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Mei111111
Known Participant
August 3, 2017
Question

All the fixes you list are work-arounds

  • August 3, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 3107 views

Mod Notes: Branched. Re: the Unofficial Troubleshooting Guide

Thanks for writing this Jim, it's very thorough and useful.

What I'm about to say isn't aimed at you, but at Adobe.

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I think it's a massive shame that this guide needs to be written. All the fixes you list are work-arounds to faults in Adobe's software. The problems aren't aren't caused by users making mistakes or not understanding things, they're down to bugs in the (expensive) Adobe product.

Adobe themselves could never write this guide, because it would have to start with, "We know our software is very buggy and often crashes. We're not going to fix it, but here are some ways to minimise the pain we're causing you..."

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      1 reply

      Kevin-Monahan
      Community Manager
      Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      October 30, 2017

      Hi Mei,

      I think it's a massive shame that this guide needs to be written. All the fixes you list are work-arounds to faults in Adobe's software. The problems aren't aren't caused by users making mistakes or not understanding things, they're down to bugs in the (expensive) Adobe product


      Actually, I do believe most troubleshooting issues are related to making errors, not understanding things, in addition to issues with the software. It's OK, because it can be a confusing combination of these things and it's a lot to know and process. Sorry about that.

      I've been working on NLEs both as an editor and in NLE engineering before I worked at Adobe and I find that a lot of the troubleshooting listed here pertains to not only Premiere Pro, but all NLE editing systems. I agree that Premiere Pro is not perfect, but with such complicated applications, similar issues do crop up.

      I feel that most of these are known issues to experienced video editors (reset prefs, try other media, remove plug-ins), however, I do feel the pain of users that are new to this kind of level of computer and NLE troubleshooting. It's a lot to know and be aware of!

      I think that these are the things that make the video editing "job" of both the creative and the technical that much more challenging. I always expect the worst, prepare for that scenario, and then hope failure doesn't happen. With good training, you can overcome failures and experience them less often.

      I apologize for the lack of an official troubleshooting guide. I'll continue to press for one.

      Thanks,
      Kevin

      Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
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        Duncan McEwan
        Participating Frequently
        November 1, 2017

        Actually, Kevin, Mei is correct. Many times the software "breaks." This can happen after an update of either your product, or the OS. What usually happens when an update is created, is the install folder ends up with executable files, both .exe and .dll files that are from different batches of compile runs. An update comes out, and made a change in all an internal function call is handled, and that call is to a function in a .dll files that is either older, or newer than the file with the calling function. My installation of Premiere Pro 2017 currently has almost all of the files with the same creation dates. One is older, and one is newer. These could be the cause of some problems, however, I am not currently having any, as I didn't skip step one in this post!

        Other times, problems are caused by Adobe getting tired of paying royalties. Recently, Adobe announced they were ending support fro Dolby audio, reverting the operating system's handling. Now, the executable files needed to be kept in sync will come from two different vendors: Adobe/Microsoft or Adobe/Apple. This will exacerbate the problem after Apple or Microsoft "update" their operating systems. It also takes the feature away from Windows 7 users such as my self. Adobe's idea of a 'fix' is for me to update to Windows 7. There is only one big problem with my downgrading my system to Windows 10: I neither drink, nor do drugs, both being operator requirements for this operator to install Windows 10 on any hardware I own, but I digress. (I also noticed that, although Adobe is now saving the cost of the Dolby royalties, my month subscription rate has not dropped a penny.)

        In short, if Adobe is going to send out an update, or upgrade, be sure to check ALL of the dependencies, and to re-compile ALL of the .dll files, not just the ones that have had changes made to their code. Compilers get updates too, and might be generating assembly/machine code differently which may not be entirely compatible with the code in older .dll files. (Btw, Adobe seems to be a lot better about this than other software vendors.)

        Me: I've been editing since film. I've been programming computers since punch cards. I currently provide in-house support for Adobe Premiere Pro in a Mac environment. I also produce and edit video on Premiere Pro as a freelancer. Due to my extensive experience with Macs, and OS X, I run my own editing system on a dedicated Windows PC.

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        Duncan McEwan
        Participating Frequently
        November 3, 2017

        " you do yourself a disservice if you are not an advanced computer user.  Any editor using software at this level should be able to build and troubleshoot their own computer. "  That statement is outright bovine excrement.

        That from the author of the thread.  He does include in pareths that a person could have access to someone with such knowledge, but it being in parenths it's a secondary consideration.

        But even Adobe doesn't make it easy to spec a computer for their software.  The last I looked, about 4 months ago, the list of GPUs  for Pr was about 2 years out of date.

        The comments about cell phone footage are, similarly, falderal.  An Academy Award-winning documentary included iPhone footage.  The film 'Tangerine', which has received wide praise, was made entirely with the iPhone.  Comments such as those from the author of the original post are simply elitist and have no place in the pantheon of true professionalism.


        I don't think Jim's comments that you do yourself a disservice if you are not an advanced computer user is intended to say "if you are not a power user, hang it up," but rather, simply become one. Anyone with the brain power to edit video has more than enough to become a power user. Sure Adobe makes it difficult to spec out a PC for Premiere, but so what? You really only need to know how to spec out a computer for video editing. If you do that, you will exceed Adobe's requirements anyway. I use multiple software titles on atypical project, so I have to spec to the greatest common denominator. (Adding a second and third hard drive will do more for your setup than adding memory, btw.)

        If you do decide to become a power user, along the way, you will think of new ways to alter your editing workflow, much to your own delight. If you are in the middle of a project, you may say things to yourself like "Doh! If I only knew that before I ..."

        As for Jim's comments about filming on cell phones, I don't think that was to be taken literally. Mine shoots 4K UHD. Too bad I can't put any good lenses in front of it. Of course, it wouldn't matter with such a small sensor. Sure a lot of documentaries use cell phone footage. And yes, I looked at Tangerine. It was shot entirely with the iPhone 5S, and looks like it. The director and DP did a pretty good job of designing the shoot around the iPhone's limitations, but it's still apparent that it was shot with a small sensor camera. It does get glowing reviews, but they're for the  writing, acting, directing, Etc.

        If anyone is feeling hurt by how "direct" some post here are, remember, a good director tries to read all of the bad reviews of his or her last work to be found. You won't learn anything from a good one. The good ones only tell you what you already know.

        You can criticize Jim's guide all you want. Just make sure you follow it. His information really is all that important. If I find the time, I'll try to write a similar guide for OS X.

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