Premiere Pro loading wrong audio files

[MartinJohnson63]

I've recently had a problem with PP 2018 (12.0.1) when I re-open a project I have already imported files into.

For some reason, it loads the wrong audio file for a piece of vision.

It seems that the file has the same number as the correct one, but it in a different folder in my project and from a different folder on my HDD.

Example:

I import a file called 001.mts which contains audio and lay it on the timeline.

I the load another file with the same name but shot by a different camera from a different folder and lay that on the timeline.

No problem so far, but when I close and then re-open the project the wrong audio is loaded by PP in the timeline.

Now while the files have the same name, they are in different folders on the HDD.

My solution has been to give each file, regardless of where they come from, a unique name. (slow process)

This has only happened in PP 2018. PP 2017 seems to be OK

Today I opened a 2017 PP file in PP 2018. After it copied the file and created a new 2018 project, the same thing happened. It selected the wrong audio so I went back to 2017.

Thanks

[gangwaye45266677]

Hi everyone!

It seems we've got the same problem here but on a PC running Windows 10 x64, Core i7 3,7 GHz, 16 GB RAM.

On this system we encounter the same symptomes in a big project (360 GB) as described by Martin while on a Macintosh the same project is fine. On both machines we're running Premiere Pro CC v 13.0.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Tobias

[Kevin-Monahan]

Dear MartinJohnson63,

Sorry about this. With .MTS files, you have to carry over the clip metadata so that Premiere Pro can differentiate between clips by more than clip name alone. The way you do this is import the clips via the Media Browser after copying the entire folder structure to your media drive. That way, all the camera metadata will carry over. Makes sense? Try it and report back with the results.

Thanks,

Kevin

[MartinJohnson63]

Kevin

OK - I can see the files (after they take an age to load) in Media Browser. How do I then import them into the Project? I have always 'right clicked' in the Project area and then used the import option to import the files. Doesn't seem to be obvious? Thanks

[R Neil Haugen]

Select the files in Media Browser,  right-click/import.

Neil

[MartinJohnson63]

Neil

Thanks. Yes - I did some on-line tutorials and found out this obvious step. The one thing it doesn't seem easy to do (like it is in FCP 7) is to rename the files as you import them. I miss that feature.

Thanks again.

[R Neil Haugen]

Different groups of people see problems and solutions differently. Very normal.

The Adobe staffers on this find the idea that the NLE would rename files on ingest as horrible workflow. They see it as breaking the chain of linking media in projects to media on disc.

Their solution is to rename on uploading media from card to storage. Therefore all instances of X media on disc have the same name.

FCPx staffers obviously just accepted a shortcut.

Different strokes  ...

Neil

[MartinJohnson63]

Thanks again for your reply.

I have had the same thing happen again today. I have now been using the media browser for all imports, but it still happened. The system grabbed the wrong audio for the vision. Both files had the same name, in this case '00001.MTS' but had been imported using Media Browser from different folders. My solution was to change the name of the file on my HDD so it was unique before I imported using the browser. That fixed it - but this was while a client was in the edit suite. 

[Jim_Simon]

Step 2C below will solve this.

Unofficial Premiere Pro Troubleshooting Guide

[MartinJohnson63]

Jim,

Thanks for the link. Since this first happened a few months ago, I have made sure I follow the process. This was the case this week so I copied the whole SD card Private folder to a unique folder on my HDD inside the Project files folder and then used Media Browser to import the files into PP. That fact that it didn't work was very surprising ... Anyway, giving the MTS files unique names seems to solve it.

Thanks

[Jim_Simon]

I do recommend using a dedicated Media drive, storing both Projects and Cache files on their own dedicated drives, none of which should be the System drive.

I don't recommend changing the contents of the PRIVATE folder, as that can cause things to break in certain conditions.

Make sure each card goes into it's own folder, like Card 1, Card 2, etc.  Put those Card folders into a Project folder on the Media drive.

You can also try Steps 2h and 2i below.

Unofficial Premiere Pro Troubleshooting Guide

[CCMac]

Hi there,

i'm running sometimes into the same problem. Importing all AVCHDs (complete) with the Media Browser. The Private folders are stored each in own folders. After the first import all is fine, the problem starts with opening the project the next time.

Clearing the complete Media-Cache is the only solution for me.

Seems like Premiere have a database misunderstanding with same .mts filenames. I work with weekly new material, mostly on the same (formated) SD-card, clips are starting with 0000.mts... and that leads into the problem. I've tried many things from reorganize with Prelude befor importing, renaming files, copy to other drives, relinking and so on... the only working solution is clearing the cache - completly, and let do Premiere do the indexing again!

I'm working with CC2020 on Mac, High Sierra. But the same problem with CC2018, 19 and 20.

Adobe should rework the database handling please!