New iMac Pro system dropping frames (2 at a time)

[Shane Ross]

Try an earlier version of Premiere Pro…2017. I hear too many issues with 2018 that people who then go back to 2017 say solve them. But not sure projects can go back…but worth seeing if the frames drop…

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Dan Powers]

Thanks for that. Just installed and tried it out. Same problem. 10 dropped frames in 30 secs. Usually 2 and 3 at a time.

[Ole Kristiansen]

Maybe something to do with NTSC Drop Frame / Non Drop Frame Timecode ?

[Greg Janza]

I would start by looking to see if your GPU is being fully utilized by premiere. dropped frames is almost always a symptom of inefficient performance.

Running Bill Gehrke’s performance utility can tell you if your system is running at Max efficiency:

https://ppbm8.com/index.html

Windows 10 Pro | i7-5820k CPU | 64 gigs RAM | NvidiaGeForceGTX970 | Blackmagic Decklink 4k Mini Monitor |
Adobe CC 2018 |Renders/cache: Samsung SSD 950 Pro x2 in Raid 0 | Media: Samsung SSD 960 PRO PCIe NVMe M.2 2280 | Media: OWC Thunderbay 4 x 2 Raid 0 mirrored with FreeFileSync

[Rich Rubasch]

Dumb thought but are you in software playback, Metal or Open CL?

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com

[Dan Powers]

Spent two hours yesterday with Adobe support doing remote diagnostics with no luck. The guy just kept reducing source file resolution hoping the frames would stop dropping and never did. It even drops frames when playing back nothing! Playing a blank timeline causes dropped frames. Waiting on tier 2 support to call back. Not holding my breath.
Tried every possible setting for software vs GPU and a million other settings.
I guess if it is hardware, I am going to have to install Final Cut X and see if it still happens and hopefully it will and then Apple can deal with it.

[Dan Powers]

Update.
Playing my test file (which is not special, just easily shows if frames drop) in quicktime player also makes it appear to drop frames. Tried many different file formats and data rates and they were all dropping frames in both Quicktime 7, 10 and in Premiere.
Found the problem. On the iMac Pro, I had an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapter (the only way to connect an HDMI display) connected to an external display.

Anyone else have this config?
Apple iMac Pro, Thunderbolt3 to HDMI adapter, external HDMI monitor.
Playback a video via QT and it plays with skips and stutters. Same exact loss rate that was happening in premiere.
Disconnect HDMI cable from the adapter and QT now plays smoothly, as does premiere.
Doesn’t matter what the connected resolution is on the external monitor, what the external monitor brand is, or if anything is open on the second screen. It just has to be connected to cause frame drops in playback.

Apple is having me take a monitor and the adapter to the apple store for in-store testing.
Will report back after that test.

[Eric Martin]

Hey Dan, I’m having this same issue. Struggles to play even 2k media when connected to an HDMI monitor.

Did you find a solution?

[Dan Powers]

The problem appears to be when a thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapter (apple branded) is used there is horrible video playback performance hits. Pull the Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter and then boom, playback is smooth. Makes it pretty hard to connect a second display for interface.

[Dan Powers]

Eric what video card does your iMacPro have? Mine has Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB. Just did a complete reformat and reinstall of the OS for other flakey reasons, but thought I would try our HDMI stutter issue again and it is still here. I tried it on another iMac Pro in house and it does not stutter. The other machine has the smaller video card in it. Makes me think there is a problem with the Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB.