Playback keeps pausing after 1-3 seconds

Report · Apr 24, 2017

Hi guy's, hope you can help

I installed Premiere Elements 15 about 5 hours ago and so far have been unable to get imported videos to playback without pausing after 1 to 3 seconds.

Video File type is .mov

System: Mac OS 10.12.4, Mac Pro (2010) with a 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor, 16GB memory, AMD Radeon HD 7970 3072 MB video card, running on a OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD.

I have run through all the troubleshooting on Adobe site, and through similar forum questions, all with no luck - the video just keeps pausing after a few seconds.

The video files play perfectly in QuickTime, Adobe Lightroom, and iMovie.

I've tried converting to .mp4 format, but that makes no difference either.

I've tried rendering the video, and that makes no difference (there is no yellow bar above the video with I import it onto the timeline).

I'm at a loss. Could anyone offer any insight or away to fix this problem?

Thank you so much for your time and help 🙂

David.

Report · Apr 24, 2017

What is the source of the .mov files? What are the file specifications? How are you setting up the project? What are the project settings?

Report · Apr 24, 2017

Thanks whsprague

The files are from a Nikon D800, 1280x720, 16bit at 59.94fps.

I set up the project using DSLR, 720 at 60fps.

I'm currently trying other settings, but no luck so far, just the same playback pause result.

Thank you 🙂

Report · Apr 24, 2017

Another interesting result -

Create a new project and just importing audio - playback still pauses after a few seconds.

Perhaps it's a deeper issue than the actual video file and project setup?

Thank you

Report · Apr 25, 2017

The normal way to set up a project is automatic. Open a new project and add some video clips. When you slide the first one to the timeline it is supposed to match the settings to the clip.

With that computer it should run smoothly. I don't have a clue why it wouldn't.

Report · Apr 27, 2017

Yeah, it's a strange one for sure. Yes, I've tried all ways of creating a project, but get the same result. I spent 3 hours with Adobe linked into my computer and they couldn't figure it out either. They said they would get back to me, so hopefully they may find out what's happening.

Thanks again for your suggestions whsprague 🙂

Report · Aug 08, 2018

Did you ever figure this out? I have the same problem! I push play above my timeline (either with a mouse click or the spacebar) and it only plays briefly...between a fraction of a second to a few seconds. It doesn't stop on anything in particular (I looked for whether it was ending on an edit point...nope).

I have a Dell XPS8700 with Intel i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 graphics card, and Samsung Pro 860 1TB SSD. Everything on Premiere and every other application runs like lightning. Any ideas?

Report · Aug 09, 2018

As we've explained, this indicates that a background process is interrupting your playback.

Open your Task Manager. As you play your timeline, what activity are you seeing under Apps that causes the playback to stop? What is happening under Background Processes?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The issue is related to something happening on your system.

Report · Jul 31, 2020

I found it was the fact that I was playing back through Bluetooth audio that made my Premiere pause. As soon as I went back to built in output the issue stopped!

Report · Sep 17, 2020

I'm having the same issue after the recent update, i was also streaming the audio to a bluetooth speaker and switching the output to default fixs the pausing

Report · Jul 04, 2025

MY HERO

Report · Mar 06, 2021

Yes, I had the same problem for a whole day and now that I saw this about bluetooth, I switched my laptop's bluetooth off and it now works fine 🙂 Thanks greggyr

Report · Mar 27, 2021

Imagine not being able to use bluetooth with Adobe products and apparently according to Steve on these forums, its not a bug its a feature lol.

Report · May 23, 2024

Thanks a lot for your response it literraly saved me, i was struggling with that for hours

Report · Oct 10, 2020

I have been strugling with this problem for a long time. I have understood this is a problem with the audio hardware > output settings, when I select a different output (software) I have playback but no sound. today I have found the solution for my system. I am using only the two speakers from a desktop 5.1 sound system (creative with subwoofer) the input to the pc is with 3 jack connectors, front, rear and subwoofer. the problem was fixed when I unpluged the subwoofer and rear jacks.

Report · Jun 28, 2022

Thx! Finally I can work

Report · Nov 30, 2020

I'm having this same issue. Ryzen 5 2600, 16 GB ram, Nvidia GTX 1060, audio output is through aux to speakers. It's not always consistent, sometimes a few seconds, up to about 15 seconds.

Report · May 21, 2021

Hey David and whoever is reading this;

I ran into this problem again for like the 12th time on and off, and I FINALLY found the fix behind it.

If this was mentioned before by either admins or other users, if there are other 'processes' or 'drivers' that are being enabled and disable in the middle as you do your playback, you'll have errors.

To the point, my issue had to do with my AUDIO DRIVERS! Where I went was to my sound settings where all my drivers are to enable/disable them. For me in my recording section, I noticed that my webcam that has a microphone was connecting and disconnecting repeatedly for no apparent reason, even though I had it disabled. As if I was plugging it in and out of my computer. All I had to do was unplug that drive out of my computer and it worked! My camera is faulty, and I still question why it's still plugged in (lol), but this solved it.

I recommend that if you are still having this issue to either do the same thing as me or check your device manager to see if drivers are disappearing and reappearing.

Report · Oct 27, 2021

Thank you so very much! You saved me so muc time and stress trying to figureit out. Have a great week!:)

Report · Nov 27, 2021

IT WAS MY WEBCAM TOO!!!!! Spent hours on support and this solved it

Report · Dec 06, 2021

This worked for me as well. Happened to be my webcam causing the issue. Unplugged it and PP is working just fine again.

Report · Dec 13, 2021

dude, THANK YOU. this worked. I totally forgot my webcam had a microphone and was messing with the audio. I tried everything before this, you're a legend

Report · May 22, 2022

Hey, I don't know if anyone else found this specific solution, but I was having this problem and tried everything. I eventually noticed that my audio track mixer was glitching every time I hit play (Video would play for a second and then stop). No audio was coming through so I checked all the audio hardware, and my audio interface wasn't connecting with Pr for some reason.

Basically, I had to go into the audio hardware settings in premier and set "Input Device" to None.

A little annoying but I never use pr to record so it's fine for me, hope this helped someone!

Report · Aug 23, 2022

Seems this issue is always related to audio hardware. In my case, I had recently told Premiere to use my microphone as an input. To resolve the issue with playback, I simply had to change the Default Input to No Input, and it worked.

Why this is still a problem 5 years after this post was first made, I don't know.

Report · Aug 24, 2022

Why this is still a problem 5 years after this post was first made, I don't know.

It might be because it is not a common problem for most users. It seems limited to users with unique audio systems in their computer. Mine does not need "No Input".