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larsons33339758
larsons33339758
Inspiring
May 4, 2020
Question

Why cant Premiere playback h264 files when Da Vinci Resolve and Quicklook handle them no problem?

  • May 4, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 1391 views

Can anyone at Abode clarify why Premiere wont playback h264 files without stuttering, when the exact same files play just fine in Da Vinci Resolve and even play just fine by hitting the space bar in Finder and just using Quicklook?  This happens with any h264 files I put into Premiere, coming off the same drives, internal or external.

 

Im running a 2017 iMac, 40gb ram, 8GB Radeon Pro 580 GPU.  

 

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

5 replies

Christian.Z
Community Expert
Christian.ZCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 30, 2020

I believe Neil answered your questions. If i'm not mistaken, Davinci uses the GPU at all times because in essence it's a coloring software.

 

The Mac Preview does nothing else except previewing, when you play in Premiere there are so many things happening in the background for Premiere to be Premiere. 

That's the answer to your question, now if you are looking for a solution, the best course of action would be to rely on proxies, however keep in mind that resolution will not necessarily put a strain on your system as much as bitrate does.

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    July 29, 2020

    Each of these apps is built around different assumptions for the main user needs for various hardware resources ... so they will always use the hardware differently. Some will handle certain tasks better than others. That's for starters.

     

    That said, in the public beta app they are working on getting some GPU encoding use for more H.264 things. So we'll see how soon this comes into use in the 'regular' version.

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    larsons33339758
    larsons33339758Author
    Inspiring
    July 30, 2020

    Its a real shame that Premiere wont use the GPU that is just sitting there.  I got this computer thinking it would be able to handle 4K, I was a bit disappointed to find that Premiere couldnt do it.  Then I find that Resolve can just fine.  So the computer is not the problem, it's Premiere's inabilty to use what resources the computer has.  As much as I prefer to edit in Premiere, I'm going to have to switch to Resolve until Premiere can catch up.

    A
    Andy 1968
    Inspiring
    July 30, 2020

    Premiere Pro can play 4K H.264 files with or without the GPU acceleration as seen in the video link below. You need a well balanced system. You might have a weak CPU.

    https://youtu.be/drF66pgnK7U

    larsons33339758
    larsons33339758Author
    Inspiring
    July 29, 2020

    I might add this happens to 4k footage coming off my FS7 as well.  I've got a a two angle multicam (one clip FS7 4K and one clip A7 1080) and they wont play smooth at all in multicam.  Not even when rendered.  Stick them in Resolve and they fly like butter.

    larsons33339758
    larsons33339758Author
    Inspiring
    July 29, 2020

    So I just found out that Premiere does not use the GPU for playback.  Any reason for this?  Just about every 4k clip I put in here wont play, but they all play totally fine in Resolve.  I much prefer to use Premiere for editing, but if I can just throw 4K into Resolve and it just goes it saves so much time and headache!

    Mike Dziennik
    Community Expert
    Mike DziennikCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 4, 2020

    Do you have GPU acceleration ON in File>Project Settings>General?

    larsons33339758
    larsons33339758Author
    Inspiring
    May 8, 2020

    Yes GPU acceleration is on.  

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