Playback in Premiere Pro is choppy with frame loss using Nvidia 3060ti

[Fellerz77]

I am trying to edit a video on a brand-new pc computer running Windows 10 64-bit. However, when playing a clip in both the source panel and timeline, the video is very choppy and the dropped frame indicator comes on. I have tried all the solutions offered on Google (at least the ones I can find), and none seem to remedy the situation. My computer is definitely up for the task: Intel i7 12700 processor, 32 GB of RAM, Nvidia 3060ti GPU. I have reinstalled Premiere Pro twice. I have updated to the latest Nvidia studio driver. I have tried clips from various sources shot at different settings. I have imported clips from different drives. I have set Premiere Pro preferences as recommended. I have tried all the various playback resolutions. I have deselected high quality playback. When I play the clips in Quicktime or other players, they are smooth. They are fine even in Photoshop. There has to be a setting I'm missing either in Premiere Pro or with my Nvidia GPU settings. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[R Neil Haugen]

The crucial data you left out is what is the media you're working with? Framesize/framerate, codec, and made by ... what?

Neil

[Fellerz77]

Sorry. Here's the same info I just posted on a Facebook group page: Sequence settings are: Custom; 23.976 fps; 1920x1080; sample rate 48000; preview file format I-Frame Only MPEG. This problem occurs even if I first import one of the sample Adobe clips into the timeline. I used both media browser and the drag and drop from Explorer. These are HD 1080p files. No 4K. I tried one clip shot at 24 fps (Sony A73), and another shot at 60 fps (DJI Pocket 2). The both did the same thing. As for a codec, how do you determine the codec of the file or sequence before exporting? When I click on export, the video codec shows H.264. I am using Windows 10 Home Version 21H2, OS build 19044.2006. My Premiere Pro build is Version 22.6.2 (Build 2). My GPU is an Nvidia GEforce RTX 3060ti (Gigabyte).

[R Neil Haugen]

Ahhh ... so not surprised. H.264, the dreaded long-GOP stuff. Or as it's also known, "interframe" ...

Some have referred to it as the codec created by Satan ... but well, it has a great use: with specialized chips in the camera, it can cut down the file size to something it can write to file quickly.

Which is it's great pitfall: the very thing that makes it useful in camera makes it awful to edit with. And I and others separate editing from playback, as the two are not even nearly the same thing. A player only needs to decode the file.

But an NLE has to decode just specific bits of the file while being ready to add complex effects and such. Which takes a ton more resources.

And long-GOP media's compression is nasty: there's only a complete or "i-frame" every 9 to however many frames the chip is set for. In between those i-frames, are p or b 'frames' which aren't actually a frame.

They're just a data file of 1) pixels that have changed since the last i-frame, or 2) pixels that will change before the next i-frame, or 3) BOTH.

So for decoding the computer doesn't just decode frame after frame ... it has to figure out entire groups of frames, decoding the i-frames and then computing the p and b 'frames' from the decoded i-frames AND the data charts of changed pixels ... just to show any one frame on your timeline.

Some CPUs and even some GPUs now have on-board long-GOP H.264/5 encoding and decoding capabilities, which can help. Premiere has preference options for using those IF they are available on your computer. If you haven't set those, find them in the Preferences and check them, see if that helps. It might, or you might do better with those unchecked. You have to test that.

I work with a lot of major colorists, who all have MASSIVE "Iron" as it's called. Mostly Macs, some PCs ... many cores, 256GB of RAM or more, multiple massive RAID arrays for playback of project & media files, we're talking computers running above $18,000 before even talking about reference monitors.

And many of those, on seeing any H.264 media in a project they're conforming to prep for grading ... will immediately have Resolve create proxies or completely new transcodes that they'll use in grading. And we're talking machines that run mulitple 8k RED tracks without blinking.

So ... you might well be served by having Premiere Pro make proxies for you ... use the Cineform or ProRes say 1/2 res proxy presets. Then in the Program monitor, get the Proxy toggle pulled out onto the visible controls.

Or use a keyboard shortcut to toggle from original to proxies and back.

Neil

[Fellerz77]

I'm sorry, but you're talking way over my head here!!! The H.264 is what the codec would be if I was exporting. But I'm not even close to that point in my workflow before the problem begins. On my sequence settings, the codec shows MPEG I-Frame. I'm having this issue whether I'm viewing the clip(s) in the timeline, or in the source panel before I even drag it over into the timeline. But I can view the clips without any issues in other video players such as Windows media player, VLC Media Player, or even Photoshop. I'm bound to be doing something wrong when bringing the files into Premiere Pro. I'm following the same procedure I've been doing for years, but there has to be a setting somewhere that's causing this.

[R Neil Haugen]

The media codec is what we're concerned with. What codec your files are.

And that A73 and the drone are nearly always providing H.264/5 long-GOP files. Right-click the files in the Project panel, and select Properties ... that will tell you what they are.

And again, simple playback in a viewer is not even CLOSE to the same as working the file on a sequence in a pro level editing app. Weird as it seems to you, the NLE is doing a TON of things constantly within the computer that the players don't do. Not even close to the same resource load.

Neil