Major lag on timeline with Premiere Pro v 23.1 - macOS

[Mary Betsy]

Since updating to Premiere v 23.1, I'm experiencing serious delays when performing standard actions on the timeline (scrubbing, trimming, playback, etc). Restarting the application seems to provide temporary relief, but performance quickly gets sluggish the longer I edit.

The lag occurs regardless of:

• whether the playback resolution is 1/4 or high
• whether High Quality Playback is checked
• whether I've rendered clips on the timeline
• the type of media (compressed video, proxies, just audio)

I've also tried:

• updating macOS
• setting my audio input to none
• clearing the media cache
• resetting the workspace

I use Productions and am working on the same projects (now upgraded to the new version) that had no performance problems before the last update. If anyone can help me troubleshoot or provide insight, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, y'all.

System specs

• macOS Monterey
• Version 12.6.2
• Mac Pro (Late 2013)
• Processor 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5
• Memory 64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
• Startup Disk Macintosh HD
• Graphics AMD FirePro D300 2 GB

[Michael Grenadier]

King Edward, are you experiencing the problems described in the original post in this thread? 

First, give us some more details on your setup, in particular the amount of RAM.  And do you have sufficient empty space on your startup drive (at least 20% is recommended) and on your media drive if the media is stored on an external drive (at least 10%).  Are you running any other programs at the same time as Premiere?  If so, don't (this is a troubleshooting step to help determine why the problem is occuring).  Have you reset preferences and emptied caches?  You might try doing a clean install of CC

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

Try creating a new user for the mac with administrator privileges and log in to that account and see if it helps.

It's always difficult to troubleshoot issues from a distance unless you approach this is a systematic fashion...

Lot's of otherstuff to try...  

[Warren Heaton]

@Michael Grenadier   That's an excellent summary of things to do to troubleshoot performance issues.

@king edward  I'd add using Apple diagnostics to test your Mac and recommend using ProRes (if not already doing so).  Both 2160 and 1080 ProRes 422 HQ, 422, 422 LT and Proxy should work extremely well on a 2019 Intel based Mac.

[dilanj89894054]

why this haven't fixed already. i had to install Premiere version 22 so i could work on my projects. today i tried the latest version but still this is not fixed. i had to install the version 22 again so i could continue my projects. please fix this. any if anyone know why premiere takes so much application memory, sometime it goes for like 40 - 50 gb.. i'm running on a Mac Mini M1 16GB RAM 128 HDD

[R Neil Haugen]

Did you try 23.3, that came out like Thursday? That has fixed most Multicam issues apparently.

Neil

[gulliverity]

I can attest that the 23.4 (Beta) version solved the timeline scrubbing issues for me. (Mac Studio Ultra 64GB / OS 13.4b / ProRes HQ 4K footage w/ PRHQ codec set to both Maximums & Linear Comp / High Quality Playback). 

That said, any time I switch window panes / timeline sequences / make a bloody EDIT I get a beach ball for 3-5 seconds. So, yeah, one major thing fixed, but Premiere still mostly unusable.

[Michael Grenadier]

gulliverity, sorry if you've answered these questions earlier in this thread, but it's a lot of posts to sort thru... and difficult to make any assumptions about your skill and experience level from your post

These are troubleshooting steps, just trying to isolate the problem.  And please approach these suggestions in a systematic and methodical fashion.  

Try creating a new project and bring in a few of your source files and see if you see the same problem.  Could be some issue with your project file. 

How many sequences do you have open? 

Do you have multiple monitors connected?  Try just working with a single monitor.  

Have you tried a proxy workflow?  And on what kind of drive is your media stored on?  Do you have at least 20% free disk space on your startup drive and at least 10% on your media drive?   Are you running any other programs at the same time?

If so, restart your computer without anything else running...  

Does seem like you could be having a disk access issue.  What other peripherals do you have connected?  Might try disconnecting from network/internet and see if that helps.    

You might try creating a new user with administrative privileges and see if that helps...    

And perhaps try and run Premiere in Rosetta and see if there's any improvement.

And here's a useful guide to updating Premiere

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/best-practices-for-updating-premiere-pro.html

and a useful tool to use when reinstalling Premiere, etc

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

Premiere is a very complex program that makes great demands on your system.  Not always easy to figure out what's going on.  I'm working on a base model macstudio wtih 32gigs of RAM cutting 3 and 4 camera 1080 multicam clips without any issues.  Seems to work fine with mxf camera original or medium resolution proxies, which I generate as a matter of course before I start editing.    And working with a client with an intel imac pro with 64 gigs of ram with 2 to 4 4k multicamera  sources without any issues again with both medium resolution proxies and mxf camera original...

[nikotsal]

Hi, i have the exact same problem since Pr 23.1 and later updates (today i tested 23.3).I have tried clean install and everything, but no solution yet. After a while, the timeline becomes very laggy. My files are mainly XAVC-S.

I am working normally with 23.0.

My system

i7-8700K

rtx3060ti

64gb ram

ssd's for media

3 monitor setup

win10 latest edition

[gulliverity]

FIXED: For those with my configuration, beyond 23.4 Beta solving the timeline scrub issue, de-activatingAja IO 4K Plus in Settings:Playback:Transmit Device Playback, restarting PP, then re-activating the device has eliminated the beach balls. You could alternately just de-select Enable Mercury Transport, restart and re-enable. 

[king edward]

my MacBook is completely working without any errors with internal SSD and external one extreme speed, big problem with Adobe if the solution is not applied to the core(engine) of the program, i see Adobe like a Nokia mobile will go out from the market AI technology huge number of the program's help you to do whatever you need to do without crashing and freezing etc

[R Neil Haugen]

As someone who works daily in Resolve and Premiere, and is active on the LGG and BlackMagic forums besides this one ... there are odd performance issues across platforms for both apps. Most users of both are doing fine, but some are just getting crud at least at times.

And so often, it's not clear ... why.

One thing that has been posted here, is having a bunch of open bins can cause Premiere in stand-alone mod to start acting like a dinosaur near death. Closing some bins, it immediately resuscitates. Alack and alas, it doesn't handle mass data all that well. In stand alone use.

I think many users with lag/delay & etc would be better served going to Production mode for all their Premiere work. I'm a small shop, with small projects, and avoid stand alone like the plague. Everything for the year is inside the structure of one Production.

Neil

[christianm13168760]

Unfortunately here to announce that this bug is still truly alive and wreaking havoc in 23.5.0 on my Macbook Pro 16in Ventura 13.1 with an M1 Chip and 32Gb RAM... This is beyond infuriating... takes ages for playback to commence, and huge huge lag when moving the bar on the timeline, or moving clips. 

Both with and without an external monitor, and I've restarted my laptop a couple dozen times, and have cleared caches, optimized settings, cleared my SSD, hosted files on my Macbook and on an External Drive... 

Nothing helping... anyone have a solution? 

[Michael Grenadier]

christianm13168760, throwing out some ideas...  what are your media properties and your sequence settings?   Maybe try reverting to version 23.2 which Francis Crossman says fixed the issue?   I've seen this sort of lag with a client's system when he had 5 or 6 or more sequences open in the timeline...  Closing all but one of them greatly increased performance.   And I always generate low or medium resolution proxies with a mezzanine format like prores proxy so if things get sluggish I can work with the proxies.    Are you running any other programs at the same time?   And you might try running the intel version of Premiere.  I was having serious issues with a client's first generation m-1 macbookpro that were somewhat helped by doing this.    fwiw, I'm runing 23.4 on an entry level macstudio without any issues.   Have you tried moving to a production workflow as Neil suggested?    

[christianm13168760]

Thanks for the comment. I've never had more than 1 sequence open at any time. I've created new projects to get it to work. I've downsized footage. I've Tried production workflow, and turned off Mercury toggle in playback... i've tried everything. it lags hard. 
Why do we pay so much each month for a terrible experience and no customer support aside from a forum run by other people outside the company... **Shrug** 
Still yet to find a solution. I've literally resorted to using CapCut... 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @christianm13168760,

What format are you working with? Is this a new project or an updated one? Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[nikotsal]

I have this playback issue  from 23.1 and forth and after many tests i found a solution that seems to be working.

At first i noticed that if a select all clips in timeline, the scrubbing is perfect and when i move the playhead with clips not selected, it stucks as it takes longer to select each clip.So what i did, was to go to Sequence and deselect Selection follows playhead option.Now the scrubbing is way faster and not lagging. Of course i have to click on a clip if i want to select it now.

[Michael Grenadier]

nikotsal, thanks for posting your workaround...  Selection follows playhead is both very useful and very dangerous...    very easy to make a mistake without realizing it...  Don't remember seeing any lag with it enabled but will keep it in mind...

[nikotsal]

Michael Grenadier for me, the difference is huge especially if i have many xavc 10bit clips on my timeline and have applied color correction on each clip.Of course i when i use prores and if i have not applied lumetri and Filmconvert, the impact is much smaller

[Michael Grenadier]

nikotsal, thanks for the additional info.  Always a good idea to include that kind of detail in a post....  I also almost always make relatively low resolution proxies in a mezzanine format, like prores proxy which also helps keep things working smoothly.    

[Michael30710761ea4u]

Pros need to be able to work fast, Pros need to deliver thier work on time,  Pros need to get into the zone without delays,  Pros need to get paid....Premiere PRO is not for PROS.  . . . . 23.6 has the same negative effect. My timeline is either lagging, ball spinning or creating files for the timeline...but I cannot edit. What this software is. CHange the name to Premiere Noob, or Premiere Fail. If you are using this software on a serious logform project you will fall way behind and deliver a sub par result.

[Profanity removed by moderator]

[Michael30710761ea4u]

I have been feeling the same way. I am very frustrated my current film is not on AVID. Premiere Pro software is not good

[Profanity removed by moderator]

[Michael Grenadier]

and I'm working just fine with Premiere 23.6.   Been working on NLE's since the early days of Avid and Premiere is as good and dependable as any of them...  at least in my experience.   I also try and monitor this forum on a regular basis so I'm aware of most any issue that arises and when and if I experience an unreported problem, I post on this forum and get the help I need.   I've been accused of being an. Adobe apologist, but I have to appreciate the response I've seen from Adobe employees here... 

I worked for many years in FCP 1-7 and the apple presence on the FCP support forum was almost nonexistant.  Although some of them may have been monitoring the board, they NEVER posted on it...   

[Michael30710761ea4u]

Thank you for the response. I found FCP far more reliable than Premiere despite the lack of community. I don't wish to need a community to get my software to work. Don't get me wrong I enjoy my fellow editors and peers, but I don't want to be on here - I want to be editing!!

I took on this existing project (another editor had it for more than a couple years) so I am certain that the project itself has issues that are causing problems ( a mixture of proxies and not?) probably? ....but my system is strong and I have been through all the steps to boost the speed that I have read in the forums here and many videos on youtube.

[Michael Grenadier]

if you want to see if we can solve or workaround your issues, start a new thread...   and I'm sure there are plenty of people here to help (including me)...  And if you think there's something better out there, move over to it...    ..I can tell you many horror stories about fcp1-7, but I loved it and was not happy when apple thru the baby out with the bathwater...  And there was no lack of community on the apple forum, just no visible help from apple...    And if you just want to vent, it's a free country...  

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Mary Betsy and Community Members,

A product manager has announced that this bug has been fixed.

Thank you for hanging in there while the team fixed this bug.

Much Appreciated!
Kevin