Inspiring

Question

Frame Substitution Recursion; Error Retrieving Frame... Errors.

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
May 9, 2022
5 replies
5481 views

For some reason, in Premiere over the past couple days, my project keeps generating errors that state...

Frame substituition recursion attempt aborting after multiple attempts on file...

and

Error retrieving frame [number] at time [time] from the file [file path], substituting frame [number]

While these messages display in the Events window, the footage I am trying to edit and color grade will not display in the Program window. In fact, as I move the current time indicator in the timeline, the error recurs and keeps recurring. The errors aren’t present immediately after I open the project, but start to pile on after I make a few changes to the clips.

The only thing that seems to clear these errors is to restart Premiere. But that works only temporarily.

What is happening and how can I stop it from continuing? Please advise. Thanks.

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

Premiere is still behaving the same way, generating long lists of errors after I use it for a few minutes or through a few commands or changes.

At one point, there was a problem with one of the RAM sticks. That stick was then removed. But Premiere continues to exhibit the same issue.

Remember these files were migrated from an old macOS computer to my new Windows 11 workstation.

Someone suggested going onto my Mac, exporting a file from the Premiere project on the Mac side, then opening or importing it into a new Premiere project in Windows. But, how do I do that without losing the ability to cut, color grade and otherwise modify the clips in Premiere in Windows? I know how to export a media file, but I don’t see how that would help in this case.

Another suggestion was a software plugin that converts files between the HFS+ and NTFS file systems. Apparently, Mac uses one of those file systems and Windows uses the other? I don’t know anything about that.

Or perhaps I just need to somehow rebuild the project files from scratch? What would be the easiest but most effective way to do that? Could I just select all the clips in the timeline of the existing project, copy them, then paste them into the timeline of the new project?

Maybe there’s some other, better solution...?

I’m (still) feeling lost and frustrated here.

S

Sumeet Kumar Choubey

Community Manager

Hi The Mavo,

We're sorry about the poor experience. Where are these files located (internal/external/network drive)? If on external/network drive, have you tried moving it to the internal drive & checked if it's working properly? Also, if it's happening specifically with mp4 files, try disabling hardware accelerated decoding (under Edit > Preferences > Media). Let us know if it helps.

Thanks,

Sumeet

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

Hello, Sumeet. Thanks for your reply.

All the files & footage related to the project are located on one of the internal solid state drives of my Windows 11 workstation and that was the case when the errors were happening. It’s an ssd that is separate from the one that contains the operating system, application and cache files.

I don’t know if the errors are specifically with .mp4 files. Most of the footage is composed of different .mp4 files, so it could be. But it also seems to be more general, especially as I apply Lumetri color presets or otherwise change the color grading. It also happens simply when I move the current-time indicator to preview clips.

One of the Adobe representatives I worked with earlier specifically *enabled* hardware accelerated decoding in the preferences in an attempt to resolve these errors. That same option was already disabled when these errors first started to appear. So, now I’m not sure which way is the best direction to go with that feature.

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

So, I’m using the GeForce Studio driver now (not the game driver), which was supposed to help solve the problem of the errors...

But, Premiere is still giving me the same errors. They include the by-now-usual “low-level exception,” “error retrieving frame...,” and, of course, “frame substitution recursion attempt.” See attached.

At this point, I’m really losing my patience with Premiere and with Adobe. I’m currently spending less time working on my project as I am troubleshooting why all these errors are appearing. This is a major project that I’m trying to complete on schedule. But, these constant errors and crashes are truly hampering my progress. No cause has really been identified and no truly reliable solution has been offered.

And for this I’m paying Adobe a hefty subscription fee?

If someone has a practical solution that actually works, please post it here. In the meantime, I’m going to have yet another online “chat” with Adobe tech support (which, by the way, is an inefficient way to communicate and provide tech support).

And I will start demanding from Adobe the elimination of my subscription fee from future months. This situation is absolutely appalling and unacceptable.

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

There's another facet of this issue. It concerns the driver for my workstation's NVIDIA GeForce graphics card.

While chatting with another Adobe representative online today, they had me go to the GeForce Experience settings and switch from the Game Ready driver to the Studio driver. The representative said that the Studio driver was the one Adobe recommends.

However, I also play games on my workstation, so had left it set on the Game Ready driver, because it seemed as if the performance would be better. I had not had any issues while using Premiere or any other Adobe app for the entire three months or so that I've owned this computer. And I use Adobe's apps rather frequently.

Does anyone else here use the same (or similar) Game Ready graphics card driver settings in conjunction with programs like Premiere? Or do you use the Studio driver?

Those who have used the Game Ready driver instead of the Studio driver: While using the Game Ready setting, have you experienced errors or playback issues like the ones I've been seeing? Or has it not been an issue for you?

T

TheSailingChannel

New Participant

I use Studio Driver, but this frame substitution issue has just popped up again while editing smartphone footage. I had a failed install on the September 10. 2025 Studio Driver update. I just successfully installed it a few minutes ago. Now I'll see if that is the cause.

M

mayjain7130546

Community Manager

Hi @The Mavo ,

Sorry for the issue. Can you please share the media files/project which is causing this issue? Please also mention the device information and Premiere Pro version.
We will check the issue locally and take action.

Thanks,
Mayjain

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

Hello, Mayjain. It's a large project. Please let me know what the best/easiest way is to gather the files and share it with you. Also, I would need to share it with you privately. Please let me know how to do that. Thanks.

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

The errors just keep piling up.

T

The MavoAuthor

Inspiring

BTW, eliminating the errors takes not just a regular restart of Premiere. The app actually winds up freezing, becoming unresponsive. This forces me to use the End Task function in Windows 11, forcing the app to quit.

T

thom_c

Inspiring

Is this with Canon MXF footage ? If so, it's a known intermittent problem that no one seems to have an asnwer for ... I ended up transcoding everything to ProRes in the project that was affected ... it seems to happen rather randomly ... good luck

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