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

[glaustin]

Thanks, all, for your comments.

[odedn24013881]

Thanks

[stephenseagull]

the chat and phone are offline for support so the last available option is to check the forums.

[R Neil Haugen]

With now 299 posts in this one thread on the subject (out of many) "it's been said".

Adobe cannot use somebody's property without permission which the owner of ac3 withdrew and filed legal actions. Neither Adobe nor most other apps can provide ac3 support built in anymore except through the OS which means either migrating to Win10 or the more recent Mac OS or transcoding to a codec using non-ac3 audio.

That's it there ain't no more.

Pain well above the backside but all anyone can do is move on.

Neil

[deeeeeeeee]

Neil,

i think half of the frustration is Adobe NOT announcing this dolby omission with the upgrade, leaving people with projects that are suddenly unworkable. Also, they don't give any reasonable solutions.

Many times in these groups i advicex XMedia Recode, freeware, recodes just the audio in seconds. Still from these groups i understand adobe keep saying 'upgrade to windows 10" as only solution, which is a far more drastic solution than needed.

there is some better solution, mentioned many many times, and they don't want to suggest it to their loyal and paying customers who are let out in the cold without any announcement.

so if there is a "move on' here, i suggest Adboe also move on a bit with their customer service, give a proper advance wraning with upgrades and be more helpful giving solutions

david

[R Neil Haugen]

Totally agree on the advance warning thing. Having raised the issue at NAB, from the absolute expressionless silence on the subject, it seems to me that Legal must have sat hard on everyone not to say anything or even blink at the wrong time. Not a happy group of campers, clearly, but also, totally silent. So at this point I don't see the logic in blaming the PrPro team ... I don't think they were allowed an option is my best guess.

Dumping on Adobe corporate over this, be my guest. In spades, and twenty times on Thursdays.

So at that point, the Adobe 'official' stance is to get OS support for Dolby audio ... safest comment. Not always a usable one, granted, but liability wise, safe. And staffers must follow company rules.

So we users have to be the ones to point out the other ways around, and thanks for helping others with sound useful advice that you've given here or elsewhere. Work's gotta get out, however we can.

Neil

[deeeeeeeee]

hi,

i also sense there is some legal reason for them to be so silent about it all. but whatever that problem is, it's adobe/dolby's problem, a corporate thing, not the customers. so no matter what, abobe should have announced this to their users.

david

[R Neil Haugen]

I don't understand the rationale of not announcing that. Yea, it seems pretty obvious they should have. And from everything I can sense, the product people had no say.

So best guess is it came from above, for whatever reason. Sure caused a big black mess.

Neil

[excited_Genie16B8]

they don't give any reasonable solutions.

Actually, they do.  Like you said, upgrade to Windows 10.

It's a good idea even without this issue.

[jeffreyn99269659]

If you look at the requirements, Adobe says CC works on Windows 7. Sure,

Adobe Premiere Pro System Requirements

it will run the software - but it won't work with any camera that uses a Dolby audio codec. So, I'm unable to edit previous projects and new camera footage?

Adobe goes out of its way to continuously update apps to accommodate camera models... but has just made Premiere incompatible with a large segment video cams. Imagine if Photoshop or LightRoom wouldn't support Canon or Nikon RAW files??

Adobe should have NOTIFIED users that the new update was for Windows 8.1 or 10 ONLY... rather than breaking those on Win 7.

Adobe should also clearly state it DOES NOT work on Windows 7... especially since their Support's answer to the issue is telling you us to Upgrade OS.

I, like many who have posted, have a technical limitation that prohibits moving to Win10. Unfortunately, I have no way to roll-back to previous CC.

For what we're paying for the full CC Suite - Adobe should be making their product as fully compatible as possible - even if that means cutting their huge profits to pay Dolby a license fee.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Adobe should also clearly state it DOES NOT work on Windows 7

Agreed.  Blackmagic Design uses the same Windows Dolby driver for Resolve, and clearly states Windows 7 is not supported.

[marcof18501383]

Jim, without issue?
win10 is a skynet of Os, rubbish memory managment, a forced upgrade continuosly with a lots of hardware issue on professional workstation (i use win from win32 2.0, used any MS os, also beta and alpha like NT5) and to conclude my post i want to remember you that Microsoft drop AC3 support with upgrade 1851 since one month ago, and leave million of users with their troubles...

[excited_Genie16B8]

win10 is a skynet of Os,

Spybot Anti-Beacon for Windows

[excited_Genie16B8]

a forced upgrade continuosly

I'm not crazy about that myself.  But it hasn't yet interfered with production.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Microsoft drop AC3 support with upgrade 1851 since one month ago

That's news. (I'm still on 1803).

[R Neil Haugen]

Jim, just searched for that, can't find anything on the web ...

Neil

[RjL190365]

marcof18501383  wrote

and to conclude my post i want to remember you that Microsoft drop AC3 support with upgrade 1851 since one month ago, and leave million of users with their troubles...

I have not heard of that update at all, for that matter. That release might have been outside the US or is one of the Windows Insider builds. You see, Microsoft only releases major updates every six months, with smaller cumulative updates in between.

The next major version of Windows 10 is expected to be version 1809, which may remove AC3 support.

[attila71]

Guys, the other solution I found was to extract the audio file from my AVCHD video file using an old encoder (CS4). An ADTS Audio file file is created where I can link it together with the video file in my timeline (this whole update process buggered up the reinstalled CC 2017 version for me). My wife uses Video Pad, where you can create a WAV file from your AVCHD file. It's mucking around a little but at least I'll have hair on my head at the end of the day.

[davidm38835175]

So I have updated to windows 10, after having waisted three days after this problem.

Going back to my project in Premiere, my .mts files are still without audio. The only difference is that I don't get the warning about the missing codec anymore. Why?

[Jennifergala]

Unfortunately Premiere 2018 doesnt support it anymore but what makes me upset is that if I knew about it I wouldnt have upgraded mine. Also what makes me even more angry is that you cant roll back to the 2017 version. I did tried system restore as well on Windows 10 nothing to it. As a professional Premiere was the only software that had built in Dolby support. Today I cancelled my subscription there are many other options besides Premiere now. I love the Da Vinci Resolve 14 for 0$ for example. So Adobe if you want me back along with others try to include Dolby Digital support again in future releases or make it again available in Premiere 2017. Until then I will produce my content and for clients with DVR14. Very bad move Adobe very bad.

[samsonl23024583]

Adobe,

I have same problem when i update APPCC ver 12.  All my raw video dont have audio any more.

FYI my last APPCC before update to the latest APPcc is APPcc ver 11.00.

Adobe pls solve this problem.  I dont want to upgrade my OS 10.  I prefer to use win 7.1

[davidm38835175]

Having updated to windows 10, I still get my clips without the audio track. But moving those clips somewherelse in my computer the clips get loaded with audio.

So what shall I clean exactly, or which steps shall I follow to continue working on my project? Since I found out that media cache managment and cleanup seems different from the previous versions. Thanks for helping (five days wasted).

P.S. I've also created a new project within the same folder without moving the original clips, and they don't have sound.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi DavidM,

Sorry for the frustration! If you want to clean those media cache files, here's how to do that: FAQ: How to clean media cache files? Let us know if you need assistance.

Thanks,
Kevin

[dellmelo]

Just got an e-mail from Adobe.

They just DON´T care about encoding Dolby.

[excited_Genie16B8]

There are plug-ins for Dolby encoding.  It was actually a nice freebie that we got stereo encoding included.  It's not entirely surprising that we've lost that freebie from Dolby.