LR 6.14 crashes when switching to Loupe View with video files

[StephenPayne777]

For years now I have been able to view my .mp4 video files in Lightroom (and adjust start/end points, export, etc.). But now every time I double click on a video file or try to switch to Loupe View, the program crashes. Loupe View works fine with images, but no longer with video files. Even if I create a new catalog, import one video file into it, and try to switch to Loupe View, the program crashes. Adobe tech walked me through a new, clean install, but it still does it. Graphics processor acceleration is already disabled. Anyone have any suggestions? PLEASE???

[johnrellis]

Some generic troubleshooting steps that might help:

1. Restart your computer (just in case you haven't already done that multiple times).

2. Try resetting LR's preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/. LR sometimes soils its preferences file, and resetting it can fix all sorts of wonky behavior.

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[StephenPayne777]

Thanks John. Yes, I've rebooted numerous times, and I just reset LR's preferences (again) according to the link you sent, but still crashes when double clicking or selecting Loupe View on a video file.

[JP Hess]

What OS are you using?

[StephenPayne777]

Windows 10

[johnrellis]

Upload one of the problem .mp4s to Dropbox or similar and post the sharing link here. We can see if other LR installations have problems with the video.  It's less likely to be related to the videos themselves, but let's quickly rule that out.

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[StephenPayne777]

I  think we can rule out that it's a problem with 1 or more videos. I have 2,154 videos in that catalog, and they play fine on my wife's computer which also has Lightroom 6, and they played fine on my computer until yesterday. It doesn't matter which video I select when hitting Loupe View or double clicking, all of them cause LR to crash. I can upload one of the 2,154 to Dropbox if you think necessary, but I'm pretty certain it's not a problem with the mp4 files.

[johnrellis]

I think it's unlikely its inherent in the videos, but looking at the details of the video (codec, format, metadata) might give us more clues.

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[StephenPayne777]

John, the mp4 file is at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnxh3s07dzayots/2020-01%20Stephen%20Payne-3.mp4?dl=0 

[johnrellis]

OK, I'll take a look at it later today or evening.

[johnrellis]

My LR 6.14 / Windows 10 handles that video (and other videos) without crashing. I updated Windows 10 (it was a fair bit out of date) and still no crashes. 

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[johnrellis]

Other troubleshooting steps:

1. Clear the video cache via Preferences > Performance > Video Cache Settings > Purge Cache.

2. Update your graphics driver by going directly to the manufactuer's web site (rather than Windows Update):

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/troubleshoot-gpu.html#solution-4

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[StephenPayne777]

Hi John,

Purged the cache, downloaded and installed new Intel and Nvidia graphics drivers from the manufacturer's sites, rebooted, but LR still crashes when double clicking on a video file (changing to Loupe View)...

[johnrellis]

Reviewing this thread, it looks like you've tried the likely troubleshooting steps: clean reinstall, rebooting, new catalog with one video, disable GPU, resetting preferences, purging the video cache, updating graphics drivers.  LR 6.14 is 2.5 years old at this point, so it's not going to get any real support from Adobe. (I'm surprised that you got as much as you did.)

Some more thoughts (guesses):

1. Install the Creative Cloud desktop app and then install the free trial of LR Classic (currently 9.3). Make sure you select the install option (I forget exactly where it is) to preserve older installed versions. Make a new catalog with one video. If that works, convert your 6.14 catalog to 9.3 and see if that works.

2. If LR 9.3 also has problems playing videos, perhaps it's a hardware issue. Run thorough hardware diagnostics, especially on memory and disk. (It's been more than a few years since I did that with Windows, so Google for the best advice on how to do that.)

3. How old is the graphics card or computer overall?  If the graphics card is more than perhaps 3 or 4 years, it could be that a recent driver update introduced or triggered a bug or incompatibility with LR, and the manufacturer and Adobe don't really care. Updating to a new graphics card might work around this (though that's an expensive thing to try).

4. Do Windows Update and see if you're missing any recent updates.

5. In Windows Update, try uninstalling updates in reverse chronological order to back when you think videos were playing properly.

6. As a workaround, play the videos using your favorite video player app on Windows. The painful way of doing that is by right-clicking a video thumbnail in LR's Library, doing Show In Explorer, and then double-clicking the video. You can make that go much faster using the Any File plugin's Open command -- I assign a keyboard shortcut Ctrl + O to Open, so I can quickly open videos (or any cataloged files) in their default programs.

In general, LR's support for video has been mediocre at best, with missing features and a steady stream of problem reports over the years that Adobe never addresses. I gave up on trying to play video within LR years ago -- too often HD video would stutter on playback on new high-end Macbook Pros.

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[StephenPayne777]

Thanks for all your attempted help, John. A few responses to your "other things to try" post. My computer is just 16 months old. Windows Update is up to date. Don't want to try rolling back updates - my wife's laptop is very similar and her Windows is also up to date and the videos work on her machine. Anyway, did a hardware diagnostics test on memory on boot and no problems. I don't want to move the catalog to LR 9.3 because I'm not going to pay for a subscription model. Can't believe Adobe abandoned the stand alone program. I'll switch to Capture One Pro if I have to, but sure don't want to. I agree that videos in LR never worked great, but being able to tag them there really helps in searching through old ones to find one I need. I can then use VLC to view the clips, but switching back and forth is a hassle. Just a shame to see something that used to be so good for ordinary people sacrificed for only the rich and the business people...

[johnrellis]

"I don't want to move the catalog to LR 9.3 because I'm not going to pay for a subscription model."

I suggested trying the free trial of LR 9.3 as a troubleshooting step. If 9.3 also has issues, that points the finger at a Windows configuration or hardware problem. If 9.3 doesn't have issues, that points the finger at something specific to LR 6.14 or its configuration. 

If you tell the Creative Cloud installer to preserve your 6.14 installation, then you can uninstall 9.3 as soon as you've completed troubleshooting.  (When 9.3 first starts, it will make a copy of the 6.14 catalog and convert that -- the original 6.14 catalog is left untouched.)

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[johnrellis]

"Adobe tech walked me through a new, clean install"

Did they have you manually uninstall LR first, following these steps:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/manually-remove-lightroom.html

(Some Adobe customer support people are very good, but many are not.)

[StephenPayne777]

Yes, the went to several places when uninstalling including the AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences\Lightroom 6 Preferences.agprefs