Frame Substitution/Recursion Errors with Insta360 FreeFrame Video Mode in Long Timeline

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to get some insight on a pretty baffling issue I’m facing in Adobe Premiere Pro. I’ve got a timeline that’s many hours long, mostly filled with iPhone clips and a few other camera sources. One of those sources is an Insta360 GO 3S, and I’m only running into problems with a single video that was shot in what they call “FreeFrame Video Mode” or “FreeCapture.”

So this FreeFrame mode lets you record a wide-angle (not full 360 in my case) video and then reframe it later in the Insta360 app or desktop software. You can also apply various forms of stabilization (i.e. Horizon lock, Dewarp, etc). The file’s an MP4, and I believe that there is stabilization data embedded in the MP4, which is what the insta360 software refers to in order to apply the variosu reframing effects. I'm only sure if this is relevant to my issue, but I'm mentioning it in order to help troubleshoot the issue. So anyway, at first, everything was totally fine in Premiere. I could work with it for a few days without any issues.

Then out of nowhere, I started getting these “frame substitution recursion attempt” errors. The video just turns black on the timeline and in the source panel, and I get this red warning icon. I tried removing and re-importing the file, which gave me a brief window where it worked again, but the error just came back. None of my other FreeFrame videos are having this problem—just this one clip.

If anyone has run into these frame substitution or recursion errors before with Insta360 footage or knows a workaround, I’d really appreciate any advice. Thanks a lot!