FCP 120fps footage shows black

Note: On Sony media, this bug only affects 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC-S at 100 or 120 fps. It does NOT affect 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC-HS at 100 or 120 fps. I believe all Sony cameras that can shoot the XAVC-S codec at that bit depth and chroma subsampling can also shoot the XAVC-HS variant.

On Apple Silicon Macs, the XAVC-HS version seems to run smoother and there is no quality loss.

For existing XAVC-S material with those parameters, the only solution is transcoding or downgrading to Ventura 13.3.1(a). But for all new material, shooting XAVC-HS could be an immediate solution.

Although the problem has been most widely reported on this XAVC-S variant, it seems to exist on some other codecs such as DJI 5k 10-bit 4:2:0 H-264at 23.98 and 29.97 fps.

You don't need 2 computers etc. to test new versions of macOS or roll back to an earlier version.

Create a new volume on your boot drive with Disk Utility, install an earlier version of macOS on that and use it for FCP.

Once you have the installer the whole process takes less than half an hour.

How to download macOS - Apple Support

Alternatively check out the free version of DaVinci Resolve.

This Ventura 13.4 bug on Apple Silicon affects entire timelines which have already been edited, if you try to re-export that to make a slight change. If you have 499 clips of various codecs in an existing timeline, and that timeline also contains a *single* 120 fps 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC-S clip, it can mess up the entire exported timeline. It can also make it impossible to export the timeline -- FCP may say it's done but there is no error and no file on disk. If you don't know exactly what has happened it can waste a lot of time.

As Tom said, the cameras that make these 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC-S (H264) clips can also record in 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC-HS (HEVC) which is generally better anyway. It is more broadly compatible since 10-bit 4:2:2 HEVC is part of the spec, not a proprietary vendor-specific extension. Video acceleration on newer machines often works better on HEVC than XAVC-S, plus HEVC produces better quality at the same encoding bit rate. That doesn't help XAVC-S clips that are already recorded but for any subsequent shooting the cameras can usually be switched to XAVC-HS HEVC.

If you have an Adobe account, the best way - in my opinion, to convert your 120FPS XAVC files is to use Adobe Media Encoder. I converted them all to Apple ProRes (you can choose the compression) and unlike Handbrake for Mac, you can choose the destination of the export. It runs pretty smooth and rather quick (I’m running a loaded up Mac Studio). Imported to FCP no problem and was able to slow down to 20% on a 23.98 Timeline with no issues. Until they fix things, I will be using this method on any clips I need to shoot in 120FPS (which is only stuff I need to slow down that much). I use Atomos Ninja Vs on all my Sony Cine Cameras to capture ProRes up to 60FPS.

It's even more restrictive than 120 fps XAVC-S. It does not happen with 120 fps 8-bit 4:2:0 XAVC-S, only the 10-bit 4:2:2 variant.

However there is apparently an issue with DJI 5k 10-bit 4:2:0 material at 23.98 and 29.97 fps (at least from the Mavic 3). But I haven't seen anyone report that so far.

Since 10-bit 4:2:2 H264 is somewhat non-standard and subject to vendor-specific implementation, my concern is other non-Sony cameras shooting 10-bit 4:2:2 H264 might be affected, maybe only at high frame rates. OTOH I haven't seen reports of that, but the Sony cameras are so popular that might bias the results.

Just had the same issue. Black footage and only audio working. I'm on my Mac Mini M2 Pro and updating to Ventura 13.5.1 seemed to do the trick for me. As a wedding videographer, this issue just took 5 years off my life in the span of 2 hours.

a temporary fix - use handbrake en encode the footage to h265 10bit, that will work. its painfully slow though.

this is my settings that seems like the video didn't lose any quality. prepare to proxy though.

Oh you’re right. When I converted it through HandBrake, it worked so I wasn’t sure if it stopped working or never did.

Thank you!

[Edited by Moderator]

You can revert to a previous version of Ventura. You don't have to go back to Monterey.

XAVC-S high frame rate users are a minute fraction of the number of macOS users. It's actually not surprising that the problem was missed in beta.

If you shooting, shoot XAVC-HS HEVC, and you'll be fine. A better format and codec anyway.

I heard a report today the "black footage" problem also happens on DJI 5k at 50 fps, so it's not isolated to 23.98 and 29.97 fps. I reported the DJI 5k issue to Apple Support on June 1st, plus updated bug FB12218743 I filed in the MacOS Feedback Assistant app to include the DJI aspect.

This thread looks at this

Sony 100 fps and 120 fps XAVC-S 10-bit 4:… - Apple Community

I just made a really interesting discovery which might help at least in terms of what you shoot until this gets fixed. I've got ProRes Raw footage from Z6 and Z6II woth Ninja V over three years, all shot as 24fps in 4K. None of this footage is affected by this issue.

Anyway I figured I should check what happens if I shoot in HD with the Z6II (I no longer have the Z6) and surprisingly it is affected. I tried all available frame rates (59.94. down to 23.98) and all are affected. I tried 4K again with the same setup to make sure and there is no problem but it only goes to 30fps. So it is nothing to do with frame rates but it does depend on the frame size (1080 v 2160).

One workaround if you can't go back to an earlier version of FCP would be to shoot in 4K and bring it into a HD timeline. Obviously no good for existing footage but it is a possible solution for now. It would be

You can also use Handbrake to convert the video. Joema posted the best settings to use with this media. Not sure which thread it’s in. Try a forum or google search.

Ian R. Brown wrote:

You don't need 2 computers etc. to test new versions of macOS or roll back to an earlier version.

Create a new volume on your boot drive with Disk Utility, install an earlier version of macOS on that and use it for FCP.

Once you have the installer the whole process takes less than half an hour.

You don't need to have multiple computers, but it makes like so much better. There is more here than simply a buggy update. There are many reasons why one might want another computer. Fire. Theft. Accident. Mechanical failure. Applying an update. 😄

Also, Apple doesn't really support multiple boot partitions. Yes, yes, yes. I know Apple has published support documents describing how to do it. That doesn't mean it is going to work or that it is a good idea. I mean, after all, Apple explicitly supports 120fps in Final Cut Pro. That doesn't mean it works, now does it?

Trying to use multiple boot partitions is problematic in so many ways. Those problems go away with a new computer. True, it costs money and time, but both can be budgeted and controlled. A problem that entirely goes away just by spending some money is a solved problem. People's time is worth money too, isn't it? Without good management, that will likely end up costing much more in the long run.