Hello.  I'm running Media Composer Ultimate 2021.12 on a brand new Mac Studio.  Running OS Monterey 12.2.

I have two brand new LG 4K monitors.  My normal set up is to have the left monitor comiing out of one of the thunderbolt outputs on the Mac Studio and the right monitor coming from the HDMI output.

I sporadically (sometimes a few times a day, sometimes not at all) am getting playback problems where I get the spinning beach ball and then some version of the generic pipe error - "Exception: SFPlayConsumer::Eecute TIMEOUT".

The strange thing is that the thing that seems to fix the error is quitting MC and adjusting the cables from the computer in some way.  Sometimes turning off and pulling out the cable for the left monitor and re-opening Composer with only the right monitor in use.  Othertimes I've just switched the two montor cables and that does it.  Or sometimes I have to pull out an old HDTV and open composer using just that as the monitor.   After I get it to play once I can go back to my normal set-up and it works.

Anyone have any idea as to what's going on?

Thanks!

I don't always have this issue but 

Interesting, I'm not sure how much MC likes 4K displays - I know Pro Tools doesn't like it much.

Go to windows > host panels, and make sure both monitors are enabled. Then, dock the floating panels onto the grey areas on the host panel. 

Re-set your user and site settings (site settings more likely to have an impact here): https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/troubleshooting/en259893

Does this only happen on one project or all your projects?  

Another thing you could try is to plug in both monitors via thunderbolt, or both via HDMI - That way you're not mixing them around.

MC has no problem with 4K, even 5K displays –– at least on intel macs.  Most iMacs being used are 5k.  I've run 3 4k LGs with Media Composer.

But perhaps you mean to say "running at 4K resolution".  I admit I don't often run my computer interface at actual 4K, but the original post didn't say one way or the other I don't think.  I definitely have tried MC out with two 4K monitors running 4k resolution – and had no problems.  But I did it only as a test, everything was too small for my eyes!

Sbomse,

You might try running both monitors off of the Thundbolt ports, it might be the mixed format of using HDMI that is causing the problem.

Thanks for your thoughts.  This is the first project I've used on this new set-up so haven't tried other projects yet.

Right they're 4K displays but it's an HD project.

Thanks.  Initially I was doing that but the Thunderbolt connection seemed to be less stable so I tried HDMI.  The Mac Studio only has one HDMI out so I had to mix.  But I'll go back to trying both from Thunderbolt to see if that helps.

From the thunderbolt I'm having to go through an adaptor to connect it to my monitor's DisplayPort.  I could also get an adaptor to go from Thunderbolt to HDMI in - not sure if that would be any more stable.

I bought one of these and run 2 x HD monitors from the thunderbolt 3 port on my Macbook going Thunderbolt > Caldigit > HDMI x 2. Works a treat although haven't tried with 4k monitors. 

Andi

Are you using thunderbolt to DisplayPort?  I have had some issues with thunderbolt/HDMI connections over the years, but Display Port has been very solid for me.

I use these cables:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RY75V7Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I am running 2 Dell monitors off a Macbook with these.  BUT, I am not currently running Avid on an M1 system, so this all could be a Media Composer problem for sure.  The fact that resetting the physical connection seems to fix it for you is what lead me to suggest these cables.   I have no hard evidence they will change anything for you.