Premiere Pro lagging

[ParsaTvk]

Hello,

I'm experiencing lagging in the premier pro, I've tried installing different versions of the graphics driver but the problem persists. 

My laptop specs are:

• Intel Core i7-13650HX

• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB

• 32GB DDR5 RAM

• 1TB NVMe SSD

I'm running Windows 11. Is there any solution you can suggest?"

[R Neil Haugen]

The laptop version of desktop devices like GPUs is never as powerful as the desktop one. They are built to work with less power consumption and other resources ... and you can't reduce power and computing resources without a hit on overall performance.

For instance, my 2080Ti in my laptop is nowhere near the performer, with the same media & effects, as the 2080Ti on my desktop.

So you are looking at typically at least somewhat throttled performance especially when unplugged, although often "power settings" are set to conserve power even plugged in. So check that when plugged in, the power settings allow that thing to run full bore.

Next ... only an 8GB GPU, with only 32GB of system RAM, and probably somewhat limited cache abilities ... that's another thing lowering capabilities. And it's essentially a 6 core CPU with "helper" cores, as one expert put it.

What's the media and effects you are using when lagging?

[ParsaTvk]

First of all, thank you for answering.

You are absolutely right, but I added 1080p 30fps footage without any effects in Adobe Premiere, and I’m still experiencing lag.

My main purpose is to transfer videos captured on my iPhone in 4K resolution, then reduce the resolution to 1080p, and add some text as subtitles with a little animation.

That's all I want to do.

Additionally, my laptop is always plugged in, and the power settings are set to performance mode.

Considering the decent power of my graphics card, I believe I should be able to edit 1080p videos without any issues. Also, when the video is playing, there is no noticeable load on the graphics card or CPU in the Task Manager.

If there are any questions I need to answer, please feel free to ask, as I’m new to this and unsure what information might be required.

[R Neil Haugen]

That phone media is an issue unto itself ... it's probably long-GOP, which is the single worst media format for editing made. It's awesome in cameras for quick writing of massively reduced files. But it's the way that happens that makes it such a dog for editing.

Because there's only a real, actual video frame somewhere (depending on the device) betwen every nine up to 100 frames or more. Yea ... not kidding! They're called iframes.

In between are datasets of:

• the pixels that will change before the next iframe;
• the pixels that have changed since the last iframe;
• or ... Both.

So to do playback, the computer has to completely decompress and decode up to 100 or more frames, and store them someplace ... RAM or cache files .. simply to show the next frame.

For video players, it's a chore, but all they do is play back one file at a time.

For NLEs, doing editing? They have to grab bits & pieces of numerous files on the fly, do the above mentioned work, and do whatever else the editor calls for. Effects, sound work, whatever.

I work for/with/teach pro colorists, basically all of whom have machines that absolutely freaking dwarf yours in capability ... and they hate long-GOP media. Most of them sort the incoming media from clients, and any long-GOP gets transcoded to something like ProRes before being loaded into the project to grade.

8K RED? No problem. UHD from an iPhone or drone? No way that makes their timeline. They don't have time to waste with it, as they have to do at times up to 400 clips per hour. Including at times masking windows or doorways or subjects or backgrounds, doing 'beauty' work on actors, all the stuff they need to do.

[ParsaTvk]

Since I had no prior knowledge of this issue, I read several online articles about the points you mentioned and now understand what you were saying. However, I have a few questions.

First, is there a solution to this issue? Can I edit videos recorded on my phone in Adobe Premiere, or do I have to rely on mobile apps like CapCut?

Second, I don't have this problem in DaVinci Resolve, but I can't work with that software because I'm unable to create the animations I have in mind.

Third, are there any settings for the graphics card in Premiere, similar to those in Photoshop?

Lastly, I downloaded several 1080p videos from the internet, and they were all edited, but I still experienced lag. Is this normal, or could there be an issue with my software installation that might require reinstalling it?

Again, thank you for your detailed and thorough explanations.

[R Neil Haugen]

1)Yes, you can use your phone in Premiere, though there's another problem besides being long-GOP, it's probably variable framerate ... so say you set it at 30fps, and check the resultant file in MediaInfo ... and see that it's VFR, and the framerate actually varies from maybe 27.91 to 31.02 fps.

But the audio is constant. This is not the easiest for NLEs to work with. You may simply get better performance by converting this to CFR (constant f-r) in Handbrake prior to adding to your NLE of choice.

2) I work in Resolve daily, have for a decade now. I work for/with/teach pro colorists, mostly based in Resolve. Relative performance between the two apps is pretty much hard to guess at, at this time. I get similar behavior in both apps on my desktop, and good performance in Pr on my laptop, but my laptop was such a dog in R18 I finally removed it. 

Yet another user with a similar laptop got great playback with Resolve, and struggled in Pr. No idea.

3) In the Preferences, there's a setting for Mercury Acceleration ... which is whether or not it uses your GPU. "Software only" means no GPU use, CUDA means Nvidia GPU in use, and I forget what it is at the moment for AMD GPUs.

There's also a preference option for "hardware acceleration when available" which can tell Pr to use any in-built long-GOP hardware or not.

4) Any downloaded video from the internet is almost undoubtedly also H.264/5, long-GOP. It's a great delivery format of course.

[ParsaTvk]

I apologize for the delayed response. I've tried various solutions, including installing the 2023 version, reinstalling the 2024 version, and testing different videos based on your suggestions. However, I'm still experiencing lag, particularly during the first second. After that, the yellow bar remains but doesn't turn red. If I add an effect, though, it does change to red.

This has been frustrating as I purchased this laptop specifically to learn Adobe Premiere and After Effects. I don't encounter issues with DaVinci Resolve, where the FPS stays at 60, but due to its limited animations, I can only use it for basic editing and color correction.

I hope you can help me find a solution. Thank you.

[veronica_8063]

Hello how are you? 
First of all, sorry for my English, I'm using the translator.
I have the same problem as you with a similar PC.
i7-13620H
Rtx 4060 8gb (notebook version) 
16gb DDR5 RAM
1TB NVMe SSD
did you solve the problem? I bought this notebook with the intention of editing videos and I am disappointed with the performance in premiere pro, I have tried everything to solve it, but I still experience lagging only in the first seconds of playback.

[R Neil Haugen]

Hardware can be crucial. And your rig has probably an adequate number of CPU cores, but is realistically rather on the low side for RAM. Sadly, that GPU having only 8GB of vRAM could at times be an issue also.

So planning how you work is important. Using low-res ProRes proxies might make it much more palatable.