Premiere Pro cc 2015.3 - new proxy feature problem - Reconnect Full Resolution Media not working with mp4

[Margawry]

Hello!

Thank you for great new feature - proxies! The idea is very good. But there is still something that need to be done. I tried to make proxies of my 4K footage from Sony FS-7. The codes was XAVC-L. The proxies are ok, and rendered. But i found that later I cannot reconnect full resolution media. It is because of audio channel layout. Camera is recording 4 mono channels, and h264 mp4 proxies are with other audio layout. Premiere says that "Proxy Media and Full Resolution Media must have matching audio channels" . This takes place when I select H264 proxies. When using quicktime gopro preset it seems to be ok.

Great new feature. Thank You Adobe!

[Jim_Simon]

You created these proxies using the H.264 preset under Ingest Settings?

[Margawry]

yes

[Jim_Simon]

OK.

Creating H.264 proxies is probably not the best option.  That media just does not edit very well compared to other media.

I would recommend Trent's suggestion to use Cineform instead.

[TWENTYNINER]

Their issue is not about editing, its about not being able to reconnect original source media.

[Jim_Simon]

I know, but the Cineform option has better compatibility with odd audio arrangements.  (Plus, it just edits a whole lot better.)

[TWENTYNINER]

The only two options I have for creating proxies is h.264 and quicktime. How do I add a preset to try cineform?

using mid-2010 mbp

[Jim_Simon]

I don't know about Macs.  On Windows, the QuickTime option is Cineform.

Might be ProRes for you, which would be just as good.

[Trent Happel]

One of the requirements of the new Proxy functionality in 2015.3 is that the audio channels match between the Full Res and Proxy clips. The H.264 export/transcode in Premiere/AME does not support 4 mono. I did note an issue with Create Proxies will create different number of audio channels (e.g.: 4 mono Full Res will result in 5.1 audio Proxy) and incorrectly auto-attaches the Proxy. Manual Attach Proxies and Reconnect Full Resolution Media will catch this audio channel mismatch that you noted.

This issue is currently under investigation. A possible workaround would be to use QuickTime GoPro CineForm (as you have already noted), as it will support 4 mono audio channels. Other possible options would be QuickTime ProRes or DNxHD Op1a.

[collideentertainment]

I'm having this same issue with Red Dragon R3D files which have 2 mono audio tracks. I understand that the audio needs to match but it seems that you can't configure the audio settings for proxy files in media encoder. How do you make the audio settings match when all the presets have 1 stereo mono track?

[Jim_Simon]

Using Cineform, I would expect the R3D files to work fine with two mono channels.

Are you using Cineform proxies, or H.264?

[collideentertainment]

I used the Cineform 1280x720p preset.

[collideentertainment]

SOLVED! (sort of) I tried with the ProRes proxies instead of Cineform and this seems to work on this session. The problem doesn't show up until you offline the full resolution files (if you're editing on a smaller drive) and then try to reconnect full resolution media. If you keep the full res and low res proxies connected all the time (on the same drive) you don't run into this problem. Anyhow, ProRes seems to be the choice for R3D files with 2 mono tracks at the moment.

Fyi, if you've already done an edit with Cineform and can't get it to reconnect full resolution media, just disconnect the proxy drive and when Premiere goes looking for the files say 'offline all'. Then select all the media in the Project window, right click and 'relink'. Once you select one file, the others should automatically relink as well.

Hope that helps some people. Love the Proxy workflow and look forward to getting some of these little bugs worked out.

[Jim_Simon]

If you keep the full res and low res proxies connected all the time

I would recommend that in all cases.

[collideentertainment]

One of the great advantages to the proxy workflow is being able to have many projects on one drive that you can easily edit with on the road. Having to keep the full resolution media connected at all times totally negates that.

[Jim_Simon]

That's an advantage only if it works.

The primary advantage is to make the media easier to edit.  That does work.

Give it time.  Adobe is new to proxy media.  I'm sure things will improve as we go along.

[collideentertainment]

For sure. I have a workaround now, so it's all good. But if we don't mention bugs like these to Adobe they won't know what they need to improve and I hope my workarounds can help other people running into the same issue.

[Jim_Simon]

I don't know if it's a bug, or just not yet designed to work as you'd like.

Either way, to make sure Adobe engineers see it, be sure to file a request.

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

There's no guarantee the right folks will see it here in the forums.

[collideentertainment]

Yep, done that too. Thanks!

[collideentertainment]

It's definitely a bug because one of the features they tout is the ability to edit offline from your full res files: on the cloud, with smaller drives, shared workflow etc.

[Jim_Simon]

I do recall seeing that you can store your proxies in the CC folder.

I don't recall them saying anything specifically about taking the originals offline, which is what's causing the trouble here.

Do you have that data?

[TWENTYNINER]

I had the exact same issue last night. I found out about the proxy feature after I began editing and wanted to test it.

Original Source Files are from RED Scarlet MX

Proxy setting was set at h264

We did not record audio from the camera but after a test proxy was created, i tried to reconnect and got the same error as the OP. Ended up using an auto-saved project file to reload the project.

[Guest]

I opened a project after moving the proxy files and it came up with the Offline Files dialog window that searches for the files. Upon browsing and finding them it gave me the same error (these proxies have different audio channels bla bla). So I hit cancel and then found my source media in the Project Panel and right-clicked > Proxy > Attach... and that worked.

[dan_jarman]

I had the same problem, albeit with Sony F55 and F7 footage, which was solved by using the Prores Proxy preset.

Looking at the media encoder output, I saw it was creating the usual uncompressed audio, with 8 channels of audio. The camera was recording with that many channels, and so Media Encoder set the preset to copy the audio setup of the original media.

H.264 cannot (as far as i am aware), encode more than 2 channels. and so it would seem that this is causing the error message as the proxy cannot marry-up the stereo audio of the h.264 file to the original 8-channels of the source file audio. This remains the case, even if you modify the source clip's audio channels within Premiere before creating proxies.

The lesson learnt: If the source footage has more than 2 channels of audio, you cannot use h.264 proxies.

Hope this helps!

[Jim_Simon]

The lesson learnt: If the source footage has more than 2 channels of audio, you cannot use h.264 proxies.

That's a good lesson.  Here's a better one:

H.264 just does not edit very well in comparison to other codecs.  Never use it for proxy media.

(I really am surprised Adobe included it as an option.  MPEG2 would have been a much better preset.)