Quicktime ScreenRecord Glitch (brightness fluctuation & Dropped frames)

Hi,


Does anyone have a problem when using Quicktime to record the screen?  


The issue I have is that QuickTime suddenly changes the brightness of the screen - and as this happens frames are dropped (completely missing) - causing audio synchronization issues when combining with a separately recorded audio source.


Over the years I’ve used QuickTime to record the screen - but only recently have encountered this weird screen brightness fluctuation issue.   


I made a YouTube video documenting the issue.  Here’s the link:


https://youtu.be/vd7t5nRZHIw


-David

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 19, 2019 11:21 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 19, 2019 2:38 PM

Do you have 'Automatically adjust brightness' turned on?


It looks like your computer is near a window that has a lot of light coming into the room. As the weather changes fluctuations in that amount of light, I suspect the mac is adjusting automatically accordingly. Try turning that off and re-recording with QT Player.


As for the audio, the Zoom recorders can record at extremely high sample rates, as well as a variety of sample rates. The sample rates you use need to match the project sample rate or you may get timing issues. You could try to select the audio and use conform rate feature of FCPX. I believe these days that means selecting your audio clips and selecting Automatic Speed from the Retiming Options drop down at the lower left corner of the viewer. The biggest problems usually seem to occur between a 48kHz Project setting and 44.1kHz audio (or vice versa.)


If that doesn't work, then if memory serves (it's been awhile) I believe I had been able to correct the sync problem by loading the audio in Logic and exporting at the slower sample rate (e.g.: converting a 96kHz audio down to 48kHz). I do not know *why* Logic can handle the sample rate mismatches and FCPX cannot... but... there you go. I see you use Cubase - try using that to convert your audio to the project sample rate in FCPX. There's also a method of manually conforming audio (assuming that the rate of sync drift is constant.) Let me know if it comes to that...



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4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 19, 2019 2:38 PM in response to silver_mica

Do you have 'Automatically adjust brightness' turned on?


It looks like your computer is near a window that has a lot of light coming into the room. As the weather changes fluctuations in that amount of light, I suspect the mac is adjusting automatically accordingly. Try turning that off and re-recording with QT Player.


As for the audio, the Zoom recorders can record at extremely high sample rates, as well as a variety of sample rates. The sample rates you use need to match the project sample rate or you may get timing issues. You could try to select the audio and use conform rate feature of FCPX. I believe these days that means selecting your audio clips and selecting Automatic Speed from the Retiming Options drop down at the lower left corner of the viewer. The biggest problems usually seem to occur between a 48kHz Project setting and 44.1kHz audio (or vice versa.)


If that doesn't work, then if memory serves (it's been awhile) I believe I had been able to correct the sync problem by loading the audio in Logic and exporting at the slower sample rate (e.g.: converting a 96kHz audio down to 48kHz). I do not know *why* Logic can handle the sample rate mismatches and FCPX cannot... but... there you go. I see you use Cubase - try using that to convert your audio to the project sample rate in FCPX. There's also a method of manually conforming audio (assuming that the rate of sync drift is constant.) Let me know if it comes to that...



Mar 19, 2019 1:05 PM in response to silver_mica

I hadn’t seen this before.

A few ideas:

-when this happens, make a note of the time and then look at the logs in the Console around that time to see what kind of error messages may have popped up

-run Etrecheck and post its report here for us to take a look; odd glitches are often associated with software conflicts

-try to ascertain any kind of pattern: does this only happen when you launch an application, as in the example you posted; only when some particular applications are also running? anything

-try doing a similar recording when running on a new user account; same problem, or does it work?

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Quicktime ScreenRecord Glitch (brightness fluctuation & Dropped frames)

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