Prores footage is red in Premiere on Windows 10

[Garret2628]

I was recently upgraded to Windows 10 in an enterprise environment and since then all of my prores footage in premiere is solid red in the program window.  Also, the audio waveforms are completely full of what looks like static (can't actually play back any of these files).

I've seen a fix for this issue in relation to h.264 by unchecking "enable hardware accelerated encoding" but that's had no effect on the issue.

I've also downloaded and installed Quicktime but still nothing.

The files playback fine in VLC and work fine on my older Windows 7 machine.

[Warren Heaton]

And you're also using Premiere Pro CC2018?  As of cc2018, Apple ProRes decompression is handled by Adobe Premiere Pro instead of Apple Quicktime.

Where did the ProRes clips originate from?  In camera?  Transcoded to ProRes from the camera format in something  like Media Encoder?  Rendered from an Adobe application like After Effects?

[Garret2628]

I'm using the most recent version of Premiere.

The files are straight out of a Blackmagic URSA Mini 4k.  Shot in Prores HQ at 4K.  Since I'm on windows I don't have a way to encode to prores, which is fine, but I'd prefer to avoid encoding between the camera and the edit.

[Garret2628]

After doing some further testing the DNxHR codec suffers from the same issue.  I've got some footage encoded from a Sony A7RIII shot in mp4 that was encoded to DNxHR HQ and it shows up as red as well. 

To add to the weirdness, I opened up another project that contained the same quality BMC prores footage on a timeline with 2 cameras shooting with identical settings and one camera shows up fine while the other shows up as red.  I opened up the red clip in the source monitor and the first half of it looks normal then it switches to red and has fully clipped static. Could this be some sort of timecode issue?

[Warren Heaton]

Like ProRes, DNxHR was formerly supported by Apple QuickTime, but as of CC2018 is supported directly by Adobe Premiere Pro.

How do the clips behave if you open them in After Effects or Media Encoder? 

Are you able to install Premiere Pro CC2017 on the same system to compare how the same clips behave in a version of PR that's using Apple QuickTime?

Also, this problem presented itself before you installed QuickTime, correct?

[Garret2628]

I was able to confirm that all the files work correctly in After Effects and Media Encoder.

Upon opening a project this morning some of the prores files are now working though I've got an entirely new problem related to Lumetri but that will probably warrant it's own post. 

On one particular project none of the prores files work at all.  I tried starting a new project and re-importing as well as bring those files into a project with working prores footage but no results.

All of the DNxHR files are now working though which is a plus.

[Warren Heaton]

If the ProRes clips are behaving as expected in AE and Media Encoder, I'd go ahead and convert a handful to another CODEC that's also good for editing and test those in Premiere (even though you've mentioned wanting to avoid this - and rightly so).

[Garret2628]

Thanks for the response.  I went ahead and reinstalled 2017 and it does handle the files fine though I can't import or open my 2018 projects so it looks like another round of conversion is going to be my only option to maintain my edit so far.  

I'll continue trying to get this to work correctly since our cameras shoot in prores as a default and adding a conversion round to every shoot will definitely make things less efficient.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

[Warren Heaton · Accepted solution]

Submit this one as a bug report with as much detailed information as possible.  Being that recording ProRes in camera or via a video field recorder is pretty common and that prior versions of Premiere handle the same source ProRes footage fine are two very strong reasons that the Adobe video applications should continue to do so.

You can do so here:

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Of course, something to be prepared for is that a workflow that relied on QuickTime up to CC2017 may need to be modified in some way or another to continue from CC2018 onward.

-Warren

[Garret2628]

Thanks, I'll definitely do that.  2018 worked fine for me since release working on Windows 7 but it's been nothing but trouble in 10.  I had a new problem crop up with mp4 files where it sees only the audio and not the video.  None of these issues seem to be consistent either. 

[Warren Heaton]

Yeah, all the parts work together and a change in just one can bring up world of unexpected behaviors (and extra grey hairs years, if not decades, early).

I think audio no longer playing in MP4 after Win7 to Win10 is a licensing issue with the audio CODEC.

[Jim_Simon]

Install the following and then use it to Uninstall QuickTime.

IObit Uninstaller - Best Free Software Uninstall Tool for Your Windows XP/7/8/10 PC

Check the option to Automatically remove residual files.

Report back.

[Garret2628]

Unfortunately I'm not able to install that program.  I'm working in a fairly strict IT environment so installing anything is a process.

[Warren Heaton]

Your issue most likely has to do with Adobe now supporting Apple ProRes directly in Premiere Pro rather than using QuickTime.

Assuming that's the case, rolling back to CC2017 is likely to be your best option at the moment.

-Warren