Files produced by Panasonic GH5 4K All Intra 10 bits 422 4K at 400 Mbps playback stutters in Final Cut Pro

Question

Files produced by Panasonic GH5 4K All Intra 10 bits 422 4K at 400 Mbps playback stutters in Final Cut Pro

I have a mac mini 2018 3.2GHz Intel 6Core i7, when I play files video files produced by Panasonic GH5 4K All Intra 10 bits 422 4K at 400 Mbps playback stutters in final cut pro.

This format is supported as native in Final Cut pro that scrubs it just fine without conversion however playback stutters consistently

The same files play fine with the free VLC player indicating a performance issue in the software.

As those files are included in Pro Video Formats and are not standard in OS X I presume the issue is with this component.

How can I get this bug fixed? I can't play files on my Mini or any other of my mac except using VLC and when I review my projects in final cut also stutters making my work impossible

Am thinking of moving to DaVinci Resolve or trying it

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 6, 2019 8:46 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,889 points

Dec 9, 2019 5:48 AM in response to Interceptor121

For what it's worth I can optimize on import. The original files are pretty large. The optimized aren't really a lot larger, but of course you're stuck with two of them. I suppose you could use EditReady to batch process them before you import.

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Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,889 points

Dec 6, 2019 8:48 AM in response to Interceptor121

The 10-bit media has to be optimized.

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Answer 3

Dec 8, 2019 2:44 PM in response to fox_m

Just to give an idea when I play the files in VLC the CPU is 10% and the GPU 15% when I play the same file in the viewer the CPU remains 20% but the GPU is 90% or maxed out

For me the decoder has problem and is poorly written the files have CAVLC and yes they have macroblock but this is really light and no GOP structure

Apple need to improve their decoder clearly that is where the problem lies

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Answer 4

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Dec 9, 2019 5:23 AM in response to Interceptor121

I downloaded the file and piped it into FCP X.

It plays OK but makes my Mac work.

Optimising sorts it out.

MBPro 2015 r 16 gig RAM 2 gig VRAM

Al

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Answer 5

Dec 6, 2019 9:43 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

No it is a Intra codec made only of full I frames

https://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/avc-ultra/AVC-ULTRAoverview.pdf

I have just been on the phone with apple that have agreed is a bug and are about to ask me information to debug and even files after the screen share

I am hoping we get to the bottom of this

By the way FCP should support AVCINTRA 444 4K that if 12 bit AVC Intra is an intra codec no GOP structure

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Answer 6

Dec 9, 2019 5:39 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

It does not optimise on import but you can optimise it later

However the format is a large as ProRes 422 and I have no desire to produce twice the size of those huge files

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,889 points

Dec 8, 2019 1:56 PM in response to Interceptor121

Thanks very much for this. Playback in the viewer is quite smooth for me, much smoother than the 10-bit CABAC QuickTime files from the same camera, which stutter terribly if they're not optimized. Your intra media is quite smooth. I'm wondering if the choke point for you might be the graphics capabilities of the Mini.

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Answer 8

Dec 9, 2019 5:27 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Late 2016 15" MBP 16 GB RAM 4 GB VRAM has a discrete GPU inside

So as I thought the 1.5 GB of the integrated GPU is not enough. I am wondering if connecting a monitor to my VEGA 64 using displayport will sort everything out.

I need to part company with the LG ultrafine :-(

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Answer 9

Dec 6, 2019 9:07 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

https://www.apple.com/uk/final-cut-pro/specs/

Native Editing7 Support for:

Panasonic AVC-Ultra, including AVC-Intra 4:4:4 at 2K and 4K frame sizes, AVC-Intra 200, AVC-Intra 100, AVC-Intra 50, AVC-LongG and AVC-Intra LT

AVC-Intra 4:4:4 is 12 bits and the specs says native editing is supported so why is it not working?

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Answer 10

Dec 6, 2019 11:15 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Tom all the camera have a footnote 2 6 however when I import the files the option for optimised media is greyed out this indicated final cut pro is able to perform native editing

It is an ALL intraframe format for fast editing without conversion and this is what I intend to do

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Answer 11

Dec 9, 2019 8:49 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

The AVCI format at 400 mbps is actually better than ProRes 422 so I would need to convert to 422 HQ so that I do not loose quality which is not really my plan

I am thinking of connecting a display directly to the external GPU to see if the problem continues. I experience no other issues and rendering and sharing is extremely fast. Even scrubbing works perfectly. I only have a playback issue mostly in full screen

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