New DJI Air2S footage exports as still images only...

[mandicreally]

So I just got the latest DJI Air 2S drone and shot some footage with it yesterday.  The video is 5472x3078 4:2:0 10-bit footage in a HEVC (H.265) codec at 23.98 fps.  I brought it into Premiere, let the footage create a Sequence, then changed the Resolution to 3840x2160.  Did a quick 1 minute edit of the footage, including reframing the shots using the extra resolution or scaling the footage down to fit the Sequence.  I rendered the footage in the timeline and it played back fine (surprisingly well for H.265 actually).  

Then the trouble.  I first exported it as a lower Bitrate 1080p (h.264) video to just upload onto Social Media.  That resulted in a series of static images.  So I tried again using the 4K YouTube (h.264) preset of Premiere, and same thing.  It has my cuts where they should be, as well as the reposition / scale changes, but everything is just a series of still images.  Namely the first frame of each video clip is just statically sitting there all pretty like, until the cut and then it is the next clip's first frame.

Anyone experience this before? This is a new one on me.  Exports went smoothly both times but clearly something is way off.

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Transcode footage to a more edit friendly format such as Prores or Cineform before brining it into Premiere.

[mandicreally]

This fixed the issue. It is ridiculous and I should nto have to do it. My computer has the power to edit h.265 footage, I shouldn't have to transcode all of the footage I shoot on the drone. But this is the only solution that worked. 

[Yegor Zadniprianyi]

Still issue with 15.1 Premiere. Just downgrade to 15.0 and everyting will be ok. Adobe in each new update manage to break something...

[robertV123]

I'm having a similar issue. I also have the latest DJI Air 2S drone but I'm using 4K 30fps. When I tried exporting then playing it back, it appears to be static images when it's just very very jumpy video. What gives? Didn't have this issue earlier that I recall. 

Also how do I export this project so that I can open it in the previous version 202 if the new 2021 is broken? I'm truly disappointed I can't export in the right format and quality like before.

[hopeful_detail16B8]

I am having exactly this issue right now.  Which solution worked for you?

[mandicreally]

I have to Transcode the footage into ProRes before I start editing. Then use the Transcoded footage. 

I didn't select that as "the answer" because I think it is complete BS and the fact that Adobe hasn't corrected it when folks clearly know it's a thing is ridiculous. 

[hopeful_detail16B8]

What are you using to do the transcode, Premiere itself or another product?

This is utter BS.  I agree completely.  I will be getting on the phone today, I can tell.

[mandicreally]

Adobe Media Encoder. I prefer to manually transcode my footage when I do it.  Never had much luck with doing it IN Premiere. 

[hopeful_detail16B8]

Thanks for the info.  I just returned home from filming the volcano in Iceland.  I have some "hot" footage to post.

[mandicreally]

1.5 months later and this is still a problem. Adobe really makes it harder and harder to justify using them. 

[defaulthx5m2ajguycd]

Nearly a year later and this is still an issue. Please fix, Adobe.

[Enzoxs]

Anyone know a solution for this yet? Same problem with my Air 2S footage, very annoying.

[hopeful_detail16B8]

You can preprocess (transcode) all the footage to something more timeline friendly before bring the video into the project.  Formats like ProRes work well.

[FaGoncalves]

And how can I do that? Can you please teach me?!

[Enzoxs1]

Import your footage into Adobe Media Encoder and export as Apple ProRes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsjDJuY4rOw&t=407s

[FaGoncalves]

I love you! Thank you very much!

[mandicreally]

Over a year later, still an issue.  Anyone else notice that most of the "Solves" on this forum aren't actually fixes, but just workarounds?  Transcoding the footage isn't "fixing" the situation, it is finding a way to work around the flaw in Premiere.

I don't backup the ProRes footage after an edit, so I end up with 2 of the footage files during the editing process just taking up space.  

Anyone know if htis is an issue on the Mavic 3 as well? 

[maximiliann56764262]

Just started another thread with exactely the same issue from an Air 2 drone that had me just walled in for 20 hours trying other workarounds I found on YouTube. Nothing worked. Total frustration. Worked fine for 3 Video edits and on the fourth it all capped out just because I added some more color grading totally unacceptable. Had to download shutter encoder, 20 hours down the drain. Learned a lot but... Seriously? 

[R Neil Haugen]

I work with/for and teach pro colorists, most of whom have rigs that would probably make yours look positively anemic. They certainly do to mine. My 24 core Ryzen w 128GB of RAM, 2080Ti, and twin Nvme drives, everything else on large internal SSDs ... is a puppy besides their rigs. (And cost about a quarter too ... )

They routinely t-code all H.264/5 files that come in with a job because they don't want to be stuck grading that in Resolve or Baselight. On their "heavy iron". They t-code to ProRes, DNx variants, or Cineform. And dump the t-codes at the end, of course.

So folks with truly massive machines assume they will t-code any H.264/5.

And it seems most editors, with gear about a quarter as powerful, are outraged at the thought they might be better setup if they t-coded something.

Humans are really weird at times.

Neil

[mandicreally]

As a solo production making video content multiple times a week, it is all about speed.  Sure I can transcode all of my H.265 footage to ProRes, but now I've got redundant files on my drive.  When I have multiple projects going at the same time, even my 4TB SSD starts to get cramped on space. And spending a couple hours transcoding footage before I can even begin an edit is a time sink all on its own.  Or worse yet having to clear drive space so I can fit the current project onto the drive, only to then have to move that other project back afterward.

If I was making a documentary where I had a month to edit it and knew the final product would be an hour plus in length? Sure I'd transcode.  That isn't my production world.  I'm producing multiple 1 to 20 minute videos a week as a solo shooter, editor, marketer, talent, and everything else under the sun. For me I need to dive into an edit and get it done asap.  Having to transcode footage is a hinderance to that.  My 16 core Ryzen / 3090Ti computer playsback 5.8K H.265 footage from my Lumix GH6 at Full native resolution without a hiccup. Why transcode if I don't have to? 

The problem here is that the H.265 footage from the Air 2S will playback and edit fine in Premiere, BUT when you export the video it will literally only be a still image of the first frame from the clip.  And a year and a half since I posted this discovery, it is still true.  That is a bug.

Workarounds aren't fixes. People on this forum are all to quick to absolve Adobe of any need to fix things by throwing out random "well just do these 3 steps you shouldn't have to do, and it works fine then!" workarounds. 

I'd be willing to bet that the majority of video clips edited in Premiere in 2022 are H.264/5.  Saying it "isn't an editing codec" is starting to feel like an outdated way of thinking, IMO. 

[R Neil Haugen]

You are of course entirely welcome to your thoughts, feelings, and opinions ... and to rant here also, as we ALL need to do from time to time! I've certainly posted a few epic rants here. Like over the idiotic decision to EOL SpeedGrade ... ahem.

But our thoughts don't override physics & math. By it's very construction long-GOP footage is a ton harder on the system. My 24-core Ryzen/128GB-RAM rig can play 'big-K" red a heck of a lot easier than 4k H.265 files, for instance.

In the end, I'm a practical guy, and no, I don't defend Adobe ... they are like BlackMagic, Avid, whoever, a big company and they have money & lawyers to defend themselves.

My only concern is what works.

Does anyone want to do this? Of course not ... but then, there's a ton of things in video post that we don't like to do, such as spending a few minutes to properly organize a project, add metadata & the like ... which I hate doing ... but need doing just because doing them makes everything else go much smoother & faster.

And when nearly all of the colorists I know ... and that's a lot of them including many major ones/teachers around the world ... t-code all H.265 and most H.264 routinely before grading, on truly MASSIVE machines that make mine look positively weak ... you gotta ask ... why?

It's because that process works ... and saves time in the end. Period. If it didn't they wouldn't all do that extra bit. And this is in Resolve and Baselight, so it's not a "Premiere only" problem.

But they aren't spending a lot of time doing it. It's background task. Routine maintenance.

And when I see people talk of how much time it adds, I always think ... well, that's an issue with how one handles it. If you're spending time doing this, you're not working wisely.

Batch t-code on another rig or overnight or while at lunch. Watch folders are great for this. Drag/drop fuhgeddaboudit. A while later, grab the clips, dump them in the right folder. Work.

When done, select the folder, Delete.

Takes me an extra minute or two at most per job. If you've got multiple formats in folders, sort by file type. So the ones you need are in a contiguous group.

Compare that to properly setting up metadata ... sheesh, that can suck some minutes fast.

Is t-coding or creating proxies an annoyance? Oh, yea. Certainly. So is typing in metadata ... which practically burns my fingers to do it I get so annoyed. But ... for anything with some disparate media, a number of scenes or something ...  I add the freaking meta.

And I t-code or proxy when needed. Use Multicam to join video & separate audio correctly. Use Speed/Duration for ramping clip speeds, not Interpret Footage ... unless I'm changing from say 29.97 to 23.976, and need the proper cadence change ... which is what Interpret Footage is built for.

All of which folks complain about doing. But that's what is designed to be used for the specific task, and works well and fast. Certainly faster than cleaning up after doing it with the wrong tools or process.

Again, only being practical here. What works ... works ... whether I like it or not. And everyone's mileage always varies.

Neil

[matthewp76963315]

This is nuts. I've been editing this same Mavic2 Pro drone footage for a long-term client for years and suddenly this footage no longer works in Premiere Pro, nor does it export properly. It exports out as a still image.

What's worse is that since in my situation I am working from pre-built selects timelines in some case done quite awhile back, I have to transcode the source file into ProRes via Media Encoder, bring that ProRes .mov into Premiere, match up the start and end points, and then replace the clip in the timeline. This is because even transcoding it to ProRes from the existing timeline does not work! Really so bonkers. I have to do this for dozens upon dozens of clips, and I wouldn't feel right charging the client for this time as it's not something they should be paying for. So I eat this time and cost.

This is possibly the straw that breaks the Premiere back for me. Why can't Adobe fix issues like this which were not present in previous versions?

Editing in 23.1.0 on a Windows 10 machine with Ryzen 5950x processor, 64GB ram, GeForce RTX 3080