Blackmagic Forum

I started using Davinci Resolve late last year. I am an entry level video editor just doing this for fun posting YouTube gaming videos.

Everything worked well last year (started using DR in Dec) but then about a month ago (and I think around the time the latest update 18.6.5 was installed) whenever I try to generate proxy media it will sometimes work and other times crash on random files. Sometimes restarting after deleting the LOCK files it will work again. Other times it will fail immediately or 1 or 2 files in. It's not a specific file that is having the issue because as I mentioned, sometimes it will generate fine on a file that it just previously failed on and other times it will not (for the same file).
I have sent dozens of the error reports in when it happens.
I don't recall loading any new software on this rig since then other than game updates and Windows Updates.

My video files are recordings from the Nvidia GeForce overlay (Instant Replay and Record). I play at 4k, 144hz, HDR (10-bit color) and I have the overlay recording at 1080HD 30fps, HDR/10-bit color.

I can't say for sure the DR update caused the issue. It was just "around" that time this started happening. I had also previously been recording my games at 4k, 60FPS, HDR/10-Bit color but changed to 1080/30/HDR due to crazy big file sizes (and "I" don't really need 4k resolution for YouTube videos IMO). So maybe it has something to do with that.

It never failed to create a proxy file when I was using the 4k recordings. It only started happening on the 1080P recordings (but again, not immediately, took maybe a week or so AND I did update DR in that period also).
I tried a complete uninstall of DR and reinstalled the previous version (the one I started with when I had no issues) and I am still having the same issue.

My rig is very powerful (so I doubt it has anything to do with that):
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900K, 3200 Mhz, 24 Core(s), 32 Logical Processor(s)
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045
BaseBoard Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI II
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 128 GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX4090, 24GB, Driver Version 31.0.15.5176 (up to date as of yesterday)
4tb Samsung 990 Pro M.2 (Primary location of my video files)
2tb Samsung 990 Pro M.2 (secondary location of my video files but rarely use this drive)
8tb Samsung 870 QVO M2 (Not used for DR)

Today it's to the point where it will not even get past 1 or 2 files without crashing.
[EDIT] 2 hours after I posted this, it failed again after 2 files. Then I did a complete reboot and tried again and this time it processed 40 out of 300.
I am at a loss as to what to do/try next.

To get to the bottom of this, try to compare with recordings out of cameras (not a phone).
If you don't have one, there's plenty of original files to download on the web from the major camera companies. If it doesn't crash there, it's your recording software, not DR. We had lots of problems with Shadowplay, until we went for external recording.

I can try that but remember, I cannot reliably get it to work or fail on demand.
So if I am able to create proxy media with it several times it still really doesn't mean it won't fail the 4th time. If I could download 50 or 100 files like you mentioned, then I think THAT would be a good test. however, I have no idea where to download them from and what specifically to look for. So if you have a suggestion I would appreciate it.

Also, are their "Logs" that would show the error/exception that is being thrown?

Two things I’d suggest checking:
1. Make sure you’ve got enough disk space on both the destination drive and the cache drive.
2. Check to see if a new video driver got installed. On Windows video drivers are the number one reason for crashes.

Thank you for your reply.

Disk space is > 50% free on all drives

Video driver updates? Yes without a doubt it was updated at least once (and was just updated a few days ago also by Nvidia).

Note: The next day after my post I tried the proxy generator again and this time it processed the remaining 230 files without issue. So frustrating not being able to figure this out. I'm a software developer (business financial software) so I have extensive knowledge on troubleshooting and narrowing down bugs in apps but this one has me stumped. Do you know if I can get access to the exception LOGS (if any) that are thrown when this error occurs? I believe that would give me some more information that may help.

So I found out something interesting after trying all sorts of different combinations of things.

If I use H.264 to Create Proxies or Deliver/Rendering, I will have this crashing issue frequently.
If I change everything to use H.265, it NEVER crashes. Neither creating proxies or rendering the final video.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Also, BlackMagic/Davinci company people, I would absolutely pay for the full version of this product if I didn't have all these issues. Sp I would really like to figure it out once and for all so I can make my final purchase.