PT 12.6 Video Error

[VRS]

Just loaded PT12.6. I've been on 12.4 because of video errors in 12.5.x

PT 12.6 is doing the same.

I have a session. It only has video and guide audio for tracks. Video is DNx36.
Loads without a problem in PT12.4.

As soon as I boot 12.6, PT says there was an "unrecoverable video error". It asks do I want to reinitialize it and I click "No". If I click "Yes" I get stuck in a loop and have to force quit.
It loads the session the gives me an dialogue box saying "The session contains media that is not supported possibly due to a missing CODEC". I click OK and the session finishes loading. The video file in the session now looks like it's missing. I select it, delete it, clear the bin.
Now I load the same video on the same track, I get a message "The Video Engine must be enabled to work with video. Would you like to enable it now?". I click "Yes". The video loads, the session now works as normal.

If I save the session, quit then restart and open the session, I get the same thing happening. If I close the session, then re-open it without quitting, all is fine. If I open a different session, with a different video it opens fine as long as I don't quit. If I quit and open the other session, I get the same errors.

I have updated the BlackMagic drivers, updated the codecs, restarted to a fresh user. Nothing has changed.

Back to 12.4

Vince

MacPro 3,1-OSX 10.11.6, 32 gigs RAM, SSD system and video drives, HDX 1, SyncHD, BlackMagic SDI4K, House sync etc,etc...

[VRS]

Update:

I installed a fresh OS X - only installed ProTools and the BlackMagic stuff and I get the same thing!!

[Cheesehead]

I had exactly the same problem and went through a long support case with Avid about it.

For me one of the fixes was by putting the video on my system drive, which is my fastest SSD.

It turned out there was an problem with the ram in my first 2 slots as well and things were better after that was fixed.

Heat could also be an issue, is your mac running very hot or is the sync hd hot. Try the session without the sync hd.

Hope that helps, its an annoying loop bug. Good luck.

[VRS]

Well, my machine runs quite cool thanks to TG Pro (fan app).

I have had memory problems in the past (if I recall correctly!) and that was due to heat Pro Tools 12.5 and beyond maybe does checks when starting the session that it doesn't bother with later?!? Why can I open the picture file after I've gone through the errors and everything is fine?

Avid has opened a new support case.

[VRS]

I just noticed the specs on your Mac. You have a 6,1 (trash can) and you had all these issues?

[Cheesehead]

I just noticed the specs on your Mac. You have a 6,1 (trash can) and you had all these issues?

Yes, its nothing to do with processor power seemingly.

Video engine seems to be very heavy on disc access and memory, so if you've had memory problems I would look at that.
If you go to 'about this mac and click the memory tab, do you have an exclamation mark on any of the ram? The errors can take an hour or so to build up so leave the machine on for a bit and then check.
I also have an Aja card so its not BM driver related.

Its a really annoying intermittent error and difficult to track down the true cause.
All I can say is I swapped out my first 2 memory sticks which were consistently giving errors in OSX and the problem has not happened again.

[VRS]

The machine has been on all morning. RAM checks out fine.

I removed the SyncHD - same result.

I put the video on the system SSD - same result.

I have a spare memory riser card. I took out each memory riser and replaced it with the blank spare (leaving the machine with 16GB RAM at a time).

Same result.

Since I already made a drive with a clean system and PT only it can't be a plug in or something that's taking it down, it's got to be some hardware thing that 12.6 doesn't like. (Well PT 12.5 and above really).

But it will load the video an work fine once I go through that I described in the first post.

[Cheesehead]

Wow, sorry nothing has worked out.
I'm trying to remember what else I did when I was trying to solve it.

I think I cleared the PRam, can't remember exactly how you do that but you can google it.

I did also remove a lot of plugs I didn't use very often and updated anything that showed as out of date in the Avid program assistant and of course the usual trashing prefs etc.

I hope you get it sorted.

[Chief Technician]

This sounds like an initialization issue. It fails the first time and works the second. The fixed initialization state is lost if you quit Pro Tools.

There could be something about your .mov file that is causing this. I recall having ProRes (supported codec) .mov files that v11.3.1 would tell me were unsupported due to a missing codec. This was clearly false. It was fixed in v12.3.1.

At the risk of making Avid's Customer Support look bad, have they asked you for the .mov file? If so, can they reproduce the problem you reported?

[Fish Horse]

What happens if you "disable video hardware" in the options menu and run the video from the desktop? The BlackMagic hardware or driver could be the cause.
I know you had it working in 12.4, but a BM card makes the video engine very fragile I've learned.