Dolby Audio Decoder missing after Premiere CC 2018 (V12) update

[zeno303]

I just updated to the most recent version of Premiere: CC 2018 from Creative Cloud.

When I opened a project I had been working on earlier today that has some .ac3 tracks on some of the sequences, those tracks are redded out and I now get an error message "Missing Dolby Audio Encoder." I get the same message when I try to import .ac3 files into the updated Audition program.

I have been using Premiere CC for several years, have installed all the updates & never had this problem before.

I have an individual (not Enterprise) Subscription on Windows 7.  I ran CC Cleaner Registry check after the install.  It cleared up some paths, but didn't fix this issue.

Please help.  I am up against a deadline!

Wsquared

[dellmelo]

Got it.

Just do a windows restore point to 5 days ago and install Premiere 2017 from here

Download Creative Cloud apps

Now I can import//export AC3.

[tylerr67133873]

My computer is on a secure network, and IS will not allow Windows 10 at this time. I am unable to do any of my work now that Windows 7 is not longer supported. Extremely disappointed.

[Seppia]

Can't precisely help you on Windows as I have a Mac, but you might find the same framework at corresponding paths :

Re: Dolby Digital

Hope it helps !

[jasongjames]

I followed the link to support that was posted on this forum, and it sent me back to this forum after going through several useless pages.

Comedy.

I am not even using the audio on clips that use the dolby codec, and it still fails.

So I have to use a different video editor to strip audio from files.  Tell me again why I am using two video editing applications?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi JasonGJames,

I followed the link to support that was posted on this forum, and it sent me back to this forum after going through several useless pages.

Are you on an enterprise or educational license? If so, you need to contact your IT rep at the place you work/go to school for 1-1 agent support. If not, let me know.

I am not even using the audio on clips that use the dolby codec, and it still fails.

Is this on an existing project? Have you tried deleting media cache first? Can you try renaming your media folder?

Thanks,
Kevin

[jasongjames]

Hi Kevin,

I am on an educational license.  I guess that is why I can't contact support.  The I.T. rep at my school is unlikely to pay for me to upgrade to Windows 10 to fix Adobe backing out of a licensing arrangement with Dolby.  Not sure if there is anything else they can do.

It is an existing school project that I was well on the way on before I started using some footage from my Sony Camera.  The .MTS file would cause the error about the missing codec.  The error recommended that I install software for Windows 7 N.  Microsoft recommended that I don't install software for a different windows.  I could do this if it might help.

I found Handbrake would happily convert the files to a usable format.  It is just disappointing that I had to replace a lot of footage.  It is also depressing as I have 1000s of files from that Sony Camera.

I am just happy that I am working on this well before the deadline.  I feel much empathy for the professional users in this forum that have been punished for staying on the stable windows 7.

I was thinking I was going to have to steal my child's computer to finish my assignment.   I may have to video the explosion of wrath on my phone to pass on how unhappy they are that you have dropped support for Windows 7, and Sony Cameras without warning.

It does take me back to the 90s.  Capture, render for the editor.  Edit. render for the output. Print to tape.  Nice to know that we have gone nowhere in workflows since the 90s.  Except printing to tape was faster than uploading to Vimeo.

Cheers,
Jason

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Jason,

I am on an educational license.  I guess that is why I can't contact support. 

Ask the IT department to get you the contact info for enterprise support for Premiere Pro. That way, you could at least get support for your issues. Sorry that doesn't make it easy for students to get support. It's a pain point I'm working on.

Thanks,
Kevin

[jasongjames]

Hi Kevin,

I took the advice of ProDesignTools, and upgraded to Windows 10.   The computer is noticeably slower in all desktop tasks.  However, I now have audio on .MTS files created on my Sony Camera.  Premiere Pro is no longer reporting any errors. 

I will do some research on trying to improve windows performance.   I also installed win10 on my laptop, and it didn't get the weird system lag.  Maybe it likes i7 processors over i5. Both machines have 16Gb of RAM.

When I have a spare day I will try it again as a clean install rather than upgrade.  I expect that is the first thing to try.

From my point of view the issue has been resolved.

Cheers,
Jason

[solarwind256]

hi

did you remove the 2017 version, i still have no audio!

cheers

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Jason,

I took the advice of ProDesignTools, and upgraded to Windows 10.   The computer is noticeably slower in all desktop tasks.  However, I now have audio on .MTS files created on my Sony Camera.  Premiere Pro is no longer reporting any errors.

From my point of view the issue has been resolved.

Thanks for your feedback. It's appreciated.

Kevin

[gwheartland]

Dear Adobe Staff - Did the thought ever occur to your developers that a large number of your installed user base works in a networked corporate environment where upgrading to Windows 10 would require an upgrade to ALL OF THE COMPUTERS IN AN ENTIRE ENTERPRISE? That means a lowly media production person has absolutely no say in - or ability - to upgrade to Windows 10. 

[gwheartland]

Has anyone tried transcoding their MTS files using a 3rd party (non Adobe) encoder utility? Then replacing the files in your project with the transcoded files? This assumes that you don't actually need the Dolby Surround Sound codec and are outputting to a traditional stereo or mono format.

[sergiom27532047]

Yes. I used Handbrake to transcode my mts files as multiple other file types (mp4 mainly) using a variety of codecs for both video/audio, and trying both variable and constant framerate. Still had the problem after importing.

Others though, have reported success. So it's probably worth a try. If it works for you, might be worth reporting back what encoding settings you used!

[gwheartland]

Hmm. That's discouraging. I'm researching my options and will report back as requested.

[gwheartland]

OK - I was able to transcode my MTS file to an M4V (mp4) file and import the file into Adobe Premiere CC v12 with audio using Handbrake. Obviously, this will be a pain-in-the-butt solution that will result in the loss of the Dolby Surround Sound audio tracks, so may not be a solution for those wanting this feature.

[TL2121]

Sorry to hear all the issues with this--as I am having  the SAME EXACT issues as the others.... no support for sony avchd dolby audio ..ugghh

like

jasongjames says:

"I found Handbrake would happily convert the files to a usable format."

Yep Handbrake worked great for me to convert the audio to a usable format--I just exported (intermediate file (cranked the quality slider for best quality))render to mp4 in handbrake.. and alas the vid/audio synced and imported into premiere pro...This is NOT the way we should edit in Premiere Pro but a fix is a fix--better than nothing...thanks adobe...

handbrake

handbrake

handbrake

Also daburninator22--just read your post--yep pretty much what i did in handbrake to get it to work--cranked the quality slider to 12 for HQ....

Agreed this is NOT how we should be circumventing this isssue....

[Adrenaline Junkie]

The unexpected removal of Windows 7 support and having to use things like handbrake. It's so unfortunate, so unnecessary. How did customer service get so far? I don't know.

[TL2121]

@adrenaline junkie

agreed....

unnecessary workarounds seems to be just a part of the life experience unfortunately...

[ProDesignTools]

Read this thread for more insights on why this may have happened:

Re: We want Dolby back again

It doesn't sound like anybody on our side wanted it to.

[Praprin]

Handbrake works. no questions. — but the only way to fix all this mess

Moderator Warning: No profanity, please.

[deeeeeeeee]

i'll just mention once more, handbrake recodes audio and video. xmedia recode can just convert the audio and leave the video untouched. (you will still get it together in one video file, no syncing or anything like that!)

it's much much much faster (just seconds per file) and no video quality loss whatsovever. it's freeware too,

i like handbrake, but really for this problem it's not the best tool..

d

[odedn24013881]

Does it help to return to the 2017 version? And if so, how do we get back?

[ProDesignTools]

odedn24013881  wrote

Does it help to return to the 2017 version? And if so, how do we get back?

Sorry for the difficulty! Try one of these suggestions if you've lost Dolby functionality:

1. Your simplest and best bet is to recover your CC 2017 apps as they were before you installed CC 2018. See if you can use Windows Restore to roll back the state of applications on your computer to before that time. On a Mac, you'd use Apple's Time Machine.

2. If you can't do that, then do you have a system backup or image from when you had CC 2017 installed, or perhaps it's installed on another machine? You could possibly use that backup together with the CC 2017 direct download links to get back to where you were before. At  a minimum, you'll need both the Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder apps.

3. If neither of those strategies recover a working CC 2017 for you, then you could try moving forward with CC 2018. You could use a third-party utility like Handbrake (a free open-source video transcoder) to convert your MTS/ACS files. Rename the files and reimport them into Premiere Pro. Then clear your media cache.

4. If none of the above work, then maybe consider upgrading to Windows 10 while it's still free, and press ahead with CC 2018 (if you're concerned about Windows telemetry, that's easily handled). Meanwhile, for Mac users, macOS upgrades are always free... Windows 8.1 or above and macOS 10.11 or above contain native support for Dolby decoding functions. Again, rename the applicable files and reimport them on your new setup. Then clear your media cache.

5. If you can't upgrade your operating system, can't move forward with CC 2018, can't go back to CC 2017, and are genuinely stuck with a project caught in the middle – and none of the above solutions work for you – then you could try contacting Adobe Customer Care to let them know and see if they can help.

6. Moving forward, when upgrading Creative Cloud apps, use 'Advanced Options' in the Desktop app to retain older CC versions rather than the default behavior, which is to remove them.

Hope that helps!

[odedn24013881]

He will not let me install 2017. He gives me earlier versions. Up to 9.0

[Ann Bens]

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