Acrobat DC / Reader DC crashing when playing embedded videos

Report · Oct 16, 2020

Hello,

Like a few more people reported in this forum I have the same issue that either my Acrobat DC or the Reader DC are crashing when I try to play embedded videos. I've narrowed down the problem running a few tests. Let me give you a few more details on my system, version and so on...

OS: Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterpise

Acrobat DC version: 2020.012.20048
Acrobat Reader DC version: 2020.012.20048

Video: MP4 with CBR 10Mbits/s + Audio

It is not related to the video file, nor the pdf since I tried multiple combinations of pdfs and videos.

I've also tried this in a normal user account and an admin account, both with the same results.

I also embedded the video in Indesing, as well as in Acrobat DC with the same results.

I could narrow it down to the settings of Acrobat if the application is playing the video, crashes or only plays the video in "wav-line-form". Here are the combinations of Acrobat settings I've tried:

_______Settings 01_______

3D and Multimedia Options:
Checked - Use Flash Player for playing 3D and multimedia content

Checked - Enable playing of 3D content

Render Options - Preferred Renderer: DirectX 9

Multimedia (legacy):

Player Options - Preferred Media Player: Adobe Flash Player

Checked - Do not use QuickTime Player for multimedia items

Multimedia Trust (legacy):

Trust Options

Checked - Allow multimedia operations

Permission for Windows Buil-In Player is set to Prompt

Permission for Windows Media Player is set to Prompt

Permission for Adobe Flash Player is set to Prompt

Security (Enhanced):

Sandbox Protections

Checked - Enable Protected Mode at startup (Preview)

Protected View - Off

Enhanced Security

Checked - Enable Enhanced Security

RESULT -> Video is playing

_______Settings 02_______

3D and Multimedia Options:
Unchecked - Use Flash Player for playing 3D and multimedia content

Everything else same as in Settings 01

RESULT -> Audio is playing, Video not, Acrobat is showing the wav-line-form while playing the audio

I've tried all available Preferred Media Player options under Multimedia (legacy).

RESULT -> Audio is playing, Video not, Acrobat is showing the wav-line-form while playing the audio

_______Settings 03_______

3D and Multimedia Options:
Unchecked - Use Flash Player for playing 3D and multimedia content

Security (Enhanced):

Sandbox Protections

Unchecked - Enable Protected Mode at startup (Preview)

Everything else same as in Settings 01

RESULT -> Acrobat is showing "Connecting" in the lower-left corner and crashes.

I've tried all available Preferred Media Player options under Multimedia (legacy).

RESULT -> Acrobat is showing "Connecting" in the lower-left corner and crashes.

I've also tried to set the Preferred Renderer under 3D and Multimedia Options: Render Options to Software, which hasn't changed anything on the results mentioned above.

I know now how to make embedded videos playable within Acrobat but I would be interested why nothing else than using the Adobe Flash Player seems to work? Especially when the support of Flash ends in December 2020. Is there any other working solution at this point or is this all in the future (with future updates)?

I find all this very inconvenient for the end user. I haven't even mentioned that I have to set mutliple settings when coming from a default Acrobat state. Not everyone has an admin aside when they are going to a customer presentation. On that note, I also think that the message (The PDF's content uses Flash Player, which will not be supported after December 2020...) appearing when using the Adobe Flash Player is very annoying. You can also choose "Ask me later" or hit "OK" which turns the use of the Flash Player off the next time you open Adobe Acrobat. Why is there no option to remember this decision?

Again, people not only use this form of presentation for there private stuff but for professional presentations in front of customers.

I hope this will help a some people with the same crash on video playback issue and I look forward to getting some answers.

Thanks in advance.

Christian

Report · Nov 10, 2020

Christian, thank you for taking the time to document all of your research into this important issue. This is super helpful! I just built a huge project with multiple videos and linked, interactive documents. It is playing perfectly on the Mac where it was created. It has many issues in the PC world including the video playback causing Acrobat to crash etc. Even when I try to rebuild the project in Windows 10 it will crash when playing video. I too am stumped about why Adobe has not addressed this issue knowing full well that Flash Player will no longer be supported next month. Using your Settings 01 method on the PC only resulted in the audio wtih wave-form line for me. My client says his PC is playing the video but there is no playback controls which are necessary for my project. Hopefully Adobe will eventually respond to your post with a solution.

Report · May 19, 2024

I'm getting the crash problem on files that used to work fine. I embed videos in the pdf but when viewing, it will say connectingbut then crash. This happens on both my home computer and work compter with files that previously worked without issues. when I try to create a new one, acrobat is never happy with the formats I try. I have a creative cloud subscription and it's the continual release. It would be nice if media encoder had a preset for the prefered pdf format.

Report · Jun 03, 2024

Hi there

Hope you are doing well.

What is the version of the OS and the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 24.02.20759 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://adobe.ly/45bl10R

You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Win or enable the root account in MAC and try using the application there and check.

~Amal