Timeline UI freezes during playback when docked (works normally in tilde fullscreen)

Thank you for testing that and letting us know @jewhyuwl97840892.

Further troubleshooting steps to try:

• Can you check if you have "High Quality Playback" selected by right-clicking on the Program monitor and deselect it if so? 
• When you uninstalled plugins, did you uninstall/remove the third-party panels as well? There's some in the screenrecording and it would be good to rule them out (like Copy Pasta and Mister Horse/Premiere Composer).
• If you close all your panels and only have the Timeline panel and Program monitor open does it work then? (Might there be a different panel that is causing the issues to start when open?)

A few other details that would be good to know: 

• Can you share the NVIDIA RTX driver version number you are on?
• Where is your media stored? (external HDD, SSD, local drive, NAS, etc)
• What codec is the footage in the video? (right-click file in Project panel > Media File Properties; you can share a screenshot if easier)
  • (I know you mentioned it happens regardless of file you've tried but still important to know, especially if a lot of the files tested are the same format/codec and/or they are from the same source)

Hi Dani,

Thanks for reviewing the screen recording.

Just to clarify and avoid repeating the same troubleshooting steps, I have already tested all of the following:

- Default Input set to “No Input” under Preferences > Audio Hardware
- Disabling “GPU accelerated UI rendering” under Preferences > General (followed by a restart)
- Disabling G-Sync entirely, as well as setting G-Sync to “Fullscreen only” in the NVIDIA Control Panel

None of the above changed the behavior.

As mentioned earlier, the issue is consistently reproducible, and the only cases where it does NOT occur are exactly as you summarized:
1. When the timeline is fullscreen using the tilde (~) key
2. When the timeline panel is undocked

Thank you for sharing a screenrecording @jewhyuwl97840892!

Under Preferences> Audio Hardware, do you have your Default Input set to "No input"?

Under Preferences > General, if you deselect "GPU accelerated UI rendering" and restart Premiere, do you see the same behavior? 

Are you using any G-Sync settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel? Can you try disabling G-Sync and/or enabling for full screen only? (See here for more)

Just to summarize, there are two instances when this doesn't happen:
1. If you fullscreen the timeline with tilde (~) key.
2. When timeline is undocked. (If you go the Timeline panel hambuger menu and select "Undock Panel", it works fine even if not fullscreen)

https://youtu.be/MKX_3vyWQMU

Hi Dani,

Thanks for the follow-up.

Regarding the NVIDIA driver:
- I have already tested updating the GPU driver, and it did not change the behavior.
- I am currently using the NVIDIA Studio Driver.
- The issue persists regardless of driver version.

About crashes:
- There have been no crashes or force quits.
- Premiere Pro continues running normally; the issue is limited to UI responsiveness during playback.

Regarding new, empty projects:
- The issue occurs even in completely new projects.
- I tested with no third-party plugins installed.
- I tested with various media types, including:
- Imported video files
- Simple test assets
- The behavior is the same regardless of the media used.
- As soon as playback starts, the timeline and other docked panels become unresponsive.

Workspace testing:
- I have reset workspaces and also tried switching to different workspaces.
- This did not change the behavior.
- The issue consistently occurs whenever the timeline is docked.

Hi @jewhyuwl97840892, thanks for the additional information. If Windows might have updated, have you tried updating the NVIDIA drivers as well since then and do you know what version you are on (is it Studio)? Have there been any crashes or force quits needed during this?

A screenrecording would be very helpful! Just to clarify, when you mentioned this happens in new, empty projects—with what assets/media are you attempting playback then? (For instance, does this occur with the built-in color mattes or bars and tone assets you can add in from the Project panel > New Item, or only with playback on imported media)? Does resetting your workspace or changing workspaces show any difference in behavior? 

Hi Dani,

Thank you for getting back to me.

Yes, the issue is still present in Premiere Pro v25.6.4.
The behavior is exactly the same as in previous 25.x versions.

Regarding interaction during playback:
- When playback is active, not only the timeline panel becomes unresponsive,
but other docked panels also stop responding to clicks.

About the monitor setup:
- I normally use a multi-monitor setup, but I also tested with a single monitor only.
- The issue still occurs when using just one monitor.
- Transmit is not enabled to any external display.

Media type:
- The issue happens regardless of media type.
- It occurs in existing projects and also in completely new, empty projects.
- No effects or transitions are required to reproduce the issue.

Additional note:
- The timeline and UI worked normally before in the same environment.
- The issue started suddenly without updating Premiere Pro or GPU drivers.
- It is possible that this may be related to a recent Windows update, although I cannot confirm a specific update at this time.

Please let me know if you need logs, screen recordings, or any additional information to help investigate this further.

Thank you for your help.

Hi @jewhyuwl97840892, 

Thank you for reporting a problem and sorry you've been experiencing issues. Are you seeing this as of v25.6.4 as well and can you click on anything outside of the timeline panel during this? 

You mentioned you have a multi-monitor set-up, do you have transmit enabled to one of the monitors or do you see this behavior if you use a single monitor only? 

What type of media are you using throughout your projects? 

Sorry for the frustration, 
Dani

You might want to update to Windows 11 to see if that helps