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

Using the two test clips I can reproduce it using 10.6.4 on both M1 Ultra, M1 Max and a 2017 i7 iMac 27, all running Monterey 12.6. I also tested 10.5.2 on the 2017 iMac 27 and can see it there.

However it's not 100% predictable. If I use JKL to go forward, pause, backward pause, etc. It will eventually stop showing a clear frame. I also just tested several formats from the Sony A7SIII, and those also show the problem but in a less predictable manner. I tried "show both fields" on/off and having the Inspector on/off and it sometimes seem to make a difference, but other times not.

It's not blurry and clear frames -- it changes state so the same frames are sometimes blurry and sometimes clear. On the above two clips they are normally blurry but sometimes clear. On the Sony clips they are more often clear but sometimes blurry (varies by clip and codec). It has an unpredictable characteristic that feels like a hardware cache state or race condition. The fact it never happens on ProRes might imply a hardware decoder issue. It would be very interesting to test on a machine without hardware acceleration such as a Mac Pro "trash can". 

That said, it does not happen on Resolve Studio 18.0.3 or Premiere 22.6.2 on my M1 Ultra or M1 Max. I haven't tested that on the Intel iMac yet. However since those are likely using the same Video Toolbox framework, OS and hardware, that would imply a problem at the app layer (ie FCP) not at the framework or OS layer.

The problem is more complex and elusive than first appears. It will take a lot more work to fully describe the boundaries and test conditions to ensure a comprehensive fix. I'm now testing various transcodes and rewraps of the test clips using EditReady and other tools. This will take a while.

I am showing the same issue here.

Mac Studio M1 Ultra - Base model - 48 COre 64GB

Monterey 12.6.1

FCPX 10.6.5

Noticing it on Canon R5 4k long gop 4:2:2 10 bit h265 files, R3D raw files also to a lesser extent though it would appear, but it's still there.

Very annoying as you can't use a still frame to ensure critical focus was achieved in the edit. It's really annoying.

I can confirm the same issue here:

Mac Studio Ultra / 48 / 64GB
Monterey 12.6
10.6.5

Panasonic S1H footage 10bit 422 All-I

BUT since the recent ProApps codec update the issue has changed. Now during playback footage is sharp. press spacebar to pause and the image goes blurry briefly before sharpening again..



Weird

Wait Scratch that, footage in the browser is still showing the blur behaviour when paused. Project Timeline though (unrendered) show the behaviour I mentioned above

Just a further update if it is at all helpful. When using my external Ultrastudio 4K to provide the monitor with a clean HDMI feed, there is no issue at all. The paused video does not blur at all.

Just an FYI.

When using my Ultrastudio 4K over thunderbolt to provide the same monitor with a clean HDMI feed at the same resolution, the issue is not present at all. The paused video is as sharp as the source is and there is no blurriness at all.

Any updates on this? Happends to me too on Canon C70 422 10 bit mp4

mirceabanu wrote:

Any updates on this? Happends to me too on Canon C70 422 10 bit mp4

Yes I have a workaround for you: just add sharpen effect (from built in effects)  to your clip and then leave effect slider at zero so effectively there is no sharpening added but you’ll see paused preview will get sharp again!

I think this is just forcing it to render to prores (which has none of these issues)... you could probably achieve the same thing by optimising media.

It's still happening here on 4K 10bit S1H 422 intra codec material. Playback is sharp. Pause is blurry. 13.4.1 FCP 10.6.7

Right - I have a Mac Studio Ultra and I'm doing basic grading, so I don't need to create optimised media and waste a bunch of space.

I totally agree, it's extremely annoying having to even work around it. I was just pointing out, that adding any filters to the image or using the colour wheels etc is just going to render to prores anyway unless you have that turned off?. Still, once it's optimised the behaviour is improved, but on pausing the footage still blurs briefly before sharpening. If space is an issue you can always "delete generated project files" or use Final Cut Pro Library manager to remove it all to make space. Here's hoping they fix it.

No, it's very useful info, thank you very much. I'm an audio professional not a video professional but I do work with video regularly in front of clients/collaborators and it's worth rendering the clips just so that they don't ask why the image blurry (which happened once).

Yes, I do have background rendering turned off as I simply don't need it on the Mac Studio, and then I'll manually render any clips that won't play back (FlickerFree springs to mind!)

I can't really believe it hasn't been fixed to be honest!

Great info guys. Thank you. Here are my testing results.
- If I add Sharpness directly to layer and then turn it of (checkmark) it forces to render (in Cache). It's sharp, BUT there is a millisecond of blurriness after you hit pause. It's annoying for color grading.
- Tried the test above with Adjustments layer ... it works, same small blurry moment.
- Rendered optimised - Works great, best quality, large files
- Rendered Full res H264 - Works Great, good quality, smaller files

So, for now I think the best way for me is to render full res H264 with minimal loss in details.
I think we should file a request for this at Apple.

mirceabanu wrote:

So, for now I think the best way for me is to render full res H264 with minimal loss in details.
.

How did you come to the conclusion that the best way is to render? Adding sharpen effect does not trigger any rendering if you have auto-rendering turned off (I think everyone using FC turns it off anyways) and a second of blurriness on pause happens on other footage as well which is not affected by this bug, e.g. try pausing an 8-bit 4K footage - it will also blur for a split second before becoming sharp again.

So just been through and old test footage library.


Alexa mini 3.2K footage Prores 4444 - Fine
C300 Mk11 4K AVC intra 10bit - Blurry on pause
Sony FS7 4K XAVC Intra 422/10 Class 300 - Blurry for a moment on pause
Sony FS700 2K AVC - Fine
GoPro Hero 6 4K - Blurry for a moment on pause
Mavic 2 Pro HEVC 4K - Blurry when paused
Prores Raw HQ 6K - Fine
Panasonic S1H 6K 10 bit 420 HEVC - Blurry on pause
Phantom Prores 4444 2K - Fine
Red 8K RAW - Blurry for a moment on pause
Red Dragon 5K RAW - Blurry for a moment on pause
Sony A7s 2 4K AVC - blurry for a moment on pause

I have some mini LF stuff somewhere and some 8K Canon but feeling like I know what the results will be. 10bit HEVC or H264 seem to be doing it at the mo...

When I render H264 full res proxy I loose a bit of overall sharpness, but it does not do that blurry moment anymore. For the first rough cut I prefer it like this.

sunlit wrote:

mirceabanu wrote:

So, for now I think the best way for me is to render full res H264 with minimal loss in details.
.

How did you come to the conclusion that the best way is to render? Adding sharpen effect does not trigger any rendering if you have auto-rendering turned off (I think everyone using FC turns it off anyways) and a second of blurriness on pause happens on other footage as well which is not affected by this bug, e.g. try pausing an 8-bit 4K footage - it will also blur for a split second before becoming sharp again.