Playback suddenly very choppy

[SimonAllen]

I'm seeing an inexplicable change in the playback that's just occurred this week.

When I attempt to playback a sequence it starts off okay, and then after 3 or 4 seconds it's so choppy it's impossible to edit with any accuracy.

Some details:

Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.19041 Build 19041

Processor AMD FX(tm)-4300 Quad-Core Processor, 3800 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB

GPU 1: NVIDIA Quadro M2000 (Primary)

GPU 2: NVIDIA Quadro K2000 (Secondary)

Adobe Premiere Pro V15.2.0 Build 35

I am working in 4K, so I don't expect it all to be super fast with the setup I've got, but what's odd is that until last week it was all working acceptably.

What's changed? I have no idea.

Windows update slowed things down, but that's completed and it's not improved since then.

I've been through all the usual things to speed up the playback; changing resolution, clearing the cache, project set to GPU (CUDA) Acceleration, disabling High Quality Playback, etc.

Obviously, I'll be using proxies to move forward, but I'd really like to know why it's suddenly changed.

I also found that after installing extra RAM up to 32GB, and also when I installed the M2000 GPU (second hand) it was lightening fast, but then slowed down significantly (but was still usable).

Anyone else seen this, or can shed any light on what's happening?

Cheers

Simon

[vigilant_spb]

same or similar issue, it used to work good but suddenly I've got choppy playback, same with proxy.. updated everything - no luck

[FlyingFourFun]

SimonAllen;

I read all the responses to your question; I would like to make one suggestion I didn't see.

Have you performed a Trim for your SSD?   (Defrag for SSD).

I would also suggest you run the windows disk clean up if you have not done that recently. 

Also Click on the "clean up system files button before you click on okay.

Once that's done,  do the trim (defrag for SSD).

This is a bit of a long shot, as your issue appears to be with read performance,  Retrim largely is for write performance issues.  But its only a few min of work, and good practice anyways.

I hope this easy to implement advice finds you some success.

[SimonAllen]

Thanks for your suggestions FlyingFourFun 🙂

I have already done both of those, but it's worth revisiting just in case there's something I've missed.

My plan is to install a n 1TB SSD tomorrow, and then reinstall the system software. I've been running this computer for four years, through various hardware and software updgrades, so it's probably due a bebuild.

I'll report back when I've finished.

Cheers

Simon

[SimonAllen]

Thanks FlyingFour,

I checked my disks and they were all 0% fragmented, but went through the steps you suggested.

That freed up about 1.2GB, but I wasn't short of space anyway. I then ran the defragment utility just to ensure there was no fragmentation.

After that I did as another contributor to this thread suggested and opened a new test project, imported a clip, and then tested scrubbing across the media and then playback.

Unfortunately, it's made no difference, so I'll rebuild using a new SSD as my primary drive.

Cheers

Simon

[Jeff Bugbee]

This sort of issue is tough to troubleshoot. I like to start fresh in order to narrow things down as much as possible.

Open a NEW project. Don't open an old empty one, or import an old project... create a new project, then create/import color bars or the default adobe counter by right clicking in the empty bin - New Item - Universal Counting Leader. Click OK for the default settings, drag that file to the empty timeline, then scrub through the timeline. Everything should be super instant and fast right? (if not, stop now and say so)

Now import a SINGLE media file. Drag that to a new timeline. Does that file playback and scrub super efficiently? Let us know.

If everything appears to be super fast, delete everything in your bin (or just create a new project) and IMPORT your problematic project in it's entirety. See if  simply bringing it into the new project changes anything or if starts behaving just as slow as before and post your results.

[SimonAllen]

Thanks for your input Jeff.

I've done as you suggested - and that's after ensuring my disks were all 0% fragmented, and all cleaned up first.

The Universal Counting Leader scrubs quickly but doesn't playback smoothly even at 1/8 resolution. The freshly imported clip scrubs poorly, and doesn't play anything like acceptably even at 1/8th.

So my next thing is to rebuild, starting with the a new installation of Windows 10.

Cheers

Simon

[Jeff Bugbee]

If the Counting Leader doesn't playback smoothly, yeah you've got a whole 'nother issue going on. A fresh install on a new Windows installation should make a big difference, if not, it may be a hardware/driver issue. Let us know how it works after the fresh install.

[SimonAllen · Accepted solution]

Thank you to everyone who's helped me with this issue - I now have a perfectly working, and up to date Premiere Pro.

I think the problem was actually a windows update, and not the PP update - they just happened to coincide.

The fix for me was to reinstall the system software - a clean install of Windows 10 has done the trick. Bear in mind that the previous installation was 4 years ago when the computer was first built.

I also took the opportunity, on the advice of one of the pro community here, to install a faster SSD. This was a Samsung 870 EVO SATA 2.5".

Cheers, and thanks again.

Simon