H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air M1

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DrRobNob

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H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air M1

PostMon Feb 22, 2021 12:37 pm

I'm using Davinci Resolve 16 on a late 2013 Macbook Pro (Big Sur) and if I deliver a 720p project using the "H.264 Master" profile with mostly default settings (apart from burning subtitles into the video) then the resulting file plays OK on Intel Macbooks but doesn't play correctly on a new Macbook Air M1 - the audio plays OK but the video framerate is about 1 fps. Also, it caused iMovie to crash.

I've made a short 20s test export that exhibits the problem but it seems I'm not allowed to post a link to it here.

Any idea what might be causing this or how to avoid it? I also tried enabling two-pass encoding and setting the bitrate to 2000 kbps but it didn't help.

Thanks,
Rob.
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Jim Simon

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Re: H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air

PostMon Feb 22, 2021 2:58 pm

My first thought is that the playback software on the other machine is the problem that needs fixing.
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Uli Plank

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Re: H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air

PostMon Feb 22, 2021 3:14 pm

Use any cloud transfer service like Dropbox, Google Cloud, WeTransfer, whatever and post the link here with a space in it.
My disaster protection: export a .drp file to a physically separated storage regularly.

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DrRobNob

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Re: H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air

PostMon Feb 22, 2021 6:39 pm

Here's the link to the test export:
https://drive .google.com/file/d/1SkKhg1V7wN5epNLB9QQg9AHWBTQeR6OZ/view?usp=sharing

(please remove the space that I've added after "drive").

Note that it plays ok in the preview that Google Drive provides, but does not play ok if downloaded on an Apple Macbook Air M1. Also, it crashes iMovie if loaded into that (I'm not sure exactly the circumstances - i.e. whether it crashes immediately or after some time of use).

Also, I agree that this is more a problem of the new Macbooks than Davinci Resolve, but if we can figure out how to avoid it that may give a clue about what's wrong on the Macbook side.

I'll also see if I can raise it with Apple.
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DrRobNob

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Re: H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air

PostTue Feb 23, 2021 4:25 pm

I asked the owner of the Macbook Air M1 to install VLC and try playing the file with that and VLC plays it fine so the finger of blame is pointing at the codecs built in to macOS for the M1.
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Uli Plank

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Re: H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air

PostWed Feb 24, 2021 1:47 am

Raise it to Apple, I can confirm that it doesn't play here on M1, while it plays fine on an Intel Mac.

What I noticed is the 3.1 profile, try to encode to 4.1.
My disaster protection: export a .drp file to a physically separated storage regularly.

Studio 19.1.3
MacOS 13.7.4, 2017 iMac, 32 GB, Radeon Pro 580 + eGPU
MacBook M1 Pro, 16 GPU cores, 32 GB RAM, MacOS 14.7.2
SE, USM G3
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DrRobNob

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Re: H.264 Master export won't play correctly on MacBook Air

PostWed Feb 24, 2021 11:19 pm

Thanks for checking. How would I select level 4.1 in the Deliver screen? I see Encoding Profile in which I can select High (it was Auto), but no level setting?

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