Sony h.265 Color Stripping/Banding Issue

Hello,

I am considering purchasing the full paid version of resolve to see if it will fix an issue that I've been having with my Sony H.265 files. My current setup is a Windows 10 Dell XPS 8930 with 64GB of Ram, an Intel I-7 9700 @3.0 GHz CPU and an NVidia GTX 2060 Graphics card.

I've seen another post here about the same thing using a Sony A1 but didn't see a way to fix it. When I have a footage that in the h.265 format, either in 4:2:2 or the 4:2:0, I get these weird red, green, purple, blue banding across my clip (see attached). This is appears to be a Resolve issues, because if I play the same file in the regular Windows Media Player, I have no issues. As I work around, I've had to transcode my files to ProRes and work off that. That is extremely time consuming (I let this run over night) and eats up unnecessary space. I am hoping that there's a fix to this.

I then thought maybe if I change the record setting from 100Mb/s to 50Mb/s that might help. Nope, neither worked. I can provide a screen recording of this issue if you like. Here is the link to my Sony files:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Please do not hesitate to reach back to me if you need anything further.

Thank you in advance.

the file named xxxxxxx816 seems to be corrupted in the middle at timecode 03.26.03.23 to 03.26.04.21.
the other play fine in resolve 17

the file named xxxxxxx816 seems to be corrupted in the middle at timecode 03.26.03.23 to 03.26.04.21.
the other play fine in resolve 17

That is the issue. No matter what, the first few seconds look likes this, but then afterwards it is fine. I don't think it's a corruption issue, because if I were to play the exact same footage in the default Windows Media Player, I do not have this issue at all or see any stripping (throughout the entire clip). If you look for this topic in this forum, you will see others reporting this as well. I was just hoping that there was a solution to fix this. Thanks.

Can try running through shutter encoder to DNxHR HQX and see it resolve is happier with that file.

When I play the clips in Resolve there are no colored stripes. However, 1 second 3 frames in on clip two it flashes Media Offline, so it definitely has a problem

I've just played the clip in VLC and you can see the picture corruption at that point.

On the other hand, this is how Windows Media Player sees the start of the clip.
It would suggest you have either a camera or SD card problem.

Turn off hardware acceleration in VLC and check then.
Stream may have specific structure which is not “friendly” for hardware decoders.
It also can be broken just first GOP ( due to some reason).

On the other hand, this is how Windows Media Player sees the start of the clip.
It would suggest you have either a camera or SD card problem.

Thank you for testing this out. I've tried it in Widow's Media Player and it is clean on my end with no issue. That is interesting that you see something else. I will try another card to see if that's the issue.

Thanks everyone for your input. I just want to clarify a couple of things. If you open the file with (on a Windows PC) the Movies and TV app, it plays just fine. Window's media player will show the issue that I am having. Secondly, it is not a corrupted SD card, I've tried different card,a v90 cards, reformatted and it makes no difference. Besides, if I record that same card in another format S-Cinetone, HLG or any non h.265 file, I do not not get this banding issue. Even when I review the footage on the back of the camera, there's no banding/stripping.

In clip 816 I get Media Offline, same as Charles. (Studio 18b5 on Windows 10.)

In PotPlayer, I get black frames.

That clip is corrupted.

This is just the weirdest thing. The files are not corrupted. I am looking at them now and they are there. I called Sony ProSupport to see if they had a solution's and I was told to try Catalyst Browse to import my footage. I did that, and it still has the same issue. When I view the footage inside of Catalyst, it has no issue. So I am just confused as to what is the root cause of the issue. It can't be the graphics card because it plays fine in other programs. I am going to try using my integrated graphics card (I know it will be worst). I just want to see how that will impact this.

File has some "problematic" structure, so depending on the decoder it's fine or not.
Transcode to other format in tool which handles it fine.

File has some "problematic" structure, so depending on the decoder it's fine or not.
Transcode to other format in tool which handles it fine.

Andrew,

Transcoding is what works. But that process is tedious and takes up so much time and space on my drives. I would really like for this to work out to the gate with no issues. I film weddings and have over 100 clips between three cameras. To transcode to ProRes is a multi-day process. It really makes no sense to me.

Just to independently confirm that it is a corrupt file: run ffmpeg -i 20220622_a7iv0816.MP4 out.mp4 (because we don't care about the output currently).

When you do that you see:

Code: Select all

[hevc @ 0000016e2085b000] Invalid NAL unit size (1523556729 > 255680).
[hevc @ 0000016e2085b000] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037d740] Invalid NAL unit size (-1653601533 > 162519).
[hevc @ 0000016e2037d740] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037df40] Invalid NAL unit size (-384799712 > 163216).
[hevc @ 0000016e2037df40] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037e9c0] Could not find ref with POC 3
Error while decoding stream #0:0: Invalid data found when processing input
    Last message repeated 2 times

So effectively Resolve and vlc does the same thing: Showing there's an error.

So the problem is in your camera/sd-card/transfer/somewhere before resolve is involved.

It can be corrupted file, but doesn’t have to be.
Try adding -skip_initial_bytes, but you need some bytes value here ( those to skip).
File may have some custom data at start which some decoders can’t deal with.

https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/issues/3440

Solution is to send file to BM through support page and hope they will code a fix or say that file is a bad mp4 and fix needs to be done in camera. It can be just 1 recording due to some random issue. Do you have many files with this problem ?

Just to independently confirm that it is a corrupt file: run ffmpeg -i 20220622_a7iv0816.MP4 out.mp4 (because we don't care about the output currently).

When you do that you see:

Code: Select all

[hevc @ 0000016e2085b000] Invalid NAL unit size (1523556729 > 255680).
[hevc @ 0000016e2085b000] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037d740] Invalid NAL unit size (-1653601533 > 162519).
[hevc @ 0000016e2037d740] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037df40] Invalid NAL unit size (-384799712 > 163216).
[hevc @ 0000016e2037df40] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037e9c0] Could not find ref with POC 3
Error while decoding stream #0:0: Invalid data found when processing input
    Last message repeated 2 times

So effectively Resolve and vlc does the same thing: Showing there's an error.

So the problem is in your camera/sd-card/transfer/somewhere before resolve is involved.

If that is the case, why does it playback well in camera, Catalyst Browse and in the Windows Movies & TV app? This what I don't understand. I can reformat the card, record in another format and it is good. It just seems to be h.265 format. Thanks for checking though.

It can be corrupted file, but doesn’t have to be.
Try adding -skip_initial_bytes, but you need some bytes value here ( those to skip).
File may have some custom data at start which some decoders can’t deal with.

https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/issues/3440

Solution is to send file to BM through support page and hope they will code a fix or say that file is a bad mp4 and fix needs to be done in camera. It can be just 1 recording due to some random issue. Do you have many files with this problem ?

This only happens with the h.265 format. I did email Black Magic about this as well as send them the files. I am waiting to hear what they say. I am not the first to have this issue. Here a link to another person siting the same thing.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=138879&p=748693&hilit=color+strips#p748693

Just to independently confirm that it is a corrupt file: run ffmpeg -i 20220622_a7iv0816.MP4 out.mp4 (because we don't care about the output currently).

When you do that you see:

Code: Select all

[hevc @ 0000016e2085b000] Invalid NAL unit size (1523556729 > 255680).
[hevc @ 0000016e2085b000] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037d740] Invalid NAL unit size (-1653601533 > 162519).
[hevc @ 0000016e2037d740] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037df40] Invalid NAL unit size (-384799712 > 163216).
[hevc @ 0000016e2037df40] Error splitting the input into NAL units.
[hevc @ 0000016e2037e9c0] Could not find ref with POC 3
Error while decoding stream #0:0: Invalid data found when processing input
    Last message repeated 2 times

So effectively Resolve and vlc does the same thing: Showing there's an error.

So the problem is in your camera/sd-card/transfer/somewhere before resolve is involved.

If that is the case, why does it playback well in camera, Catalyst Browse and in the Windows Movies & TV app? This what I don't understand. I can reformat the card, record in another format and it is good. It just seems to be h.265 format. Thanks for checking though.

Because it doesn't mean file is necessarily corrupted.
Sony may be using "non-typical" way (which still may be in the specs), but some decoders are not coded to handle it properly.
H265 spec is complex (mp4 also) and there are some unspecified bits as well, so things like this do happen. No need to make any special stories from it. You just need to be patient and let Sony or others fix it.

There is a strange GOP at place where 816 crashes, so maybe fix needs to be done by Sony, but this needs a very deep knowledge to tell for sure.

Is this issue happening just in the first 1-3 seconds of the file?
Trim this file (not re-encode) after problematic bit (using eg. QTX) and should be fine then.

Also- file is 23.976p. Have you seen it happening for 24? or 25p?

I am attaching a screen recording, along with the files, so that everyone can see exactly what I am seeing on my end. I want to thank everyone in advance for their help. Please let me know if I've missed anything.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thanks,

I am considering purchasing the full paid version of resolve to see if it will fix an issue that I've been having with my Sony H.265 files.

It will not.

Second that. The problem has originated in the camera or when copying the card.

Here a link to another person siting the same thing.

Might not be the same issue. His clip works fine for everyone else, yours doesn't.

I will keep this post up for another week or so, just in case someone else comes across this. But the issue is resolved once you upgrade to the paid version. I suspect why it works on some and not on others on the free version is related to Windows/Mac and graphic cards. Once I upgraded to the paid version, the banding issue went away. The free version doesn't seem to support 10 bit......at least on my system.

I already knew that that 4:2:2 was not supported, but I didn't know that 10 bit was not. It is not the SD card or anything else, you just need the studio version. Thanks everyone for your help.

I will keep this post up for another week or so, just in case someone else comes across this. But the issue is resolved once you upgrade to the paid version. I suspect why it works on some and not on others on the free version is related to Windows/Mac and graphic cards. Once I upgraded to the paid version, the banding issue went away. The free version doesn't seem to support 10 bit......at least on my system.

That's correct: the free version of Resolve won't support 10-bit H.265 files, but Resolve Studio will. I wish they would flash up a warning notice or something when you loaded those files, but this is one of those things you just have to know going in.

Long-GOP H.264 & H.265 are bad for post anyway, as a general rule. We pretty much always transcode them to something simpler like ProRes 422 just to cut down on headaches and make it easier to Media Manage later on. The lack of embedded timecode and the lack of unique file names on many small cameras is a huge problem, and it can snowball into terrible workflow problems later on.

I will keep this post up for another week or so, just in case someone else comes across this. But the issue is resolved once you upgrade to the paid version. I suspect why it works on some and not on others on the free version is related to Windows/Mac and graphic cards. Once I upgraded to the paid version, the banding issue went away. The free version doesn't seem to support 10 bit......at least on my system.

That's correct: the free version of Resolve won't support 10-bit H.265 files, but Resolve Studio will. I wish they would flash up a warning notice or something when you loaded those files, but this is one of those things you just have to know going in.

Long-GOP H.264 & H.265 are bad for post anyway, as a general rule. We pretty much always transcode them to something simpler like ProRes 422 just to cut down on headaches and make it easier to Media Manage later on. The lack of embedded timecode and the lack of unique file names on many small cameras is a huge problem, and it can snowball into terrible workflow problems later on.

I couldn't agree with you more. Resolve should really make that clear in bold so that people would know. I almost purchased a new system thinking it was my PC. I was already going to pull the trigger and make the purchase after using the program. It was only after I made the purchase did I noticed that the issue went away.

Yes, I did transcode my files to ProRes at one point and that does work. But that workflow is tedious. If you do a wedding, you'll have several clips that will need to be transcoded. I had to let me computer run for two days just to process all the clips to ProRes. It works, but as you've stated, not the best workflow.

I think Apple users are not seeing this on the free version simply because the M1/M2 chips are just that good. So far, I am seeing no issues on my end after I made the jump to the paid version.

Since this thread has a few replies, I am unable to remove this post. If anyone in the future runs into this issue, just know that you will need the paid version of Resolve. If not, depending on your system (PC vs Mac), you will run into this situation while using the free version of Resolve.

After researching this issue for a while I believe I have a mapping of what works and what doesn't.
H.265 with 10 bit and 4:2:2 doesn't work in the free version.
H.265 with 10 bit and 4:2:0 does work, as long as the video doesn't use b-frames.
DJI drone video, for example, doesn't use b-frames so it works just fine. Sony cameras do use b-frames (which offers better compression), and that produces the weird color banding in Davinci Resolve.
The best way to solve this is to convert the video to ProRes 422, which works just fine.

This is the command for converting the Sony files:

Code: Select all

$ffmpeg -i "$file.mp4" -c:v prores_ks -c:a aac -profile:v 2 "$file.mov"

Where $file is the base file name to convert.

Note that the ProRes files are X8 larger that the H.256 files, so consider using them only for editing.