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"Software Only" stuck on encode settings panel.... Premiere Pro CC 2018 latest update

Explorer ,
Apr 17, 2018 Apr 17, 2018

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Hi

I am currently experiencing another strange bug since running the update to the latest version of PPCC2018. When I go to encode within Premiere I get "Software only" displayed in the summary area and the encoding settings within this panel are greyed out, as can be seen in the attached image. The encode was taking forever so I stopped it and went and checked and CUDA GPU acceleration had been changed to software only in the Project Settings, which I didn't do myself. I changed this back Mercury GPU Playback and the encode went a lot faster, as fast as I would expect when using GPU.

Now my problem is, whatever project I open I get "Software only" displayed in the summary, even though CUDA is enabled in both PP as well as Media Encoder. The project encodes SEEM to be going at GPU speeds but whatever I do the software only message remains. I have noticed that if I change the codec from H264 to MPEG2 for example, the software only message disappears. I am not now 100% sure if my CUDA acceleration is working correctly as the software only message is on every project I open and go to encode within Premiere. If I select to Queue the encode and use Media Encoder, the drop down menu at the bottom of the encode list says CUDA.

Has anyone else been experiencing this?

I have so far:

1. Re-installed PP CC 2018 latest update

2. Installed latest graphics cards drivers as a clean install

3. Tried opening a new project, saving that as CUDA enabled

But nothing has fixed this...

My setup:

Windows 7 Professional x64

Nvidia Quadro K5200

PP CC 2018 fully up to date

Any advice greatly appreciated!

software_only.jpg

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , Jun 30, 2018 Jun 30, 2018

To explain again. It's very simple.

The newest Intel CPU chips have a built-in (therefore "hardware") encoder for H.264.

If you see "hardware" or "software only" in the Export summary box, that is ALL that this refers to. Whether or not the CPU has the new, faster H.264 encoder inside.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the GPU or the use of the GPU as normal in PrPro exports. PERIOD.

Your GPU will still be used for exactly what it is used for, which are those things on the GPU Accelerated list. A

...

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Contributor ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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Have we found a fix for this yet. I am having the same issue. Despite my GPU being selected it refuses to use it. It will only use the CPU's. All my renders also say Software only. I have 2 GPU's in my workstation and both just sit idle while the Media Encoder runs through renders.

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LEGEND ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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Please actually read the above. Your comments show you do not understand what that says. Period.

The problem here isn't in the computer.

Neil

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Contributor ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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I understand exactly what it says. And it is wrong. My gpus should be doing the encoding ... they are not. There is a problem.

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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To me the problem is that you need the have the intel activesync thing at all. It should utilise the GPU no matter what processor you have.

Sent from ProtonMail mobile

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LEGEND ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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If you are using GPU accelerated effects, check that list ... they should be working as normal. Other than that, GPU's are not used in the encoding nor have they been ... that's a CPU/RAM process.

As has been shown by so many users, the GPU's are still being used for those sections of the export which are GPU accelerated ... and only as much as needed ... and naturally, not where there are no GPU accelerated effects.

So, if your GPU's are not being used where there are GPU accelerated effects ... that is something different, and has nothing whatever to do with "software encoding only" appearing in the Summary tab. Make a new thread, and we'll all try like blazed to get that sorted for you. But that would be a very different problem.

They are not related.

Note, with the new hardware encoding in the CPU for certain Intel rigs, on those, the usage/balance between CPU and GPU isn't exactly what it was before this option was available in the CPU. But has no effect on the work of those systems without the hardware acceleration in the new CPU's.

If say you sequence has ten clips, a couple have a lot of Lumetri, several have a few little things, a few have no Lumetri involved ... the GPU will be nearly unused in the no-Lumetri clips, barely used if you've only set a couple things, and more used with a heavy load of Lumetri. So at times, you'll see a bump of GPU use, at times nearly nothing. An "average" use of GPU would show pretty low in most cases, and would be showing exactly what is to be expected.

What is your rig, OS/CPU/RAM/GPU? And it sounds like you have multiple GPU's? Unless you're running a 3.8Ghz 10 core CPU with 128Gb of RAM, multiples may be over-doing what PrPro would actually use.

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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Great answer! Where would I find the list of effects that use the GPU?

Sent from ProtonMail mobile

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LEGEND ,
Aug 12, 2018 Aug 12, 2018

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Oops ... that's embarrassing!

I was planning on having the link in my reply. I'll note, at the top of the Overview page of this forum are a lot of links for such things.

Neil

GPU Accelerated Effects: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/effects.html

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New Here ,
Sep 19, 2018 Sep 19, 2018

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R Neil Haugen

What is your rig, OS/CPU/RAM/GPU? And it sounds like you have multiple GPU's? Unless you're running a 3.8Ghz 10 core CPU with 128Gb of RAM, multiples may be over-doing what PrPro would actually use.

Neil

It seems almost my setup:

Xeon E5-2699 v4 with 128Gb ECC.

When "exporting function" is running (e.g. h264, 1080@50p), no CUDA available, and the cpu load is around 65%, although a 1070Ti 8Gb is available

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LEGEND ,
Sep 19, 2018 Sep 19, 2018

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"no CUDA available" ... is that referring to the Summary box in the Export dialog? If so, that has nothing to do with PrPro's use of the GPU, but only whether or not your CPU has the new Intel QuickSync hardware inside and available. You set what CUDA is available via the Project Settings dialog under Mercury Acceleration ... set it to CUDA.

And for general exporting, PrPro will only use the GPU for GPU Accelerated Effects ...

GPU Accelerated Effects: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/effects.html

So if you're not using Lumetri or Warp or some other effects on every clip, much of the time the GPU will not be used.

Now ... if you have Mercury Acceleration set to CUDA, you've got solid use of GPU effects across the sequence, and there's still no GPU use, then ... that's a problem.

Neil

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Engaged ,
Nov 11, 2018 Nov 11, 2018

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Great work Neil, but can I jump in here?  It's a great thing that "there's nothing to fix", but the "WHY" of your answer is a bit confusing.  Let's go into that a little more, shall we?  Again, nice work on the find with intel's built in codec.  I loved that part.

For the rest:

I've always used a single pass encode, mainly because it takes a shorter time, and gives me the result I want.  I was using a mac laptop with an intel core 2 duo topping out at 2.16ghz and an nvidia geforce with 256mb of vram, all attached to 4gb of internal ram.  Now I'm working an acer predator with 16gb ram, quad i7 gen 6, nvidia gforce gtx980 with 4gb vram, and optimus set up through the nvidia toolsets provided by some developers (windows apparently removed it from their fileset, quoted some kind of redundancy and then apps started breaking; redundancy?  no.  Dependence.  I guess they don't know the difference).  I fly through those single pass clips with ease.  For every minute of video, it takes about 30s to process an ingest operation that keeps them all in line, and thats on battery power.

Like all of you, I entered the realm of 4k thinking, hmm, 2 passes can decrease file size and slightly increase quality, why not use all my power.  Here's the RUB:  The standard H.264 encoder uses an older 32bit algorithm to render out the second pass.  This slows things down immensely on 64bit systems.  By running a built in encoder with your intel processor, you are making use of a more accurate, and much better algorithm, and it's lightning fast.  The downside?  Nobody can render across two different cards at once anymore.  This used to work just fine when windows allowed optimus usage in the system itself.  Renders were fast, and this "BUG" did not appear, as the app could see the intel card, but with a cuda header attached as a secondary renderer, and it allowed the app to offload to cuda when effects were used.  NOW: you are running an older algorithm that is less accurate, slower and clunkier, on a cuda card of course, but still clunky.  It takes longer for the 2 passes, as it has to run the algorithm in a software layer on top of your card.  THUS a mesage about software rendering in your settings box, even though you have CUDA enabled in your main renderer.

THE FIX:

2pass VBR is useful mostly for space saving.  Since you only get about 10% space and a small bump in quality, you can estimate the quality effect, and use a single pass, taking up a little more space, but retaining the quality.  IF you are on your final output, use the 2Pass method instead, as it will make your video deliverable, with excellent quality.

IF you are handling 3k and higher video, you are better off with HEVC codecs that are meant for higher depth.  They are just as fast, if not faster, and they compress a 4k to about the same dataspace as a 1080p (2k).  The other difference is that sites who take a deliverable of HEVC are more likely to incorporate fault tolerance with VFR issues.  They run it as a split codec, using two streams, interleaved on two separate clocks, which are then put back together on your end to play the video.  This means video and audio are separately streamed, and their clocks can alter midstream without affecting one another.  Don't bank on it though.  Always check the delivery format needed, and look for VFR notations.  If they don't show anything about it, or they note only specific context of audio and video together, chances are, you'll need to fix the VFR yourself.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 11, 2018 Nov 11, 2018

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That software only render notice in the Summary box, as noted, is only referring to whether or not your CPU has the Intel QuickSync added  ... node?

That is a special processing core similar in function to what camera's have to write H.264 so quickly.

Now ... from what I've seen here and elsewhere, that can be a mixed blessing. Some rigs with say 10 fast cores in their CPU with a ton of RAM per core and a 1080/11GB GPU have found they exported to H.264 faster without using the QuickSync section of the CPU.

It seems of most help with rigs that are middling in "native" processing power.

Neil

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 21, 2019 Jan 21, 2019

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Hello

I managed to activate hardware decoding for Premiere Pro, but in Media Encoder this is still software only.

I tried all kind of things to add sequence to queue, never got to see the hardware accelerated encoding, only CUDA, not Intel iGPU 630.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

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LEGEND ,
Jan 21, 2019 Jan 21, 2019

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I managed to activate hardware decoding for Premiere Pro, but in Media Encoder this is still software only.

I tried all kind of things to add sequence to queue, never got to see the hardware accelerated encoding, only CUDA, not Intel iGPU 630.

I'd like a bit more explanation here ... where, what and how did you "activate hardware encoding for Pr" ... ?

Screen-grabs would be good.

Neil

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Explorer ,
Mar 17, 2019 Mar 17, 2019

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Hi folks,

I know I'm jumping on someone elses thread. I've just updated my CPU from Intel I7 5930K to I9 9900K.

I've tried to render the exact same video across different settings of CPU and GPU. Myself I'm using a nvidia GeForce 980ti.

A friend of mine has borrowed my a Titan X as well as a GeForce 2080ti refernece card.

Hence I've rendered the video a couple of times on my PC as well as on the MacBook.

The actual VLOG about my testing here:  I9 9900K rendering with Adobe Premiere - YouTube

Result:

MacBook Pro I7 2.8GHz (2018) 13 min

Intel I7 5930K PC 9min

Intel I9 9900k PC lower than 5 minutes

It did not matter which GPU I was using for my rendering. I assume I've setup everything correct. I'm just curious why I cannot select hardware rendering in Adobe Media Encoder as it tells me "software encoding" in the settings and it's grey. A hover over tells me: "Hardware encoding is unavailable."

Based on this Adobe Forum entry and the explanation by @R%20Neil%20Haugen (Thanks!!) I think this is correct, since the H264 encoding is being done by the CPU anyways, but I'm not 100% sure. I was not able to find out where to setup Quick Synce (in fact, I did not understand so far what it means ...)

Any suggestion helps! Even if I'm good, it would be great to get a feedback!

Oh, the final video (for the fun of it) here: Balearic Trip 2018, from Mallorca to Ibiza - YouTube

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New Here ,
Mar 17, 2019 Mar 17, 2019

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Jump on!

I wrote this thread when i had my 4790 cpu.

Four month ago i went with a 9900k setup and it works great.

you need to do some stuff to make the hardware encoding availible.

first you need to activate dual monitor support in bios.

Second you need to download intel 630 graphics driver for your cpu.

it might be some more, but i found A well written article about it.

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Explorer ,
Mar 18, 2019 Mar 18, 2019

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Hi turbobulten​ and R Neil Haugen​,

thank you both for the swift reply!

I was able to download the Intel Graphics driver, which is an EXE file,which cannot bew installed on the ASUS Board, but I found a great article describing how to overwrite it here How to Fix “The Driver Being Installed Is Not Validated For This Computer” on Intel Computers

The EXE can be unzipped by downloading winzip.

Cool,

so now I see the Inte GPU in my Task Manager AND I can select Hardware encoding in my Adobe Media Encoder settings.

However, besides a few computer crashes (whic I'm going to identify later) the Media Encoder utilizes the Intel GPU, not the Nvidia GPU. Any Ideas where I can set the right GPU to be used?

Thanks again!!

regards

Juergen

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LEGEND ,
Mar 18, 2019 Mar 18, 2019

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Interesting post. Though no, I don't know how you can control which GPU is used.

Neil

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Explorer ,
Apr 01, 2019 Apr 01, 2019

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R Neil Haugen​,

this post Unable to export with GPU (CUDA) after latest CC update describes how to enable the PhysX configuration to the nvidia GPU. I now see two GPU's and both utilize some rendering capacity.

However, nor Premiere and AME freezes, when I go in my Full HD Sequence with mainly GoPro Full HD 25fps material with my head to DJI drone material shot in 29.97fps and 4K. AME freezes entirely during rendering and PRemiere freezes, once the head is over the material.

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Explorer ,
Apr 01, 2019 Apr 01, 2019

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I've nested the DJI footage into a subclip and it works!

Rendering takes now less than 4 minutes in total!

Thank you all for your help!

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New Here ,
Dec 19, 2019 Dec 19, 2019

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But if that's the case, why does my render time get cut in half when I choose hardware rather than software encoding?

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New Here ,
Jan 11, 2020 Jan 11, 2020

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Here the fix thank me later https://youtu.be/obWeExQMxsg

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New Here ,
May 25, 2020 May 25, 2020

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Ok so since u seem to not wanna listen to others how do u explain after updating to 2020 my videos now take 2 hrs and never once finish, it always freezes half way now which is why I'm here. I notice ld before update my 1080ti was selected and encoding took 20 to 30 mins easy. For the past 3 days I have been trying to finish exporting my work I have buyer my ass on and pay for a software that crashes. My PC is perfect and top of the line hardware and worked in previous builds now freezes on them all 

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New Here ,
Jul 18, 2021 Jul 18, 2021

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LATEST

Hello there! i know im 2 years late but if anyone is still having this issue, just watch this vid to enable Hardware Encoding.

 

[Moderator note: It is Adobe policy to not allow comments about the Console on their forums. That is for engineer work, and users can seriously screw up their installation by messing there. The link has been removed.]

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