P: Can't import videos

Report · Dec 15, 2019

Hey guys,

I know that this has been written about 1000 times (most of them years old) in this and in other forums, but I cannot import video files into the catalog.
Windows 10-64bit, LR 9.1 Build 201911291132

I tried: uninstall, purge video cache (both from the settings an in lightroom), switched off all kinds of acceleration, setup a new catalog, uninstalled quicktime, reinstalled quicktime, uninstalled VLC, and everything else I found on the web - with zero impact.

Any further ideas? Thanks for any helpful tips...

Cheers,
B.

Report · Dec 15, 2019

What file formats?

Report · Dec 15, 2019

.mp4 (GoPro - AVC high@L4, 30Mbps)
.mov (Nikon Z6 - AVC high@L5, 50 Mbps)
and others

Report · Dec 15, 2019

Are they HEVC encoded? My guess is that it's because Adobe still hasn't enabled HEVC support in LR on Windows (it was in LR on Mac a year ago).

Report · Dec 15, 2019

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/kb/video-support-lightroom.html and especially https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html#hevc-video-files may help.

Report · Dec 16, 2019

no. GoPro and Nikon Z.

Report · Dec 16, 2019

Thanks John for the time you are taking to help me, really appreciate it. However, no HEVC codec involved.
Was this what you were pointing me towards? Or is there more / other parts, too, that I may have missed?

Report · Dec 16, 2019

Don't think that's the case, really.
The error I am getting clearly relates to the dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe. Error code (1).
Also, I can import sometimes like 1-5 videos, sometimes none. Sometimes not.

Here is the Mediainfo:

General
Complete name : [...]\GOPR1753.MP4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 1
Codec ID : mp41 (mp41)
File size : 420 MiB
Duration : 1 min 56 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 30.2 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
Tagged date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
AMBA : x

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.2
Format settings : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, RefFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=25
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1 min 56 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 30.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 50.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.289
Stream size : 418 MiB (99%)
Title : GoPro AVC
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
Tagged date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
Color range : Full
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 1 min 56 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.78 MiB (0%)
Title : GoPro AAC
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
Tagged date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26

Other #1
ID : 3
Type : Time code
Format : QuickTime TC
Duration : 1 min 56 s
Time code of first frame : 01:34:27:24
Time code, striped : Yes
Title : GoPro TCD
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
Tagged date : UTC 2015-01-01 01:34:26
Bit rate mode : CBR

Other #2
Type : meta
mdhd_Duration : 116740
Bit rate mode : VBR

Report · Dec 16, 2019

Do you see dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe running in the Task Manager? If not, check if your AntiVirus software are flagging dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe as malicious, try whitelist it if you can.

Does the import always fail on some video files or is it kind of random? Maybe you can try share a few of those video clips online to see if we can reproduce on a different system?

Report · Dec 16, 2019

Hi, thank you for the suggestion.

To my knowledge, the dynamiclinkmediaserver is whitelisted. I use Kaspersky and it is in the “trusted” part of the application list. Is there any other place I shall add? Eg in the windows firewall or the bitdefender?
In all cases: had the same issue after I turned Kaspersky off. But I have not tried turning all the Windows stuff off. Can do that, too.

And yes, it is running and consuming some CPU as well. If I quit LR, it continues to run and consume CPU. I need to force it to end in the task mgr to be gone.

The issue is fairly consistent and only somewhat sporadic, but I can share some videos. They are standard GoPro Hiero 4 vids.

I have tried on a different machine with clean LR installation and got some 25 videos in before the same issue surfaced. It is not specific to a single file - happens across the board. AND I already had all of the files previously imported in a different location. Then reorganized a bit on the media archive and boom - problem appears. Then upgraded, etc. Was all stable prior. So I really don’t know...

I don’t need video scrubbing - static image preview is fine. Is there a way to switch this off (and thereby not use the DLMS)?

Cheers,
B..

Report · Dec 20, 2019

Hey guys,
bumping this thread...

Tried switching off all firewalls, but no difference in behavior. 😞

Cheers,
B.

Report · Dec 24, 2019

Hey guys,

I have now removed all Adobe SW, wiped clean and installed a LR 8.3 - same problem. But I swear it worked prior...

So I started digging into other updates:
I noticed that I have updated Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 (KB2538242) and I noticed that I have updated Visual C++ 2008 Service Pack 1 (KB2538243) in the days prior to the thing stopping to work.

Can this be the issue?

So I have now removed all Adobe Applications, cleaned out, updated Win to the 1909 version, and installed LR8.3 again - no success...

It is now consistently not importing a single video file...

Report · Dec 24, 2019

Removed the C++ libraries, no avail.
Installed on another, fresh & up to date machine, no avail.
Checked all windows / system / software log files, nothing noted.

Have reached the end of my capability to poke around.

Any more recommendations?

Or should I turn Lightroom off and move to e.g. Capture One (with all it's lacks in plugins, keywording, facial recognition, etc.)?

Report · Dec 25, 2019

hej check> go to System preferences>security&privacy>privacy, files and folders check that lr has rights for all volumens and disks, or give lr full disk access, why these are changed under
installation of new lr og catalina is a mystery.

Report · Dec 26, 2019

Hey Helge,

am on a PC... Do you know of something similar on a PC?
BTW: I can import RAWs from the same directory...

Cheers,
B.

Report · Dec 26, 2019

well im not an expert, but old user, try anything that has to do with security rules, i.e. rights to
access disks, volumens, folders, files, and read and writing rules - best hope for you.

Report · Jan 02, 2020

>And yes, it is running and consuming some CPU as well. If I quit LR, it continues to run and consume CPU. I need to force it to end in the task mgr to be gone.

Normally this dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe should quit on its own after Lr quits. This might indicates it runs into some runtime difficulties. If you force quit dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe, does video import and playback work normally in the next Lightroom session?

Your sporadic video import issue might be due to dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe did not quit cleanly in the last Lr session.

>I noticed that I have updated Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 (KB2538242) and I noticed that I have updated Visual C++ 2008 Service Pack 1 (KB2538243) in the days prior to the thing stopping to work.

Yes. It could be possible. The older VC++ might have installed some older version of Microsoft runtime libraries that dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe searched, found and loaded first.

>The issue is fairly consistent and only somewhat sporadic, but I can share some videos. They are standard GoPro Hiero 4 vids.

>I have tried on a different machine with clean LR installation and got some 25 videos in before the same issue surfaced. It is not specific to a single file - happens across the board. AND I already had all of the files previously imported in a different location. Then reorganized a bit on the media archive and boom - problem appears. Then upgraded, etc. Was all stable prior. So I really don’t know...

Could this be due to dynamiclinkmediaserver.exe wasn't quit cleanly in some earlier session?

Report · Jan 06, 2020

Hi Simon,

thanks for your insights!

I can not judge what it is due. Interestingly the issue deteriorated and is now consistent and not sporadic anymore.

Clean install of the entire CC suite (after CC cleaner multiple times, etc).

Same result after clean reboot. So no, an “unclean” termination isn’t issue. Also, created a new catalog- same issue.

If you know of tests I should perform, or install sequences of the various libraries, let me know, pls!

Cheers,
sbv

Report · Jan 07, 2020

Hi sbv,

Hope you are doing great !

Sorry to hear about the problems faced by you.

Could you please share the video files which you are unable to import in Lightroom via Dropbox or Google Drive? We would like to test your scenario in-house and revert back.

Thanks,
Sumeet

Report · Jan 08, 2020

Sorry for the late reply: I have uploaded a number of files to wetransfer, here:
https://we.tl/t-v4nDPzLQZB

Cheers,
B.

Report · Jan 12, 2020

Hey Sumeet,
did you download?

Thanks,
sbv

Report · Jan 12, 2020

Hi sbv,

I could download the files. Thanks.
Will look into the files and get back.

Report · Jan 15, 2020

Hi sbv,

Thanks for the patience. It sure seems to be an issue. Thanks for reporting.
We have logged a bug for the same.

Report · Jan 15, 2020

Oh - good to know.
Do you have any idea of how long a fix will take?

Tx,
sbv

Report · Jan 16, 2020

try this: mac : go to system preferences - safetyanonymous/privacy - localservices give lr full disk access, - good luck

Report · Jan 17, 2020

Hi,

sorry - PC. Full access rights granted (admin rights, even)

Cheers,
B.