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krevell
Inspiring
September 2, 2018
Answered

All footage is suddenly horizontally squashed

  • September 2, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 11841 views

Today I opened a project I haven't worked on in a while. And suddenly, all the footage in the project is ever-so-slightly horizontally squashed, so a thin black lower letterbox appears on every clip. This was not the case until I opened the project today.

It's not just some issue with the timeline previews. If I view the source files in my bins, they also have the black bar at the bottom. But: the original files themselves are absolutely fine: no squashing; no black bar. It's only when I import them into Premiere that the squashing occurs.

I've checked sequence settings, project settings, Premiere preferences... all fine, all unchanged from the last time I opened the project. Frame size and pixel aspect ratio match the original files. I've tried starting a new project and re-importing the footage, opening the sequence in a new project, deleting and rebuilding my media cache, uninstalling and re-installing Premiere, etc. etc. I have no idea what's going on.

Has anyone experienced this – and, if so, do you know how to solve it?! I've wasted an afternoon and would be grateful for any tips.

If not... I'm switching to Resolve. I'm sick of Premiere bugs.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer krevell

UPDATE: Managed to open the sequence in question by importing an XML file into a legacy (2017) version of Premiere. Problem is solved.

Can only conclude that this issue is some kind of bug in the latest version of Premiere?

Thanks all for your help.

5 replies

krevell
krevellAuthorCorrect answer
Inspiring
September 8, 2018

UPDATE: Managed to open the sequence in question by importing an XML file into a legacy (2017) version of Premiere. Problem is solved.

Can only conclude that this issue is some kind of bug in the latest version of Premiere?

Thanks all for your help.

carolineo29716066
Participant
July 22, 2019

It happens when you proxy the same video twice,
delete one off the proxies of the same video from the proxy folder, and the video will get resized to normal.

Inspiring
January 8, 2020

Actually, I just had this happen (last night) with a single proxy. The video was from a 7D Mk2 though (as the OP's was) so this must be some kind of bug specific to Canon video. Even after I reconnected the original file, it still did it until I deleted the proxy. 

krevell
krevellAuthor
Inspiring
September 5, 2018

In case it's relevant: Premiere also thinks there's offline footage present in the sequence, and there's not. Even when I select a tiny extract for export (in which I know no files are offline), I get the "Offline material is present in this export..." message.

Thanks all! Any suggestions welcome.

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 5, 2018

Did you check all the footage for offline material in the metadata?

krevell
krevellAuthor
Inspiring
September 8, 2018

Yep, nothing offline.

Legend
September 2, 2018

I'm confused.  Horizontally squished would give you window boxing (black on the sides).  Vertical squishing would give you letterboxing (black on top and bottom).

Can you clarify?

krevell
krevellAuthor
Inspiring
September 5, 2018

Doh, yep, you're right – I do mean vertically.

However, it's not even true letterboxing – it's just a thin, black bar at the bottom, as if the whole frame has been slightly (vertically!) squashed. And Premiere seems to be interpreting this black bar as part of the video – if I double-click in the program window and re-size the video by dragging the handles, the black bar is treated as part of the frame.

So... I'm confused, too!

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 2, 2018

Did you make proxy files?

krevell
krevellAuthor
Inspiring
September 5, 2018

No, not working with proxy files.

Inspiring
September 5, 2018

What device created this source footage?

MtD

Vishu_Aggarwal
Participating Frequently
September 2, 2018

Try changing the project settings for video rendering and black to Software only as follow -

File > Project Settings > General - Video Rendering and Playback set this to software rendering only.

If this doesn't help then you can also try resetting the Preferences of Premiere Pro CC as follow -

  • Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while launching Premiere Pro. You can release the Alt key or Option key when the splash screen appears.

You won't see the list of your recent projects on the Welcome Screen the next time you launch Premiere Pro, if the preferences were reset correctly.

NOTE: Your project files are unchanged; it's just that Premiere Pro's recent directories are wiped off too. Navigate to your project file's location to open it.

Vishu AggarwalAdobe Certified Instructor, Professional and Expert
krevell
krevellAuthor
Inspiring
September 5, 2018

Thanks – I tried what you suggested, but to no avail.

I also tried opening the same files in another programme, and they're displaying correctly. So it seems that Premiere has, for some reason, suddenly started interpreting the metadata attached to these specific files wrongly... or something!?