Premiere Pro 2020 Choppy / Stuttering Playback in Program Monitor ONLY

[NATHAN - SHOTCUT]

First off, i'm using a Mac Mini (2018) running Mojave.... 3.2 GHz Intel Core i7 w/ 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 Memory and a Radeon RX Vega 64 8 GB which is running through a Razor Core X.

I've never had any issues editing or playing back footage using Premiere Pro 2019. Occasionally if playing back 6K footage i've had to knock the plaback quality down to 1/2, however this computer runs like a breeze.

I've upgraded to PP2020 and since updating I'm experiencing choppy playback when playing back the timeline. No effects. No changes to footage. Doesn't mattter if I playback at 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2....it stutters.

If I simply preview the clip from the project in the source monitor (not off the timeline) it plays back perfectly at FULL QUALITY. Once I drag that clip into the timeline and playback the program monitor i've got issues. It's simply unwatchable and impossible to edit with.

This is only 1920 x 1080 Pro Res 422 footage, nothing crazy. The project worked perfectly in Premiere Pro 2019 and still does without any stuttering.

I have attempted to simply update the project in 2020, as well as importing the legacy project and then finally starting a whole new project and importing the footage again to see if it was a migration issue.

Nothing is working.

I'll be using PP2019 until this gets sorted, however I'm wondering if anyone else is having similar issues? I've attached a download link to a screen capture of how the issue looks here >>> https://we.tl/t-4uFeLm1gl9Playback Issue - Screen Capture 

[SPfoto]

That's true! After adding LUT to color correction playback is terrible.

[jpelc]

cc @SPfoto you can always try editing with out the LUT then adding it to the effects in the output window

[jpelc]

Omg that you so much!! This solved for me. I can't wait till I have more free time and I can teach myself Resolve so I can rid myself of these endless Premiere glitches and workarounds once and for all

[defaultw33fomo3gl3l]

Sweet lord, finally something that worked. I just did the same, no more dropped frames, smooth as butter

[JasonHodges]

After a clean install and hours on the phone with Adobe this worked for me.  Still an issue Nov of 2020

[Nikko0D45]

2019 doesnt do any stuttering issue like the 2020 update. Dude life saver! been doing install and uninstall! thanks again man. now i can work. i thought it was a thermal throttling issue in macbook.

[13macfil]

AUDIO NO INPUT fixed it (as a workaround), great!! Thank You!! 

[Colby__Richardson]

THIS WORKS!! What a weird fix... Running on windows 10. Thank you! 🙂

[ux_right]

Maaan if I got this before I baught the new gpu daamn thought it was time to upgrade because of this issue, had started adding color adjustments to my edits and figured it was time to upgrade ah welll thanks anyway (windows 10 premier pro 14.7 gpu 1660 super)

[tylerm30086065]

THIS!

I was at wit`s end. I had dedicated 100GB of RAM to the app, TBs on TBs of free space and I still couldn`t playback smoothly. Until THIS. Thank you!

[matts78179049]

This magically worked for me. Thank you!

Adobe need to get their act together. It's ridiculous that a simple and hidden audio setting like this should effect playback so drastically for an entire project

[MidgarLucario07]

OMG THANK YOU WHAT A HEADACHE

[CMG Alex]

This was it for me just now! Thank you!

[thammanoon0101]

Great solving 
Thankyou

[NATHAN - SHOTCUT]

Still waiting Adobe.......still waiting. 

[DASFX]

Still not fixed?

Before I found this thread I did a full Creative Cloud uninstall and reinstall, then did a clean Windows install, then tried swapping in a friends GTX 1080 (I use a 2080Ti), then bought new RAM, then bought a new M.2 SSD for my operating system (C:) drive and did another clean Windows install, and then starting having a panic attack when none of that worked.

This is so not okay when it comes to software that professionals rely on. Thankfully I found this thread and learned how to downgrade my project file to Premiere 2019 using Keka. This was an expensive problem. Aside from the PC parts I bought that I thought might have been the culprit, I also ended up heavily discounting the job I was on to save face with my clients for missing the due date.

My answer to the "How likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?" question on the Adobe surveys has completley changed after this headache.

[meghandoll]

I've been having similar problems. I thought it was my computer, but sounds like that's not the case. Has anyone had any successful fixes? 

update: 

After talking with support, they had me change my playback video to quicktime and have me rendering my files as i'm going. i wasn't doing that before (i'm new to this). And it's worked! No more choppy playback!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Nath,

I'm trying to assist, but a forum post is not a support ticket: this is only a user to user forum with some assistance from Adobe staff. If you need a support ticket and a direct line to support via chat or phone, please contact them here. Sorry for the frustration.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Nath,

What kind of media drives are you using? How are they connected? You didn't mention.

Please try disabling High Quality Playback in the Program Monitor. That may help performance.

Finally, perform all the troubleshooting steps in this article.

Pay attention in particular to resetting R/W permissions for all Adobe folders. That can really help too.

Thanks,
Kevin

[NATHAN - SHOTCUT]

Hey Kevin,

The odd thing is mainly due to the fact ALL media is playing perfectly in the source montor. All the way up to 6K footage. Flawlessly. However once it's in a timeline and played back in the program monitor it's a weird stutter. I attached files to download in my original post which shows the issues in real time.

It's not a disk issue. I only use SSD's and the fact that these projects have all been running flawlessly in PP2019 doesn't explain why they're not working in PP2020. AND the fact that not only have I attempted to re-import and start new projects with new footage that runs perfectly in PP2019 doesn't explain why the program monitor can not play back footage at any resolution. Not Full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16. But in the source monitor it does.....

Lots of people (like you can see in the thread) are experiencing the exact same issue. It's not a speed thing, not a disk thing, not a file type thing, not an OS thing....it's only a PP2020 issue. It's happening on multiple machines running both Mojave and Catalina....and these same issues are not presenting themselves in PP2019. Any further assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi, 

Very well. I would still try going through my troubleshooting steps, like repairing R/W permissions which, IMO, all Mac users should do every time you update macOS.

Here's something, though: Which renderer are you using for Mercury Playback Engine? What happens if you try a different renderer, like OpenCL (if you are using Metal). What happens with Software Only?

Let me know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[NATHAN - SHOTCUT]

Have tried Metal as the default on PP2020, then tried the OpenCL option which I was using on 2019, then as a last resort Software Only.....each option only got progressively worse.

I think we're neglecting the odd thing in playback...... Source Monitor playback is perfect, Timeline playback is not. Surely if this was a rendering issue it would result in choppy playback in all monitoring??

[Kevin-Monahan]

I know you said you are running ProRes files, but I wonder if your situation might be related to the iGPU and Quick Sync. Do you have Hardware Accelerated Decoding available in Preferences > Media or not? Wondering if it might make a difference. It would if these files were H.264.

Please also check Audio Hardware Preferences to see if those are set up OK.

Thanks,
Kevin

[NATHAN - SHOTCUT]

Hardware Accelerated Decoding is available in Prefs and ticked. Also switched it off, restarted, no change in performance.

Audio Hardware doesn't give me any drop down options apart from being able to choose my Default Output...all other options show 1 choice only which is selected.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Is High Quality playback disabled in the Program Monitor? 

Thanks,
Kevin