Blackmagic Forum

I'm a new poster here, but in my fourth year using DaVinci Resolve Studio. I've read and used a lot of good advice from this forum over the years. Hopefully you can help. Until recently I've been using DR 16. A lot of my video is a custom resolution of 2688x1512 with 59.94 fps. When I finally, recently, switched from DR 16 to 17, timeline playback became choppy for these clips. The playback indicator goes green-red-green constantly, like it is struggling to play. I did not have this problem in DR 16. I'm currently on DR 17.1.1 build 9.

Playing 3840x2160 with fps of 23.976 or 29.97 on the timeline is fine. I don't know if there is an issue with DR playing 59.94 or maybe a custom resolution or a combination of both. I have experimented with optimized media at various qualities and formats. It still has the same problem. It makes me think there is a bug with DR 17. I'm not talking about playing any transitions, Fusion, color corrections, etc. Just normal playback of the raw footage on the edit timeline. Again, no effects, transitions, nodes, etc.

This behavior has occurred on 3 computers so far. All laptops, but still. Is there an option that changed in DR 17 or something I can adjust? If low quality optimized media won't even work, I don't know what I can do. The fact that it plays higher resolution clips better than lower ones is weird. Computer specs:

Intel i9-10980HK @2.4 GHz (16 CPUs), 3.1 GHz
32 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 32 GB memory
Intel UHG Graphics, 16 GB memory
3840x2160 resolution display, 60 fps

Intel i7-7820HK @2.90 GHz (8 CPUs), 2.9 GHz
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070, 16 GB memory
Intel HD Graphics 630, 8 GB memory
3840x2160 resolution display

Intel i7-6820HK @2.70 GHz (8 CPUs), 2.7 GHz
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX980M, 16 GB memory
Intel HD Graphics 530, 8 GB memory
3840x2160 resolution display

Can you share a clip for others to test?

peterjackson wrote:https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?t=139705

Thank you. Looks like you have the same thing. I'm going to try the vsync and show all frames technique you mentioned in your thread.

Unfortunately turning vsync on in the graphics card options seemed to help a little sometimes, but wasn't a fix for me. Using all frames in the viewer eliminated the choppiness, but often slowed down the playback. Often it would slow for at least a few seconds. Sometimes it would go back to normal speed. Seeing as this is happening with a variety of video formats, for multiple people here, it seems this is something Blackmagic should look into to allow it's software to play 59.94 better.

rex_jones wrote:Unfortunately turning vsync on in the graphics card options seemed to help a little sometimes, but wasn't a fix for me. Using all frames in the viewer eliminated the choppiness, but often slowed down the playback. Often it would slow for at least a few seconds. Sometimes it would go back to normal speed. Seeing as this is happening with a variety of video formats, for multiple people here, it seems this is something Blackmagic should look into to allow it's software to play 59.94 better.

Yes, it'll be awesome if BMD could tackle this. After a bit of research, it seems Windows Desktop composition and it's altered behavior in different Windows version does have it's share in that vsync madness. Gamers complain a lot about it as well.

rex_jones wrote:Blackmagic should look into to allow it's software to play 59.94 better.

I've no problems playing such camera footage. Can you share a clip that's giving you issues for testing?