P: Videos don't play and don't import

Report · Oct 19, 2017

In the passed I managed my video clips in Lightroom CC, since today I have LR Classic CC and it seems, that Adobe took out all video functions. Even I cannot open (to have a look) videos from the old catalogue. Is this a bug, or ist the function not existing anymore?

Report · Oct 19, 2017

In my LR Classic 7 catalog, video support is still present and functioning. Initial troubleshooting:

1. In Library, do you see the video thumbnails?

2. What in detail happens when you double-click one of those thumbnails?

Report · Oct 19, 2017

thanks for your reply, for the videos which were already in the old catalogue I see the thumbnails, but when I try to open it I get a grey window and after some seconds an error message like "working with the photo generates a failure" ( I have the German version "Beim Arbeiten mit dem Foto ist ein Fehler aufgetreten", I do not know the correct English wording).
Trying to import new videos into the catalog even does not work anymore.

Report · Oct 19, 2017

Importing video and then viewing it works in my LR 7. Some initial troubleshooting steps:

1. Can you please post a screenshot of the error message?

2. Upload a sample video to Dropbox or similar and post the sharing link here. That will help identify whether the problem is specific to the video file(s) or to your particular installation of LR.

Report · Oct 19, 2017

It's to all my video files ... and it worked in the version before Classic CC. Here is the link to a Dropbox folder with one of the video clips and the screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6kgmdwiv43ljo8e/AACQYbo2P7N3yuVOeCuDx6S5a?dl=0

Report · Oct 19, 2017

same problem here

Report · Oct 19, 2017

I have another issue: Tried to empty the video cache, does not work, LR is frozen, not possible to quit LR the normal way, killed LR with the task manager. After restart same issues as before.

Report · Oct 19, 2017

My LR 7 is able to import and play that video file, so that rules out a problem with the file itself.

You might try exiting LR and manually deleting the video media cache: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7553521#7553521

Report · Oct 20, 2017

did it, and now it's working ... many thanks for your support

Report · Oct 22, 2017

John, I am having the same problem as Stefan and Wolfgang. My videos from "old" Lightroom CC were imported into Lightroom Classic. I can see the videos are in the thumbnails but when I try to play, I get the same error message as others. Video won't play and can't be imported into Lightroom Classic. I do not know what the video cache is or where it can be found, but if I delete it? will Lightroom Classic than play and import videos? Why didn't Adobe adress this problem before Lightroom Classic release? Also, are they aware of the problem now? Thanks for all you help.

Report · Oct 22, 2017

Mark, you should click ME TOO in the upper-right corner to add your vote. Adobe generally reads every topic here, but they pay most attention to those that have more votes.

The link I posted above contains the locations of the media cache on Mac and Windows: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7553521#7553521 . Deleting it helped Wolfgang, maybe it will help you.

Report · Oct 25, 2017

I just installed the new Lightroom CC Classic on macOS Sierra and now cannot play video files. The files are not corrupt as they play fine in Quicktime. It's ridiculous that a problem like this should occur in a new release of Lightroom!

Report · Oct 25, 2017

I agree and have the same problem as Dan. This should have been addressed before Classic was released!

Report · Oct 25, 2017

Have you tried manually deleting the medica cache, as described in the link above?

Report · Oct 25, 2017

So some magic happened while I was out for the last couple of hours. I shut down LR CC Classic without backing up the catalogue and went out on an errand, When I returned I fired up the new Photoshop CC 2018 to test if it would play my videos which it did without a hitch. I closed Photoshop & reopened Lightroom CC Classic. This time it played successfully all of my video files that I tried. I assume the process of shutting down without saving or backing up & restarting reset a cache or buffer or something. I had used the new LR yesterday for a couple of hours testing on dng files & shutdown as I normally would with a backup. I don't like mysteries but at least it seems to be working for now. I hope this helps others with this problem.

Report · Oct 25, 2017

Dan, I need your luck. I just purged my video cache, closed Lightroom Classic, restarted my Mac, opened Classic, and still videos won’t play.

Report · Oct 25, 2017

I can still play videos in Quick time. What a PITA

Report · Nov 07, 2017

My problem is similar. LR CC 7 Classic will not import or play video files. Nor will LR 5.7 or Photoshop CC. This is a recent problem. Thumbnails of videos previously imported show in the Catalog. Moving the cursor over the thumbnails produces movement approximating the content of the video file. Double clicking the thumbnail results in the movie play bar appearing but it does not respond to mouse clicks. Typical error messages when trying to import are “An unknown error has occurred while reading the video file. Connecting to Dynamic Link server failed. (1) F:\My Photos\3-11-2017\MAH00212.MP4” and “There is a problem with the video file (1) F:\ Photos and Videos\Video Camera Files\00020.MTS “ and “dynamiclinkmediaserver has encountered an error [..\..\Src\DirectoryRegistry.cpp-283]”. The import preview thumbnails are blank.

Solutions tried include uninstalling LR. Using Adobe Cleanup tool and then re-installing. Cleaning the Registry (Win 10). Installing K-Light Codec Pack. Uninstalling same. Purging video cache thru’ LR. Manually deleting contents of video cache. Opening a video file with LR. Uninstalling and re-installing Quicktime. Using Photoshop CC to try and open video file (PS displays “Reading Video Format” before freezing completely). All video files play on other apps e.g VLC player and Quicktime.

Driving me crackers!

Report · Dec 08, 2017

Same to me, in Lightroom Classic i am not able to import new video files or play my previous imported video files.
I am still able to view videos in my old lightroom version (from 2017, version "2015.12").
I tried deleting the cache, but after 5 minutes it not finished so i clicked on "cancel" and nothing happened. So had to kill Lightroom using the task manager.
Deleting the cache manually (using windows explorer) did not help either.

Report · Dec 09, 2017

I am having the same problem.

Report · Dec 10, 2017

Same issue for me on Mac 10.13.2. Tried many things, but none solved the issue.

Note that I noticed the following error in macOS Console:

Process:               dynamiclinkmediaserver [1833]
Path:                  /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic CC/Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.app/Contents/Helpers/DynamicLinkMediaServer/application/dynamiclinkmediaserver.app/Contents/MacOS/dynamiclinkmediaserver
Identifier:            com.adobe.dynamiclinkmediaserver
Responsible:           dynamiclinkmediaserver [1833]
terminating with uncaught exception of type dvacore::filesupport::eof_error: Error reading past end of file: '/Users/alain/Library/Preferences/Adobe/dynamiclinkmediaserver/10.0.0/Trace Database.txt'

Report · Dec 11, 2017

I solved it !
I finally tried to install the combo update for my mac.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1944?locale=fr_FR

Now I can re-import videos and they are correctly played.

Report · Jan 03, 2018

Hi,

Can you please share "Trace Database.txt" ('/Users/alain/Library/Preferences/Adobe/dynamiclinkmediaserver/10.0.0/Trace Database.txt'), which will help us to investigate this issue further.

Thanks,
Kanheiya

Report · Jan 06, 2018

Just adding an extra reply - I have installed the 10.13.2 update as others have suggested (as well as some other suggestions) and it is not working for me either...cannot play and cannot import videos.

Report · Jan 09, 2018

Lightroom on a Mac - where would I find this file

Report · Jan 15, 2018

I "upgraded" my catalog from Lightroom CC to Lightroom CC Classic,, and ever since then my videos don't play anymore, nor can I import new videos. , followed all the instructions, videos do not import and do not play. This is true for old videos leftover from Lightroom CC, or brand new videos. Both for .mov and .mp4 files. Still happens after Mac OSX update 10.13.2.

PS, why is this thread marked "solved"?