Sony Fx3 And imported footage to FCP 10.6.5

Here's a Youtube link sharing FX3 sample footage recorded internally and also ProRes RAW via a Ninja.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTVuiF3WDOA

QuickTime Player complained about the mp4 and only showed black but VLC was able to open it. The ProRes RAW opened without problem.

FCP 10.6.5 with macOS 12.6.5 on an Intel iMac could import and play both without issue.

This is interesting. I just tested the following codecs and formats from a Sony A7SIII, which is identical to the FX3 from a codec and format standpoint. FCP 10.6.5 and Ventura 13.3.1(a), Pro Video Formats 2.2.4, Quicktime Player 10.5 (1154.4.2). These were all at 23.98 fps (indicated as 24 fps on the camera menus).

I tested them on an M1 Ultra Mac Studio, M1 Max MacBook Pro 16, and 2017 iMac 27, ALL running the above versions.

All clips worked on all machines in FCP.

On the Intel iMac 27, Quicktime Player would not play the XAVC-S 10-bit 4:2:2 and XAVC-SI 10-bit 4:2:2 clips. Also on that machine, the icon images would not display in Finder. This is despite the clips working OK on that machine in FCP.

Summary:

4k/23.98 XAVC-S 10-bit 4:2:2 - would not play in Quicktime Player on 2017 iMac 27, Finder icons have no images.

4k/23.98 XAVC-S 8-bit 4:2:0 - FCP, Quicktime and Finder icons worked on all three test machines.

4k/23.98 XAVC-SI 10-bit 4:2:2 - would not play in Quicktime Player on 2017 iMac 27, Finder icons have no image.

4k/23.98 XAVC-HS 10-bit 4:2:2 - FCP, Quicktime and Finder icons worked on all three test machines.

4k/23.98 XAVC-HS 10-bit 4:2:0 - FCP, Quicktime and Finder icons worked on all three test machines.

Notes:

XAVC-S uses H264, XAVC-SI is All-Intra, XAVC-HS uses HEVC.

I don't know why the material behaves differently on the 2017 iMac 27.

Re any MP4 material from the FX3 or A7SIII, FCP cannot read timecode from that variant of the MP4 container format. This can be worked around with some 3rd party utilities. That is likely due to lack of industry standardization on timecode metadata representation within the MP4 container.

Intel machines work OK with that material -- within FCP. Performance does vary with model and age of machine, but is not generally as smooth as Apple Silicon.

So it's not the Intel or Quick Sync hardware cannot handle it, since FCP does OK. Interestingly, 10-bit 4:2:2 HEVC is considered more difficult for 2017-vintage Quick Sync acceleration, yet that format works in Quicktime Player on Intel, but not the "easier" All-Intra XAVC-SI format.

It's almost like they added specific support for those to FCP or Pro Video Formats, and Quicktime Player didn't get that on Intel. It could be some kind of licensing or IP issue, although normally that was associated with HEVC, yet that works with Quicktime Player on Intel.

No problem with the MPEG-4 files. They play fine on my system in QT and in FCP. They need an Arri LUT. They're standard XAVC 10-bit 4:2:2. There are some more exotic formats on that camera, which these aren't. The Atomos files of course are whatever format is set in there. The FX3 is just a front end; so as far as the recording goes it may as well be an iPhone.

Video right out of the camera would be great. Sony sometimes post downloadable samples or bloggers post some test clips online.

It looks like only the Silicon machines will work with the more complex XAVC material.

I’m surprised both you and the OP both had a problem with the QT player and the mp4 file.

Do you have any other XAVC material that plays correctly? I have quite a number of clips that all seem fine in QT. And it’s strange the FCP can play it and not QT.

@migil99 - That's not my footage, I just did a search and posted the link that I found.

Tom, I don't have any XAVC footage at the moment. I also thought it was strange that FCP played it but not QT. The error QT throws is, "This file contains some media which isn’t compatible with QuickTime Player. Would you like to open the file anyway?"

Opening it just plays black. The QT Inspector shows reasonable and likely correct info for the file.

What computer are you using?

I don’t know. It shoots some custom formats that may not work. If you find some sample files it would be good to see them.

Thanks Terry. That is strange. I’m using an M1 Max MBP with 13.3.1.