FCPX - M1 Max - ram problem during render

Rafaello, I can confirm that there is a problem editing 4K, 10-bit, h.265 on the M1 series of machines.

I was struggling with the exact problem you describe, and initially I thought it was the Filmconvert plugin. I spent a good deal of time conversing with them about the issue before I ruled it out.

In my case, I shot a documentary using the Sony A7siii in 10-bit, 4K, h.265 mode. The footage looks great and I had tiny files. Editing them is smooth as butter on the M1. HOWEVER when I go to export, the ram usage keeps climbing higher and higher until it hits some sort of maximum and the export fails. This huge RAM usage happens for exporting and also when rendering the timeline. I turned off all plugins, I'm now just using LUTs to apply grades to my footage, it still gets stuck.

The process using up all the RAM is called VTDecoderXPCService, when exporting it jumps up past 64GB on my 16GB machine. VTDecoderXPCService is the background process which also plays back h.265 HEVC content in QuickTime Player, it's a fundamental part of the OS which is responsible for decoding video. It is what talks to the M1's video hardware.

All my footage has LUTs applied, since I work in a log format. So this might be a factor. I will run another test later to see what happens if I remove them all.

In the end, I solved it by transcoding my entire project (a hundred hours of video) into ProRes using the Transcode--->Optimized feature. This was a disappointing solution, since one of the great perks of the h.265 workflow was that it was very portable, and I didn't need a lot of space. However, I can confirm that this solves it, for now.

I would encourage you to submit feedback directly to Apple about the issue, because sticking with the h.265 is an excellent, lean workflow for long documentaries and for travelling.

Feedback - Final Cut Pro - Apple

The most obvious thing is that you have Chrome-a known enemy of video and professional applications.

You should uninstall Chrome and its abusive “keystone” daemons and agents-see https://chromeisbad.com for why and how.

After uninstalling you will need to delete and redownload FCP.

Secondly, you have several third party plugins, including ColorFinale. Make sure that all of them are compatible with the current version oc FCP. I think that CF in particular hasn’t been updated recently and may not work.

Excellent advice from Luis to completely remove Chrome and the keystone daemons (just trashing the app is not enough) and then reinstalling FCP.

Do you also have a dock connected? If so, you might try removing and testing. Is the LoupeDeck compatible with M1?

Also, not directly related to FCP, but I see you have QNAP software so you are probably using a QNAP NAS with your media. They are great. Please make sure you have updated the firmware to the latest version because there is new ransomware called deadbolt that has attacked many QNAPs beginning last Tuesday. Be extremely careful if you have it exposed to the internet. The deadbolt ransomware will encrypt all your files and the hackers want .03 BTC for a decryption key.

I seem to recall reading here that people on M1/Monterey had problems with some USB external devices. Removing the dock is just a trouble-shooting strategy to simplify the setup to help determine your issue.

For more QNAP deadbolt info: https://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=164797

It sounds like there are two, possibly related, issues? One is that you get an "Out of Memory" error, which is what you should be focused on figuring out. The other is you think there's excessive CPU usage. Is this correct? When you say, "appears very quickly" and is "most visible," do you mean the Out of Memory error or high CPU usage?

Your Etrecheck shows you have the Neat noise reduction plugin, which does a great job but is extremely CPU intensive. H.265 is also a processor intensive codec.

Since you've done a clean install of the OS, a clean install of FCP, completely removed Chrome and its keystone daemons, I would start with a new test library and try to narrow down the culprit that causes Out of Memory. You could start by optimizing the H.265 footage. Make sure you have enough free disk space because the optimized files can be quite large.

I have no knowledge about anything Apple is doing. If it’s a media specific hardware problem it may not be something the FCP engineers alone can fix. There might be a change in combination with 12.3, but I don’t have any of the Sony 10-bit to test.

Thanks. I'll upgrade one of my machines from Big Sur to Monterey and report back, I'm not optimistic but it is something to try.

I could make some 10bit footage available, but it would have to be quite a lot. The machine doesn't seem to have as much trouble with smaller clips.

As promised, I updated one of my machines to 12.3 (Monterey) and tested it, it suffers from the same issue. When RAM usage climbs to about 64GB (on that 8GB machine) then I get an out-of-memory warning and the share fails.

Still the only way to successfully export has been to transcode all media to Optimized. It's not an ideal solution so I'm hoping Apple is listening to my feedback.

If you create a new, test library on the MI internal drive and add 10 minutes of footage *not* from a Sony a7s III, does the export problem occur?

So the problem only occurs if you grade? Can you describe what you mean by "normal grading?" Exactly what effects and plugins are you using for grading?