Media Pending Forever

[clairel5229047]

I recently updated to the 2018 version of Premiere Pro and initially I had no problems.  However, starting yesterday, when I went to open the file I had been working on, I get the 'media pending' message for every single clip.  I've given it as long as 40 minutes to load, restarted several times, unplugged and replugged in the hard drive where the media and project file are stored, and restarted my computer (I'm running Mac OS X).

I've tried disabling and re-enabling clips with no result.  My boss suggested I clear the media cache but I can't seem to find it.  According to Premiere itself, it should be located in a folder that I can't find and doesn't appear to exist.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[R Neil Haugen]

Check on the UserVoice system. Very easy to search for any filed buhmgs or feature ideas, and to add into other comments.

That's also where any engineers response would be.

Neil

[jaffa_nz]

i had issue with the media message on start. deleted the main adobe premiere pro directory found underneath the Documents directory for my user (windows 10). a chat with online tech explored a few things then did that.

my other issue was green and purple playback which i backed down my video driver until it cleared up, however the playback though clear wouldn't play. so uninstalled and reinstalled and was stuck and media pending.

all working fine now.

[twoneil]

This worked for me. Thanks!

[JustinWoo]

Yeah this happens to me sometimes too. My first startup is like this for some reason, and then Premiere works. It's bizarre.

[RAMoreno008]

Actually, Adobe has really good service. If you‘re using it then you must have a subscription and so all you do is log in and scroll down to the “contact us” suggestion. Then you tell a robot what your problem is and what software you’re using, they connect you to a license person after a short wait and bam, question answered. The dude talked me through step by step until the issue was resolved. Great service.

In short, you have to clear all of your media cache files and close and reopen your sequence. Adobe support was very helpful, he had to guide me because I’m a total noob with deep program files. First (these steps are for Mac) he made me close Adobe Premiere. Then click any open space on the desktop, then click the tab at the top menu bar “Go” > “go to folder.” Then in the search bar that pops up type:

~/library/application support/adobe

From there, look for the “Common“ folder within the “Adobe” folder. He then told me to open up the “Media Cache” and “Media Cache Files” folders and delete Everything inside Both folders. I went ahead and emptied my Trash Bin too, he didn’t ask me to, but I don’t like any lingerers. Then I opened up the project. The problem had still not corrected, but he said the Last thing I had to do was close the sequence and reopen it from the bin (BTW, I also tried closing the sequence and reopening it several times before I contacted Adobe, but I didn’t know about the media cache files or how to find them). From there, it started working again. Thanks Adobe      (Though, you better with how much I’m paying you every year with your stupid subscription plan   )

[Emaniquis]

I agree where is the product support, we pay hundreds for this software every year and have to get help in Forums???

[bend66223177]

I solved this issue for me, I'm using an external sound card. Unplugging the USB made premiere snap out of the yellow "media pending" screen. After that I could select the right sound card and everything works.

[wanna-be-problem-solver]

After a few hours of wasting time with converting and reimporting my files, i decided to create a new folder for the mp4 clips. I copied all of them and renamed each shot (for example from MVI_0001 to 001), imported the "new" files and now Premiere shows me the video and audio, too.

I don't know why, but it works. I hope this method could solve your problmes, too.

[amanda_trager]

Hi,

I'm having the media pending thing going on here. it's a project with mp4 files and i've tried the closing the bins, sequences method but it still won't load the clips. the other things i've noticed is that all the clips in the bins have question marks (?) where there should be linked clips. I hadn't seen this reported so i am mentioning it. I assume this is because the program isn't linking properly. the clips are all there, they just aren't getting loaded into the project it seems.

This is a real drag. I'm on a deadline today. please help me.

[amanda_trager]

i'll mention my setup:

MacOS 10.11.6

newly updated Premier as of today

3 single drive external drives with varied media, mostly .mp4 and audio

[R Neil Haugen]

First thing I noticed was your OS, and I've heard that PrPro really has some things that are better on 10.13 and later Mac OS.

Next, " ... question marks where there should be linked clips ... ". I could read that a couple different ways ... could you be more specific?

Neil

[amanda_trager]

so heres an update:

I blew my deadline unfortunately but i left the project open overnight and it seems to be relinking or creating new cache files but verrrry slowly. it's been like 24 hours and i think it's still going. A lot of the clips seems to be linked now in the timeline that i have open, so that's a good thing.  I might even try exporting a compressed version so i can turn something in today.

the question marks (were) in the icon next to the clips in the bins. If the links are healthy they usually look like a little piece of filmstrip with an audio wave graphic over it, but the ones i saw yesterday just had a "?" where the icon is. obviously the clips are present and in the correct location but the program wasn't able to link to them. Today, they seem mostly linked after 24 hours!! i hope i don't have to wait 24 hours every time i open my project!!

i'll  try upgrading my system. any other advice more than welcome....

[R Neil Haugen]

That over long reclining problem is not right though even on less than perfect gear.

Could be an issue with the project file. Maybe create a new project, then in that project in the Media Browser, navigate to and import the assets of the current project ... see if that improves things.

Neil

[amanda_trager]

"over long reclining"! there's a name for it!

Thanks for the reply Neil.

well, the more good news is that the conforming seems to have gotten done finally and everything now seems to be in the right place and plays correctly (with a dropped frame here and there, but that seems to be normal for PP and mixed formats).

I'm gonna try importing my current sequence into a new project and archive the current one and see if that helps anything, and i'll upgrade the OS as well. I'll report back after the weekend.

More generally, I can't seem to ever understand how Premiere deals with render files and preview playback. In FCP 7 (which was my go to for years), i understood that when i rendered in a timeline, the program would create a new video file in the format of the current sequence "under the hood". that file would playback, also under the hood, and so the program wouldn't have to crunch the numbers in order to get various formats to play next to each other.

But with PP, it seems like there is a bunch of work being done in real time to play the source files, even with green rendered sections of the timeline. Are all these cache files some support for what must be enormous amounts of data being crunched as the playhead travels? I'm curious if i have this correct, and if not, please would someone straighten me out or point me to some info that explains this in a way i can understand?

[R Neil Haugen]

On my phone right now, hopefully tomorrow I'll be at the office and be able to answer some of that.

Neil

[R Neil Haugen]

PrPro has its unique patterns. Green, yellow, and red bars over media on a timeline are general indicators of what might happen. So sometimes yellow sections can have issues and red sections play perfectly.

To get best playback go into your sequence settings and get the preview codec to what either matches the clip perfectly or to what you will export in, but ... use only intraframe codecs like Cineform, DNxHD/R, or ProRes.

Then when you render a section, it should play back better.

Neil

[jond1147956]

Did this issue happen before you updated the software?

[amanda_trager]

it did happen with the previous version of PP and that's when i decided to update as of yesterday so now i am up to date and the same issue.

[Ivo Cimmino]

One thing that worked for me is:

- Reveal file in project

- Right-click on the clip

     - Select "Modify"

          - Select "Interpret Footage..."

And boom! It worked right-away

Of course if you have many clips like that, this method can be time consuming.

- Ivo

[zachc32853085]

Whoever you are, you just saved me HOURS of frustration. Thank you so much!

[joel_1234]

Same problem here too. None of the above solutions are working for me.

Any chance someone from Adobe can fix this issue so we can try and use the software professionally?!

[R Neil Haugen]

Please file on the UserVoice system. Many are working without issues but some are getting this crud. So nailing what all can lead to this is probably not an easy thing.

That system goes directly to the QC engineers system and also is logged on the management reports the upper folk use to set budgets.

I think we all want a larger budget for engineers  ...

Neil

[joel_1234]

It's really not good enough for Adobe to have not fixed this issue after so many people here have already reported it.

Clients who are paying for an edit are not too keen on waiting while I submit bug reports to Adobe and wait for a solution because we can't open their project.

Premiere still has a long way to go before it can consider itself professional.

[R Neil Haugen]

"So many people here" still represents a small percentage of total user base. Most of us aren't getting hammered by this stupid thing, which makes getting work out impossible.

And I agree, this needs fixing now.

Neil

[volksbar]

Encountered this issue twice in 2019. Suddenly all video remained in "Pending" mode, while audio was playing.

Link/unlink did not help.

Delete of preview and cache did not help.

What helped was to rename the bin of the original material on the harddrive.

When all footage went offline, and now the original material was located at different address, Premiere was forced to reestablish new links. After relinking, which in this case meant to create totally new links, all sequences worked again.