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mattpunkle309
mattpunkle309
Participating Frequently
July 31, 2017
Question

Proxy workflow with 120fps footage

  • July 31, 2017
  • 6 replies
  • 13736 views

Hi,

I've been having issues finding the right workflow using 120fps mp4 footage shot on a Sony A7Sii.  I've recently started using the proxy workflow in Premiere Pro CC 2017 v11.1.2 and really like it (other than this issue). 

After ingesting, I noticed that 120fps proxy clips look really choppy when played back at 24fps.  At first, I thought it was just because my system wasn't fast enough to handle the data, but after a lot of troubleshooting and reading other peoples' posts, I realized that my proxies were being created at 24fps. When I slowed them to 20% they just became super choppy due to the proxy frame rate.  I've created an ingest preset to base the frame rate of the proxy clips on the source frame rate, but it seems to ignore this setting no matter what I try.

My current workaround works, but is extremely time consuming and cumbersome.  I import the 120fps clips and slow them to 20%.  Create a 24fps 1080P sequence with all of the slomo clips and export it as 1080p ProRes422.  Then, ingest those clips through the normal proxy ingest workflow.  The system works, but I'm old and gray before I even start cutting.

Any Thoughts?

My system:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016),

2.7 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 2133 MHz

Premiere Pro CC 2017 v11.1.2

AME CC 2017.1.2

Sony A7Sii, 120fps, 1080P, MP4, SLOG3

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    6 replies

    C
    chiranjeevb12202293
    Participant
    September 1, 2020

    Hi, I seem to have been facing the same issue then i realised that i dont need to rely on the media Encoder for creating the proxies, and i couldn't seem to find a workaround. So what I did was simply this, and I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I simply created the proxies using a different software that could support 120fps footage, in my case I used Movavi Video Converter, that worked like a charm. I got the downsized 120fps footage and all i need to do now is link it to the original footage using Premiere Pro. 

     

    If you want a freeware then handbrake might do the trick as well! 

    W
    Will..
    Inspiring
    October 26, 2020

    Unfortunately, this didn't work. I have HEVC (h.265 footage) shot on the new a7s iii (4k 120p 10bit 422) and since the footage is very demanding on the CPU, I need to create proxies, but Premiere only supports up to 60fps, so like what was mentioned, I tried using media encoder, and interpreting the footage that way, but the proxy that was created is out of sync with the original clips audio in the sequence.

    So then, I used Handbrake to create proxies for my 120p footage, but when I attach them, the proxy footage plays back at 120p, even though the original footage in Premiere was interpreted to 23.976 so that doesn't work either.

    Also, I cannot create proxies using Media encoder for HEVC in the current version of Premiere (14.5) because there's a bug that causes the majority of the Sony a7s iii footage to have weird blocky noise in random places throughout the footage. It happens during playback, and it gets baked into the footage if I export. Outside of Premiere, the footage plays fine.

    Been trying things for 3 days now. I was able to transcode all of the footage with Handbrake and then the footage is ok in Premiere, but then I still have the proxy issue!!! So I'm still stuck.

    C
    chiranjeevb12202293
    Participant
    October 28, 2020

    So the proxies that you made with ME are out of sync in PPro because ME has a limit of 60fps footage in exporting, but the proxies you made using handbrake must be 120fps, and if the original footage was also 120fps the  hand brake proxy  should align perfectly with the original footage inside premier since they have the same fps.

    D
    dkg876
    Participant
    March 23, 2019

    How I solved this problem was transcoding using Cineform or ProRes.

    J
    jadelr
    Participant
    May 4, 2018

    hey everyone,

    I don't know if this has been fixed in Premiere 2018. (That's why I ended up here.) But I do have a workaround for the issue, and I can tell you what the issue is.

    THE PROBLEM:

    The proxy is made in Media Encoder, and the encoding assumes the frame rate of the original file. In theory, this is perfect, except that the sony codec doesn't talk too well to media encoder, and the frame rate on all slo-mo sony footage gets screwed up. RED footage, on the other hand doesn't have a problem. If you use proxies attached to the original source file, you will notice that when you toggle from the proxy to the original the frames will not match (that's the tell tale sign that your frame rates are not aligned).

    THE SOLUTION:

    You have to create your proxies in the project bin, not as an automatic ingest process. The reason is that you have to reinterpret the footage in media encoder. and here is the work around:

    you import your original footage to you PP project.

    You highlight the footage you are going to proxy. (i do one card at a time because it can bog down your computer too much)

    Right click on highlighted footage and go to:  Proxy>CreateProxies

    A window will come up asking you to choose your proxy preset.

    This will launch media encoder. This is where the workaround happens...

    Media Encoder will load up all your footage into its query and once it is all loaded up will start to process it...NOW HIT THE STOP BUTTON!

    Once you've hit the stop button, highlight the first file that strated processing, right click it, and click on "reset status"

    Ok, now...highlight all the files in the query, right click, and go to "Modify>InterpretFootage change the source footage to 23.976

    close everything up, and startup your processing again.

    You're frame rate will match, and the footage will play as it is supposed to.

    FINAL NOTE:

    For some reason Media Encoder starts up the batch jobs automatically, so there is no way to get around this "stopping the action" process. It is annoying, but the best workaround I have found yet.

    Just in case, I'll leave this link to my Sony A7Sii proxy preset in case anyone wants it. Dropbox - A7S Proxy.epr

    Hope this helps!

    JAdelR

      B
      btdross
      Participant
      June 4, 2018

      Thanks JadelR!

      This workflow allowed me to interpret proxies from 29.97 to 23.976 and kept me working smoothly.  I appreciate the detailed steps.

      B
      brfariado1
      Participant
      April 20, 2018

      Hello guys ! Any news about fixing this issue now for the 2018 version? For now which codec are you using? Thank you

      R Neil Haugen
      R Neil Haugen
      Legend
      April 21, 2018

      It would help if you lay out your precise process and issues. Some folks get the proxy system to work, but it can be not nearly as slick nor obvious as one might wish ...

      Neil

      Everyone's mileage always varies ...
      E
      excited_Genie16B8
      Legend
      September 9, 2017

      The proxy process doesn't work with Interpreted footage.  The best option here is to create Cineform Transcodes and work with those.

      M
      masai91
      Inspiring
      October 12, 2017

      Media Encoder can't successfully transcode 120p footage, because what actually is 119.88 fps is turned into 119.00 so you actually end up with slower footage and audio sync issues. At least with the current version, as soon as they release an update I'll try again to see if they fixed this. I talked with the tech support in May 2017 and they actually said they where working on this and they would have let me know via email, but I haven't heard from them since.

      If you work with PAL though and have 100.00fps you've got no problems at all.

        E
        excited_Genie16B8
        Legend
        October 12, 2017

        you actually end up with slower footage and audio sync issues.

        But...shooting at 120 fps is for slow motion, which won't have audio anyway, so I don't see a problem.

        M
        masai91
        Inspiring
        September 9, 2017

        I know this is an old question but I'm in the same boat. Apparently this is a problem with media encoder that needs to be fixed, after talking with technical support.

        I actually found a codec that supports the 120fps encoding in AME. h265, which is obviously not suited for proxies because it's still a compressed codec, but if you lower the resolution, I do 960x540, it does play smooth. I'm still looking for a better solution, but for the moment I don't think there's one.

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