Mercury Playback Engine GPU not available

[harris1966]

I've been reading through forum postings and have not found a solution, so I apologize if there is a solution posted elsewhere.

I have a 27" iMac (late 2012) with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX graphics card running Mac OS 10.8.5.

I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.0.3, and when I updated my OS to 10.9 Maverick, I began to experience several problems, including:

1. The dreaded spinning beachball and "Premiere not responding."
2. "This project was last used with Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration (CUDA) which is not available on your system. Mercury Playback Engine Software Only will be used.
3. Video files - I think they were all .MOV - became "squished" to the top of the Program Monitor (movie only took up about 1/3 of program monitor window).

After a long chat with Adobe Support, he indicated that the update to 10.9 Maverick was the problem, so I:

1. Updated to Premiere 6.0.5, but that did not fix any of the issues.
2. Logged in as "Root," which worked for a while but I also received 3 "Premiere encountered problem and must shut down."
3. Deleted preferences, repaired permissions, basic troubleshooting practices, etc, but problems persisted.
   

No help.

Eventually I restored my computer from a Time Machine backup to a day prior to the OS 10.9 update, and this seemed to fix all the issues. So I was back to Mac 10.8.5 and Premiere 6.0.3.

But the .MOV-compressed-in-the-program-monitor problem began to surface again (see  photo below).

So I updated to Premiere to 6.0.5 (but not my OS - it's still 10.8.5), and the "Mercury Playback Engine" error is back.

And the .MOV files are still compressed in the Program Monitor. I have a project that I completed in 6.0.3, but is now messed up in 6.0.5.

Help please. Is the only solution downgrading to Premiere 6.0.3, and if so, must I do a clean install of the program from the DVD?

Thanks,

RW Harris, Director of Training

Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers

Birmingham, AL

[Andrew_S]

Have you checked to see if the graphic card is listed in the Cuda_Supported_Cards.txt file?

You must have done the hack originally, as the GTX 680 is not usually in the list.

[harris1966]

Hello Andrew,

I've never hacked a Mac in my life, and I am a nearly a 30 year user of Apple. I started with the Mac SE in 1986 and have been using them ever since.

I'm certainly not opposed to doing what you suggest, and I've seen the steps on how to do, but can't remember where they are.

Can you provide the instructions, or point me to where they are? If it's working for you, then I'd rather go that route than try and get my vendor to swap out hardware.

Thanks so much! If this works, I'll see if I can get you a free oil change (as long as you can get to one of our 200+ locations from Texas to Florida to S. Carolina)!

Randy

[John T Smith · Accepted solution]

Windows nVidia Hack http://forums.adobe.com/thread/629557 - which is a simple entry in a "supported cards" file - and Mac http://www.vidmuze.com/how-to-enable-gpu-cuda-in-adobe-cs6-for-mac/

[harris1966]

John T. Smith,

You are the MAN! This link

http://www.vidmuze.com/how-to-enable-gpu-cuda-in-adobe-cs6-for-mac/

fixed my problem. Thanks so much. It also fixed my "squished" video in the Program Viewer problem.

If you can find an Express Oil Change & Service Center (spelled just like this) in your area, email me and I'll see to it that you get a free oil change!

Sincerely and sincerely relieved,

Randy

[John T Smith]

Glad I could help (even if I'm Windows and not Mac)

Google doesn't show anything in Vancouver WA... so don't worry about a coupon... I help when I can because I've also been helped here

[LuisitoDiaz]

Wow! Wow! Wow!

You just saved my $1000 or more. Thanks SO MUCH.

Luis

[adaiasm62]

Hi. This is very simple and fixed my problem. I exactly just copied the whole file from my Premiere pro CS6 and pasted in CC pro. That's it.

Premiere Pro CC 2015: CUDA Hack [Solved] - YouTube

[Kevin-Monahan]

RW,

Your video card is not supported for hardware acceleration for the Mercury Playback Engine in Premiere Pro CS6.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Andrew_S]

HI Kevin, that's odd! We have a bunch of iMacs using this graphic chip set and after hacking the "cuda_supported_cards.txt" file, we do get cuda acceleration - on Mac OS and Win7. (The computers are dual boot.) See my post 1 about checking the .txt file.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Andrew_S,

I'm in support and the official line from my perspective is that the card is not supported. I can't recommend an unsupported way to enable hardware acceleration for any customer.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Jatinder_C]

Hey Kevin,

I'm having the same problem of the Mercury Playback Engine being greyed out and not letting me access GPU support options. I'm using a 2013 Macbook Pro 2.8 GHz i7, 16gb Memory with the

Intel Iris 1024 MB.

Is my card supported?

[harris1966]

Thanks so much for your quick responses.

@Kevin, the strange thing is this: Express purchased this iMac and the Adobe Creative Suite back in January of this year, and the computer and software have worked flawlessly since that time.

It was only after upgrading, first to Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks (which I later downgraded back to 10.8.5), and then to Premiere 6.0.5, that I began experiencing problems.

Prior to these upgrades, I never received the "Missing Renderer" message, nor did I experience any lagging problems or problems relating to .MOVs in the Program Viewer.

Any insight on why I never experienced problems until upgrading software? Are you saying that PP doesn't support NVIDIA 680 MX cards "now that the software is at 6.05"? Or PP doesn't support that card at all, under any software version?

Again, thanks so much for your help. If I was sold a package of software and hardware that was incompatible from the outset, then I may have to pursue a serious course of reclamation against the vendor I used.

Kind regards,

Randy

[Kevin-Monahan]

harris1966 wrote:

Thanks so much for your quick responses.

@Kevin, the strange thing is this: Express purchased this iMac and the Adobe Creative Suite back in January of this year, and the computer and software have worked flawlessly since that time.

It was only after upgrading, first to Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks (which I later downgraded back to 10.8.5), and then to Premiere 6.0.5, that I began experiencing problems.

Prior to these upgrades, I never received the "Missing Renderer" message, nor did I experience any lagging problems or problems relating to .MOVs in the Program Viewer.

Hi Randy,

I'm sorry. I really don't know the answer to your question, or how that happened. All I know is that the card is not supported for CS6. I guess we have a mystery on our hands.

harris1966 wrote:

Any insight on why I never experienced problems until upgrading software?

Sorry, it is behaving as if your text file was hacked prior to you receiving the computer. After you updated the OS, a new text file without your card was created. Your card would not be listed in that file because it is not supported.

harris1966 wrote:

Are you saying that PP doesn't support NVIDIA 680 MX cards "now that the software is at 6.05"? Or PP doesn't support that card at all, under any software version?

The card is supported for Premiere Pro CC, but not prior to that.

harris1966 wrote:

Again, thanks so much for your help.

You're welcome!

Thanks,

Kevin