Premiere Pro CC 2018 is Too Slow!

[RyanW.]

Not too pleased with the latest update of PP.  It is so slow that it is practically unusable to me.  Just trying to play my timeline with simple unmodified videos is not possible anymore as the lag is too much.  I have cleared my cache, turned down playback resolution, and tried everything I can to at least make it usable but it is just too slow.

I am running an aged PC Windows 10 workstation but I have a processor with 6 cores, 16GB of RAM, and a decent video card.  Just a few weeks ago before the 2018 update everything was fine and PP was quite peppy.  I am not sure if there is anything else I can try or not.  To me it seems like something is just bad with the latest update.

[Leopard Gecko Productions]

Yes, I think the majority of professional editors running PP are doing just that, going back to PP'17, which raises the question - what the hell is Adobe actually doing about this!? They've spent I can't imagine how much on R&D for the newest version of PP and no bugger's using it! It's a crazy situation! 🙂

[Rob Ainscough]

What seems to happen is performance degrades over time ... I work in 4K (who doesn't these days) ... any "rapid" positioning of the edit point in a sequence (jumping back and forth quick across say a 30 min sequence) and I'll eventually get to a point where the video at my edit point no longer will play nor display the correct frame at the marker.  It's as if PP 2018 gets "lost".

Since I'm primarily a software engineer by trade (30+ years of it), it "feels" and "behaves" like a threading problem that triggers a long "catchup" state until it's no longer able to "catchup" and the video display just doesn't update in the main viewer and gets stuck at whatever the last frame position is from my prior edit point.

The longer the sequence the worse the problem is and faster it reaches the point of no return (not responding).

Once the video in the viewer no longer updates to the timeline motion that's when I know it's time to shutdown PP 2018 and restart it.  At this point in time PP 2018 will report back to the OS (in my case Win10) as "Not Responding".  The ONLY way to terminate PP 2018 at this point is to use TaskMgr and do an "End Task" on the PP exe.

After I restart PP 2018 I'm able to edit again for the next 30 minutes, but over time I once again reach a point of the video not updating the viewer as I move thru the sequence.

I've tried everything to resolve this problem, even went as far as wiping my PC, re-installing my OS, and starting from scratch with PP 2018 install ... that made absolutely no difference.  I've go thru all the "performance guide videos and documents" to see if it would make a difference and nothing has worked.  Even tried converting my MP4's to MOV and/or other formats and still no improvement in performance.

So, I've wiped my PC again, and gone back to PP 2017 fresh install and everything works fine, no performance problems, no errors and I can happily edit away all day.  So this clearly demonstrates there is a significant problem/bug with PP 2018 as my hardware and OS are exactly the same and that same hardware runs PP 2017 without any issues.

PP 2018 received several updates (even as recently as just a few days ago before I went back to PP 2017) but NONE of them made a difference to the performance issue.

I don't know where Adobe are with this problem or if they are even looking into it as they've not communicated back no matter how many times I've used their official "Feedback" channels.

It's clearly a programming issue and not a hardware issue, it's sad that Adobe appear unaware or feel they don't need to respond to feedback.  As far as claims that it's not happening to everyone, the ONLY folks I know who it's not happening to are the editors that still work in HD (1080) on a Mac.  Every (no exceptions) other editor I know is having performance problems and trying to work around them or find alternatives ... most do not report their issues via Adobe Feedback because over the years that method has never provided and response to user problems.

Cheers, Rob.

[Warren Heaton]

I'm primarily on Mac running Mac OS 10.13 or 10.12 on most of my systems along with PR CS6, CC2014, CC2017 and CC2018 (yes, I keep multiple versions on hand to always be able to match project file versions for various clients who have or have not updated).  So far, no difference across versions.  Most projects are 2160 material in 1080 edits.

Hopefully someone at Adobe is gathering detailed system specifics about where this his happening.

I have one Windows system and two BootCamp setups, but don't spend much time on them.

-Warren

[Hard is Easy]

This is exactly the situation I'm facing Premiere Pro 12.1 - 12.1.1 playback freeze - YouTube

I made a separate thread on this as well:

Re: 12.1 and 12.1.1 playback freeze (with video)

Eventually I went back to 12.0.1

[Rob Ainscough]

After much testing and trial and error I found a solution to the performance problem on main PP PC.

It was one of these 3 changes I made that seemed to resolve the issue:

1.  Reduce my audio devices down to just one primary, from device manager (Win10) disabled "nVidia High Definition Audio" and "nVidia Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) WDM".

2.  In PP 2018 changed my Audio settings. uncheck "Maintain pitch while shuttling", uncheck "Play audio while scrubbing", check "Attempt to force hardware to document sample rate", confirm I'm using ASIO in PP and AE.

3.  Updated my PC's BIOS/EFI

I made a quick video here (also includes how I solved MP4 audio only import problem), video is in 1440p:

Resolved MY Adobe Premiere Pro 2018 performance problems - YouTube

I'm happy to report PP 2018 is performing as well as PP 2017.  Guess I can cancel my subscription to Vegas Pro now.

Cheers, Rob.

[fwitulski]

having exactly the same issues and thoughts. I really hope Adobe is working on it...

[R Neil Haugen]

I don't really expect them to try and tweak the app for an OS back a few cycles. Painful when you've got reasons not to upgrade the OS, but then ... Apple doth like to push everyone to always be the same.

Neil

[E_Rock_]

So after trying a few things, this is the solution that worked for me to stop the stuttering video playback.  Unless you're working off of a work server and have to access files remotely, or if you're working in 4k media, ignore any thread that mentions creating proxies. 

Edit>preferences>Playback>   Uncheck any boxes under the Video Device column.  I had two more boxes than pictured below, as I use GoPros for video and they have new codecs for VR headsets and then their 4k media.  You don't need these options unless you're using a RED or something ridiculous.

Also worth mentioning that it seems this newest build of Premiere has issues with .mp4s and will stutter on the timeline, but not when you render out the timeline.

Hope this helps someone.

[Mr.Tall]

With i7 4790K / 32GB Ram / GTX 1060 6gb / Display 4K / OS in 256 SSD, projects in 500 SSD / media & cash in 125 ssd.
I work with files from Nikon 750 mpeg-4.
Disable everything on Timeline display settings the program is unusable. The Lag is everywhere. 

[R Neil Haugen]

First, my interest here isn't what we'd like to have work, but a very practical look at what actually works now. Within that view, if you're working H.264 media especially, that older 4-core CPU isn't the cat's meow. I saw an article by a very experienced builder of rigs for video post, who said for H.264 and really many of the Log media cameras, having enough fast cores properly supported with RAM is crucial.

I think his list was at least six but preferably 8 or more ​physical​ cores ("logical" cores don't count), at processing speeds at or above 4ghz, with 10-12 gigs of DDR5 RAM per core. Something like that.

My rig is only a six-core, with 32Gb RAM running at 3.6Ghz, but I'm getting by ok. I've talked with my builder, and he's willing to go to 64Gb RAM and upping the frequency if I need, says the cooling should be able to handle it.

As a post or two above talked about, "tuning" a rig can at times make significant differences. Both keeping the number of background processes down and even the order programs were installed. I've known editors who simply re-formatted the OS drive, and reinstalled the OS and programs, installing the video post apps first. Same list of programs, but PrPro worked much better.

Bill Gehrke is the expert on running PrPro from the thousands of hardware tests he's got with all sorts of rigs running a specific sequence for export while logger apps record the computer's performance. Check out his site for information, advice, and ideas. Also, you might consider running that ppbm8 test to see where your biggest bottleneck is.

Neil

Tweaker's Page ... http://ppbm8.com/index.html

[Rob Ainscough]

Hi Neil,

It's certainly good advice to have sufficient hardware and minimize other tasks running in the background.  However, I think what many here don't understand (myself included) is why CC 2017 performs so much faster/better than CC 2018 on the exact same hardware?

I use fairly good hardware (6 and 8 and 10 real Core CPUs) all released within the last year 1 and 64GB RAM or more with very fast M.2 SSDs.

If we take a look at what's new in 2018 vs. 2017 the list is pretty short:

• Match color across shots (no significant performance impact)
• Lumetri Color panel changes (no significant performance impact)
• Lumetri Color Custom LUT directory (no significant performance impact)
• Auto-duck music (no significant performance impact)
• Search for Motion Graphics Templates (no significant performance impact)
• Create gradients for shapes (not sure about this one as I rarely use it, but I can't see this as having performance impact, especially when not used)
• Replace clip workflow for Motion Graphics (AE ... possible impact to performance if using the feature)
• Improved interface and control types (from AE ... possible impact to performance if using the feature)
• Immersive Monitor support (VR ... never use it so don't know it's performance impact)
• Enhanced support for Team projects (no significant performance impact)
• Improved Timecode panel (no significant performance impact)
• Video limiter (no significant performance impact)
• Copy Paste sequence markers (no significant performance impact)
• Hardware Acceleration for H.264 encoding on Win10 6th gen or later CPU (of which I use in all cases) ... high potential for performance impact
• Dropped support for Quicktime 7 formats (high potential for performance impact) ... I don't use QT formats

So out of those changes the only one that stands out as possible source of PP performance problems is the addition of H.264 hardware acceleration on Win10 with 6th gen or later CPUs.  If one has an Intel 6th Gen CPU (6000 series or higher, which I do) then I should be seeing faster performance over PP 2017, but I'm not?  So something is not working "as expected" on the H.264 HVEC update and I suspect this is the root cause of the performance problems.  The dropping of QT7 may also be another source of why so many are having performance problems on the OSX side.

I've come up with ways to work around some of the other problems with PP 2017, but there is still a performance problem in PP 2018 that is NOT present in PP 2017.

Cheers, Rob.

[R Neil Haugen]

Trying to sort out why one version works better/worse on a rig is such a common part of the editing life.

For some, 2017 is a lot faster than 2018. Sounds like your experience is that. My rig works identical with both builds. And is only a middling rig.

I have regular contact with post pros in various countries and types of shops. There's no great consistency other than a slight propensity for 2018 to be slower. Some whole shops are so, others aren't, and some are mixed. Totally puzzling.

I've seen comments on tuning OS, software, and hardware settings that work very well for one person, do nothing for another.

Aisle conversations at NAB are the same. Someone is totally frustrated with their NLE and someone else I'm just switched to it because of seeming better performance. Why?

Don't have that depth of an answer.

Neil

[Rob Ainscough]

Hi Neil,

Certainly agree that "Fine tuning" one's PC to operate at it's best is always a good idea.  But for some of us who are very technical (I'm a software engineer with 30+ years experience) and have gone thru the Adobe days from "birth" to "now" and know the insides and outsides of a PC and software and OS ... but to be "stumped" at a performance problem, especially one that is not "consistent" is a tell-tail sign there is most likely some Driver/OS/EFI issue at work.  Could be anything from Intel Chipset drivers vs. Microsoft drivers to nVidia drivers to some of the OS and CPU firmware updates to deal with Kernel-mode vulnerabilities brought on by Meltdown and Spectre malware ... so many possibilities.

As a software engineer I've had to deal with similar issues from my software not working well or as expected on my client PC's.  It's a complex issue and the ONLY way we were able to identify the problem was with logging application performance/states/etc. as they provided vital clues as possible sources of issues.

Does Adobe PP 2018 provide any such trace/logging option?  I'm not aware that they do ... perhaps there is a command line option that can trigger logging/trace?  If Adobe is interested in solving this, that would be the first step.

Cheers, Rob.

[R Neil Haugen]

Excellent post there. You've got a lot more experience in software engineering, but trouble-shooting is an analysis thing, and analysis is my brain's one-trick pony. I, and many others, have wondered the same things.

There's some thing in PrPro for when it crashes, that under some circumstances it produces a crash-log. I'm not aware of anything further. You've got a good logic-train there, though that it might be very useful if they at least had something available if a user asked for it. And also, it seems that it could give their engineers a ton of data on how to ... sculpt? ... their code revisions.

Post this at the new user-voice bug/feature link. It's a great idea.

Neil

Adobe Bug /Feature Request service: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro

[devynb73008579]

This software is incredibly unstable -- every version in CC 2018. I can attest. The crashes are seemingly random but occur when I'm editing (dragging, dropping, trimming, copying and pasting), and the playback performance is laggy as mentioned above. I've tried to pinpoint the issue but cannot after months of frustration and wasted time and money, there simply seems to be issues with all our Mac workstations and new i7-8700k Win PC we built to troubleshoot. It's consistently unstable on every system I try, and a lot slower then CC 2017.

[R Neil Haugen]

That ... sucks. Big time.

Pile on the "uservoice" reports on this ... let's get as many posts as possible on it from those affected. Squeaky wheels do get more grease ...

Neil

Adobe UserVoice Bug /Feature form: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro

[Warren Heaton]

In your testing on the Mac side, have you tried creating an external boot drive that has just macOS X and Premiere Pro CC 2018?

Premiere Pro CC 2018 runs about the same as Premiere Pro CC 2017 on the following of my computers: Mac Pro running macOS X 10.12 Sierra, 27-inch iMac running macOS X 10.13 High Sierra and late 2013 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina running macOS X 10.12 Sierra.

I have Bootcamp on two of these machines, but I have't bothered rebooting in awhile and CC is not up-to-date on those boot drives.

[Clemzy]

I was about to create a post on the numbers of problems were are dealing with Adobe Premiere CC 2018...

It seems that since 2/3 years the software is getting more and mores bugs and crashes....

I am starting to think to an other solution for editing, as a professional the software start to become unreliable for a dayli use.. or heavy projects...

as other peopple ask can you make no new features for 2019 and only work on stability and perfomance?

[Ann Bens]

Premiere Pro: Hot (1864 ideas) – Adobe video & audio apps

[Clemzy]

I've just voted on all topics regarding performance and stability.... Team and company should wake up or Resolve will be taking the power in 2/3 yaers regarding video editing and of course color correction...

[Waldorf & Statler]

Clemzy  schrieb

I've just voted on all topics regarding performance and stability.... Team and company should wake up or Resolve will be taking the power in 2/3 yaers regarding video editing and of course color correction...

I agree you with Resolve!

Just not that it takes 2 to 3 years.

With CC2019 many users will have to hand over their old MACpro (no 10.13),

and go to HP z8 with one or 2 decent gamer cards GPU.

If these, very badly treated by ADOBE long time customers,

than make a test between ADOBE and Resolve and also render once,

no matter if preview or final, it is clear what a bad job has done over the years.

Shortly before the IBC ADOBE then brings the CC2019 on the market or an update for the 18 and says than everything is different!

In addition, you will make the finest show again in Amseterdam.

But the product manager will hide, he thinks he has a good product.

[R Neil Haugen]

Project manager seems to have done pretty good for a first year. Last release nailed a ton of bugs, this is the quietest this forum has been in years even though users are supposedly up.

Are there still problems? Oh yea. Is Resolve pushing? Oh yea! Is Resolve perfect? Um, no  ... but for some projects on most machines just fine.

So we'll all just get to see what happens over time.

Ain't that Fun?

Neil

[Waldorf & Statler]

ADOBE Product Management in the home Office

https://www.film-tv-video.de/business/2018/08/01/die-richtige-balance-finden/ 

[R Neil Haugen]

Hey, interesting link. Wish mein Deutsch were what it once was. At least one can see the pretty pictures, make out one word in six. But with 'translate', can get through it. Looks like a fairly stock explanation of the goals/process.

Neil

[dukeeastwood]

If it wasn't for my whole job using Adobe I would use Resolve starting now, but I'm going to talk to my supervisor about switching...

Adobe has got to go...