Premiere 2015 - All video playback is now choppy. Why?

[Danielassault]

After installing the new update (2015), I can no longer preview and video (of any format) without it being extremely choppy and unusable.

Anyone else run into this problem?

[vdruts]

Noticing this as well actually, quite frustrating. Latest Nvidia drivers even. GTX Titan.

[SR2020]

Yeah I'm having the same playback issues.  Intel i7 5820k OC 4.5ghz.  2 Gtx970 4gb ram video cards. 64gb of ram and SSDs.  Windows 8.1pro.  Lots of bugs in this update, almost unusable. How do I revert back to 2014?

[Microfilmdigital]

install earlier versions

How to Find and Install Previous Version of Adobe Apps in CC 2015 | Adobe Customer Care Team

[SpeedingSlowly]

Similar issue (although I did file a bug report).

In my case, I'm using a Focusrite audio interface. I've tried several different settings and buffer sizes, and none work solidly. The audio issues seem to be affecting video playback, which makes me suspicious. I've found 48000hz won't work reliably on MME (set to around 200 ms latency. I've tried different ranges and none work). I keep getting errors that won't allow me to stay on that setting, along with those annoying little windows on the bottom right saying it's either overloaded or out of sync in Adobe Player. I can get it to work when I set everything to 44100hz, but even that does not perform well (glitches and dropped audio after scrubbing/etc). I switched to Focusrite ASIO (again using different buffer settings) and though it seems more 'stable' at first, after a while of editing it starts to slow down and throw a wrench in performance. That's where I get more fun little error windows saying that things are overloaded or out of sync.

I have noticed a hit in performance from the new Lumetri color panel options (particularly if you use the creative section). That's unfortunate, but not unexpected, even though I used to be able to run RGB curves, Lumetri looks, and color correctors on similar clips with no problem. However, I have some of the same issues with the new lumetri stuff turned off and have noticed generally a much slower interface.

I kept CC 2014 installed, but I started a new project in 2015 that i'm pretty deep in now. Feeling really smart...

Anyway, hoping a patch or something comes very quickly.

[Charles VW]

SpeedingSlowly wrote:

I switched to Focusrite ASIO (again using different buffer settings) and though it seems more 'stable' at first, after a while of editing it starts to slow down and throw a wrench in performance. That's where I get more fun little error windows saying that things are overloaded or out of sync.

Just to confirm, you are still getting the warnings about audio I/O overload or out of sync when on the Focusrite ASIO driver?

[SpeedingSlowly]

Yes I do get the same warnings. I also installed ASIO4ALL and tried that. It was more stable if I set the buffer to 2048 samples (the max) but still same problems after a little while. I did not have an option to set to 2048 on the Focusrite ASIO, just 1024. I checked my settings on CC2014 and I was using WDM with 4000-ish buffer, and that was rock solid. MME for whatever reason just refuses to work right for me no matter what I choose. I do have a KONA LHE card that I can try outputting through. I might as well try that next.

[Charles VW]

Which (specific) Focusrite device are you using, and which (specific) driver is installed?  I believe we may be able to replicate that setup.

[SpeedingSlowly]

I'm using a Focusrite 2i4, and was using The "Focusrite USB 2.0 audio driver" found here: Downloads | Focusrite

[Suspended Moments]

I have the exact same problem along with Audio and Video Clocks Out of Sync with no method for fixing the issue.

Although you can still edit video in Adobe Photoshop cc 2015 with none of these issues... I hope a patch comes along soon...

Thousands of users are researching this problem.

[Filmguy1965]

I am having the same video choppiness, and after reading that many others are having the same issue, and as of yet Adobe not providing a solution, does anyone know if re-installing the program will "fix" this. I edit for a living, and this choppiness is unacceptable.

Running PP Cs 5.5 on windows 7 64 bit.

Note, this problem wasn't a problem until very recently (the last 2-3 weeks). I have not upgraded to CC because I am perfectly happy with the version I have - except for the problems I'm having now. Will ANYONE from Adobe PLEASE give us a solution to this?!?!?!?!

[Suspended Moments]

Uninstalling and re-Installing does not solve the issue...

[SpeedingSlowly]

It might in his case since he's using a much older version, and it's likely a different cause as a result.

[screenname_abc]

Just want to go on record that I've tried nearly all the things listed in the various threads and absolutely nothing has had any effect whatsoever.  My video playback is choppy but it's the audio dropping out that's a nightmare.  I make music videos and have never once been able to play a single edit back in full without the audio dropping out.  Not exactly a reliable tool for my trade at the moment.

The sad thing, for me at least, is that I lost a self funded documentary project which cost me about £20,000 to produce and edit.  All was going well with a fully edited and graded project that took me about 3 months day and night to edit and then out of nowhere I got the dreaded "error compiling movie" error in CC2014.  It proved to be unfixable for me on that project and this system and the project has been shelved until the issue hopefully gets resolved.  As an independent producer the ramifications of buggy software are profound.  I only installed 2015 to see if it solved that error.  Needless to say I've not even tried opening that epic project yet as I am stuck with my current (much smaller) projects that wont even play through once.  I have no faith in Adobe having fixed that with 2015 if they can't even get the audio and video to playback in a bulk standard edit.

I have nearly 20 years experience editing short form, long form and promo content for film/tv/music industry.  I remember back in the late 1990's at least Premiere played if you render previewed it.  I've never seen it like this before.

It's really shocking on so many levels.

[FenlandAC]

screenname_abc,

It's no immediate help to your issues but I support everything you say. As an independent producer doing similar work (we are a member of PACT here in the UK) issues like this break businesses and reputations.

If you are in the UK (and I see you quote GBP), I would be please to help you compile your project on our system if it helps (for free) if you can supply us with a media hard drive. It might also help identify your problem. However, have you tried delivery in Resolve? You mentioned you graded. Did you use Speedgrade? I won't, I export to Resolve to grade and you can deliver an edited project from there - so you might get lucky.

You can contact me on projects@sparewheelproductions.co.uk if we can be of help to an industry colleague.

[screenname_abc]

Hi,

I just wanted to say what a charitable offer that is.  I'm OK for now but I may well be in touch in the future.  Really blown away by your kind gesture.  Thanks you

[FenlandAC]

Pleasure. You are more than welcome.

[glaustin]

Is it my imagination or is CC 2015 the worst set of update releases ever across the board? Is it also my imagination that Adobe really doesn't seem to care?

It appears that CC 2015, although containing some nice innovative features, was launched before it was really fit for purpose. Can someone at Adobe please recognise these are media tools used by professional people; if I want just consumer stuff, I'd go with something a lot cheaper like Corel. Many users are micro-SMEs or self-employed. We should not be subjected to any update that are not reliable, particularly if these updates are defaulted to uninstall all previous versions! How many complaints does it take until Adobe learns SMEs do not rake in millions and have extensive armies of helpdesk technicians to solve problems. Your faults cost us money: SME's do not have the resources or luxury to spend hours, days or even weeks re-building lost or corrupted projects directly due to Adobe's faulty updates!

It would be nice if someone high up the food chain in Adobe at least apologised and promised to ensure proper testing in future across all profiles of real-world machines (not just supercharged lab equipment where anything would work), before publishing any fundamental update.

Regards,

Graham

[Suspended Moments]

This may be a overly simple answer to the problem of Choppy Video and Audio/Video Out of Sync Alert.

I have two systems that are identical in every way, both are running Windows 7 professional 64 bit, both have identical Video Cards

Both Dell XPS 8700 Desk Top Systems with identical i7 processors

One has it's operating system on a SATA Hard Drive, the other has a SSD with the operating system on it.

One has 16 gigs of RAM, the other has 32 gigs of RAM

Both systems are running Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015

The choppy video and audio sync alerts only happen on the system with (16 gigs ram and SATA HDD 7200 rpm)

The system that operated smooth as glass has 32 gigs RAM and a SSD.  Is the problem possibly simply due to system resources being different?

Both Premiere Pro cc 2015 installs are running with default settings, I changed nothing.

I have ordered 32 gigs of RAM from Dell to install in the system with the jittery video and audio sync warnings... IF that fixes the problem, I will post the results here... RAM will be here Wednesday.

No problems at all with Premiere Pro CC 2015 on the system running Windows 7 pro 64 bit, with 32 gigs of ram and SSD drive.

[FenlandAC]

Interesting.

I refer you to my post #15.

My cache and previews are on the fastest drive, the RAID 0 array. Clearly in my opinion there has been a change to how Prem Pro and AE inter-relate and to the use of RAM and Caching. I closed CC 2015 and it dumped RAM using all but 2GB of my RAM.

Guess I'll be sticking with CC 2014 then.

[SpeedingSlowly]

I'm running a custom PC with Win 7 64, a SSD OS/Program drive, and 7200 rpm cache and project file drives. 32GB of ram as well. I'm still running into problems.

I've tried manually deleting all the cache and rebuilding with CC2015 and it hasn't made a difference. I don't have a spare SSD to attempt making that a cache drive, but it's possible that could help. However, the main issue i'm suspecting is the way it processes audio now (since I haven't been able to get my audio interface to play nicely, and changing the settings sometimes seems to fix it temporarily).

[Jim Curtis]

glaustin wrote:

Is it my imagination or is CC 2015 the worst set of update releases ever across the board?

Worst "set?"  You may not recall that it may have been Pr CS6 (not sure; it may have been the first CC) that gave us endless "A Serious Error Has Occurred" that made it totally unreliable for pro work.  But, they got that fixed eventually.  I had been working on Avid since the first version, and it's pretty clear that you should NEVER bet your business on a x.0 release of ANY NLE.  It's your fault as much as their's if you take that leap.  The conventional wisdom is to keep your working system around, and play with the new stuff on your off time, and be a beta tester, and wait until the initial kinks are worked out before committing to the new stuff.  (I will join in the critique that deleting the old versions as a default update scheme wasn't a very good idea.)

NLEs are some of the most complicated software there is.  They use every resource on a computer: CPU, GPU, RAM, disk io, and audio resources.  Software companies can't possibly test their software on every combination of computer, RAM, drive, OS, audio interface, and so on, with all those third-party drivers and their various versions.  When Avid was new, they sold bundled systems only, so that they could remove all those third party variables that vex us.  As NLEs evolved, that approach has become unpopular (Avid charged a premium for it, too.).  So, uncertainty has become an inevitable part of the equation.  Expect it.

Adobe has come a long way in terms of listening to their customers.  There are a few Adobe employees on this and other forums who listen to us, offer advice, and take intelligence back to the coding teams.  New business is critical, so they don't like unsatisfied customers driving it off.  Griping from us is good.  But, let's be realistic.

As for the choppiness, I'm on Mac, and had encouraging success getting rid of it by trashing everything (prefs, caches, previews, and the app itself) and reinstalling CC 2015.  I still get choppiness in Pr CC 2014 occasionally, which is fixed temporarily by stopping and restarting playback in most cases.  Most of it is with crap codecs like AVCHD and H264; rendering the entire timeline eliminates it.  But, then I'm having to do a lot of rendering that we've hoped would be eliminated with "native editing." 

[SpeedingSlowly]

I agree. It's exciting when there's new stuff, especially things like Adobe has put into CC2015! But, no one should ever jump in to a major project on brand new software. However, Adobe could majorly help things by making 'replace current version' or whatever it is that replaces the old program whenever there's a new release checked OFF by default.

[Jordy Vandeput]

Like they did with the CC 2014 update

[Jim Curtis]

Yes.  Adobe should change the default install behavior, or at least provide a more obvious warning that you are about to erase your older versions, like many other software installers do.

And for the record, Avid never supported two versions of their software on the same computer as long as I was using it (I jumped ship with FCP7 years ago.).  You HAD to make a commitment.  At the time, I recall that no sane person in a pro edit environment would EVER stake their business on x.0 versions of their code.  At least Adobe users have the option to have multiple versions installed.

[Danielassault]

The bigger problem with 2015, than the choppy video problem, is that in general all Adobe 2015 applications are sluggish:

-Dragging items around tends to register the mouse-release button a second after you have actually released, making things move around unintentionally.

-Previewing and playback is slow and sometimes doesn't even start. Both in Premiere and in After Effects.

-Playback errors & problems are frequent.

-Even previewing the Waveform only in PP2015 sometimes doesn't show up, unless you move it to another window.

-The new welcome screens take over a minute to load! Best just press the X or not have them show up at all.

In general, most of these performance issues seem to feel like the applications are "dozing off" into some day dream and unless you constantly shake them, they don't wake up and do what they are supposed to. For me, 2014 was all about improving performance and now it's all gone. I imagine Adobe tried doing something to improve everything, somehow the opposite happened and now 2015 is mostly unusable. Even CS6 works better. I hope this doesn't go the same road Autodesk went and that 2015 is just a hiccup.