Audio glitches in Premiere and Windows on known good MTS file

[BJonesProd82]

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me with an issue. I record AVCHD 1080p 30p footage on to SD cards using a couple of Panasonic AVCCAMs. Two AG-HMC150P's and a newer model of the same line (camera is out currently and I don't remember the model number offhand). For years I have been using various versions of Premiere Pro to edit together a three camera shoot I do once per year. I have used CS4 in the past, but last year I was having trouble with the video playback after updating my editing system to Windows 10. So after updating my video drivers and installing Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017, editing was no problem.

Cut to this year. I downloaded the latest version of Premiere Pro CC and imported my footage using the media browser. Going through the footage I noticed that I had an audio/video glitch every 20-30 seconds (most notably on the footage from the newer Panasonic camera). It sounds like the audio glitch you get when you are watching digital tv over an antennae and the signal is not great.  I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Premiere to no avail. I tried using the 2017 version which is still on my system, and still have issues. I think this is a codec problem as I play the files on my system through Windows Explorer and I have the same glitches. However, I can play the same spot back in Premiere several times and the glitch in the audio either moves to a different spot or disappears all together. I also have tried playing the files through Windows on some other systems (just using Windows media player) and do not seem to be having the issue.

Is there a way to check the codec on my system and replace it? Am I on the right track or is this not related at all? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am already behind schedule to get this project complete.

System Specs:

I7 980X 3.33ghz 6core 12gbDDR3 RAM, 1gb AMD Radeon HD5700 Series

[marcoe4053063]

Is this  the first time you've used footage from this new camera??

It is AVCHD by any chance?

MTS files sometimes jitter as they are highly compacted formats. It's a compressed stream format, not ideal for editing.

I would suggest transcoding 1 file to DNxHD or a similar editing format and see if you still get the problem.

[BJonesProd82]

This is not the first time with this camera, nor this machine.  The only thing that I know has changed is that I updated the Adobe CC software.  it is AVCHD.  I'm used to a little gitter in the video when editing, which never really concerns me as the final export comes out fine.  But I have never had audio glitches like this when editing before.  As mentioned, it is also having glitches when I just playback the file using windows media (outside of the editing software), which concerned me. 

I'll try the proxy media recommendation and if that does not work I will try to transcode to a different format and test.  I'll report back here tomorrow.

[excited_Genie16B8]

My first recommendation is to use Cineform proxies.

Work offline using proxy media |

Throw a few clips together and run a test export.  Use VLC or PotPlayer for all video playback on the machine.

If that export plays fine, you're good to go.  If not, report back.

[BJonesProd82]

I know proxy media can help with video playback stutter problems, but is audio usually affected by this problem?  I will test this out tonight and report back tomorrow.

[BJonesProd82]

Ok, I tried proxy media and it is still stuttering / glitching on the audio, even in the proxies.  The proxy I created was the gopro cineform 1.77 aspect ratio.  I did not have time to transcode media to a different format, but that seems to me to be essentially the same as using proxy media (as both have to transcode).  I did do an export of a short clip of video (about five minutes), to an mp4 file.  That short clip also has glitches when I play it back on the editing machine, but when I take the clip to another system, it plays without issue.

This would seem to suggest that I am fine with continuing my editing and ignoring the glitches, although editing together a two hour / three camera project with glitches in the playback makes me nervous.

Since the export seems to work fine (which is a cpu-centric activity), but playback on the editing system seems to still be choppy, could this be a codec problem?

Do you agree that I should be safe to proceed with editing, knowing that I will continue to have some glitches during playback?  Any other suggestions that could help me get rid of this issue?

[excited_Genie16B8]

If the media is playing back fine on a second system, if the export plays fine on a TV, then it's likely a playback bug with your edit system.  You might try updating the OS and audio driver.

[BJonesProd82 · Accepted solution]

Thanks all for your assistance. Finally found the root cause. I had a self contained fluid heat sync/ fan on the cpu of this system that busted. The fan was still working and keeping the processor running until I asked something of it that was resource intensive (like playing avchd files). 

Got a new cpu cooling system and installed it, no more stutter or glitch.

The partial failure of the cooling device so closely coincided with my adobe upgrades that I thought it was the cause.

Thanks again for all your help!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Great to hear that you tracked down the source of the problem. Good going!

Kevin

[marcoe4053063]

I have had audio stutter and dropout when editing AVCHD before.

If the video is not playing properly in Windows Media Player then it may not be a Premiere issue?

Is it just one video file or all of them?

[BJonesProd82]

Well, I know Premiere utilizing some playback codecs from the OS, which is why I am wondering if I have a codec problem?

It is two videos (two different sd cards) from the same camera.  The other two cameras are affected as well, but I am not pulling audio from them, so I have not paid attention to what degree they have the glitches.  I do not think the playback from the other two cameras are as choppy (audio wise), but again, since I am not pulling audio from these..I did not pay as much attention.

[Kevin-Monahan]

BJonesProd,

Sorry for this. Which OS are you using?

Thanks,
Kevin

[BJonesProd82]

I am running Windows 10 on my editing system.