RENDER PROBLEM - AME and Premiere Pro CC causing random horizontal lines on H.264 Renders

[JesseSchluntz]

I just got the new mac pro with freshly installed, up to date software, so of course something isn't working right...

When exporting batches of H.264s from Premiere Pro CC using AME, I get random horizontal lines on screen for most videos. (see below image for a clear example of one of these random horizontal bugs. the line below the logo is the issue)

Tried restarting the app a few times, which gave me a clean render here and there, but mostly the issue persists and it's taking me forever to produce clean renders. I notice this problem less when exporting straight from the timeline in Premiere Pro, but alas it still happens.

This random issue is catastrophic for my workflow. Help?!

[Text formatting corrected.  Please type your posts directly into the forums, as copy/paste often leaves unwanted code throughout.]

Message was edited by: Jim Simon

[Tore Jonssen]

My company bought two new Mac Pros just after they were introduced. One of them had the lines (like post #1) from day 1, while the other functioned flawlessly with no artefacts what so ever. Unfortunately we had activated automatic updates, and with the 10.9.3 update we got severe artefacts and hangs during playback in PP CC on the "functioning" Mac as well. CS6 works without problems, but as several users have mentioned, not being able to utilise the powers of the new Macs kind of defeat the whole purpose of the investment.

We even got our initial problem computer replaced by Apple (it also went into endless reboot loops every time we rendered something in AME). Got the replacement computer yesterday and did a clean install (it came with OS 10.9.3). This computer shows artefacts in CC similar to those shown in post #102.

As an end user, it´s frustrating to see how everybody seems to be pointing fingers at each other and how long an issue like this takes to be fixed. Premiere CC is being marketed as the perfect solution for editing on the new Mac Pro, when clearly, for the time being and quite a lot of users, it is not. We are anxiously awaiting updates that will fix this problem, but if they don´t disappear, we seriously have to consider the base of our whole editing, animation and encoding platform.

[angelog272]

Purchasing a new Mac Pro to replace a 2008 tower was a huge financial step and months were spent researching.  Much of that research was done on adobe's site.  All of this information convinced me that Adobe CC and the new Mac Pro would completely rock out together.  I understand that unforeseen issues sometimes occur, but maybe Adobe should take down or amend some of this previous information that is informing their client's decisions.  I bought this new machine to work with Adobe CC and I'm experiencing the line issues, and once AME opens - it won't quit without a hard shut down using the button on the machine (which can't be good).  It shows up twice in the Force Quit window, lot's of 'serious problem' crashes in Premier.  All sorts of weirdness.  Apple is taking my issues seriously - but they have no solutions other than to downgrade to 9.2 (my machine came with 9.3) - which from what i've read might not work.  Turned off OpenCL which seems to work for fixing the lines problem in exports - but still constant crashes and weirdness.  Hope there's a complete solution soon...

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/davtechtable/working-with-premierepro-cc-the-new-mac-pro/

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http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/2014/03/working-with-premierepro-cc-the-new-mac-pro.html

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http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2014/03/premiere-pro-cc-on-the-new-mac-pro.html

There has been a lot of confusion and misinformation recently about how well Premiere Pro CC runs on Apple’s latest professional desktop machine, the new Mac Pro. I’m happy to say that, due to the meant-to-be combination of the Mercury Playback Engine and the immense power of the hardware, you can expect absolutely phenomenal performance. In this video, our man Dave Helmly takes you through just what it can do (and there’s even a surprise at the end, so if you ever work with RED media, I suggest you watch the whole thing).

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https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1412328

No, it's not true. The new MacPro and Premiere Pro CC work very well together. I'm not sure where you heard anything negative. As one of my colleagues says, "The performance of Premiere Pro on this hardware is way more than most people need," so the software is already optimized for the new Mac Pro. In fact, its dual GPUs can be utilized for export, for better quality and faster speeds. Read about that here.

[Robin Leveille]

Is there a fix for D700 users yet or is this strictly an OSX issue? What has everyone been doing?  AME with Open CL GPU acceleration is useless for h.264 and ProRes encoding. When is 10.9.4 out? 

[bryceu27]

I was so excited today to finally begin working with my new mac pro. Got the 12 core, 32gb ram, dual d500 GPUs running 10.9.3. After loading in some projects from my older mac, linking files, and rendering my timeline I immediately noticed this severe bug. Horizontal jagged lines, flash frames of other footage, and neon pink/green color overlays. I'm now more comfortable knowing that other people are having this issue but still bothered about all the confusion as to what exactly is the solution. With some beta users of 10.9.4 still experiencing the problem deeply troubles me. Adobe has an update/event planned for the 18th so hopefully this will perhaps fix this issue??? I wish I could provide some assistance to others here but alas I am not as technical as others. I will try to turn off Open CL tomorrow and hopefully that will be a bandaid until the next update from Apple or Adobe.

[Tore Jonssen]

Exactly bryceu27. We all have been sold the nMP and CC as a perfect combo, but now we're left  completely in the dark with no proper response from anyone. i don't like it.

[jasonvp]

Tore Jonssen wrote:

Exactly bryceu27. We all have been sold the nMP and CC as a perfect combo, but now we're left  completely in the dark with no proper response from anyone. i don't like it.

It must be restated, perhaps several times, that this is a user-to-user forum.  We're lucky to have some Adobe participation here, but it isn't promised, guaranteed, nor should we expect it.

Please note that I'm not trying to make excuses for Adobe, or for Apple.  I'm merely pointing out what we should expect here on these forums.

The engineers at Adobe are well aware of the issue.  If they can fix it, I'm sure they will.  However, it may be something Apple-related, and if so, the Adobe guys may not be able to do anything about it.  Often times, it's way harder to figure out what the problem actually is than it is to fix it.  I think we're all in that discovery phase right now (we being: the customers, Adobe, and perhaps even Apple).

I can understand the frustrations as I'm starting to see the artifacts in my video outputs as well.  I'm not trying to belittle or otherwise downplay how important this is for professionals, as time is money and I can see how the down time this is causing can be costing ya'all a lot of cash.  Raising a stink here on the user forums isn't going to make anything happen any faster, unfortunately.  Open cases with Adobe's tech support.  Provide them with source footage and project files.  Tell them exactly how you reproduced the problem so that they can take said footage and do it themselves.  The more we do to help Adobe, the quicker this may get solved (assuming it's something Adobe-related).

[Silberfarb]

Ummm - I'm not sure what you're trying to say here Jason. This problem that is easily reproduced, yet Adobe states their product is compatible with the new Mac Pro for professional editing (which it currently is not) and they are providing no clear response, explanation or warning. It is all on Adobe. If they want a reliable professional product - Adobe engineers need to have a close working relationship with Apple engineers (which I'm not sure they have) and nail problems prior to releases. The can not/should not rely on testing their products on their clients.

[jasonvp]

Silberfarb wrote:

Ummm - I'm not sure what you're trying to say here Jason.

With all due respect and no offense meant Ben: I'm not going to get into a back-and-forth with you on this subject in the forums.  You have your opinion on the matter, I have mine.  I respect and understand your point of view.  Mine is: I'm trying to help Adobe so that they have a better product.

The immediate and important bit though is: this isn't an Adobe support forum.  It's a forum provided by Adobe for users of their products to communicate with one another.  That's all that's promised.  If you want to get communication through to the Adobe engineers, the best thing to do is open support cases.  It's frustrating sometimes, but that's how stuff like this works.

[bryceu27]

Update: I switched my project to the CPU renderer and deleted my cache and old render files. Looks like that did the trick, and surprisingly, it seems to render FASTER than with the OpenCL renderer.

[Robin Leveille]

I'm sure that works well for 1080 etc.. but when doing DIT RED 5K R3D's and bouncing out H.264's for dailies / rushes it's pretty much useless to bring along. REDROCKET has a new lease on life for now... Hope Yosemite gets things right.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Glad to hear it Bryce.

[TravisBickle]

What's the latest on this? Why does it say this question is ANSWERED? It clearly is not.

I sat on the phone with Apple today - didn't have a clue. I then called Adobe who pointed me to the 9to5 article and these forums.

I turned off OpenCL for the interim - but this BRAND NEW computer is NOT operating as it should - I'm STILL getting the glitchy renders/lnes etc.... and there seems to be no solution.

Does anyone know of a way to follow this issue directly? I don't want to be editing with OpenCL turned off for a year only to find out it's fixed next week....

This is such a bummer. Please provide news if you have it.

[JesseSchluntz]

I feel you man. My new system only works because I'm software only with premiere. See post 65.

The only reason I can work semi efficiently is I've had a lot of DSLR projects lately (no RED shoots). I still refuse to upgrade from Mac OS 10.9.2 or Premiere Pro CC from 7.2.1. If I hadn't sold my tower to pay for 1/2 of this new, top of the line Mac Pro, I'd still be using it for my current work.

Still no concrete answers on this issue other than the new Mac OS upgrade supposedly fixes it, but after all the other problems, that's not to be taken as Gospel just yet. 

Feel like I'm taking crazy pills at this point...

[Hasenbau]

JesseSchluntz wrote:

I still refuse to upgrade from Mac OS 10.9.2 or Premiere Pro CC from 7.2.1.

Does OpenCL and encoding work with 10.9.2 and CC 7.2.1 ? What means you're "software only"? You're mercury software rendering or you're a kind of AI? Sorry...i'm from germany, perhaps i do not know this kind of saying.

[Robin Leveille]

If you have the ability to roll back or to stay at 10.9.2 then do it.  It should fix your problem. Most of us here cannot roll back since our machine shipped with 10.9.3.

Beta users reported that Beta 10.9.4 does not fix the problem.  Hope they address this in the final release or in the new Os.

[Hasenbau]

Robin Leveille wrote:

If you have the ability to roll back or to stay at 10.9.2 then do it.  It should fix your problem. Most of us here cannot roll back since our machine shipped with 10.9.3.

Beta users reported that Beta 10.9.4 does not fix the problem.  Hope they address this in the final release or in the new Os.

My one did also ship with 10.9.3. No chance to get back. Apple says they updated/changed the communication between system and graphic cards in 10.9.3.
So... some call this a "driver update".
Adobe guys told me that this is a "driver problem" which occurred with 10.9.3... for sure Apple has to fix that. They say that Apple has implemented corrupt drivers in 10.9.3.
But...Adobe, as developer, has had the ability to check the CC suite with a beta version of the 10.9.3 update. I think they just ignored it because the new version is in work.
Apple is in constant contact with me. I send screen recordings and stuff to them to show the "driver problems". They give me a kind of "we try do find a solution"- feeling. Adobe just says "it's apples fault".

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hasenbau wrote:

Adobe just says "it's apples fault".

Hi Hasenbau,

Actually, I've said that we're working with our partners at Apple and AMD for a fix. Sorry that I do not have any updates on that fix right now.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Hasenbau]

Kevin Monahan wrote:

Hasenbau wrote:

Adobe just says "it's apples fault".

Hi Hasenbau,

Actually, I've said that we're working with our partners at Apple and AMD for a fix. Sorry that I do not have any updates on that fix right now.

Thanks,

Kevin

Glad to hear that instead of referring to "post 60 and 65" as one of the support people on my last chat did. Probably it would be an idea to mail this sentence to all support people @ adobe.

[maddycampi]

I just got my new mac pro tower and have the SAME problem with PP CC.  Unbelievable!

[wbelkin]

Welcome to the club, sadly, mad,y

[maddycampi]

Any estimate on when something will be updated to see if it solves this problem?

Any issues with using CPU to render and export a file?  I didn't try yet but I want to abandon ship if there are any contaminated frames on export (I might miss them in review....).  Thx!

[shamburglar]

I hope they fix this soon. I just upgraded to a new mac pro with a d500 and am having the same issue. With such specific hardware configurations this shouldn't be happening. There are three possible video cards in a mac pro.

I was really looking forward to blazing speeds... but with the GPU acceleration off it's marginally better than my old machine.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Maddy,

maddycampi wrote:

Any estimate on when something will be updated to see if it solves this problem?

Any issues with using CPU to render and export a file?  I didn't try yet but I want to abandon ship if there are any contaminated frames on export (I might miss them in review....).  Thx!

Sorry, we don't have any updates on a fix yet. Changing to Software Only for the Mercury Playback Engine bypasses the GPUs, so you should not have an issue. If you do, let us know.

Thanks,

Kevin

[bryceu27]

Thanks Kevin. Good to hear. I acknowledge that creating and updating all of this software is no easy feat. I'm sure I can speak for everyone in that we appreciate all the hard work that Adobe and Apple does. Please just keep us updated on any progress.

[JesseSchluntz]

I second that Kevin. But I am honestly astounded by how long this is taking.

If, in 1970, the Apollo 13 crew could figure out how to jury rig their oxygen system in deep space using only the available parts on the ship in a limited number of hours, how can we not have just as quick a fix 44 years later for an easily reproducible software bug?

James Lovell would not be proud. Just sayin'