Variable frame rate video with Premiere Pro

Report · Dec 04, 2012

Variable frame rate video comes from many places these days: phones, live streamed video recordings.

Adobe Premiere is a supposedly production level piece of software that cost a good chunk of change.

How is it 2012 and Adobe does not still have an answer to this problem? After trying to editing/convert/mux/edit variable frame rate videos for the past 5 hours I am just exhausted. No amount of conversion apps, etc have saved us and THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE TOO.

We have spent thousands on Adobe software packages over the last decade, probably 10s of thousands, and the only answer I find consistently is to switch to Vegas.

Surely, SURELY someone at Adobe with real insight into the issue can help answer the question of whether users moving into different medium should find a place elsewhere in the software ecosystem...

Message was edited by: Kevin Monahan

Reason: to make article more searchable

Title changed.

Report · Feb 01, 2018

Yes, found that. Thank you.

I am using a laptop. I was able to fix the issue by using Handbrake before editing the file in Premiere Pro. Also, I was told when using the Game capture option in Bandicam the program will force VFR even when selecting CFR. The workaround, on that side, is apparently to do a full screen capture instead. But for now I am simply using Handbrake to convert the recording to CFR prior to loading up Premiere Pro.

General

Complete name : Name deleted for privacy reasons.

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (mp41)

File size : 1.82 GiB

Duration : 33 min 41 s

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 7 723 kb/s

Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Writing application : BandiMp4Muxer 1.0

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : Baseline@L4

Format settings : 1 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : No

Format settings, RefFrames : 1 frame

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 33 min 41 s

Bit rate : 7 397 kb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Variable

Frame rate : 28.204 FPS

Minimum frame rate : 0.469 FPS

Maximum frame rate : 30.030 FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.126

Stream size : 1.74 GiB (96%)

Language : English

Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Audio #1

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 33 min 41 s

Duration_LastFrame : -10 ms

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 122 kb/s

Maximum bit rate : 312 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz

Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 29.5 MiB (2%)

Language : English

Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Audio #2

ID : 3

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 33 min 41 s

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 192 kb/s

Maximum bit rate : 291 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz

Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 47.0 MiB (3%)

Language : English

Encoded date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Tagged date : UTC 2018-02-01 19:34:58

Report · Feb 06, 2018

I too am having issues with the new VFR in premiere 2018.01, again handbrake transcoding works fine. Using the native video, audio is progressively more out of sync over a 4 hour event we recorded from 3 different ethernet cameras from 2 different manufacturers. NDI-PTZ1 is one of the cameras. We also had a pro tools sound multitrack export at 48khz out of the sound board. Adobe, happy to supply these videos if that helps. Thanks for your work on implementing this feature.

General

Complete name : /NEWTEK-CONNECT (Chan 1) 1.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 16.6 GiB

Duration : 3 h 55 min

Overall bit rate : 10.1 Mb/s

Tagged date : UTC 2018-01-29 15:58:06

Writing application : Lavf57.66.102

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 3 h 55 min

Bit rate : 9 947 kb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate : 60.000 FPS

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.080

Stream size : 16.4 GiB (99%)

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 3 h 55 min

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 125 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 211 MiB (1%)

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

General

Complete name : (Chan 1) 1.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 17.0 GiB

Duration : 3 h 55 min

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 10.3 Mb/s

Tagged date : UTC 2018-01-29 15:56:50

Writing application : Lavf57.66.102

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High@L5

Format settings : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame

Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=60

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 3 h 55 min

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 10 000 kb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate : 60.000 FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.080

Stream size : 16.4 GiB (97%)

Color range : Full

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 3 h 55 min

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 317 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 534 MiB (3%)

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

Report · Jan 18, 2022

Yves,

If the streams are too much to bear, like, if they are too long, you will be forced to transcode them.

Kevin

Report · Feb 10, 2018

Thank you for deciding to support VFR!

Now.. to see if you'll support MKV containers as well which work great for VFR + VBR + HDR content.

nudge nudge ;D

Report · Feb 11, 2018

Levyimage wrote
Now.. to see if you'll support MKV containers as well

Not likely.

Report · Feb 11, 2018

Not likely.

I wouldn't be so certain

Re: adding support for FFV1 and Matroska

Right now, people have to swap to a different container (eg MP4) or transcode.

Which takes time, and reduces efficiency for that situation.

It's just a container, provided the contents are supported, it shouldn't be a big issue or big challenge to support.

Report · Jan 24, 2018

YOU GOD. THANK YOU. OMG

Report · Mar 06, 2018

Hi Kevin Monahan:

I don't think that's true. I've had this CONSTANT problem and frustration with Premiere 2018 screwing up my audio files while editing (audio on the timeline will suddenly switch over to a different clip at any given time and for no apparent reason). I called the Adobe help centre - and I was told it's because Premiere doesn't and can't handle video with variable frame rate - each time I've called. I've been told (for whatever reason) that I can't even use Prelude to transcode - that I need to transcode my AVCHD files on Handbrake (which I can't ever seem to do!). I'm using a Panasonic HC-X290 - if that helps. I seriously don't know what's the issue. I never had this problem prior to the update in 2018.

Report · Mar 06, 2018

The help folks you've talked with have been a bit behind ... did you ask for the Video Queue when calling/chatting? Kevin always suggests that in his posts on using the Help staffers as you get the ones with some experience rather than the generalists ... something to that effect.

Starting with the 2018 release, there is pretty decent support for most VFR media in PrPro. The problems that were due to mis-handling VFR files in PrPro were that the video & audio would over time get out of sync. One was just going faster than the other.

That's not the problem you're reporting. Not even close. You're reporting a typical AVCHD problem that most often occurs when 1) the entire camera card folder structure wasn't copied to the drive on the computer and/or 2) AVCHD media is imported other than through the Media Browser ... so PrPRo's internal database for that media may not 'see' all the needed data.

Neil

Report · Mar 12, 2018

Hi Neil:

Actually - I have copied the entire card folder structure (which is normally labelled "private") onto my hard drive AND it's always imported through the media browser. As I mentioned to the people at the Adobe help centre - I have always gone through the exact same process of copying the folder/importing and NEVER had this problem before the 2018 update.

As an aside, I have also set my default input to "none" in the audio hardware.

The camera does shoot at 59.94 fps - which I'm sure is causing the issue. And I can't seem to go through Handbrake as I was advised. But why am I not able to transcode this through Prelude???!!! One thing to note - even the transcoded footage has experienced the same problem of late.

*argh*

(Oh - and yes, I've spoken to the people in the video option)......

Report · Mar 12, 2018

Well, you're doing everything right that I can see ... copying the Private folder/down and importing all that through Media Browser should work. I don't even think the frame-rate should be an issue here. I'm trying to think of something else to try ...

Neil

Report · Mar 22, 2018

Transcoding only fixes the problem if you tell it to. You have to play with the transcode settings. Open media encoder and create a preset for your camera, you can base it off of a preset that already exists, but you'll need to modify specific values. You want to make sure to turn off the checkboxes that say "Get from camera" or "Get from source". This will keep the same source frames, just wrap it in a new folder structure, without fixing them. You want to set the rate yourself (go ahead and use the same rate as your camera; we just don't want it to assume the camera has all the frames, we want it to process frame by frame). Now for your encoding rate or Bandwidth section, set it to CFR, and set a bandwidth a little higher than your original video, usually by half a megabit will do. This makes room in the bandwidth for new frames to be created without affecting the quality of the old ones. At the bottom in the create preset dialog, you'll see "Interpolation", set this according to your video type. IF your camera moves to follow subjects a lot, use "Frame Sampling" or for slightly better quality "Frame Blending". If your camera is fairly still and the subjects move (or the background is relatively stable), select "Optical Flow" Which gets great results with slow or still backgrounds.

Now you can save this preset, go to prelude and use it whenever you want.

Report · Mar 07, 2018

I am using 12.0.1 and still having issues with variable frame rates

Report · Mar 07, 2018

That's not a particularly helpful post for any of us to help you ... so, how about some information?

OS/CPU/RAM/GPU/vRAM, and for this issue, what's the media you've got and what created it, and what specific issues are you having?

Neil

Report · Mar 07, 2018

Actually, I was just checking my settings and found out it was the audio hardware giving me frame skips on my videos. Apologies. I had to put my default Input to "None" in Audio Hardware.

Everything is working smooth now.

Report · Mar 07, 2018

Good to hear! It's amazing how some seemingly innocuous settings in prefs can make such big differences in operation.

Neil

Report · Mar 29, 2018

My variable framerate video was still out of sync in premiere 2018, but if you open it in Imovie and then export it as it is from it, you can then work with it in Adobe premiere.

Report · Apr 04, 2018

I don't think that Premiere CAN do variable frame rate video, as stated by Adobe, with new release CC 2018. I am using Quicktime to do screen recording and most of the time it records at 60fps. Occasionally, for reasons unknown, it records at a strange rate. The video is in sync when played in QT, but when imported into Premiere, the audio sync is way off, and the end of the audio gets cut off. Time to transcode again.

Report · Apr 05, 2018

You should report that here:

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Report · Apr 05, 2018

Premiere handles several types of phone media on my system without issue ... and they are all VFR. 4K VFR, too. QuickTime is a quirky app. I don't know how well it actually works for screen-grabbing, but the standard player is screwy.

Neil

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Variable frame rate video with Premiere Pro

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