P: Glitchy Video in Timeline

[eegriff]

After I upgraded to 24.4 several days ago, I can no longer edit MXF video files. The video in the timeline is glitchy, with pixelated blocks displayed whenever something moves in the scene. The glitches are exported in the final render, so it’s not a temporary or display-only issue. (If I render the MXF to MP4 with HandBreak, there are no glitches in the output, so I think the MXF container is OK.) My camera is unchanged and I’ve used this workflow hundreds of times. I went back to an editing session from before the 24.5 upgrade and all is fine–no glitches. I cleared the cache, rebooted my Mac, checked the sequence settings, but nothing helps.

[R Neil Haugen]

As they quite obviously have a rather large public beta operation ... and Adobe is a leader in showing companies how to gather and quantify "customer experience" as one of their other major sectors of corporate structure ... your post is rather more of a somewhat tongue in cheek rant. Or at least I hope so.

Anyone choosing an AMD processor ... planning on using long-GOP media ... is probably not that well versed in practical CPU stuff. Nvidia has led that for quite some time, and although AMD has finally shown up at the ball, the code and such has long been more useable with the Nvidia CPUs as AMD didn't even have any internal processes for this until recently.

So the code for AMD long-GOP stuff is still probably still getting built-out, as this is such a new thing.

One of the issues with trying to build such a complex app with the goal of working on all hardware with all media and all workflows is that you simply cannot completely, exhaustively, test every possible combination. Period.

And as over the last decade of using both the Adobe and BlackMagic software, I've watched BlackMagic try to recreate Resolve as an Adobe modeled 'thing' ... they're hitting the same issues. The BM forums have gone from mostly discussions on how to do things to post after post of problems with this or that function on X hardware or Y media.

NLEs are complex beasts. Computers these days are all over the place.  It's LIFE at this time. And yea, it can suck big time, at times, for some of us. But for others, it's just plain awesome.

Most of the several million daily users of Adobe stuff, and most of the far fewer Resolve users, are getting good service. Some of both are getting crud. And yea, getting crud is maddening, and I've been there myself.

So you get full sympathy for being in a situation where it is natural to be highly, highly ... irritated. 

[JPooley_Hearst]

If someone can offer me a download link to sample files I am happy to load them up locally in my enviroment with a bunch of different Intel and Nvidia hardware to see if I can identify the commonality. 

[Heikki32773139rrzp]

I am working on a multicam edit of an amateur theater production and I am getting bothersome artefacts when trying to export the finalized video.  The artefacts emerge at points where I cut between two of the cameras and appear as improper "blends" between frames from the two camera angles as showcased in the example frame below (the white sleeves of one of the characters appear in the frame twice. These artefacts appear for up to ~5 consecutive frames at a time.


I have tried rendering this project on two different PCs so I find it unlikely that this is a hardware issue. I have also tried clearing premiere pro media cache and tried out various export settings. :

-By default I've tried to export this as an mp4-file with h.264 encoding and have tried out different encoding settings (VBR 1pass vs 2pass, different values for the maximum and target bitrates but I have not kept a comprehensive record of which values I have tried)
-I have tried temporarily exporting it with prores 422 hq encoding instead to see if lower compression could counteract these issues
-I have also tried rendering the video without gpu acceleration, based on a friends suggestion.
None of these have had significant impact on the artefacts, merely making slight shifts to the specific shapes of the artefacts and the timestamps at which they appear.

The source video is 3840x2160 but I am exporting the completed video in 1920x1080 (both at 25p). Any help in getting this issue resolved is appreciated.

[R Neil Haugen]

OS/CPU/GPU/GPU driver please. And have you tried setting the Projects setting option for Mercury Acceleration to software only?

This type of issue is nearly always a GPU driver issue, next option is a processing order issue. The latter typically solved by nesting or simply rebuilding a section.

[Heikki32773139rrzp]

Thanks for the quick response. I will list the system specs in the format system1/system2 so I can cover the questions concisely.
OS:
Windows 10 Pro / Windows 11 Home
CPU:
i9-10900X / Ryzen 9 7900X
GPU:
GeForce RTX 4070 / Radeon RX 7900 XT
GPU Driver (as specified by msinfo32):
32.0.15.6094 / 32.0.11024.2

And yes, I've also tried using software acceleration only, forgot to mention that in the original post. As for the nesting tip, is a multicamera sequence not inherently a nested sequence, or are you suggesting something else like another layer of nesting?

[R Neil Haugen]

Multicams are sort of a nest. What I was referring to was selecting the clips and transitions, then "nest" . Sometimes, that does help Premiere and the hardware sort out processing order issues. Might not be a help, but it might. Quick & easy to try.

So now, what is the original media? If that is H.264/5 long-GOP, have you tried doing a render & replace a couple of the clips on the sequence to say ProRes422 ... then set in/out around that, and export for a test ... ?

[robb55106415]

Hi @jamieclarke 

I've just seen your message after coming back from Holiday!

I've just emailed you the working file. Hopefully it gets to you ok.

[mayjain]

Hi All,

Apologies for the glitches in the latest Premiere builds. If you're still encountering issues, please share the problematic files with us.

We are investigating this and would like to test as many files as possible to ensure a comprehensive fix.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience.,
Best regards,
Mayjain

[doobysquish]

Hi, Still getting glitchy video on MXFs. 

Specs:

Adobe Premiere Pro 25.1 (Build 73)

Windows 10 Pro

i9 9900k

This was occurring both on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060Ti and is also now occurring on AMD Radeon 7800xt

64gb ram

I've PMed the file to mayjain.

[jamieclarke]

Hi @Heikki32773139rrzp - Please post a screenshot of your media file properties.  Are you using the Studio driver for your gpu?  Your drivers are a bit out of date please download the latest studio driver for the RTX 4070 and let us know if that helps.

[Heikki32773139rrzp]

Here's the screenshot you requested, if you want something else, kindly be more specific. This is only for one of the video source files but all of the cameras used were the same model and had the same recording settings.

As for the driver consideration, yes I was using the studio drivers on the intel/nvidia system (system 1). The nvidia gpu does have more recent driver versions available, but I did update them when I last worked on the project with system 1 — the AMD system (system 2) is more convenient for me to use, which I realize is unintuitive considering the presentation of my earlier message. To my undestanding, there is no creative/studio-oriented driver for the 7900 XT (at least I have found no such drivers on AMD's offcial resources) but if that's incorrect I would like to know.

I have now started a new export using Neil Haugen's hint about nested sequences, if it does not resolve the issue, I will explore performing the render again on system 1, if you propose that there may be issues specific to system 2 configuration.

[R Neil Haugen]

Long-GOP means that there are only a few actual, complete images to that file. Those are called i-frames.

Long-GOP compression creates an i-frame every so often. Inbetween they only store datasets of 1) the pixels that have changed since the previous i-frame; 2) the pixels that will change before the next i-frame; or 3) both.

So the images in-between i-frames are built by decoding and loading any needed iframes into RAM/cache, grabbing the needed datasets, and actaully, mathematically computing the actual image on the fly from that assembled data.

It's a confusing, complex math problem.  And I'm wondering if in your case, the long-GOP processing of the two images gets mungled up somehow.

If you do a render and replace to say ProRes 422, for a test section, cutting between them, does the problem go away?

As if so, this is probably a long-GOP decoding issue.

[john_8279]

I tried this file with no issue, but I have the Catalyst Prepare Premiere plugin installed from Sony. Try installing that plugin: https://creatorscloud.sony.net/catalog/en-us/catalyst/index.html

[davids77232656]

Thank you  Jonh_8279 for info. Unfortunately is a paid plugin so i could not test it. However this issue does not appear in other edit softwares or Premiere 24.3. Just a bug to fix.... Kind regards

[JPooley_Hearst]

Catalyst Prepare Plugin
Free / Paid
A plugin version of Catalyst Prepare for people who normally use Adobe Premiere Pro or Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve for video production

[Ben28222228kzqu]

Hi, a bit late to the party, but still. We've been experiencing this issue in our team sice october (while working with XAVC-L MXF files). Premiere pro, Encoder and After Effects simply cannot correctly render these files and the issue still hasn't been solved to this day. We've boiled down the most logical solutions to this: 1. Stop using this format, go with MOV or something else instead. 2. Alway transcode these files before editing to another format like dnx or prores. 3. Screw Adobe, switch to Resolve.

Btw. the issues occur on various different workstations, different footage. Clearing cache does nothing, as well as software only encoding.

[Galactic Fantastic]

@jamieclarke Has there been any update with this bug?

I'm expereincing data mosh issues on renders only. Currently I'm transcoding the files as a work around but it's adding significant time to my edits. 

Type: MXF
File Size: 12.09 GB
Image Size: 3840 x 2160
Frame Rate: 50.00
Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 24-bit - 4 Channels
Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - 4 Channels
Total Duration: 00:10:51:40
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0
Alpha: None
Color Space: Rec. 709
Color Space Override: Off
Input LUT: 1_SGamut3CineSLog3_To_LC-709

MXF File details:
Wrapper type: MXF OP1a (type: SingleItem SinglePackage MultiTrack Stream Internal)
File generated by: Sony, Mem (2.00)
Bitstream Format: Sony
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Long GOP High Profile 4:2:0 Unconstrained Coding
Bitstream Format: Sony
Class 156
Gamma: S-Log3 Cine

[Christiaan1]

Like Jamie asked: 
Here a screenshot from the glitch in my render and a screenshot of the media file properties for that file.
Up to date Nvidia Studio Drivers. GTX3080

[Isaac van Zyl]

Hi,

Still getting glitchy video on MXF files.

Adobe Premiere Pro 25.1.0 (Build 73)

Specs:

Windows 11 Pro

Ryzen 9 5900x

RTX 3070Ti (Driver - 572.16) Happens on 3060 with same driver version.

64GB Ram

Breakup does not happened on my Macbook Pro M1.

Not sure if this helps but attached file information below.

[pradamedia]

Some complex stuff going on here, which Adobe should have been on top of before now. (Poor really!) I have the same problems in Build 73. I couldn't go back to the 24 release because Adobe didn't want to let me. So I needed to find a solution to the hours I've spent trying to mitigate the issue. (Adobe, where do I send my invoice to you for time wasted on your crappy, ill thought out upgrades?) So, after mucking about with Media Encoder, with the same pixelating results - a frame that was clean on a rendered Premiere timeline, exported with pixelation through ME, despite using export previews - I rendered my entire MXF timeline (Sony XDCAM HD422 1080 PAL mode) and exported it via Premiere's own internal encoder, not Media Encoder. Result: No pixelation! ... on any exports! My opinion is that your latest builds are flakey and the hardware/software realtionships are not robust enough to be called 'fit for purpose'. 

I have to ask ... where, on earth, does all the money go in your organisation?

[AlexClaude]

I can't export a proper video without any glitch if timeline contain FX6 XAVC-L codec footage . I've been using Premiere for 12 years. Glitches have begun to occur a few months ago, but I allways managed to export a version without any glitch. Now I'm stuck, I can't export any video containing FX6 XAVC-L codec without any glitches.

Footage was shot on FX6 with XAVC-I codec.

Here are the specs of my computer:

• CPU : AMD RYZEN 9 5950X 3.4GHz AM4

• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR4 3200MHz Memory

• Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero

• Graphic Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 24GB GDDR6X

I use an SSD for editing.

Problem occurs both when using Media Encoder or Premiere to export.

Operation system: Windows 11 Pro

Latest versions of Premiere and Media Encoder

Footage shot in 4k 60fps, interpreted in 23,97, in a 23,97 1080p time-line.

This happens both when exporting using hardware only or using GPU acceleration process.

The work around is to export from my way less powerfull laptop, this is ridiculous.

Here are exemples of the glitches in the exported videos:

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey @AlexClaude,

Sorry to see that you're having trouble. This codec is pretty demanding. Does the same happen with an editing codec, like ProRes or ProRes LT? Can you try a test? You can also try deleting the media cache. Press Shift at launch for the Reset Options dialog box for that option. Let us know what happens after trying these things.

Thanks,
Kevin

[canguroenglish]

Hi. Just found this thread through Google. I am having this exact glitching with XAVC-L MXF files from a Sony FX6. Problem disappears when hardware decoding is turned off.

PC specs:

i514400F

RTX3060ti

Windows 11

As of today latest drivers for everything and latest version of Premiere Pro

Please fix this!

[AlexClaude]

@Kevin-Monahan 

This does not happen when using ProRes or ProRes LT, or any other codec. 

Clearing the cache by pressing Shift at launch for the Reset Options dialog box, did not work...

[AlexClaude]

@Kevin-Monahan Ok now the problem has spread to my laptop. I now ran out of option to export my videos! What am I suppose to do?