2 Replies Latest reply: Jan 27, 2011 10:22 PM by literally_figurative RSS

    Source and Timeline Random Slow Playback

    literally_figurative Community Member

      Hey all,

       

       

      My problem is this: I would edit some HDV footage 2 days ago and watching footage in the source monitor was fine. It was playing as smooth as playing the original files in VLC. I made the mistake of replacing one piece of footage with an AE file. Things seemed to slow down a lot in premiere when I did that, and I even notice the problem when I made a brand new project, so I ended up uninstalling CS4 and reinstalling just to be able to get back my smooth playback in source monitor to choose my clips.

       

      I get no reg or green or yellow line, it's just grey which I think means I have the right settings. I'm at a loss. Things were playing just perfect 2 days ago and now randomly I get this less than ideal playback in source and preview. I have updated premiere, updated graphics card, installed Klite codec pack, installed quicktime. So I don't know what next, I am really at a loss. I did a test render out of some footage on the timeline and it plays fine in VLC, so I know there that export should be fine, it's just WITHIN premiere playback is slightly less than realtime, even though it was fine 2 days ago! Any help welcome

        • 1. Re: Source and Timeline Random Slow Playback
          Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

          OK, HDV footage should play fine. That things slowed down with the AE Comp, would entice me to look at that first. Did you use ADL (Adobe Dynamic Link) for the Comp, or did you Export from AE and then Import into PrPro? Though ADL should work fine, some have had issues between PrPro and AE, plus even Encore. When ADL does not work, as hoped, the normal "trick" is to Export and then Import. That usually fixes things.

           

          As for K-Lite, much is rather benign, but so very much depends on what, and how, one installs. One of the far less than benign elements is FFDShow, which has killed all things Adobe for too many unfortunate users. That element also is tough to uninstall, unless things have changed greatly, and the full Windows Uninstall routine now works. From the last time that I saw K-Lite, things might well have improved, but I am not holding my breath. As I say above, much is rather benign, and with certain exceptions, the worst that one has to face is having some good, commercial CODEC's overwritten by hacked, and/or reverse-engineered versions. That just costs $, and often performance with those particular CODEC's. Adobe tries very hard to hide their MainConcept CODEC's, but CODEC packs can change the priority for, say MPEG-2, to their hacked CODEC's, in the Registry. I find this to never be a good thing.

           

          For some additional reading, I would do a Google Search (the Adobe Forum Search seems to be broken), for "Adobe Premiere Pro" and then "FFDShow." Lots of threads, and some true horror stories. Some have ended up being rectified ONLY through a full wipe, reformat and reinstall of everything. Some have been more fortunate, and have been able to uninstall, then run a Registry cleaner, like CCleaner, and have gotten their Adobe programs to function again.

           

          I'd investigate what is happening, when you add that AE Comp, and stay as far from any CODEC pack, as I could.

           

          Good luck,

           

          Hunt

          • 2. Re: Source and Timeline Random Slow Playback
            literally_figurative Community Member

            I am not sure, but I would assume I used ADL, as I right clicked in premiere and chose to "replace with AE composition" (paraphrasing) - so I am pretty sure it's that, since the LINK allowed me to DYNAMICALY put a mask on that specific clip in premiere. Ha!

             

             

            Initially I thought the slowdown was because it was Premiere and After Effects running at the same time, and that the dynamic link was too much for the PC to handle. I ended up making whole new projects, just premiere, and suddenly noticed the playback not being quite as smooth as realtime playback. I've used mediainfo and looking at the footage it just point me to get quicktime. I installed that, removed Klite, ran CCleaner, updated video card driver, but nope, playback in source is, while not TERRIBLE, it is less than optimal. It is certainly NOT as smooth as if you were to play the video file in VLC, and it was playing everything as smooth as that 2 days ago. What happened? I wish I knew.

             

            I was looking on the forums and on Google if there is any way to reset Adobe codecs or anything like that, but no such luck. I imagine a re-install of CS4 would help that, but I already did that. My premiere functions, and as I believe I mentioned before, I threw down an mp3 and a few seconds of footage, exported it, played it and it was fine, so the problem is JUST the playback on the timeline and in the source window. I have a grey line so there's no rendering necessary unless I put transitions, but as it is right now I will just have to edit and deal with it, I suppose :-/

             

            I don't know what to investigate as far as that AE link issue is concerned, since I made new projects unrelated to that, deleted the AE project altogether, yet problems persisted outside of it. It seems totally arbitrary, but I may have to deal with the less than optimal playback for the sake of getting the job done.

             

             

            I will say, the project settings are different now than when I was editing before and things were smooth, though the issues persisted on those previous project settings as well. So even though I think I was using the wrong project settings before, I think that has no bearing whatsoever on this issue in particular.

             

            I appreciate you taking the time to help.