So, I posted about a month ago regarding my struggles getting Media Composer up and running on a new Mac Studio Max M1 with a Blackmagic UltraStudio 4K Mini. I never got things working properly, but Apple released the M2 Mac Studio and I was able to return the M1 and get an M2.

I've now had the M2 for a few days and I cannot, for the life of me, get a stable install of Media Composer running on it. Constant - like, 10 an hour - crashes. Sometimes beach-balling, usually just hard crashes that generate a good-old "Segmentation Fault MainThread 0x0" error. I'm not even trying to attach the Blackmagic device/drivers at this point. It's just software and low-bitrate dailies. I know everything (the project, the media) is solid becuase I have to keep switching back to an Intel Mac Mini based system to meet deadlines and do actual editing, and everything works fine.

I've submitted a support case, and I've been diligently performing all the standard troubleshooting steps, but my question for the forums is...

...does anyone have a stable install of Media Composer up and running on an M2 mac running Ventura 13.4? And if so, what version of Media Composer are you running?

Hi Kevin.....

What version are you using?  2023.3.1?  BMD driver 12.4.2? 

Some have it working and some do not...... we did some tweaks in 2023.3.1 for this and are now working with BMD on some others including our own improvements.

Sometimes when you crash a lot, you get this error of Segmentation fault at 0x0 which  an be caused by corrupt database files. Try to isolate which drive or workspace has the corrupt file by unmounting the workspace or by adding a "x" to the Avid MediaFiles folder or OMFI MediaFiles folder's name (e.g. xAvid MediaFIles).

This will cause Avid to not scan that folder.  Once you have identified a the folder or folders with that cause the error, delete the msmMMOB.mdb and msmFMID.pmr files inside the folder and relaunch. If on a NEXIS, make sure no one else is currently working with that projectas the rescan will force them to stop until it is complete.

These database files can also be found in the Media Composer/Supporting Files/Avid_MediaFiles folder

Report back.

Marianna

Thanks, Marianna. I've tried 2023.3.1 and 2022.12.4, same issues on both. I'm currently trying 2021.12.9. Databases have been rebuilt (a few times, actually).

No Blackmagic, no I/O at all, software only.

Sounds like my support case is a dead end, as the M2 Mac Studio isn't technically supported yet. Which I understand, but this mirrors the issues I was having on both my M1 Mac Studio and my M1 MacBook Pro. Let me know if you'd like the case number... I'd love to try and dig in further, but support doesn't seem to want to.

Hi Kevin,

I had some similar headaches to you on my Mac Studio M1 running OSX 13.4. Also running a BM Ultrastudio.

The only stable set up I have so far been able to get working is

MC 2021.12.8

Blackmagic Driver 12.4.2

And then when you've got that installed, opening up the Console window in Avid and enterting the command TBB 1. You'll get a message to say something about intel threadblocking (I can't remember the exact wording).

It isn't perfect. Occassionally I will still get some crashes. These usually happen when I first open the software and try to play back a sequence or clip for the first time. You get the spinning beach ball crash. But then the next time you open the application and try again - it will generally work. You may also sometimes experience the audio cutting out during playback forcing you to pause and play again to get it back.

I can often go a full day without any crashes at all. When they do happen, they are managable and nowhere near as problematic as what I encountered on the other versions.

I hope this might help you out and allow you to get some stable performance. I am also testing out MC 2021.12.9 today to see if it also works for me. I previously attempted 2022.12.4 and unfortunatley got near constant Segmenation Faults so I had to get rid of that version. I haven't tried 2023.3.1 as yet but I gather from others on a Mac Studio that they are also getting the same Segmenation Fault.

P.S.

If you have tried 2021.12.9 as you mentioned it would be great to hear your experiences as I try out this version myself.

Hi Kevin,

Not sure if my experience is relevent in regards to your problems, but I'll share anyway. I've been running MC on a Mac Studio M1 Max and Monterey for almost a year now, and I'm disappointed in the fact that MC can't run with a 3 monitor set-up. I started with 2022.07, then 2022.10, but it just won't work. Before I acquired the Mac Studio, I was able, on an iMac 2011 and 3 monitors, to feed a client monitor through the Full Screen Playback option with great ease and flawlessness. But on the Apple Silicon, I've only had problems. The first one is that the playback isn't realtime, but very choppy. The second is that the system will totally freeze if I leave MC for another app and then come back to it. So I thought I'd add a BM Ultrastudio 3G to handle my client monitor. Once I completed the set-up with the lastest BM video driver, I started working on MC with big expectations. But then, MC would start crashing randomly multiple times a day sending me through hell in the process. I've opened a case with Avid, but I am still waiting for a fix. The only workaround I found to be effective is to sadly abandon my third monitor together with the Ultrastudio, and to use either one of my two remaining monitors for Full Screen Playback. Since I've done that, MC is very stable. I can work a few days without a glitch, the errors or freezes are now very sparse. My main concern is a truncated menu bar randomly occurring.

So, in conclusion, I am questioning MC's ability to correctly use the Apple Silicon Video capabilities. In any case, I hope you will get a solution very soon!

Luc

Hello!

Lux Ainloui:

MC can't run with a 3 monitor set-up. I started with 2022.07, then 2022.10, but it just won't work. 

Why's that?

Lux Ainloui:

MC would start crashing randomly multiple times a day sending me through hell in the process.

Yes, I'm afraid we've got a few pending bugs with the mac studio and blackmagic I/O. Do the crashes persist with the I/O device disabled?

Lux Ainloui:

My main concern is a truncated menu bar randomly occurring.

What do you mean here?

Hi Philip,

Here are some answers to your questions.

Philip Kapadia:

Lux Ainloui:

MC can't run with a 3 monitor set-up. I started with 2022.07, then 2022.10, but it just won't work. 

Why's that?

Well I couldn't get an answer from Avid. The only thing I know is if there are 3 monitors plugged in my Mac Studio and I am sending a feed to the 3rd monitor through the Full Screen Playback feature, MC will not tolerate that I switch to another app. Everytime I go back to MC, it will beach ball and more likely crash itself, but very often, it will bring the whole system to a freeze. Hard restart is the remedy in the latest scenario. So I only work with 2 monitors. That never happened on MC version 2018.x on an old 2011 iMac.

Philip Kapadia:

Lux Ainloui:

MC would start crashing randomly multiple times a day sending me through hell in the process.

Yes, I'm afraid we've got a few pending bugs with the mac studio and blackmagic I/O. Do the crashes persist with the I/O device disabled?

No. Like I said, not using any device and not using Full Screen Playback on a third monitor to output to client monitor is the trick to be able to go through pleasant working days without crashes.

Philip Kapadia:

Lux Ainloui:

My main concern is a truncated menu bar randomly occurring.

What do you mean here?

The menu bar only shows 4 items.

Very inconvenient, to say the least. It happens quite often, but I manage to get my work done nonethless.

I hope my explanations were intelligible.

This is what we are seeing too. The only really stable version on apple silicon is 2021.12.8 and we switched to AJA boxes with the 16.2.2 driver I think. That helped quite a bit as well. Any version after is just beachball city on apple silicon and blackmagic. 

Hmmm ... Been hoping to switch to Apple Silicon sometime soon.  I've been editing on Media Composer since the mid-90's.  I'm wondering if I'll see AVID working natively on Apple Silicon in my lifetime.  Sorry to be sarcastic. 

It's just this is taking a little too long.  I have too many Macs and would like to stay on Mac, but AVID has taught me a lot about patience.  Is there any hint at all of any kind of timeframe?  Or am I being way too petulant?

Ernie

I had the same problems on my mbpro m1 when it came out.

after 6 moths of unsolved support - i cancled my avid subscription after 20 years

and switched to a rockstable premiere pro

never looked back

soooooo much faster and total stable

I edit 60 min longform documetaries with tons of 4k 50fps footage

sorry avid

wake up

Agreed with all the issue points listed. Compatabilty is pretty bad. 

Our set up is based around M1 mac studios with Black Magic 4k i/o boxes, mostly with Avid MC. Stability is non existent sadly. Have tried almost every version of MC available, from 21.12.9 through to 23.xx and cannot find a stable system on either macOS 12 or 13. As soon as 4k Mini is disabled in MC timeline problem goes away. Connectivty to 4k Mini is a massive issue for us, like many other users. We have invested heavily in 4k mini. 

I've tested an AJA x3 with AJA's recommended work around of 22.10 on macOS 13.xx and 12.6.xx and it proves stable (By their own words, AJA are aware of issues with newer MC versions and tryiogn to work with Avid to fix). 

However, all dialogue I've had with Black Magic does not provide any solution. Closest I got to any stable MC and 4k mini set up was 22.4. Still unreliable. 

As noted elsewhere, beachballing and freezing is the main issue. 

One version i have not tried is 21.12.8 but based on experience with 21.12.9 I'm not hopeful, as this version would not allow any text field to be entered, rendering it useless also. 

Please continue to share experiences everyone. Highly frustrating and time consuming to keep testing. 

Dan@ARC et al.....

I posted the following to a few locations to get maximum exposure.  

It appears that BMD has a fix for the hang issue underway :) w=hich causes the beachballs.  The product team tells me they expect to finish the fix and start testing this week. Then it will go through their SQA process and be scheduled into a BMD release. We have offered to provide whatever help we can testing the fix.

The root cause is related to the stop of play and the display of the last frame. They’ve been able to reproduce the problem using their own test app, but have also seen the problem in their Media Express application  (but no knowledge of similar issues with Resolve). When play is stopped, there are frames queued up that have been DMA’d to the hardware that must be flushed before displaying the last frame, and sometimes they are not getting acknowledgement of the frames being processed post-flush and hang. They still need to test on Intel Mac’s to see if the issue is reproducible.

I am hopeful this can get out soon and will keep you all posted.  Between 2022.12.4 / 2023.3.1 which both have the fix for the memory scribblers and then combined with the BMD fix when ready, it should be much much more stable.

We will continue to keep looking to see if ithere are any additional issues on our side but it looks like with 2022.12.4 / 2023.3.1 and the fix they have - we will be good.

I will keep you posted.

Marianna

Hi @Marianna,

should this solve also the random stop/hiccups/audio distortion during playback? Or this is just a fix for beachballing problem?
Anyway, tnx for sharing.

trep

Trep:

Hi @Marianna,

 

should this solve also the random stop/hiccups/audio distortion during playback? Or this is just a fix for beachballing problem?
Anyway, tnx for sharing.

 

trep

As far as I understand this fix will address all of these concerns

Hi all,

I also encounter these problems on my workstation. I'm using a Mac Studio M2 Max with a Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4K Mini. I saw that a new version of Desktop Video was released yesterday, but after updating... still no luck. Working on MC2023.8.0 it still crashes within 10 minutes. Should I roll back to 2023.3.1? Can we confirm that BM actually tried to fix the issue in this update? 

Would love to get my setup working as intended.

Kind regards.