Proxies not working - any tips?

Report · May 15, 2017

Hi there,

I am running Premiere Pro 2017.1, and have a project that originated in the 2015 version.

I have a sequence full of Sony XACV 4K footage (4096 x 2160) running on a 2013 Macbook Pro. However, realtime performance is terrible - I cannot playback smoothly in 4K or even 1080.

Proxy workflow looked as though it could be the answer - so I have transcoded all my media under the 1024 x 540 ProRes Proxy preset. However when I try to play back my sequence, Premiere is still not using the proxies.

They are all attached in the project window. The global proxies are enabled under settings, and the blue 'toggle proxies' button has been checked.

Dragging in one of the proxy files into its own native sequence plays back smoothly - the problem seems to be Premiere just isn't using them. What am I missing?

Thanks

Report · May 15, 2017

Verify that Premiere thinks the proxy is attached. You can do this by going to the project window, switching to list view (icon at bottom-left of project window) and looking at the "Proxy" column. It should say "Attached". If you don't see a proxy column then you can add it by right-clicking the columns header, clicking "Metadata Display", and clicking "Proxy" under the "Premiere Pro Project Metadata" category.

Report · May 15, 2017

Thanks for the thought, but yes - I have that column enabled all proxies are showing as attached.

Report · May 15, 2017

Oops, just saw that you mentioned that in your OP.

Try inhibiting Premiere from accessing the original media (bring drive offline, change directory/filenames, etc..) and see if Premiere uses the proxies after that.

Report · May 15, 2017

I gave that a go - renaming a clip - but it now just appears offline in the timeline and was not replaced by the proxy clip.

Report · May 15, 2017

Can you try creating a new project with a single ingested file/proxy and see if that works? Just to eliminate any project-specific issue...

Report · May 23, 2017

Thanks. I've been trying this, but I still get the same issue.

My source media is XAVC in MXF container. 4096 x 2160 resized to 1024 x 540 ProRes 422 (Proxy) preset.

What should my sequence settings be?

The only time I've seen the proxies kick in and play anything close to smoothly is if I make the sequence settings and preview size 1024 x 540.

But then the footage is horrendously zoomed in. If I scale, it's back to a lousy frame rate.

Report · May 24, 2017

You shouldn't need to change the settings when using the proxies ... something is amiss here, but I'm trying to figure out what it is.

Neil

Report · May 24, 2017

I'm having this same problem. I'm running a MacBook Pro 2016 13" with the latest Premiere Pro CC. I've just imported a test clip of my 8K R3D footage. The Red creates 1920x1080 ProRes 422 proxies along with the raw footage, so I attached that to the clip. Made sure the Proxy button is blue and played back, and...horrible choppiness.

Tried throwing the clip into a sequence just in case it was trying to play the original instead of proxy from the project pane, but same result. Tried throwing it into a 1920x1080 sequence and scaling it down. Same result. Tried moving the proxy to the MacBook's blazingly fast internal SSD--no change. Tried then offlining the original footage, just in case it was trying to read that for some reason. Still the same horrible non-playback.

So here's how I know for sure that this is a Premiere problem and not something else: if I import the same proxy .mov file directly as its own clip and throw it in a sequence, it plays back buttery smooth at full resolution.

Any ideas? This makes my project utterly uneditable. If I can't solve this, I think I'll have to just edit the proxy files directly and then hand-switch them for the 8K files for color correction, which will take hours and be error-prone.

Thanks!

Report · May 24, 2017

I'm wondering if PrPro really sees those proxies as proxies? Is it using those or the main media still? I'm not sure how to test that completely ... other than, are you seeing an obvious difference in resolution when you toggle the proxy icon?

If you ingest that same media using PrPro's proxy preset for either ProRes or Cineform, what sort of playback do you get?

Neil

Report · May 25, 2017

I think it really was using the proxies, because when I took the main media offline, it would still play video (just very choppily). I finally (I think) solved it by changing the project's Video Rendering and Playback setting to anything other than "Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration (OpenCL)." GPU Acceleration (Metal) and software only both seem to play the proxies perfectly smoothly. No idea why the OpenCL version (which was the default setting) is such a fail, but I'm just glad I can edit my project.

Thank you for your help!

Dave

Report · May 25, 2017

Most welcome, and glad you found something that works.

Neil

Report · Aug 13, 2021

Duuuuude! Thank you soooooo much! Not sure how you thought of that but wow! I'm so grateful! Thank you lol!

Report · Jan 09, 2023

years later I finally found out why
thank you

Report · Mar 18, 2021

Yet again saving my hide, Neil. Thank you.

Report · Jan 28, 2022

You just saved my night!! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I couldn't figure out why I had to upscale my proxies even when the proxy was toggled off. They had become unattached so they were just videos in 720p. First time working with proxies and it's simple but it's been so difficult today haha. Thank you again!!!

Report · Apr 18, 2024

Although this wasn't helpful for the original post, it helped me. So cheers.

Report · May 26, 2017

This might be a project specific problem.

I managed to get proxies working using the same original media by creating a new project, pulling a clip in and then setting playback res to 1/4. It was pretty obvious that it jumped to using the compressed proxy and played back smoothly.

However, I've edited a whole feature film in this project and do not want to start again! Is someone from Adobe able to assist?

As a test, I renamed some of the original source media and it just went offline, but I believe when using proxies - it should still use these so you can continue working?

In any case, Premiere + Proxies = Broken.

Report · May 26, 2017

Does anyone know a way to actually contact Adobe support? I just get directed to this forum when trying to contact.

Report · May 26, 2017

As to general PrPro support, for those on the CC programs, there are phone and "live chat" options. For both, the Adobe DVA (digital video/audio apps) Product Support manager Kevin Monahan always says ... as soon as you get a live person responding, ask for the Video queue. Immediately ... then you get someone with a bit more experience in the video applications.

Here's the FAQ about getting support ...

FAQ: How do I contact Adobe Support?

For most of us, the proxy setup works quite nicely. So ... figuring out why it isn't for you is a concern.

I've seen several things that have been done by other users that have been less than optimal in implementation. Chief among them, using anything other than the Cineform in the built-in proxies ... I've no clue why one would ever use a long-GOP codec like H.264 for proxies .. ah well. That there are H.264 proxy presets supplied is a mystery. For best playback we need a full intraframe codec like Cineform ... or DNxHD ... or ProRes ...

Next, having all the project, media, & cache files on one drive, and that with not a lot of extra room on it. Or using "standard" USB external drives ... with the slow sustained read/write PrPro can get through them. Using either Thunderbolt connections and "3rd generation SSDs" or USB3 and the Samsung T3 SSD drives, that Bill Gehrke has tested as far superior in sustained work in PrPro over any other external USB drive.

You can check in the link I'm providing for expert advice on setting up your computers for PrPro, all data is from thousands of tests run by many users running his test programs, so it's real-life results from running PrPro, not opinion. He has direct results based rankings of CPUs, drives, and GPUs based on those tests.

http://ppbm8.com/index.html

So ... tell us exactly how you've been trying to use the proxies, and we'll see if there's something that we can help with.

Neil

Report · May 31, 2017

I've set up a new test project to try and get this working.

Project and media saved to desktop on a 2013 Macbook Pro with SSD.

I've pulled a 4K Sony XAVC MXF to the timeline and then created a 1024 x 540 ProRes 422 (Proxy) file. Sequence is same as original media,

This project WILL use the proxy, but only plays back smoothly if I set to 1/4 quality. Is this normal?

Proxy file plays back like butter in the preview window. Just not in sequence.

Here are the sequence settings

Report · May 31, 2017

I take it that when you say "sequence is same as original media" that you mean you're using the original media sequence, and not a separate sequence with the same settings ... and that you created the proxy via the Media Browser Ingest feature ... and that you're getting to the proxy media on the timeline simply by clicking the Proxy button on your program monitor ...

Are all those assumptions correct?

Neil

Report · Dec 29, 2017

omg, you are a life saver!

Report · Jun 02, 2017

Yes, except for the sequence being the same as the original media.

I've now given up on getting the proxy workflow happening and gone the manual route. I've taken all my media offline, manually replacing the 4K MXF files with the ProRes LT proxies generated. Works pretty well, aside from some audio channel discrepancies, which I'm having to remap.

It's taken a couple of days to sort out, which is a shame, as this new feature should have eliminated the manual work. Proxy workflow in CC 2017 is a bust.

Report · Jun 02, 2017

Following the designed process, which did take some figuring, has worked very well for me.... no issues whatever.

There's been a number of threads here and almost always once we sort out where the breakdown is we get people running again.

Your comment yes, except using the original sequence does not square with using the new process as designed.

The couple times someone couldn't get it going were when they insisted it should work as they thought it should and did not actually follow all steps of the designed workflow as they said it made no sense to do it that way. At which point, of course it didn't work.

A couple have been because PrPro couldn't match up to multi channel original audio.

Neil