Media Encoder Crashing my Mac whilst creating proxies

[matii_]

I am currently in the process of creating proxies for a doco using Premiere's create proxies workflow and once in media encoder it will get about 30 or so clips in before it compeltely crashes my entire computer.

Step by Step: 
- I import MXF footage from FX6
- Select all the footage in Card 1 and 'create proxies' 
- I choose Quicktime ProRes (high bitrate) and begin proxy process
- It opens up Media encoder and begins creating proxies without issue and will randomly drop out no matter which proxy settings I choose

I have used this workflow multiple times for other cameras and never had an issue. Does anyone know if this is an update issue? an MXF issue? Or my computer? How do I fix this? 

Specs: 
iMac Pro (2017)
Processor: 3.2 GHz 8-Core INtel Xeon W
Memory: 32 GB 2666 MHz DDR4
Graphics Radeon Pro Vega 56 8 GG

Media Encoder v22.5
Premiere Pro v22.5

[lazylizzie]

Hi @Dakin30017592v3kg it sounds like you may have a different issue to me as mine was solved with the v23 update, but I had the exact issue you're describing with FX6 footage on both a 2019 iMac and Mac Studio M1 Max.

However I've had a lot of experience with overheating iMacs, and I would recommend downloading Macs Fan Control if you haven't already and setting the fan to max speed. The free version can also show you a display of all the temperature sensors so you can see if it is in fact overheating after 50 or so clips.

Like I said, I had this same issue but it was a software problem, but I've had similar issues and the two main culprits are overheating and bad RAM. And if it is overheating even with the fan on max then you may need to clean all the vents, which can be very annoying on an iMac unfortuantely. Another issue can be a lack of space on your startup disk, but usually you get a warning for that.

[Vadinho93]

I got the same issue, 24-inch m1 imac 2021, 16gb memory. Updated to 2023 latest version didn't work. Als tested it on a 2019 iMac and same problem. Just after 50-100 clips Media Encoder crashes.

[Michael Grenadier]

Vadinho93, what camera was your material shot on?  

lazylizzie, great post...   

[revmilo]

Mostly Sony FX6 4K using 10bit, 50fps and 8 chnls of audio.

Some Panasonic S5 4K at 50fps.

Hence the need for proxies

What with the FX6 stuff with 8chnls of audio - I cant just make random small encode proxies as the Prem wont link in and out unless same audio chnls.....

[Vadinho93]

Sony FX6, like most people here.

[Michael Grenadier]

I think these suggestions were in an earlier post in this thread...  try modifying the clips so you're only using the necessary audio channels and then try generating the proxies....    and overriding the color space to Rec709.  If you've got a short sony camera original clip and send it to me, I'll see if there's a usable workflow...  You can click on my username at the top of my post to send me a direct message.    I went thru hell on a large documentary project mainly shot on sony cameras and had all sorts of issues until we did the rec709 dance.  There were still some issues but we were able for the most part to generate usable proxies which stayed attached...  A few years ago, could not do this with fx7 material.  The solution was to transcode to a proxy format, make the camera original offline and relink to the "proxy" clips and then do the reverse when we were ready to output.    I know this sucks, but not sure who to blame, adobe or sony or both...  the important thing is to be able to get to work...

[revmilo]

Thank you Michael - I appreciate your help

[Michael Grenadier]

if you send me a direct message, always add a post to this thread.  I don't seem to automatically get notifications of DM's anymore...  

[revmilo]

I DM'd Michael with these assets to test

Here are 2 x 25fps and 2 x 50fps 4K shots. All with 8chnls audio.

https://we.tl/t-L0Cvefb7W0

I have created an ingest preset to create proxies with ProRes LT  - but I'd rather compress the files more to save space if possible?

https://we.tl/t-LR7EJ33mAv

Thanks

[Dakin30017592v3kg]

Hello, I still haven’t been able to solve this problem and am reaching out again for help. @Michael Grenadier and @lazylizzie thanks for your responses to my previous post. I have tried creating proxies on 2 different computers now, and both systems are crashing after maybe 50 clips.

My primary computer is 2017 iMac Pro, 64 GB 2666 MHz DDR4 memory, 3GHz 10-Core Intel Xeon processor, which I recently updated to macOS Venture 13.5. The other system is a 2019 MacBook Pro, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 memory, 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 processor, running macOS Big Sur 11.7.3. Both machines are running Premiere Pro v23.5.

I have tried the following things on both computers, to no avail:

• I ran Mac Fan Controller to check core temps and set the fan to full blast. The iMac Pro was running very hot while exporting proxies, in the high 90s and even hitting 100C, so at first I thought that was the problem and maybe I need a new fan or something. However, the MacBook Pro remained in the 70-80C range while exporting proxies, and it still crashes consistently. So maybe I need a new fan for the iMac Pro, but I’m doubtful that will solve the problem.
• I tried modifying clips to override the color space to rec709. No luck
• I downloaded Blackmagic Proxy Generator Lite and tried using that instead of Adobe Media Encoder, but when I try to generate those proxies it just says “failed” under status. I’m not familiar with this program so haven’t been able to troubleshoot that much yet

I’ve been able to limp along with my current project with maybe ~60% of footage having proxies and chipping away at generating them in batches, but I have a new project starting up and I will really need to fix this workflow. Any help or ideas will be much appreciated. Thanks

[Michael Grenadier]

Do you have apple compressor? Might be worth trying that to make the
proxies. Any questions, post back.--
Michael

[Dakin30017592v3kg]

I don't have Apple Compressor, and it looks like it costs $50. I'll consider buying it, but I'd like to exhaust other options before doing so. If I spend the $50 on Compressor, and if it works, I may just use FCP for my next project... I appreciate any other suggestions in the meantime.

[revmilo]

Depending on the rushes - you will need to have exactly the same amount of audio tracks as the master clip for the Proxies to work in Pr. Therefore Me is the only work for things like Sony FX6 footage with 4 or 8 tracks. I think its the magic 50 - I have managed to encode proxies 48 at a time and it doesn't crash. Having said that - i bit the bullet and got a MacStudio which is fine but ironically now doesn't really need the proxies...what version of Pr are you on? Tried updating? Also, i think the fan is a red herring....

If you are still super stuck - you might need to encode proxies - via Me but not as Proxies - basically compressed versions of OG footage - cut with those - then relink to the master clips at the end... massive ball ache as audio stuff could be a problem - but worth a test?...or roll back to an earlier version of Pr for proxies - then open latest version to cut. There are lots of roll back - forward web based tools to help you open new Pr projects in old Pr versions...good luck!

http://joshcluderay.com/downgrade-premiere-project-converter/

[Michael Grenadier]

I understand your reluctance to waste the $50 however it's a very useful program and does a great job deinterlacing and upscaling...  If you want to send me a sample camera original file, I'll make a proxy using compressor that you can test...  The fact is that apple software often works better on macs than other companies software... wonder why?    Didn't mean to include my contact info in my previous reply but google or adobe has changed something as I replied from my phone directly from the post rather than going to the adobe forum to reply...    And not sure if this is actually adobe's fault or Sony's...  Sony has a history of changing things under the hood of their camera original files which cause serious problems years ago...  Took me a couple of long, painful days figuring out that adobe spanned files could no longer be handled by finalcutpro7...  Just crashed fcp...  Not that it's about assigning blame... or is it?   And wondering whether shutterencoder might work to make your proxies

https://www.shutterencoder.com/en/

It's free (although contributions are appreciated) and probably can do this for you.  Certainly worth a shot.  

Post back if you have any questions, or feel free to email me directly.

[Michael Grenadier]

Revmilo, I don't think this is the case anymore.  A few years ago, this was true that you could generate proxies from sony footage with 8 channels of audio but no matter what you did, the proxies would not attach to the camera original in Premiere, but lately, it does seem like you can generate proxies from premiere via AME without issues...   Working on a complex 4k documentary mostly shot on sony cameras and proxies (once we got over the color space issue) were generated and attached without issues.  

[Michael Grenadier]

and my workaround when this occured was to unlink the camera original and relink to the "proxies" and then when I finished editing, unlink the proxies and relink to the camera origina.  

[Michael Grenadier]

Looks like there's a free trial of FCPX which may include compressor...  worth some digging

https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/trial/

[lazylizzie]

Hi @Dakin30017592v3kg , it's sounds like you're having the exact same issue with the Sony files that I thought Adobe had already solved, so apart from trying the Beta version of Premiere/AME, I'm not sure what else you could do besides using a different program to generate the proxies.

I have heard people say their workaround was to create the proxies in Davinci Resolve, and the free version could do this fine. If you're not familiar then you can easily do the proxies by getting all your files in a Premiere timeline, exporting an XML of that timeline, then in Davinci right click the "Master" bin window on the Edit page and go Import > XML, and in the options on import the main thing is to have have it set the project settings and import the media, but having the use sizing checked may not be good if the clips were scaled in the Premiere timeline (Davinci should be default set to scale image to fit, so if you don't use scaling info then it should default scaling the clips to fill the frame). Then open that imported timeline and go to the Deliver page where you need to render "individual clips" and select ProRes proxy and 1280x720 (or whatever settings you want) then under "file" make sure it's "source name" but don't worry about unique names, and then set to export in a new folder called "Proxies" or anything different from the source folder. And above the timeline it should be set to render the entire timeline already, but if not make sure that's set. Then add it to the render queue and render.

If it manages to get past the 50 clip limit, then select all the clips in Finder and right click > rename > change to "add text" and "after name" and add _Proxy (in case you weren't aware of the built in renamer).

And I believe Adobe has fixed the issue of attaching stereo proxies to multichannel media, but I haven't tried myself, so might be worth making sure that's possible before rendering 500 clips!

[Dakin30017592v3kg]

Hi, I'm circling back to this thread to provide an update. @lazylizzie and @Michael Grenadier thanks again for your responses. FCP works — I am now able to create large batches of proxies using the trial version of FCP. The workflow still isn't ideal because I have to remake the folders in FCP and move the proxy folders manually, since FCP doesn't seem to allow custom destinations for the proxies. My FCP trial expires in 1 month and I'm genuinely considering switching for future projects because of this.

[lazylizzie]

@Dakin30017592v3kg do you have Apple's Pro Video Formats installed? I'm trying to think of why some people with the exact same computer specs have continued to have this issue and others don't, and some people probably don't have this installed.

It might not affect anything in Premiere or AME, but I was updating it the other day and saw that it adds support for AVC-Intra 50 / 100 / 200, so could be worth a shot if you haven't installed already: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2100

[revmilo]

Thanks - I'll install once checked thats all ok with the rest of the stuff
My MacStudio encodes proxies OK - its the imac and MBPto (old ones) that
cause the issues
Cheers
Milo

--
Milo Cumpstey
Speedwagon Productions
www.speedwagon.me
+44 07930553674