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Participant
April 12, 2025

ProRes 422 Proxies cause playback freeze with DJI 5K HEVC footage on macOS (works fine on Windows)

  • April 12, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 176 views

Issue Summary

There is a specific compatibility issue in Premiere Pro (tested in both official release and Beta on Apple Silicon Macs) when using Apple ProRes 422 proxies for DJI 5K HEVC 10-bit footage.

Details

  • Source footage: DJI drone, 5K resolution (5472x3078), HEVC (H.265) 10-bit, D-Log profile

  • Proxy format: Apple ProRes 422 (QuickTime), generated at HALF resolution (2736x1539) or even standard 1920x1080

  • Hardware: MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon (M4 Pro)

  • Result: After proxy creation and activation, playback freezes entirely in Premiere Pro—even after full render (green bar).

  • Same ProRes proxies play smoothly outside of Premiere (e.g. in QuickTime).

  • In Windows, using the exact same source footage and ProRes proxy settings, Premiere handles playback perfectly.

What works:

  • Osmo Action 4K footage recorded in HEVC 10-bit D-Log works fine with ProRes 422 proxies, even at 1920x1080.

  • DJI 5K footage also works perfectly when proxies are encoded as H.264 (at 2736x1538 or 1920x1080), even on Mac.

Conclusion:

This is a Mac-specific decoding issue in Premiere Pro, triggered by the combination of:

  • DJI 5K HEVC 10-bit source + ProRes 422 proxy

  • Happens only on macOS (Apple Silicon)

  • Does not occur with Osmo 4K footage, or on Windows, or with H.264 proxies

Please investigate and address this incompatibility. At the very least, Premiere should detect and warn when such combinations are used, or handle the proxies correctly without freezing playback.

1 reply

Community Manager
April 21, 2025

Hi @Carlos28699229h2l3,

Welcome to the Premiere Pro forums and thank you for submitting your issue. What frame rate is your footage? Would you be willing to share any samples of the DJI files and its proxies for the team to look at?

Sorry for the frustration and hope we can help you soon.

Dani