**** I've also posted this message in the Adobe Premiere Bug Submission forum. Just looking for some additional support or answers here. ****
I’ve been very excited for full RED IPP2 implementation to hit Premiere. However, when loading up older project files with footage using the Legacy Image Pipeline - I'm seeing about half the performance I did previously. A huge number of dropped frames and stuttering footage at resolution playback ratios that I haven't had issues with even the prior Premiere release (12.0.1). I’m also noticing similar performance for IPP2.
I’m running on an 18-core iMac Pro with Vega 64 and 64 GB of RAM, project playing back from a G-Speed 48TB Shuttle in RAID10. Needless to say, I’m on a fast computer and shouldn’t have much issue. The only clips I’m working with are RED 8K Helium R3Ds.
In Premiere 12.1 (April 2018), with RED Helium 8K footage playing back at 1/4 resolution in a 4K timeline - I’m noticing major dropped frames in playback. Moving down to 1/8, I’m seeing just as many dropped frames. 1/2 is nearly unplayable at times - it feels like I’m getting 2FPS.
Footage typically plays back flawlessly for 5-7 seconds before the frames start dropping. When loading up an old project, I’m noticing that the Master Clip’s RED setting is displaying Legacy Image Pipeline, but not displaying Color Space or Gamma Curve options. They’re both unelectable. Another set of Color Space and Gamma Curve drop downs appear under it for some reason. Both unelectable.
I created a new project with Legacy footage and the drop down options came up for these doubled up options as:
- Color Space: DragonColor2
- Gamma Curve: REDlogFilm
- Color Space: REDWideGamutRGB
- Gamma Curve: Log 3G10
These secondary Color Space and Gamma Curve options should not be coupled together with the top two. I’m not sure if this is what is causing the playback errors by doing double the processing.
I then created a new project with IPP2 footage. I’m seeing the same performance issues: 1/2 plays at about 1-2 frames per second, 1/4 drops frames consistently, and 1/8 plays well. (Although this is still not ideal for an 18-core iMac Pro that has had no previous playback issues.)
In Premiere 12.0.1 (Previous Release), with RED Helium 8K footage playing back at 1/4 resolution in a 4K timeline - I mostly saw one or two dropped frames every few minutes. At 1/8 resolution, I could play back my media flawlessly. I could also typically play back 1/2 resolution without many dropped frames when the footage is not highly detailed. This is with the same Legacy footage and projects being tested in the new April 2018 release.
For comparison, REDCINE-X can play back both my IPP2 and Legacy footage at 1/2 resolution flawlessly with no dropped frames. At 1/4 I’m seeing a very healthy buffer and 1/8 nearly loads instantly.
Things I’ve tried:
- Deleting Premiere and deleting my preferences.
- Starting a new project with the same footage.
- Importing the old project into a new project.
- Trying different playback engines including Metal and Software Only. (I’m currently using OpenCL.)
- Reloading my RMDs in attempt to fix the imported settings.
- Attempting to switch the Image Pipeline and settings within the Master Clip RED settings.
All attempts to fix these performance issues have given no results.
Things to do to replicate the issue (on a Mac):
- Use RED 8K Helium R3Ds
- Color for Legacy in REDCINE-X
- Import footage into Adobe Premiere Pro v12.0.1
- Create a 4K timeline
- Note playback smoothness and dropped frames for 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 resolution
- Update Premiere to v12.1 (April 2018)
- Open project
- Check the Master Clip settings to see if the Color and Gamma settings are not working / duplicated
- Note playback smoothness and dropped frames for 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 resolution
- Color additional RED 8K Helium R3Ds in REDCINE-X as IPP2
- Note playback speed in REDCINE-X
- Import into a new project in v12.1
- Create a 4K Timeline
- Note playback smoothness and dropped frames for 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 resolution
Another note - on a few select projects, my RED footage will not load at all and I’m receiving an Adobe Player low-level error. (I’ve seen numbers following this error including .79 and .60, although it changes every time I restart.) I’m unable to duplicate this issue.
Overall, I’m fairly disappointed that after all this waiting and excitement - I’m getting extremely terrible performance when editing both Legacy and IPP2 R3Ds natively within Premiere v12.1 (April 2018). I would have assumed better performance with the new RED SDK, and not to drop massive amounts of frames in playback.
One final question that I’ve been wondering about playback. I was wondering why playback at 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 use different percentages of my CPU, but never 100%. 1/8th only caps out at 10% CPU usage, 1/4 only uses 30% of my CPU (and still has dropped frames), and 1/2 uses about 75% (and still has dropped frames). Surprisingly, exporting unlocks my full CPU for decoding. I wasn’t sure why playback at all resolutions doesn’t attempt to use as much CPU power as possible? This would greatly enhance performance and playback. (Similarly, REDCINE-X tends to use 100% CPU despite the playback resolution.)
Anyway, I deeply apologize for such a longwinded bug report. I truly hope we can resolve all these issues, because I don’t want to turn to another editing application for the foreseeable future. It was deeply upsetting that there are so many performance issues with the new RED SDK implementation, and I’m not sure how to have them addressed. Much appreciation.