Apple ProRes Raw issue with FCPX and compressor

Can you use Quicktime Player to excise a small segment showing the duplicated/dropped frames in the ProRes RAW file, then upload that to a file-sharing site I can download and study? This does not re-encode, the result will still be ProRes RAW and should preserve all metadata and trimmed frames. Procedure:

• Open the ProRes RAW clip in Quicktime
• Do CMD+T to enter trim mode
• Move the left and right yellow markers to a small region containing the problem, about 2 sec duration
• Press "Trim" button (this does not edit the original file)
• File>Save (NOT File>Export), assign a filename
• Examine the small excised clip to see if it contains the behavior
• Upload to file-sharing site

The clip need not be from the edited timeline, provided it contains the problem. It can be from a discarded edit, camera test, etc. It would have to contain a moving subject or background else we can't confirm the problem.

When playing your ProRes RAW file from the Sony FX3 which was recorded on the Ninja Ultra, using either FCP 11.0 or Quicktime Player, the system logs (via terminal's "log show" command) indicate hardware decoding errors on my M1 Ultra Mac Studio and M1 Max MacBook Pro 16, but NOT on a 2019 x86 MacBook Pro 16, all running Sequoia 15.2.

The decoding errors also happen if transcoding from ProRes RAW to ProRes 422 using EditReady 24.4

So while the above cases may appear as a dropped frame, what's happening under the covers are hardware decoding errors that prevent showing the frame.

The errors don't happen with Assimilate Playback Pro or Premiere Pro 25.1.0 on Apple Silicon and Sequoia 15.2.

However, I have many ProRes RAW files from various cameras and recorders, and none of those show problems in FCP on these Apple Silicon machines. That includes:

• 6k/23.98 from a DJI Ronin 4D
• 4k/23.98 from an A7SIII recorded on several different Ninja Vs and Shogun 7s
• 4k/23.98 from a Sony FX6 recorded on several different Ninja Vs and Shogun 7s
• Panasonic S1H, Sony A1, Nikon Z6, Z8, and Z9, recorded either internally or on Atomos Ninja V

I re-tested ProRes RAW material from all those cameras tonight. I'll examine it further tomorrow. Since it seems to not happen on Intel Macs, as a possible rapid contingency step you might be able to get a used iMac Pro or 2019 Mac Pro. Those are quite inexpensive.

I saw an issue several years ago where if the "pre-roll" feature of the Atomos Ninja V was enabled and if you were recording 59.94 fps it could cause intermittent duplicated frames. During those tests with an A7SIII, the internal XAVC-S or XAVC-SI clips did not have the duplicate frames, only the ProRes 422 on the external Ninja V had those. I don't remember if it happened at lower frame rates -- maybe it did.

When "pre-roll" on the Ninja V was disabled, it seemed to avoid the problem. I don't remember the Ninja V firmware version, but there have been numerous updates since then, so it might be good to check and update your firmware version. That said, I don't think the Atomos pre-roll feature is available when recording Prores RAW.

In general, when recording "demanding" media at high data rates, you want to start with qualified, freshly-reformatted media, and do not delete clips on the device. Also do not go over about 80% full on the memory card. Offload all media, then reformat the card within the device, not on a computer. Otherwise the card can become unable to keep up with the incoming data from the camera. This may appear as either dropped or duplicate frames.

The Ninja V has a dropped frame indicator in the form of a yellow kangaroo icon (Skippy the kangaroo). If you *ever* see that icon, something is potentially wrong with your config. See attached image.

In Quicktime Player you can click on the timecode number in the playback controls and it will toggle between timecode, elapsed time since start of clip, and frame number. If you select frame number, on the duplicate frames does it show duplicate frame numbers or does the frame number increment and the frame itself is duplicated?

You can advance Quicktime Player frame by frame forward by holding down the K key and tapping the L key, and in reverse by holding down the K key and tapping the J key.

Likewise, with Quicktime Player set to timecode, the last two digits are also frame numbers. In that display mode, what does that show when going back and forth frame-by-frame over the duplicate frames?

I believe the third-party utility EditReady can transcode from ProRes RAW to various other formats. Whether it would be affected by the same damaged file, I don't know.

In Premiere if you export that same ProRes RAW clip as a ProRes 422 file, then go to that frame number in Quicktime Player, is the missing frame image there? You might need to run two Quicktime Player instances side-by-side in frame display mode to see that.

In Premiere you can also add burn-in timecode and in Effects Controls>Metadata & Timecode Burn-In>Format, pick "Frames." Use the JKL keys for timeline navigation on the original ProRes RAW clip, go to the place where frames are missing and go back and forth over that area frame-by-frame, observing both image and the burn-in frame number to see if they are missing in the Program Viewer.

Then export that clip with burned-in frame numbers from Premiere as ProRes 422, play it in Quicktime and VLC at the same frame numbers, and see if they are missing in either player.

I've seen something like this before where Premiere was simply less obvious about handling the damaged video clip, e.g, didn't throw an error or halt the export, but the output file was still damaged and would fail QC at any big media company.

Q1: What are the media details? (Information Inspector: General)

Q2: What are the project settings?

*Please show all screenshots.

Penki, I downloaded the file and can see the problem. I am studying it.....