Dolby Licensing, MTS / AVCHD Audio Sync, Premiere Pro CC 2018

[AlanaTreppler]

Just got much more of an education than I ever wanted or needed to at the expense of productivity. OK. So, to possibly assist other professionals out there (MVPs, ACPs, Adobe Support please take note) here goes...

AVCHD / .mts files lose sync with the video track: Major legal snafu between Adobe & Dolby. Read a little more about it here, if you care to:

Dolby sues Adobe for dodging license fees • The Register

1) Clearing media cache will NOT fix this issue fully. Some of you may have good luck, but not me on Win10 latest version.

2) Easiest and quickest workaround (after much too much research) is to:

a) open or re-install premiere pro CC2017 by launching CC app, using the down arrow and selecting "Other Versions" and choose cc2017 and wait for install. It will install pp2017 and media encoder 2017.

b) If you've been working in cc2018 and suddenly your files are out of sync, do not despair. From you CC2018 file, export to Final Cut Pro XML (File|Export|Final Cut Pro XML)

c) Open cc2017 and open this xml file. Check your sequences and they should be in sync.

NOTE: You'll probably loose all that new, cool functionality from cc2018, but hey, at least you don't have to go back re-cut ALL your work.

There you go folks. I hope this helps. Hey Adobe, where do I send my invoice for all the time spent on this issue?...(I'm holding my breath...).

[AlanaTreppler · Accepted solution]

Now for my take on this subject (ignore this rant if you want):

Years ago I jumped ship from Sony Vegas when it took more than a month to reply to a support request from them. I went all in with Creative Cloud when it came out. No brainer, right? You mean Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Premiere Pro AND After Effects? Where do I sign???

Next, extreme learning curve, but very cool professional results with some things easier than Vegas and some things more difficult. No Problem, I can adapt.

Then this sync issue came up out of the blue. Minimal info in release notes. No definitive answers from Staff, ACP, MVP that were of much help. There were many replies defending Adobe, however. Anyway, I digress.

As previously stated, Sony shanked support for Vegas. Recently Gibson shut down Cakewalk Sonar, after non-responsive tech support and requests for fixes...and now they are in bankruptcy.

Question: What is going on at Adobe? You've raised CC subscription rates, but you can't work out an amicable deal with your licensing partners? Please fix what is wrong. Kiss and make up or whatever. Sheesh. Are we going to have up and jump ship en-masse soon like the Final Cut debacle?

At the very least, Adobe, please let us know who you plan to — off next so us loyal users can adjust accordingly. If you do, please provide a solution/workaround prior to releasing (pushing) an updated version and make it very well known.

(still holding my breath for where to send my invoice).

Moderator Warning: Please do not use profanity on these forums. Thanks.

[BobM21]

So much for a relaxing memorial day weekend. Still trying to sync my audio and video for mts. files.   Cleaned all my cache and tried reimporting files .  Same bad problem.  Damn shame Adobe is not on this . Forum complaints have been going on for sometime on this issue.

[AlanaTreppler]

BobM21,

Did you try the above method? (my first post, not the rant).

So far it has worked for me. The other solution is to make sure and import the entire folder from your sd card. That should work.

The project I had problems with is so old that I hadn't incorporated importing all the contents on the card into my workflow yet.

Best of luck!

[RjL190365]

I think that explains why one can no longer roll back to CC 2014 through CC 2017.1.2 via the Creative Cloud Desktop app: Those versions were released within the time frame in the Adobe/Dolby dispute. CS6 and the original (7.0) release of CC remain available because they were released prior to 2014, the year that the dispute became applicable to. CC 2017.1.4 and CC 2018 are available because they do not include an AC3 decoder or encoder of their own.

And Sony had shanked support for Vegas because it no longer owns the line. Vegas is now owned by the German company MAGiX, which acquired the line from Sony back in 2016.

[AlanaTreppler]

RjL190365: Correction regarding Sony support. Sony didn't give a rat's patooty about actually supporting their users BECAUSE they knew they were going to dump the whole (previously acquired) Sonic Foundry line of products.

Same thing happened to Cakewalk Sonar and Gibson. Look where Gibson is now. They tried to keep it afloat with fluffy interface upgrades instead of root issues. (like ripple edit that used to work just fine, then they messed around under the hood and broke it).

[Pattrny]

I work predominantly with AVCHD files this sync issue has handicapped me.  I was just finding my rhythm in 2018 when this came up. To Adobe are you considering compensation, rebates or anything like it for people impacted by this?  2017 is great, but as a consumer, I'd like what I paid...am paying for.  Yes/No?

[wardm28703446]

Here we are in 2019. I have over the past year videotaped football and basketball for a school. Each game carries over 230 video clips in .mts- AVHD format.(Panasonic-HMC-150) Each season has with it- at least twelve games. Do the math- that's over 2,760 individual clips. It's real obvious when you pull up a game play and the audio matches up with a cheerleading yelling "Go Team" to a football play that occurred two weeks earlier?? Where is the audio from the players crashing into each other.... Where did my play audio go? Why am I hearing this cheerleader on a game play? What? What?

Not out of sync... totally out of sync from an earlier game. I have looked through these forum notes for a SOLUTION... all I see is... kiss and make-up Dolby and Adobe! My real question: Does anyone have issues like this with Davinci Resolve? Love ya' Adobe, but I'm leaving after I limp through this basketball season, unless you find a solution that doesn't require hours out of my day renaming clips!!!!  Hello, is anyone home??? Adobe?

signed, An Adobe fan for Life? Not sure!