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Program Monitor shows no video after reopening project – reproducible, M2 Max

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
March 13, 2026
2 replies
46 views

Hi everyone,

I'm experiencing a reproducible and project-specific issue with Adobe Premiere (latest version) on a MacBook Pro with Apple M2 Max running the latest macOS.

**Setup**
All project files and media (MXF and MP4) are stored on an external SSD, which I've been using this way for years without any issues.

**What happens**
The project works perfectly during a session – playback, rendering, everything functions normally. But after saving, closing Premiere, and reopening the project, the following symptoms appear:

- The Program Monitor shows no video during playback
- Audio plays correctly and the playhead moves
- Scrubbing the timeline produces no image
- The Source Monitor is also mostly black, occasionally showing a brief flash of image during playback before going black again
- Behavior is inconsistent: image sometimes appears momentarily, or only at reduced playback resolution (e.g. 1/2)
- Rendering either doesn't start at all or behaves unreliably
- The issue affects all clips in the sequence, including simple clips with no effects

**What I've already tried**
- Cleared Media Cache
- Restarted Premiere and the Mac
- Reinstalled Premiere
- Disabled Global FX
- Disabled and removed masks
- Created new sequences within the project
- Imported the project into a new project
- Created new test projects with the same media

**Key observations**
- New projects using the exact same media files work perfectly
- Other projects on the same external SSD open and work without any issues
- The problem is 100% specific to this one project
- The project works fine within a session – it only breaks after closing and reopening
- The issue is reproducible: it has happened more than once following the same workflow
- The last new feature I used before the problem first appeared was masking, but I was able to render the full project successfully in that same session – the problem only appeared after closing and reopening

**My assumption**
Since the project works correctly during a session but is broken after reopening, and since new projects with identical media work fine, I suspect the issue lies in how Premiere writes or reads back certain project or sequence metadata. The renderer seems to enter an unstable state specifically when loading this project from disk.

Has anyone experienced something similar or has any idea what might be causing this?

Thanks in advance.

Simon22924383b0bwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi, thanks for getting back to me.

**Premiere Pro versions:**
The first project was created and worked in version 26.0.1. The second project was not started from scratch – I restored it from the last working Auto Save of the first project, and continued working in version 26.0.2. The same issue occurred again.

**Regarding copying sequences to a new project:**
Yes, I have already tried this. Importing the project (including its sequences) into a new project did not resolve the issue – the behavior persisted.

I want to clarify that this doesn't appear to be a one-time corruption. The issue is fully reproducible across two separate projects and two different Premiere versions, always following the same pattern: the project works perfectly within a session (playback, rendering, everything normal), but after saving, closing, and reopening, the Program Monitor shows no video.

Additional steps already tried without success:
- Cleared Media Cache
- Restarted Premiere and Mac

jamieclarke

Community Manager

Hi @Simon22924383b0bw - Do you have any third party plugins or panels you are using? Where is the project stored? Does this happen if you keep the project on your internal hard drive?

Simon22924383b0bwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi, thanks for the follow-up questions.

**Third-party plugins or panels:**
No, I am not using any third-party plugins or panels.

**Project location – internal vs. external drive:**
I have already tested this. I copied the entire project to the internal SSD and opened it from there. The exact same issue occurred, so the external drive is not the cause.

What I cannot reproduce is creating the entire project from scratch on the internal drive and testing it that way – that would require rebuilding the whole project, which is not feasible.

To summarize what is confirmed so far:
- No third-party plugins involved
- Issue occurs on both external and internal SSD
- Issue is specific to this project – new projects with the same media work fine
- Issue is reproducible: happened twice, across two Premiere versions (26.0.1 and 26.0.2), with the second instance restored from the last working Auto Save of the first project

jamieclarke

Community Manager

Hi @Simon22924383b0bw - Thanks for submitting your bug report. We need a few more details to try to help with the issue.

What version of Premiere are you using?

It sounds like this one project is corrupt. Have you tried copying your sequences to a new Project?

Simon22924383b0bwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi, thanks for getting back to me.

The first project was created and worked in version 26.0.1. The second project was not started from scratch – I restored it from the last working Auto Save of the first project, and continued working in version 26.0.2. The same issue occurred again.

**Regarding copying sequences to a new project:**
Yes, I have already tried this. Importing the project (including its sequences) into a new project did not resolve the issue – the behavior persisted.

I want to clarify that this doesn't appear to be a one-time corruption. The issue is fully reproducible across two separate projects and two different Premiere versions, always following the same pattern: the project works perfectly within a session (playback, rendering, everything normal), but after saving, closing, and reopening, the Program Monitor shows no video.

Additional steps already tried without success:
- Cleared Media Cache
- Restarted Premiere and Mac

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