip frame rate?
On the color page, what speed does it play?
Please list ur GPU driver version- it probably needs upgrading

Hello Peter...

...thank you very much for your reply.

Timeline and source clip framerate are both 25fps.
Color page playback speed is 25fps with rare drops to 23fps on some cuts.
NVIDIA Studio-Driver is at version 457.30 says NVIDIA control panel.
Device manager reports 27.21.14.5730.
I also generated a diagnostics log that can be found here: https://gofile.me/3mCap/mrVUcxVu8

nvidia_control_panel.jpg (129.23 KiB) Viewed 3516 times

device_manager.jpg (75.36 KiB) Viewed 3516 times

I had problems in the past (Resolve 15, I think) with H.264 videos recorded by GeForce Experience screen capture feature.
For those specific videos, audio sometimes played choppy, and sometimes it stopped completely. It also affected waveforms display: those videos often appeared without any waveform.

The solution by that time was re-encoding the videos like this: QuickTime container (.mov), copying the video track, and re-encoding the audio.


Currently, this problem never happened again here, but I don't know whether the change was in Resolve or GeForce Experience (maybe even in both).

You can try creating a test project with re-encoded files to see if that's not the problem.

If all fails, export a small test project where problem currently happens alongside some preferably small media file, upload it to some file sharing service, and post it here, so I can test if it will also happen here.

What's your source media, Andreas?

What's your source media, Andreas?

Hello Jim, at this particular project mainly MXF containing XAVC Intra comming from a Sony F55 and QuickTime ProRes 422 HQ clips are used. Both same Resolution (UHD) and 25fps.

...I had problems in the past... with H.264 videos...

Thanks for your reply. Yes, h.264 is terrible for editing. But in this case only postproduction specific format are involved that should work just fine.

GeForce Experience is notorious for generating variable frame rates, which can cause problems in Resolve.
At least for phones (which also record VFR), I found when using 48 kHz for sound instead of 44.1 things are improved to some degree. You may want to give that a try.

I found when using 48 kHz for sound instead of 44.1 things are improved to some degree.

Hello Uli, nice to see you here. We had some very helpful conversations many years back at finalcutprofi.de.
According to my recent issue, all is set to 48KHz already.

OK, I would expect that media to work fine.

What's your audio setup in Preferences? (Try setting it to Manual if it isn't already.)

OK, I would expect that media to work fine.

What's your audio setup in Preferences? (Try setting it to Manual if it isn't already.)

Jim, we literally tested every setting. Switched it in Resolve to manual or follow system prefs. Tested different devices internally and externally. Activated and deactivated devices separately at windows device manager, etc.
But the problem persists. All other applications are just working fine. No Soundglitches, no drops, no choppy playback. Only DaVinci Resolve is showing this behavior.
It's quite frustrating.

And by the way:

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!

Only DaVinci Resolve is showing this behavior.

This just isn't a problem being reported by the multitudes, though.

So...what's 'special' about your three systems that's not very common among Resolve users?

I have a basic checklist I use for success. Maybe it'll help here.

An edit system should be:

1. Properly configured (Intel/nVidia)
2. Self-built
3. Windows 10
4. Dedicated to editing. (No games, email, office, security, development, etc.)

Any of those four points out?

It's quite frustrating.

Do the following:

Export a small test project where problem currently happens alongside some preferably small media file used in the project, upload it to some file sharing service, and post it here, so I (and even some other members) can test if it will also happen.

That way, we can at least identify whether the problem happens in all machines.

Only DaVinci Resolve is showing this behavior.

An edit system should be:

1. Properly configured (Intel/nVidia)
2. Self-built
3. Windows 10
4. Dedicated to editing. (No games, email, office, security, development, etc.)

1. check
2. check
3. check
4. Microsoft Office, Avira and Adobe Suite also installed

Switching Avira off gives same result.

I recommend fully uninstalling both Office and Avira using the following, with the option to Automatically remove residual files checked. (I've seen both programs cause issues.)

https://www.iobit.com/en/advanceduninstaller.php

Stick to the included Microsoft Security.