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bryande
Participating Frequently
March 14, 2017
Question

Performance issues with Premiere Pro and 4K footage

  • March 14, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 3817 views

Since I'm having trouble finding a way to email Adobe directly, I figured I would post it here.

Adobe,

I am an independent filmmaker and freelance video producer. I have been using your products (Premiere, Photoshop) since the late 1990’s. I recently upgraded to a 4k camera and started to see issues with Premiere CS6. I understand that support ended for CS6 a few years back, but was familiar with the workflow and didn’t see a reason to upgrade when working with HD footage. So, I figured let’s give Premiere CC a shot and consider the upgrade. Seems reasonable. I’ve spent my entire trial period with Premiere CC just trying to play 4k footage at an acceptable quality. These aren’t huge files. I’m not talking RED here. Just GH4, 4K, 100Mb/s .MOV’s. I’ve spent the entire trial period either emailing, live chatting, or on the phone with your support. They have all been helpful and very professional. I sent some sample files and a description of my hardware to a senior engineer who is having the same problem that I am on his testing. So it looks like this is a software issue.

Here is my problem:

I am editing GH4 4k .MOV files and am having a problem when I hit the "Toggle Track Output" and toggle between layers of 4k. It starts to drop frames like crazy, even if played at 1/8 the resolution. This only happens when I hit the toggle button (eyeball icon), and not if I am just playing multiple layers of 4k footage. This happens with both CS6 and CC even with current updates.

I just put together a new computer: Windows 10,Gigabyte GA-X99 Ultra Gaming mobo, i7 6800k, 32 GB RAM, and GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card. Hard drive configuration:1.) Samsung 950 Pro U.2 Drive: OS, Premiere CS6 and CC , 2) 1TB PNY SSD: Cache, Previews, and Preview Scratch Disks , 3) 1TB PNY SSD: Captured Video/Audio and Scratch Disks.

According to your specs and hardware recommendations this should be more than adequate for what I want to do.

This even is even an issue when I use low res proxies and set playback quality to 1/8. I see less frames being dropped, but still find this unacceptable.

At this point I am leaning toward not purchasing Premiere CC, out of fear that the problem won’t be resolved and that I might need to look into other software (ie Davinci Resolve). So today is my last day with the trail and I am no closer to a solution.  I just wanted to say that I am both frustrated and disappointed. I really like the way Adobe’s programs work together and have years of familiarity with the workflow.

Sincerely,

Bryan

Mod note: changed the title of your discussion to reflect your actual issue and for search reasons.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    March 14, 2017

    Here's a few things I can suggest if you're interested in getting it to work.

    1.)  Never use MOV if you can avoid it.  In the case of the GH4, you can.  Switch to MP4.  This will eliminate any possible issues with QuickTime.

    2.)  Make sure you do NOT have QuickTime installed on your machine.

    3.)  Forget CS6.  It's waaaaay past time to upgrade.  With 4K media especially, you'll want to take advantage of the new Proxy feature.

    4.)  When creating proxy media, use only the included Cineform presets.  (YouTube has tutorials.)

    5.)  Don't install anything on the computer that you don't need for editing.  No games, no email, no office, no anti-virus or other security software.  Keep it clean.  Use a second machine for non-editing activities.

    B
    bryandeAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2017

    Hi Jim,

    Thanks for the response and suggestions! I'll try editing some MP4 footage

    and see if that works.

    So it sounds like Premiere doesn't really support .MOV files?

    For brainstorming purposes: I don't have QT installed on my machine. Also,

    I am having the same problem, but to a lesser degree, when using the proxy

    feature (not .MOV's).

    The machine is a fresh build and lean. Only running OS, CS6 creative suite,

    Premiere CC. Microsoft Office, and the Antivirus is just what runs with

    Windows 10. I have tried disabling the Antivirus, but it didn't help.

    If anything else comes to mind, please let me know.

    Thanks,

    Bryan

    S
    SAFEHARBOR11
    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2017

    Hi Bryan,

    This may or may not make any difference, but best practice for importing from SD cards is -

    COPY entire contents of SD card to a NEW folder on the video drive. Include ALL folders from SD card, keeping all folders and file structures intact. This is a regular file copy, no special software needed for this.

    In Premiere CC, import clips via the Media Browser, rather than File > Import.

    Learned this years ago, had a customer running CS6 on our PC workstation and his Sony XDCAM clips would not play decent. Adobe support tech advised of the Media Browser workflow and clips then played just fine! There is metadata in the folders which can help Premiere decipher what media it is working with. Not to mention handling spanned clips seamlessly. Just good practice, whether it helps your particular issue or not. Also helps with clip IDs, since content of various SD cards may have clips with same names, like Clip_0001.mp4 or whatever. Premiere will not later get clips confused when using proper workflow.

    Thanks


    Jeff Pulera
    Safe Harbor

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