Annoying Source Monitor lag/delay

Report · Apr 23, 2024

Hello beautiful community friends. Had a question that I can't seem to solve for the freakin LIFE of me.

I have a new 2022 Mac Studio M2 Max. I have freakin 96 GB of Ram. I'm not editing really high res footage or anything, just simple stuff from my Iphone 14Pro. I'm running the latest Mac iOS and version of Premiere.

I'm experiencing a frustrating lag in my source monitor whenever I insert a clip into my timeline then come back to my source. It usually takes like 6-10 seconds to play.

My source monitor is typically fine...no lag if I'm just scrolling through and playing footage. But if I insert a clip FROM that source monitor TO my timeline, it takes a while for my source to start playing again. It's almost like it's "loading" or something.

(Also note, I don't have any heavy graphics layers or anything complicated. Just regular boring iPhone clips. I've also done literally every YouTube fix (i.e. clearing Cache files, etc. I also have nothing else open).

I feel like it must be some weird playback setting I have? I dunno....

(I'm including a few screenshots of my settings to make sure I'm not being a dingbat).

Love and appreciate anyone who can help me with this. I will buy you flowers honestly.

Report · Apr 23, 2024

Actually, phone media is normally long-GOP stuff and well ... that's often a lot harder to edit on a computer than say 8k RED media. Still, those rigs typically do pretty decently with this, so I'm hoping Warren or somenone has an idea for you.

Oh ... Preferences, Audio, make sure that 'default input' is set to "none".

Report · Apr 23, 2024

Thank you my friend. 🙂 Oooooo. Could you tag Warren!? He sounds like a legend (like you!).

Report · Apr 23, 2024

@Warren Heaton ... 😉

Report · Apr 23, 2024

Hmmm... in no particular order...

Which version of macOS is being used? There was an issue with more than one monitor being connected to the Mac Studio for a while. I think the latest version of macOS Sonoma (14.4) resolves it. That, or enabling "Displays have separate spaces" with older versions.
Premiere Pro 24.2 had an issue where it can become unresponsive for short periods when working in sequences using Text-Based Editing. That should be fixed in 24.3.
Suppose the footage was recorded as High Efficiency (h.265) or More Compatible (h.264) with the iOS Camera app. In that case, I'd use Shutter Encoder (donation-ware) to transcode it to Apple ProRes 422 LT with a constant frame rate. As far a constant frame rate goes, there's nothing special to do in Shutter Encoder other than pick ProRes 422 LT from the "Editing codecs". 1080p ProRes 422 LT will be about 700Mb per minute.
Try Magnification is set to "Fit" or smaller in the Source panel and Program panel. If Fit isn't helping, try 50% or 25%.
Double-check that the source footage is on high-speed storage as well as the Scratch Disk location for Video Previews. For example, from the internal Flash storage (the Macintosh HD), things should be buttery smooth - even for very large, high-bandwidth ProRes files. If somehow the clips are on a slow USB drive, that could lead to all sorts of lag.
Even though nothing else is open, it would not hurt to monitor the Memory Pressure in macOS Activity Monitor
Safe Mode to see if a 3rd party plugin is somehow causing unexpected lag, but also clearing the media cache files and resetting the plugin cache.

Report · Apr 26, 2024

Warren. I really REALLY appreciate your time. You are a good human.

-Currently Running Sonoma 14.4.1 (it says I’m up to date too. 🙂

-I’m currently using Premiere Version 24.3

-I DO have 2 monitors. I wonder if I should disconnect 1 and try to use Premiere just using one.

-I downloaded Shutter Encoder (thank you for the suggestion!)

-I’m currently set to “Fit” in the source monitor, but I’ll try going lower.

-I'm keeping my source footage and project files on a SanDisk 4TB Portable SSD. When I tried moving the source files to my CPU, it was still slow (should I keep project files...at least while I'm working on them....on my native hard drive).

-I haven't tried Safe Mode yet, but I can.

Thank you @Warren Heaton. Really really means the world

Report · Apr 26, 2024

@Warren Heaton Included a few pictures. My playback settings, and a screen shot of my activity monitor while running premiere (but to be fair, it was just this high when it was doing the lag thing...it returned to like 40 or so after the edit was included)

Report · Feb 26, 2025

Hey @jeffk79185465!

I have the same problem on my M4 mac mini with Premiere Pro. Everything was fine in 24.6, then the problems started in Premiere 25. Thought downgrading, but the problem still persists...

Did you solve this problem?

Looking forward for any tips or solutions!

Thanks!

Report · Jul 17, 2025

Having the same issue on a M4 max Mac Studio I just purchased a week ago. I tried everything and nothing seems to fix the issue. The weird part is that with all the same conditions, I do not have this issue when I open the project on my M3 pro Macbook. Is my Mac Studio bad? Should I return it while I still can? I'm not sure what to do, any additional help would be great. Thanks!

Report · Jul 19, 2025

Hi David Dzurilla,

Sorry to hear about this. We can get this checked. Could you please confirm the version of Premiere Pro you are using and whether you are using a multi-monitor setup? If the project and media are on an external drive, have you tried moving them to the internal drive and checking if it's working better? Also, let us know the device on which the media was captured & the format of the media.

Thanks,

Sumeet

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Hello @Sumeet Kumar Choubey,

Thank you for your reply! I am using Premiere Pro 25.3 on a single Dell Ultra Sharp monitor connected via usb-c. The project and media are on a very fast external drive and moving files to the internal drive did not change anything. I captured the media on a Sony a7iv and here the media file properties:

Type: MPEG Movie

Image Size: 3840 x 2160

Frame Rate: 23.976

Video Codec Type: MP4/MOV H.264 10 bit 4:2:2

Since the project was working fine on my M3 Macbook pro, I assumed it was a software compatability issue and did some more research. I could be wrong but from what I gathered, it seems that the latest version of premiere pro is not optimized for compatibility with the M4 Max chip as a large amount of people are having similar issues. Any idea when these problems will be resolved? Thanks!

Report · Jul 21, 2025

Thanks for sharing the details! M4 Max is compatible & should work fine. We will get this checked at our end. Could you please share a screenshot of the Audio Hardware Preferences window in Premiere Pro? Also, for testing purposes, please create a Bars and Tone media (File > New > Bars and Tone) & load it in the Source monitor to see if you are experiencing the same lag.

-Sumeet

Report · Jul 22, 2025

Hello @Sumeet Kumar Choubey, I've attached a screenshot of the Audio Hardware Preferences window as well as a screen recording of the issue I am experiencing. I had the same issue with the bars and tone file in the source monitor. Only the visuals are lagging, I can hear the audio immediately when I start scrubbing the clip in the source monitor. Thank you for all you help!

Report · Jul 24, 2025

Thanks so much for the visuals, that'll help us investigate it on our side of things! A few more suggestions we could try.

- Try a different workspace.

- Go to Window > Workspaces > Reset to Saved Layout

- In your Audio Hardware preferences, do you have any other options under Default Input? Try switching to "None" if it's there.

- What format is your external hard drive?

- Have you tried making the Source Monitor panel smaller?

- Is your Mac in a scaled resolution? Meaning is your overall UI (regardless of what app you're using) scaled through the MacOS settings?

Let us know, we'll look into it.

Caroline

Report · Jul 27, 2025

Hello @caroline_edits,

Thank you for your response! I tried all your suggestions and was not able to fix the issue. My Working drive is APFS and I use my MAC at the 2k resolution. However, I tried all the resolutions and still had the same issue. I still have no issues with the source panel when I am editing on a M3 Macbook Pro. There has to be some sort of compatability issue with the M4 Max chip. Let me know what you find! Thank you!