Problem with h.265 footage - "broken GOP"?

[trwalp]

I'm flying a new Phantom 4 Pro+. Yesterday I shot some footage using H.265.

I soon discovered that actually viewing the resulting footage is not so easy on a Mac. I tried VLC but it just shows a still frame. Scratch freezes. I gave up and decided to convert the footage to ProRes 422 using EditReady. One file converted fine but several others froze the program at some point. Divergent Media's superlative support promptly responded with:

"we've seen a few of these issues. It seems like the phantom sometimes writes a broken GOP (we're guessing due to SD card problems) which hangs up editready."

They sent me a link to a special build that continues to process the file despite encountering a "broken GOP".

Here's a screen cap of what the footage looks like one frame before the failure.

And here's what (I assume) a broken GOP looks like.

I'm using a new SD card that I'm pretty sure DJI recommends for the P4P+:

"Samsung PRO Select 64GB 95MB/s MicroSDXC Memory Card (MB-MF64DA/AM)"

Is this a known issue with the P4P? Do I have the wrong SD card (or could it be defective)? Any suggestions?

Thank you!

 

[AyeYo]

In for an answer, because H.265 doesn't work for me either.

 

[KevMo Photog]

I'm flying a new Phantom 4 Pro+. Yesterday I shot some footage using H.265.

I soon discovered that actually viewing the resulting footage is not so easy on a Mac. I tried VLC but it just shows a still frame. Scratch freezes. I gave up and decided to convert the footage to ProRes 422 using EditReady. One file converted fine but several others froze the program at some point. Divergent Media's superlative support promptly responded with:

"we've seen a few of these issues. It seems like the phantom sometimes writes a broken GOP (we're guessing due to SD card problems) which hangs up editready."

They sent me a link to a special build that continues to process the file despite encountering a "broken GOP".

Here's a screen cap of what the footage looks like one frame before the failure.

And here's what (I assume) a broken GOP looks like.

I'm using a new SD card that I'm pretty sure DJI recommends for the P4P+:

"Samsung PRO Select 64GB 95MB/s MicroSDXC Memory Card (MB-MF64DA/AM)"

Is this a known issue with the P4P? Do I have the wrong SD card (or could it be defective)? Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Dang that's a cool pad your shooting there trwalp! So are you going to be able to make it work? Did you shoot this footage in D-log?

 

[smiller]

I'm using a new SD card that I'm pretty sure DJI recommends for the P4P+:

So was I when I had a similar problem (saw problems just as you pictured above), I would suggest testing with a known good SD card if possible and see if the results vary. As per the thread below I was using an approved SD card that turned out to be bad even though it was new. No problems so far with the replacement card.

Intermittent dropped video frames, think I finally found the cause

 

[RobertK]

I have a Mac and use the same card and have no problems.

I record in h265 MP4. If you recorded in MOV, just change your file extension to MP4.

I then use Adobe Media Encoder to encode to prores.

You shouldn't have any problems.

 

[KayJay]

4K is awesome until you realise that your 2yr old computer won't cut it when time to edit. Tho I will ask why the hype over 4K when so few people have a 4K tv or monitor?

 

[RobertK]

KayJay, I have a 5 year old MacBook bro. I've upgraded the ram and installed an SSD.

I capture in 4K and then when editing, I create proxies to make this process smoother. Then once I'm done, I can export to 4K or 1080P which yields better results than if I captured in 1080P.

 

[KevMo Photog]

4K is awesome until you realise that your 2yr old computer won't cut it when time to edit. Tho I will ask why the hype over 4K when so few people have a 4K tv or monitor?

In due time KayJay. 4K will be normal in another year or less. Know what you mean about having to upgrade everything for sure! lol

 

[KayJay]

My MacBook is about the same, have 8gb ram and struggle with DaVinci at 2.7k. ,Ishtar try an ssd and see if it helps

 

[nickj]

4K is awesome until you realise that your 2yr old computer won't cut it when time to edit. Tho I will ask why the hype over 4K when so few people have a 4K tv or monitor?

4K isn't the problem, h265 is - it's very processor intensive. I can cut 4K or 5K Red footage on a 2011 macbook pro via Premiere with little to no trouble. h265 completely cripples an older processor like a 2011 macbook pro however, need to render clips completely to view them without dropping frames like crazy.

 

[Alec200]

I had a strange issue with my P4P. When recording in 4K at anything above 30fps (so obviously not H265) the same garbled playback would occur every few seconds. This was independent of the SD card used and the hardware it was played back on.
After much testing trying to isolate the issue, I was nearly ready to return the P4P until I did a firmware refresh using the DJI Assistant which solved the problem.
It's a long shot but worth a try.

 

[Howie]

The reason macs don't like H265 is that iMovie and FCPX will not process it. If you convert it you don't gat any image benefit. 4K is slow as the codec does not record every frame just the changes between frames. The computer then has to rebuild each frame. This is very processor intensive but means you can record to Micro SD cards. Video cameras that record every frame in detail use SSD's as the data rate is much higher. There is no such thing as a free lunch!!

 

[smiller]

Edit offline with proxy files and you don't necessarily need a high end PC, and your final output will be rendered from the original files so no quality loss. Applications such as Premiere Pro make this very easy, you can toggle between the original and proxy files while editing with a single click.

 

[Raptorman0909]

I don't care how powerful your laptop is a laptop is NOT the right machine to render video in 4K or any video for that matter. The problem isn't in how powerful the CPU or GPU is but that it has very limited cooling and rendering video can run your PC at near 100% for many minutes or even hours. Laptops are NOT designed for continuous heavy use, they just aren't. Perhaps some of the higher end gaming laptops are closer, but really, 4K video editing and rendering is a job for a higher end desktop PC with really good cooling.


Brian

 

[tjenvy]

H265 is highly compressed. The only reason to shoot in that is if you are only gonna make a cut or direct publish. You should never shoot in 265 then render out then export again. H265 should be the final delivery format and only used for streaming.

Now that being said. Most macs using final cut made in the last 5 years, use intel quick sync for h264 single pass encoding. My machine sucks it's so old. But a MacBook Pro can take a 20gb pro res 6 minute clip and encode to h264 in less than 60 seconds and doesnt break a sweat.

 

[Raptorman0909]

H265 is highly compressed. The only reason to shoot in that is if you are only gonna make a cut or direct publish. You should never shoot in 265 then render out then export again. H265 should be the final delivery format and only used for streaming.

Now that being said. Most macs using final cut made in the last 5 years, use intel quick sync for h264 single pass encoding. My machine sucks it's so old. But a MacBook Pro can take a 20gb pro res 6 minute clip and encode to h264 in less than 60 seconds and doesnt break a sweat.

Yeah, I disagree!

I shoot in H.265 then render as H.264 because H.265 tends to capture more detail but very few devices handle H.265 well so for output, at least for now, H.264 is the better choice. In a year or three when many/most devices can natively handle H.265 you can then re-render the output as H.265. So, capturing in H.265 makes your video a bit more future proof.

At 100Mbps H.265 will tend to record more detail than H.264 does at 100Mbps.


Brian

 

[smiller]

H265 is highly compressed. The only reason to shoot in that is if you are only gonna make a cut or direct publish. You should never shoot in 265 then render out then export again. H265 should be the final delivery format and only used for streaming..

Not correct.

At 100Mbps H.265 will tend to record more detail than H.264 does at 100Mbps.

Yes, that is the basic fact to remember. 'Compression' is not a dirty word if you have a limited bandwidth, and in the P4P we are limited to 100 mbps. Since H.265 can render greater detail in the same number of bits then (depending on a number of factors) it can deliver superior output. One may choose not to use it if it presents some particular difficulty in post production, but if you are able to deal with it then why wouldn't you use it for raw camera footage? You can always edit offline and render in H.264 for any devices that require it, and you will still have the original files to output at a higher quality in the future if desired.

 

[RobertK]

Yeah, I disagree!

I shoot in H.265 then render as H.264 because H.265 tends to capture more detail but very few devices handle H.265 well so for output, at least for now, H.264 is the better choice. In a year or three when many/most devices can natively handle H.265 you can then re-render the output as H.265. So, capturing in H.265 makes your video a bit more future proof.

At 100Mbps H.265 will tend to record more detail than H.264 does at 100Mbps.


Brian

So if we assume h265 is 50% of h264, is it safe to assume h265@100mbps is similar to h264@200mbps? Or am I not understanding it correctly?

 

[smiller]

So if we assume h265 is 50% of h264, is it safe to assume h265@100mbps is similar to h264@200mbps? Or am I not understanding it correctly?

Direct linear comparisons like that are not possible because the advantage of H.265 compression will vary depending on how much change there is from frame to frame. There may be little or no difference for relatively static scenes, up to a quite visible difference in complex scenes with rapid movement.

 

[jcknows0]

To be honest I haven't seen the same color depth out of the P4P in h265 vs my Samsung NX500 mirrorless with 28 MP sensor. I shoot everything in h264 because it is still gorgeous at 100 Mbps. For the record a samsung UHD blu ray player can play h265 just fine so don't assume its just the processor power, its really about CPU instruction sets and only the last 2 gen Intel Processors and latest GPUs can handle it. You still need OS integration which is why a cheap Kaby Lake W10 laptop plays it fine but any Mac (top of the line Skylake iMac sucks at it).
I believe and I could be wrong that h265 was thrown in the P4P as an afterthought. Maybe it will get better with subsequent firmware updates, but I don't count on it.