FCPX paused video is blurry... but sharp in motion?

Hi all,

I know what you're thinking, it' the 'better performance/better quality' issue... but actually, it's that in reverse:

I have 4K 24p footage from a Panasonic S5 (MOV, 422/10bit/LongGOP), imported into FCPX, no transcoding to optimised media/proxy.

When the playback is stopped, the picture is blurrier than during playback.... cropped screenshots attached, the blurry one is actually when the video is playing back.

Mac Studio Ultra, macOS 12.4, FCPX 10.6.3, playback set to 'better quality'. Never had this on my old intel Mac Pro, this machine is new to me. This is the first new footage that I've imported on this machine.

My other main/current project from my intel Mac Pro is not doing this.

Any ideas? Maybe it's a setting I've forgotten about in moving to this new Mac...

Cheers!

Ed

P.S. - happy to finally find a FCPX forum... so far I've just been struggling alone!

Have you tried resetting FCP preferences? Hold option and command when launching FCP and choose Delete Preferences... It will open the the default Untitled library. Reopen the library you were working on, set your prefs back to the way you like (disable background rendering, etc.) and see if the issue is resolved.

There's also the FCP discussion group at discussions.apple.com/community/professi...ations/final-cut-pro

Thanks for the reply!

I can try that for sure, but it's a new computer with a fresh download of FCPX

It should be as fresh as it gets! I was actually wondering if it was a setting that I had enabled/disabled on my Intel Mac that I'd forgotten about...

I'll give the Apple forums a shot, too, thanks!

TeddyRuxpin wrote:

...I have 4K 24p footage from a Panasonic S5 (MOV, 422/10bit/LongGOP), imported into FCPX, no transcoding to optimised media/proxy....When the playback is stopped, the picture is blurrier than during playback...Mac Studio Ultra, macOS 12.4, FCPX 10.6.3, playback set to 'better quality'. Never had this on my old intel Mac Pro...

I confirm the same behavior with Panasonic GH5 4k/29.97 and 23.98 10-bit 4:2:2 H264 *and* All-Intra material on both M1 Ultra and M1 Max, FCP 10.6.3, MacOS 12.4. It does not happen on FCP 10.5.2 on MacOS 10.15.7 on a 2017 iMac 27. It does not happen using the same material in Resolve Studio 17.4.6 on the M1 Ultra.

Edit/add: Unlike the Xeon-powered 2013 Mac Pro, the iMac's i7 CPU has Quick Sync hardware acceleration, so these machines cover three test cases: non-accelerated decode (2013 Mac Pro), Intel Quick Sync-accelerated decode (iMac 27) and Apple-Silicon-accelerated decode (M1 Max and Ultra). DaVinci Resolve covers the software part, so it's not some unavoidable aspect of Apple Silicon video acceleration. The MacOS Video ToolBox framework automatically uses hardware acceleration if available but the developer can opt out of that. I suspect there might be an undocumented trace flag in FCP to disable acceleration for testing, but I don't know it.

It is playback-only and does not get encoded to output. However this means FCP editors on Apple Silicon cannot easily do a precise sharpness check on still frame material from any affected cameras -- if unrendered. I suspect it also happens on S1 and S1H but I'll have to dig up some material to test.

A workaround is background render or manually render the clips or timeline to cache, e.g, CMD+A to select them, CTRL+R to render.

I will investigate further and probably file a bug...

Thanks so much for confirming. Given the number of people that us the GH5, I'm not really sure how this is possible! It's so obvious, especially at full screen, I noticed it immediately

I also haven't found anybody talking about it online... how bizarre...

It seems to be restricted to the 4:2:2 10-bit format.

It seems to be restricted to the 4:2:2 10-bit format.

Hey Teddy, I just wanted to pop in and say that I am experiencing the same thing too.

I film with a Canon XF705, which produces 4K, HEVC (XF-HEVC) 4:2:2 10-bit video files. I too think it's strange that FCPX will render paused images as slightly blurry, whereas video playback is crisp.

I'm using FCPX 10.6.4.

Have you had any further discoveries?

I haven't, except that the issue persists in 10.6.4...

strugs wrote:

...I am experiencing the same thing too.

I film with a Canon XF705, which produces 4K, HEVC (XF-MXF) 4:2:2 10-bit video files. I too think it's strange that FCPX will render paused images as slightly blurry, whereas video playback is crisp... 

I thought I filed a bug on this but I can't find a record of that. If you could send me a short test clip showing the problem, that would help verify it gets fixed across a wider range of codecs. Please make sure it's a stable shot and in focus on a detailed object to more clearly show the blurry image when paused during FCP playback.

Just drop the clip on this private file transfer site:  www.transferbigfiles.com/dropbox/joema

Thanks, I uploaded a screen recording showing the issue over here with my Panasonic S5 shooting 4k mov @ 24fps on H264!

TeddyRuxpin wrote:

Thanks, I uploaded a screen recording showing the issue over here with my Panasonic S5 shooting 4k mov @ 24fps on H264!

Thanks, that does illustrate it. However could you please upload a *short* clip from the camera itself that reproduces the problem? I'll verify those, test on various Intel & Apple Silicon machines and write the bug report,  but Apple will want clips from various cameras which they can load into FCP then debug those under XCode. They need to reproduce the problem yet be short enough I can easily upload. I have fiber internet but they don't want ten 20 gigabyte files. I think the S5 can do these formats:

4k/24 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC (H264) in a MOV container,
4k/24 10-bit 4:2:0 AVC (H264) in a MOV container,
4k/24 10-bit 4:2:2 HEVC in a MP4 container,
4k/24 10-bit 4:2:0 HEVC in a MP4 container.

Tom says it's apparently restricted to 10-bit 4:2:2, but we ideally need to isolate the boundaries to ensure it gets properly fixed. I'll be doing similar tests using my A7SIII, FX6 and various other cameras and uploading samples from those.

Just do whatever you can and upload that. At the minimum try to send one 10-bit 4:2:2 camera file that shows the problem. Thanks for your help.

I managed to find a smaller (~600mb) example. It was shot before switching to log, but that doesn't make any difference.

Quicktime and Finder (quick view) seem to have no problem with the paused footage.

Thanks again!

Thank you joema. 

I have uploaded a sample clip to your web link above. 
For anyone else who may be interested in downloading this sample clip for themselves, here is a download link on Google Drive:  drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-Edo0k5T...sPgnKoOr?usp=sharing

Would it be possible to share the file to your Dropbox or WeTransfer? Thanks. 

Sure, here's a link to the same on Dropbox.

www.dropbox.com/sh/02lbs9sb4nd1q2z/AAA4b...lkquSBoEFHk7MZa?dl=0

Thanks, this to confirm I got the 600 MB file from Teddy and also the XF705 file from Strugs. Both of those are 4k 10-bit 4:2:2, one 23.98 fps, the other 50.0 fps.  I can see the blur problem when paused in FCP 10.6.4 on and Intel on Monterey 12.6.

As already known, a workaround is creating optimized media. 

Depending on my schedule it will take me about two days to run tests with other codecs and on various Macs, then write it up for filing with Apple. I'll use the Mac Feedback Assistant app to file it in their bug tracking database, then I'll call Pro Apps support and open a case to be sure they know about it. I'll post relevant status updates. Tom if you want any files or more info, contact me on Facebook.

I’d like to see Teddy’s file if that’s the possible. I get different behavior in Strugs’ file when the supplies LUT is added as a camera LUT in the browser.

Tom Wolsky wrote:

I’d like to see Teddy’s file if that’s the possible. I get different behavior in Strugs’ file when the supplies LUT is added as a camera LUT in the browser.

OK I sent a link to your fcpbook email address. If that doesn't work, just message me on Facebook.

Re the different behavior if a LUT is used, it's possible applying the LUT caused the timeline to became cached by background render or CTRL+R, effectively becoming optimized media. In that case the problem would temporarily vanish until that timeline range became uncached.

Is this problem limited to the Studio Ultra, or does it affect the Studio Max as well? On the M1 Max MBP I have with me at the moment, the video is unexpectedly soft during playback, but sharp when paused.