Playback performance worse with 15.2.4-16 beta

I had high hopes when reading the change log regarding improved playback performance and much appreciate any work in that area. Unfortunately, I need to report that it is quite a bit worse than 15.2.3 for me.

I get a solid green dot on my usual fully cached "benchmark" timeline (1080 60p) with 15.2.3. With 15.2.4 it's often fast flickering between 60 green and 58,5 red, making the dot appear orange. It also visibly is dropping frames.

On top of that audio playback is now crackling like crasy. Something I've never ever had an issue with since I use Resolve. The audio is not from clips, it's a separate mp3 music track with no sync to video.

I could do with the slowdown, but the audio crackling breaks it for me. For now I'm back on 15.2.3.

This is the same system as usual: XPS 9750 with 1080 Ti eGPU. Drivers (unchanged):

1080 Ti 25.21.14.1771
Intel 630 24.20.100.6287 (Dell)
Thunderbolt 17.4.77.13

Looking at the GPU core load in Hwinfo on the 1080 Ti it seems that it's more uneven than with 15.2.3 during playback. The average is 49%, but it also spikes up to 100% sometimes.

Fullscreen viewer is affected as well, but less than when playing within the UI.

Tried the usual stuff: Disable optimized viewer transfer, minimize UI updates during playback, etc. It doesn't change. 15.2.3 is ok, 15.2.4 is not.

It also seems to build up a bit. The first playback after a restart is better than further loops of the same timeline. I can't see any obvious resources limits in Hwinfo. CPU is at 28% constantly, the 1080 averages at below 50% with some spikes, no disk IO as everything is in memory.

Same exact situation here. I'm glad to hear that it's not just me. I installed 15.2.4 earlier on my system with 32GB of RAM, a 1080ti and a Ryzen 2700. Playback was great before, now it's almost impossible to hit 60fps at 1920x1080.

I've tried caching, optimized media, completely reinstalling the program, tweaking the settings... nothing. It seems like after a few seconds or a bit more the audio will go out of sync, and I'll get crackling in the audio.

The source file has none of these issues and I've even done speed tests on the SSDs I use for the footage and cache. Everything checks out.

Full Specs:

Ryzen 2700 8 cores/16 threads
GTX 1080ti
32GB DDR4 @ 3200MHz
Windows 10 Education 64bit
Davinci Resolve 15.2.4 free version

Would someone else be kind enough to test 4k60p and 1080 60p timelines with 15.2.4 vs 15.2.3?

Often with optimizing you fix one use case and make another worse. Maybe things are indeed better for people working with 30fps or below.

With 15.2.3 4k 60p was working without eGPU and 1080 60p was working with eGPU. I suppose limited by TB3 bandwidth.

With 15.2.4 it can't do 60fps in either case and audio is crackling like crasy.

For me the performance is way worse now than it was with version 15.2.3. I uninstalled and installed again 2.3 but the bad performance continues don't know why. I am on an i7 8700 3.20Ghhz 32 RAM and GTX 1070. The lag is significant now on the edit page, sometimes it freezes for a few secons and on the top I get the message the program is not responding but it clears after a few seconds and I can keep on working. Before it was smooth and 0 lag on the edit page. Now a simple horizon alignment can be a nightmare
INTEL i7 8700
Windows 10
Ram: 32
Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070
Resolve Studio 15.2.4

I completely uninstalled 15.2.4 from my system and installed the previous version, 15.2.3 and the issues are resolved. Playback in the timeline is smooth as butter and no static or sync issues with the audio.

Would someone else be kind enough to test 4k60p and 1080 60p timelines with 15.2.4 vs 15.2.3?

(not exaclty the same) Am now editing 4k 50p H.264 on 1080p 25fps timelines.

Just back from the Sapporo Snow Festival and was hopeful to see Resolve 15.2.4 Studio posted & so installed on Win10 1809 & Mac OS Mojave. In my case, the improved performance seems to be as per what was posted on the release thread: faster pickup & playback, audio is fine, generally scrubs and works more smoothly than 15.2.3.

A few hunderd GB of mixed footage from Lumix GH5, DJI Osmo Pocket and a couple of phones. All H.264, 4k 50p, but the GH5 was all-Intra. Again, no issues that I can see so far. Damn snappy, no transcode; user cache.

Win10 system is as per sig; the Mac is a 12 core, 5,1 cheesgrater with a Sapphire RX580 Nitro + GPU. SSD RAID. Uninistall then clean install for 15.2.4 on the Win system; on the Mac, a simple install over the top of 15.2.3.

Thanks Paul.

I just played with 15.2.4 and 15.2.3 back and forth some more times. It's really day and night. 15.2.3 with 60fps smooth, 15.2.4 no way to do anything.

Not only is performance worse, but the audio is out of sync with all of my RAW clips. (Just previewing in media browser, so it's not a timeline problem on my end.)

Completely unusable. I have to roll-back.

Not only is performance worse, but the audio is out of sync with all of my RAW clips. (Just previewing in media browser, so it's not a timeline problem on my end.)

Completely unusable. I have to roll-back.

What camera raw, what frame-rate, sync drift or out immediately?

Pocket 4K. cDNG 3:1. Audio is immediately off, and by a very large amount. Seconds, not frames.

I downgraded back to 15.2.3 before testing any other flavors as I have a deadline. All is well with 15.2.3.

I'm also experiencing serious problems with playback after installing Resolve Studio 15.2.4.

Audio is unusable. With continual dropout, stuttering and digital artefacts. Everything was running smoothly on 15.2.3, then immediately after installing 15.2.4 performance is severely compromised.

My System:
MacPro 5.1 (Mid 2012) - 12 core 2.4GHz 64GB RAM
OS X 10.12.6
nVidia GTX980 4095 MB
Decklink Studio 2 (Driver 10.11.4)
CUDA Driver 387.178
GPU Driver 378.05.05.25f13

NOTE: I just rolled back to Studio 15.2.3, and it's all smooth again. 15.2.4 is definitely not happy on my system.

On a Mac Pro 6,1 12 core dual d700s and also cannot playback 60p h.264 footage in 15.2.4. It typically sits around 48~50ps with choppy audio. Rolled back to 15.2.3 and can playback just fine.

Same issues here. Audio being the most buggy I've seen it.

Thanks for the warnings, guess I'll stay on 15.2.3 for a while longer. I had a bunch of crashing in the project manager on 15.2.3 that I was hoping to fix with the latest update, but I need the media to play reasonably right now more than I need to manage media and projects.

This is why i always check the forums before installing new Resolve updates. Love the software but the updates seem to always be hit or miss. Sometimes it makes things better and sometimes it breaks things. How long do we have to wait before 2.5 comes out and fixes the "updates" that 2.4 brung. No thanks ill stick with 2.3 for now.

This is why i always check the forums before installing new Resolve updates. Love the software but the updates seem to always be hit or miss. Sometimes it makes things better and sometimes it breaks things. How long do we have to wait before 2.5 comes out and fixes the "updates" that 2.4 brung. No thanks ill stick with 2.3 for now.

Went back to 2.3 as well on Linux.
Audio was out of sync lol

15.2.4 was a bust for me too. Sticking with 15.2.3 for now

Installed 15.2.4 and 1080p@25fps 3 camera MC projects were playing back at max 13fps.
Restarted and now all is fine, even more responsive than version 15.2.3.

No time to check 4k.

Hopefully 15.2.5 will be better for all.

Slow playback again after restarting . . . rolling back to 15.2.3

15.2.4 is also causing a way slower Timeline playback on my system VS 15.2.3.
I'm currently working with 4K 3840 x 2160 at 59.94, GoPro underwater footage with a lot of color grading. About 70% of the clips are slowed down to half speed.
I tried to Generate Optimized media where the FPS was going way to down to see if it would help, Noops it doesn't helped at all. ( Also Render cash color output was activated )

Was running ok before update on 15.2.3.

I can't tell if the sound is out of sync for now, i'm just working with 4K clips at this time.

I will roll back to 15.2.3, Just to finish this project, and wait for the next release and will just skip the 15.2.4 for now.

Actually I went back to 15.2.2.
Both using 15.2.3 and 15.2.4 the video is out of sync on my Linux install.
Currently editing a music video and this issue doesn't really help.

Just before i switch back to the version 15.2.3, i did few test.

In the Edit page, If the cursor as highlighted or selected any track,even an empty spaces on that same track, or any effects that work with Fusion, (Title+ in my case) the Time Line Playback goes down to 30fps when it is supposed to be about 60.

Just selecting the main video track or any audio tracks revert the speed back to what it was supposed to be.

I will do few more test before switching back to the previous version.

Just figured out I messed up my pulseaudio configuration on my linux install. After fixing (back to defaults) even version 15.2.4 is perfectly in sync.

No frame drops playing back a 4K DCI GH5 10 Bit timeline with lots of edits and even transitions (music video), lots of color correction and grading nodes on individual clips and the timeline itself in full resolution but I also don't notice a difference between 15.2.2 and 15.2.4 anymore. A project like will stutter after a few seconds in Premiere even without any color corrections, so I'm pretty satisfied.

I'm curious as to whether or not the devs have seen this and are aware of the issues with the new version? Anyone seen anything on that?

My Mac setup has improved a bit with R15.2.4. It might be related to specific Windows setups.
Any Mac users with newer machines having this issue?

Just before i switch back to the version 15.2.3, i did few test.

In the Edit page, If the cursor as highlighted or selected any track,even an empty spaces on that same track, or any effects that work with Fusion, (Title+ in my case) the Time Line Playback goes down to 30fps when it is supposed to be about 60.

Just selecting the main video track or any audio tracks revert the speed back to what it was supposed to be.

I will do few more test before switching back to the previous version.

I finally went back to 15.2.3,
The version 15.2.4 was way to slow and buggy to achieve something with it.
The strange Timeline behavior related before with the Title+ is gone now, and my timeline is working normally.

Waiting for the next release

15.2.4, 1080p 25fps project, playback is jerky.

2.3 was fine.

Planning to roll back.

- Asit

I'm curious as to whether or not the devs have seen this and are aware of the issues with the new version? Anyone seen anything on that?

I would assume they are aware of that issue and they will fix it on their next release, because nobody from DR asked yet for Logs file or extra infos. ???

I'm curious as to whether or not the devs have seen this and are aware of the issues with the new version? Anyone seen anything on that?

I would assume they are aware of that issue and they will fix it on their next release, because nobody from DR asked yet for Logs file or extra infos. ???

They dont always acknowledge that there is an issue. Like the Fact that you cant record audio using a Mic on Linux with Resolve. Still hasn't been any acknowledgement on the teams part. Lets hope they fix it on 2.5.

[Rohit Gupta]

I'm curious as to whether or not the devs have seen this and are aware of the issues with the new version? Anyone seen anything on that?

I would assume they are aware of that issue and they will fix it on their next release, because nobody from DR asked yet for Logs file or extra infos. ???

Hi,

We are investigating this issue, and we should have a fix for this in the next update.

Regards,
Rohit

I'm curious as to whether or not the devs have seen this and are aware of the issues with the new version? Anyone seen anything on that?

I would assume they are aware of that issue and they will fix it on their next release, because nobody from DR asked yet for Logs file or extra infos. ???

Hi,

We are investigating this issue, and we should have a fix for this in the next update.

Regards,
Rohit

Sounds good.
Really seems like this issue only affects Windows users.
Also why (having to machines here) does Windows have so many issues with full GPU memory?
And will there be a fix for the audio recording issue on Linux?
Sorry for these many questions.

It is to be expected that Windows has more issues. Apple has tight control over both hard- and software, while the number of possible combinations for PC is endless, including drivers. I'd even go so far that Apple would have long disappeared from the computer market if it were not for this advantage.

Really seems like this issue only affects Windows users.

Nope, it's affecting me too, and I'm a Mac user.

4K 24fps S-Log2 XAVC Timeline with grading no issues for me. No mocking, just reporting.

Actually just rendered a couple 5.5K clips out of my Sony. Resolve is amazing how it can automatically string jpg frames shot at 24fps into a clip, lol. So using a 20MP timeline.

Not a hard core user, so I don't really have comparison for performance.

But I've been trying to play 2K DPX from the last film I worked on, on my hackintosh (you can blame it on hacktinosh), i8700K with RX580 and the loading on the gpu barely hits 1/3 of its full potential. The render speed of the whole film is actually the same as my 2015 MacBook Pro, which is weird, funny and rediculous...

And lastly, when playback on timeline, the framerate dot actually hits green at 24fps constantly, only the pictures still stutters...

I'm curious as to whether or not the devs have seen this and are aware of the issues with the new version? Anyone seen anything on that?

I would assume they are aware of that issue and they will fix it on their next release, because nobody from DR asked yet for Logs file or extra infos. ???

Hi,

We are investigating this issue, and we should have a fix for this in the next update.

Regards,
Rohit

Very nice, thanks for the update! If installing the newest version and sending any kind of logs would help, I'm happy to do so. Let me know.

It is to be expected that Windows has more issues. Apple has tight control over both hard- and software, while the number of possible combinations for PC is endless, including drivers. I'd even go so far that Apple would have long disappeared from the computer market if it were not for this advantage.

Apple still exists in the computer market because of a $150M Microsoft in 1997, which practically saved them.

macOS market share hasn't really increased markedly. It's been fairly static. User numbers are growing as the market grows, but they aren't making huge inroads on Windows... So, a lot of their sales come from customer loyalty, which happens with any brand.

They've seen more success in the Mobile and Tablet market, which is why they've put so much effort into iPads and iOS. Subsidies and Leasing plans have a lot to do with this, which is why iOS has really share in markets like the United States (where these things are common).

The "Apple Hardware/Software Integration" is more fiction than fact, in reality. It does work well for marketing, though. Premiere Pro runs better on Windows, and is kind of a counter to that argument if you're going to start extending it out to 3rd party applications!

Hi,

We are investigating this issue, and we should have a fix for this in the next update.

Regards,
Rohit

Thanks for giving this one attention Rohit. Just wondering what sort of ETA we might be looking at for this update? Purely for deciding whether to wait or roll back, not meant as a hurry along at all. If it is a few days away I'll wait, if it is weeks still then I'll roll back.

Well 15.3 seems to have sorted it for me!

Thanks very much BMD engineering team - great job! Works great now.

It does, mostly. There are now v-sync issues in the viewer, which 15.2.3 didn't have (at least on Windows).

Working with playback fps close to panel refresh rate develops jitter during playback. This is quite noticeable when working with 60/59.94 timelines as most computer screens run at these rates.

A 60/59.94 mismatch between playback fps and panel refresh is visible relatively quickly, matching playback and panel fps it may take minutes for the drift to create issues, but it's quite bad then. At times framerate is essentially halfed by missed v-syncs.

Dra here: https://yagni.blob.core.windows.net/abc/vsync.dra.zip

Just loop that timeline and watch it develop jitter on either a 59.94 or 60hz screen.

Panel test here (use Chrome): https://www.displayhz.com/

Thanks BM for fixing the core issue, in particular Anish. Highly appreciated!

For me unfortunately this means back 15.2.3 once more. I only do 60 fps and 15.2.3 is smooth as butter. Hopefully I don’t have to stay on that build forever

For me unfortunately this means back 15.2.3 once more. I only do 60 fps and 15.2.3 is smooth as butter. Hopefully I don’t have to stay on that build forever

Could be worse. Have to stay at 15.2.2 since ACES and RCM are messed up in newer versions lol

15.2.4...audio out of sync with 1080p footage...

15.2.4...audio out of sync with 1080p footage...

Same with 4K footage.

It does, mostly. There are now v-sync issues in the viewer, which 15.2.3 didn't have (at least on Windows).

Working with playback fps close to panel refresh rate develops jitter during playback. This is quite noticeable when working with 60/59.94 timelines as most computer screens run at these rates.

A 60/59.94 mismatch between playback fps and panel refresh is visible relatively quickly, matching playback and panel fps it may take minutes for the drift to create issues, but it's quite bad then. At times framerate is essentially halfed by missed v-syncs.

Dra here: https://yagni.blob.core.windows.net/abc/vsync.dra.zip

Just loop that timeline and watch it develop jitter on either a 59.94 or 60hz screen.

Panel test here (use Chrome): https://www.displayhz.com/

Thanks BM for fixing the core issue, in particular Anish. Highly appreciated!

@perterjackson,

It's possible to have a screenshoot ?
(here a test and OK)

Settings_DRA_crop.gif

Thank you in advance.

Yes, I'll capture the 1080 Ti output on the weekend and upload.

Actually your gif shows tearing (the bars are breaking sometimes). That's a bit weird and should never happen with v-sync. No sure which method you used to capture it.

What I'm talking about is v-sync timing, for example missing the panel refresh slightly due to a drifting timer. If panel and timeline fps is 60, Resolve should manage to feed a new frame each panel refresh. For some reason 15.3 cannot do that for a longer period of time, where 15.2.3 is fine.

If I had to guess, I would say it samples panel refresh and then uses a timer for further refreshes. That may be easier for audio sync, but falls on its knees when panel and timeline fps are very close.

Just did a quick test with 15.3.1. Fullscreen playback (Ctrl+F) in edit tab is ok.

60fps timeline playback within the UI not usable on a 59.97 hz panel. 59.97fps timeline is better, but also not at the level of 15.2.3. So not really a change since 15.3.0.

Apologies for not having supplied more debug for this issue recently, I’ll wait what v16 brings before digging into this issue again. For now back to 15.2.3.