Terrible playback - is it my 2013 mac or Premiere CC 2017?

[rupert rucksack]

Hi there,

If anyone can help I'd much appreciate it.

I am running a 2013 Macbook pro - 2.6 Ghz intel core i7, 16gb 1600Mhz DDR3 Nvidia GeForce GT 750M 2048MB

The footage is ProRes 444 2K with a Lumetri colour custom LUT - a Resolve created Rec 709 LUT - less harsh than the Amira 709 one, that I created and imported.

The sequence is identical settings with Maximum bit depth, maximum render quality, composite in Linear colour and high quality playback all turned OFF.

The footage file data rate is 307 mbps and the drive is Gtech thunderbolt 2 - 7200rpm 480 mbps drive.

My fan is running hot, but there are no other apps running, the kernel task CPU usage is low but Premiere shoots up to 700% of the CPU during playback, that can't be good. I've cleaned out the mac, have tried everything.

Is my machine just too old or has Premiere consistently prioritised other aspects of the system at the expense of playback? Because I've been having these sorts of problems off and on for two years.

Is it time to get a new machine or change editing software?

Many thanks for any insightful responses.

Best

Rupert

[R Neil Haugen]

You've got a slow CPU and an adequate (semi sort of kind of) RAM ... but even the RAM is the old slower DDR3. And sadly, Lumetri is only slightly less as much a resource hog as Warp Stabilizer.

First thing to try to keep the ol' rig limping along is to make proxies ... normally on ingestion, but for current projects, you can go to the Project panel, right-click bins of media, and select Proxies/Create Proxies ... and in that dialog panel, use the included small Cineform option. Plays back best.

Neil

[rupert rucksack]

Thanks Neil,

I suspected as much, it's getting progressively worse with every update, but I can only cut with online material, I find proxies hard to deal with, so a new system beckons.

thanks very much

Rupert

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

" ... but I can only cut with online material, I find proxies hard to deal with ... "

It doesn't sound like you've used the proxy setup within PrPro recently. There's nothing to deal with, no online/offline or any of that mess.

For current projects, in the Project panel, go to your media bins and select all, right-click, "Proxies/Create Proxies", and use the small Cineform preset, NOT any H.264 option. AME will launch and run for a while making them.

While it's doing that, go back to the Program monitor, and click the + icon to the far right. Hover over the various control tools until you get the one that says something about toggling Proxies, and drag that into the Program Monitor controls.

All you do is click that ... when it's blue, you're running proxies. When it's gray, you're running full media.

It will never use the proxies for anything other than playback.

For setting this up for new projects, in the Media Browser, click the Ingest box, then select Create Proxies and select the Cineform preset included.

A last note ... typically the included presets are a few pixels narrower than the media ... which means that it is often noticeable when you are on proxies more than just the icon is blue. That's by design, and is fairly easy to get used to. If after a week it's still an eyesore, you can create your own proxy presets via AME.

Neil

[rupert rucksack]

OK will give it a go, but have bad memories of Avid proxies..!

On Premiere and FCP I just got used to editing with the highest quality picture files.

Thanks

R

[rupert rucksack]

Actually there is another temp fix - if I do a 'Global FX Mute' in the program window, I can cut more fluidly without losing my Lumetri grades, then can output without having to re-apply etc.

Quickly Disable All Effects for Preview?

Thanks

R