DJI Mavic 4 Pro ALL-I codec - problems with DRS20b

Hi all,

searched but could not find any info on this. Today I got the new DJI Mavic 4 Pro Creator bundle with ALL-I codec option.

Davinci Resolve 20beta would not import the files shot using the ALL-I codec on one of my pc's. I tried on another PC with Resolve 19.1.4 and the file opened fine. Then I upgraded my second pc to 20beta, and the file would not open on that pc either. When I uninstalled 20b, reinstalled 19.1.4, the ALL-I file will now not open in 19.1.4 either. What is going on? Davinci Resolve 20b has corrupted my system so I can not work with my ALL-I codec from my new drone. How can i fix this? Please help! I am now unable to edit the files on any of my pcs! The regular h265 files opens fine. The ALL-I is in h264.

Best,
Ole

...Today I got the new DJI Mavic 4 Pro Creator bundle with ALL-I codec option.

Davinci Resolve 20beta would not import the files shot using the ALL-I codec on one of my pc's. I tried on another PC with Resolve 19.1.4 and the file opened fine....

I don't know about the Mavic 4 Pro All-I codec, but the 6k H264 codec on Apple Silicon Macs cannot be read in either Resolve Studio 19.1.4 or Final Cut Pro 11.1.1 on Sequoia 15.5. Tests of that problem show it's worse on the M4 series, although the M1 series is also throwing decode errors in the MacOS system log.

I'll be filing bugs tomorrow on the Apple aspect of the problem for both Resolve and FCP. I would test Windows, but I only have Macs.

Confirm you didn't accidentally install the free version of Resolve.

Resolve free on Windows doesn't support 10 bit h.264/5.


Transcode the problem clips to DnxHR HQX with shutter encoder(free) and it should fix them.

I found some DJI Mavic 4 Pro 6k samples, including All-I and HEVC: https://billy-kyle.com/dji-mavic-4-pro-example-files

There are problems with many of them on both FCP and Resolve Studio on Apple Silicon, more severely on the M4 series. I'll try testing some Intel Macs tomorrow.

These clips seem so problematic that I wouldn't doubt they also cause problems on Windows Resolve Studio.

We sometimes buy brand-new cameras with new codec formats and expect them to work perfectly on all NLEs immediately. This doesn't always happen.

I have the full licensed studio version of Davinci Resolve, not the free version.

And as I wrote, the ALL-I codec (h264) worked just fine on the 19.1.4 version, until I installed the 20beta version.

Reason I uninstalled 19.1.4 and installed 20b version on the PC that was able to read the ALL-I files, was because I assumed it was a windows/PC/driver problem on the PC that was unable to read the files.

Both PCs and both versions (19.1.4 and 20b) is able to read the H265 files. BTW my files was shot in 4K60, not 6K60. Adobe Premiere Pro is able to import and edit the ALL-I files without a problem.

I have newest Nvidia studio drivers on both pcs, both pcs are running on Windows 11.

So this is definitely a Davinci Resolve problem, and now I am unable to edit my DJI Mavic 4 Pro using Davinci Resolve. Really frustrating that the beta version caused this issue.

Just installed the final release of DRS20, and it is still not able to handle the ALL-I (h264) codec from my Mavic 4 Pro. Been using Adobe Premiere for 15 years and finally decided to go all in on DSR, and this is what I am welcomed with - Disappointing...

Well at least I can edit the files on Premiere, but seriously this needs to be fixed asap!

Can you share a clip for testing?

..So this is definitely a Davinci Resolve problem, and now I am unable to edit my DJI Mavic 4 Pro using Davinci Resolve. Really frustrating that the beta version caused this issue.

On MacOS it is clearly not a Resolve problem. When trying to play the DJI Mavic 4 Pro 6k material, FCP 11.1.1, Resolve Studio 19.1.4 and and Premiere Pro 25.2.3 have problems on any Apple Silicon machine, but it is more severe on the M4 CPU family. On Premiere, there are no visible problems but it's causing intermittent decode-related errors at a lower level. This is only visible by exporting the MacOS system log and filtering it through BBEdit.

On an i9 Intel Mac, it seems to not cause problems but playback is unusably slow. Further study of the Mavic 4 Pro 6k All-Intra metadata shows they are tagging the format as H.264 AVC level 5.2, but their encoding parameters violate that standard.

E.g, under 5.2, the max allowable macroblocks per frame is 36,864 but the file contains 79,712 per frame. This is just one example; there are also other issues.

If this were an NLE bug, it would not simultaneously affect FCP, Resolve, and Premiere. The reason there is variation between platforms may be related the typical behavior when a vendor violates a spec. It's like a gasoline company producing contaminated gas. All cars don't have exactly the same symptoms.

I worked on the Mavic Pro 3 5.1k problem, and I believe that required both a firmware update on the drone, combined with OS and/or NLE software updates. I'll study this more tomorrow.

Can you share a clip for testing?

On Apple Silicon Macs, the problems are more pronounced with the 6k All-Intra files, not the HEVC Long GOP files. It superficially doesn't happen on Intel Macs but I think it's causing errors and the system drops back to software decoding. I don't have a Windows machine to test.

Of the below Mavic 4 Pro 6k files, these are the All-Intra ones that cause problems:

DJI_20250511155744_0042_D.MP4
DJI_20250511115621_0010_D.MP4
DJI_20250510145210_0242_D.MP4
DJI_20250510144745_0237_D.MP4
DJI_20250510135655_0200_D.MP4

https://billy-kyle.com/dji-mavic-4-pro-example-files

On Apple Silicon Macs, the problems are more pronounced with the 6k All-Intra files, not the HEVC Long GOP files. It superficially doesn't happen on Intel Macs but I think it's causing errors and the system drops back to software decoding. I don't have a Windows machine to test.

I wonder if disabling hardware decoding would be a work around until Apple/DJI update their kit?

Just installed the final release of DRS20, and it is still not able to handle the ALL-I (h264) codec from my Mavic 4 Pro. Been using Adobe Premiere for 15 years and finally decided to go all in on DSR, and this is what I am welcomed with - Disappointing...

Well at least I can edit the files on Premiere, but seriously this needs to be fixed asap!

They load, play and edit fine. I"m using Windows 10 with CPU decoding. Would that be different with a 50 series GPU which currently may (or may not) hardware decode 422 AVC including Intra?

But for you it does sound like Resolve got corrupt some how and I don't know best procedure to fix that.

..They load, play and edit fine. I"m using Windows 10 with CPU decoding. Would that be different with a 50 series GPU which currently may (or may not) hardware decode 422 AVC including Intra..

Do you mean DJI 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 encoded as AVC/H.264 All-I? It's my understanding that no version of Quick Sync, NVIDIA NVDEC or Apple Silicon can do hardware decoding of *over* 4096 pixel AVC/H.264, including All-I. The newer decoder versions can handle > 4k 10-bit 4:2:2 in *HEVC* or AV1, but *not* AVC/H.264.

If you can edit DJI Mavic 4 Pro 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I on a 6k timeline, what is the performance like? In Resolve Settings if you turn off hardware decode acceleration, is there any difference in playback performance?

[Dwaine Maggart]

@Ole: Please provide a link to a sample file that's not working for you.

Also generate a Resolve diagnostics log from the Resolve Help menu, and provide a link to that.

..They load, play and edit fine. I"m using Windows 10 with CPU decoding. Would that be different with a 50 series GPU which currently may (or may not) hardware decode 422 AVC including Intra..

Do you mean DJI 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 encoded as AVC/H.264 All-I? It's my understanding that no version of Quick Sync, NVIDIA NVDEC or Apple Silicon can do hardware decoding of *over* 4096 pixel AVC/H.264, including All-I. The newer decoder versions can handle > 4k 10-bit 4:2:2 in *HEVC* or AV1, but *not* AVC/H.264.

If you can edit DJI Mavic 4 Pro 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I on a 6k timeline, what is the performance like? In Resolve Settings if you turn off hardware decode acceleration, is there any difference in playback performance?

I have 40 series GPU, no 422 decode which means 40% CPU load just to play a single file, I really would wish some 50 series owners would test these files in Resolve. 50 series decodes 8K H.264 422 10bit but as BMD has not said Resolve has such support I am currently guessing it doesn't.

Also generate a Resolve diagnostics log from the Resolve Help menu, and provide a link to that.

Dwaine, this link contains:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/oex6brhr ... ych1g&dl=0

- Diagnostics logs for Resolve Studio 19.1.4 and 20 when playing the Mavic Pro 4 6k H.264 All-I material

- MacOS System Log when playing that

- A Mavic Pro 4 6k H264 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I clip that reproduces the problem

- A Mavic 4 Pro 6k H265 10-bit 4:2:0 Long GOP clip that does NOT cause the problem

- A Mavic 4 Pro 4k H264 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I clip that does NOT cause the problem

- MediaInfo metadata for the problem clip

Characteristics:

- Decoding errors if playing the problem material in Resolve Studio 19.1.4, 20 or FCP 11.1.1 on M1 and M4 Macs.

- On M4, clip shows as red "Missing Media" thumbnail and timeline.

- On M1, clip looks OK but is laggy and still gets decoding errors.

- Note: this problem *cannot* be reliably identified visually. It fails 100% on all M4 machines I've tried but the failure is more subtle on M1. I suspect similar variation may happen on various x86 Windows machines. It is necessary to examine the logs, not just look at the playback.

- If Resolve hardware decode acceleration is disabled, the problem does not happen

- Does not happen if using Mavic 4 Pro 6k HEVC Long GOP codec, but that is only 10-bit 4:2:0

- Does not happen if using Mavic 4 Pro 4k H.264 10-bit 4:2:2 All-Intra codec

- The problem is unique to the Mavic 4 Pro 6k H.264 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I codec

- I don't think Apple Silicon, Quick Sync or NVIDIA NVDEC handle 10-bit 4:2:2 H.264 above 4k (with possible exception of Blackwell, ie 50-series). More can handle > 4k H.265, so it's unclear why DJI used this oddball codec.

- I believe it also causes decoding anomalies on M4 Apple Silicon Premiere 25.2.3, but I haven't studied that closely.

[Dwaine Maggart]

I appreciate that. But that doesn't help me help the OP Ole with his issue.

But I do like getting the Mavic sample files. Hopefully those match what Ole is using.

- I don't think Apple Silicon, Quick Sync or NVIDIA NVDEC handle 10-bit 4:2:2 H.264 above 4k. They can handle > 4k H.265, so it's unclear why DJI used this oddball codec.

The 50 series do support 4:2:2 10bit H.264 decode at 8k, Nvidia were proudly exclaiming that around launch.

[Dwaine Maggart]

@Joe: your 3 sample files work on v20 Studio on Windows/NVIDIA.

But we have no idea if Ole is using free or Studio Resolve. Or what GPU/driver he's using.

[Dwaine Maggart]

I happen to be looking at this with an NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti and it's certainly not using GPU NVDEC decoding.

You are probably correct that it takes a 50 series GPU for that, but I don't happen to have one of those to test with.

@Ole: Please provide a link to a sample file that's not working for you.

Also generate a Resolve diagnostics log from the Resolve Help menu, and provide a link to that.

Dear Dwaine, thanks for trying to help.

Here are two ALL-I coded clips that simply will not open on my systems using Resolve 20.
Shot these just for testing ISO performance. Static shots, one REC709 one D-LOG.
For now I had to converted them to Prores using Adobe Media Encoder to be able to open them in Resolve.

Not sure how to get the log file, but the files wont even open so will there be anything in that log file to help you? When I created a test-project using Resolve 19.1.4, and tried to open the project in Resolve 20, I get a warning telling me the file(s) in the project was offline.

EDIT. - I have solved it. -

I am so sorry but I discovered I must indeed have installed the free version.

When trying to save log files I had to reinstall DRS20 on one of my pcs, and now the download was 7.3GB, which I found weird since the previose download was about 2.7GB. But now Resolve asked for an activation, so I had to bring my USB dongle from the other PC. And voila, now the ALL-I files will open.

Did the same on the other PC's and all good on all my PC's now.

I am terribly sorry for the confusion. I was certain Davinci Resolve Studio would open fine without the dongle, just unable to use 4K and ll. And on the PC I had my dongle currently in, I was sure it would open as the full enabled studio-version. And it was. But apparantely I must have been the free version.

I was certain the free and full studio versin was the same installer. Just that only when you had the USB-dongle inserted it would start up as the full studio version. I seem to remember from earlier it was the same install-file-executable.

To my defence; ZRGARDNE stated that the free version would not open 10-bit files, and all my pcs with davinci resolve 20 would open the other h264/h265 files from the Mavic 4, and they are indeed 10-bit.
So this made me even more certain I did indeed have the full studio version installed.

Anyway, terribly sorry for having wasted your time.

I removed the download link.

I am still researching this. I currently believe it to be an issue isolated to the DJI Mavic 4 Pro 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I codec is handled on Apple Silicon MacOS. It is not isolated to Resolve Studio 19.1.4 and 20; Final Cut Pro has similar problems. There appear to be two broad scenarios:

(1) On M1 through M3 CPUs, the codec is not accelerated (even with hardware acceleration enabled) in Resolve Studio 19.1.4 or 20. The material plays but is very laggy. Apparently benign decode errors appear in the MacOS system log, e.g:

kernel: (AppleAVD) AppleAVD: addFrameWorkLoad(): clientID 8 clientFPS too slow! Forcing VMAX! rollingAvgFPS: 27 < streamFPS: 30 c[0].activeLoadRate 0 c[0].clientCount 6 minSpeed 1

The above indicates the M1-M3 fell back to software decoding, and this caused the decode thread to run behind. The OS tried to compensate by boosting the thread priority.

(2) On M4, the material displays red "missing media" frames. If Resolve hardware decode acceleration is turned off, it displays OK but is (understandably) very sluggish.

On M4, with Resolve hardware decode acceleration enabled, the MacOS errorlog is full of AVD decode errors, e.g:
VTDecoderXPCService: (AppleVideoDecoder) AppleAVD: <private>(): ERROR! Failed to decode frame - status (316)

I currently think this may be an issue with how differing behavior on M1-M3 vs M4 in how MacOS VideoToolbox handles > 4k for the 10-bit 4:2:2 H264 case. M1-M3 has the first-generation accelerator I'll denote as AVD-1. M4 has the second-generation accelerator that we'll call AVD-2.

It's possible the root issue is that neither AVD-1 or AVD-2 will accelerate > 4k 10-bit 4:2:2. On M1-M3 this transparently falls back to software decoding. On M4 (using AVD-2) this causes VideoToolbox to return kVTVideoDecoderMalfunctionErr, which FCP shows as black frames and Resolve shows as red "missing media" frames.

Background info: MacOS on Apple Silicon apparently presents three different modes of video decoding, which I refer to as Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. I don't know if those are official terms.

Tier 1 uses "fixed function", ie pure hardware to accelerate decoding for H.264, H.265, and (on M4) AV1. The hardware acceleration for ProRes and ProRes RAW is entire separate and unrelated.

Tier 2 does not used fixed function logic but GPU assistance. Historically, it has not been possible to accelerate video decode/encode using GPU methods. This was extensively documented by Jason Garrett-Glasier, the lead developer of x264 in“OpenCL Acceleration of x264”. AFDS 2012. However, technology progresses, and new-generation GPUs can usefully assist Long GOP decode/encode, although not to the degree of fixed-function hardware.

Apple's AVD-1 and AVD-2 decoders have some intentional tradeoffs to optimize power consumption on mobile devices, and the same microarchitecture is used on the desktop M-series SoCs. One of those limitations is fixed-function decode acceleration apparently does not work for 10-bit 4:2:2, so the SoC minimizes that performance penalty by transparently falling back to GPU-assisted acceleration, denoted here as Tier 2.

Tier 3: This is pure CPU or software-only decode/encode, similar to disabling hardware decode or encode acceleration in Resolve. It is very substantially slower than Tier 2.

There is yet another limitation on AVD-1 and AVD-2: they won't use fixed-function (Tier 1) acceleration at over 4k, if 10-bit 4:2:2. I also don't think they will use Tier 2 GPU-assisted acceleration. I think AVD-1 falls back to software decoding, but for some reason, AVD-2 handles it differently.

With DJI 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I material, this is apparently not accelerated at all, so it's Tier 3. But there is a difference between how AVD-1 responds to this on M1-M3 vs how AVD-2 responds to this on M4.

Either VideoToolbox, CoreVideo or AVD-1 microcode causes it to transparently fall back to software-only decoding. It becomes very slow but works. However due to a change in the AVD-2 unit on M4, this is handled differently at a low level, possibly in micocode. This returns a hard fail so the VTDecompressionSession cannot continue.

The issue is whether this could be addressed via a microcode update for AVD-2 to behave like AVD-1 on this case, or whether video-oriented apps should query the media resolution for this codec if > 4k and set up a new VTDecompressionSession without requesting hardware acceleration. Personally that doesn't sound right, as the general approach in software architecture is fix it at the lowest level, so as to avoid multiple separate fixes at the application level.

That is all I know at this point, and some of the above details could be wrong. However, I'm fairly certain it presents an approximate overview of the current technical scenario.

This only affects 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 material shot by the Mavic 4 Pro. Possible workarounds:

- Shoot 4k 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I. This is not affected.
- Shoot 6k 10-bit 4:2:0 H.265. This is not affected.

For already-shot 6k 10-bit 4:2:2 All-I material, it can be transcoded to various codecs using Shutter Encoder or other similar tools using software transcoding.

I'll report more info as I have it.