[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Thanks for the response. That sounds like a really good idea. I imagine that a new leg piece and installation would costs several hundred $$. So I’m grateful that you took the time to explain so carefully.

I will totter out today and buy the necessary tools. It’s not a HUGE ding. It’s just enough to prevent it from closing.

I will keep you up to date with developments.

Best, Harry.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Dear Tom,

I cannot adequately express how grateful I am to you for your extensive and considered response to my post about the appalling Premiere Pro. I apologize for my tardy response, however, please know that your empathetic reply gave me a great boost.

The Adobe phone help is useless – not because they are all idiots, although some appear to have literally no knowledge of the program- but because, each time I have phoned with pretty much the same question, I get a different tech who gives a totally different solution.

I never would have believed that I would long for the days of simple FCP 7.03 crashes which were pretty much predictable to a seasoned sufferer.

In response to your warm and generous posting on the Cow, I have already executed many of the suggestions you offer (toss out media cache files, toss out previews, toss out media file database, toss out prefs, RAM allocation, Preview settings etc and more)

In desperation, I tottered out and bought a new Nvidia GTX 980 Ti card from MacVidCards who buy them and prep (flash?) them for Mac use. They seem respectable and have been around for about 15 years. I did this because it has 6 GB of vRam. Surely enough? This replaces my Nvidia 980 (2 GB vRam). I have installed their (MacVidCards) Webdriver, but am still a bit hazy as to whether I have it set up ok. Nevertheless, other programs seem to work ok. This upgrade has, so far, had hardly any perceptible positive effect.

I have also just received, from Other World Computing, a further order I made in utter desperation: an OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe E2 card. I’m actually a little unclear about what the hell it does. But they had snazzy advertising and I thought I would throw a bit more money at my problem and see if it sticks. Am I clarifying the depth of desperation to which I have sunk? However, I am wondering whether to install it right now, while in my current hell, or whether that installation would fan the flames of my problem – or, hopefully, blow up my house and me with it.

Incidentally, Adobe After Effects (also), which ran fine under the Nvidia 680 card is producing bizarre displays. So that’s a new bummer.
When I have exhausted your ideas, if I have no success, I will do the following: not necessarily in this order:

1. Roll back to PP version 2014.1 (?) – or perhaps an even older version.

2. Export an XML file of my current project file and try to import it into PP 2014 version (and earlier)

3. (Although I have already done this) I will remove all the plugins from my current project using “remove assets” (or whatever it’s called). However, since I don’t trust PP in the slightest, I fear that traces of these plugins may be left in situ. So I’m currently attempting to remove the plugins folder and hide it on another drive.

4. I am also wondering if I have one or two older plugins which PP doesn’t like to use – or which it can’t even bear to share space with on the same computer. So that’s worth a weeding job.

5. Despite the fact that I am currently unable to open (or keep running) ANY of my previous project files, which must indicate something. I would then start a fresh test project, perhaps under v 2014.1 which wasn’t too atrocious, and build two test projects … one in 1920×1080 and the other in 3840×2160. And then start adding plugins, trying to export etc. I wonder whether the 3840×2160 thing may be at the root of the problem.

6. I must absolutely keep a written record of what tests I am doing. I get so punchy sometimes that I completely forget where I am as I totter off into antiquity.

7. Other approaches – maybe you have further suggestions …?

8. Grab hold of a very friendly and helpful chap (a Cow advisor) named David Roth Weiss who has given me first rate advice in the past. I am holding off on that option because I don’t want to bug him until I have exhausted all options.

9. Go out and kill a small child.

Again, many thanks both for your Cow response and for getting thus far in reading this email. Really. You gave me a lift, so please do communicate again if you have a moment. I need all the advice and moral support I can muster.

Best wishes,

sincerely,

Harry Bromley-Davenport.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Thanks very much for the response. Harry.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I read the piece. Great. But I’m ashamed to say that I have to ask how to use this tool to make an alpha mask. In my quick read, I didn’t see a reference to that. Still in the early stages of learning the Adobe software, so am not intuitive with it.

Further help would be appreciated.

Harry

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Thank you very much for the advice.

Harry

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Thanks so much for your response.

I was hoping that you would give me a more promising report – that AE and PP were now wonderfully stable under El Capitan. No such hope, apparently. I should get real.

I wonder whether, during our lifetimes, these two absurdly wobbly applications will be fixed by Adobe. I am not at all excited by the prospect of a completely rewritten AE because the work is, no doubt, being done by Adobe technicians who, to date, have amply demonstrated their incompetence.

It ia marginally surprising that, as far as I know, a class action suit of Users vs Adobe has not emerged. But I guess the financial reward is not large enough for a law firm to take on.

I have come to deeply hate Adobe and all who sail in her.

Best and thanks again for the reply,

Harry.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Hi David,

Well … it’s not pretty.

I followed your instructions about uninstalling all Adobe stuff, then used their Cleaner App and downloaded a fresh PP 2015 and Media Encoder from the Adobe site.

The results are pretty much what I was getting before. Sometimes, when I’ve rendered a shot and ONLY closed down the PROJECT (not Premiere Pro) and then immediately reopened that Project, the render will still be there. Sometimes not. Not much difference in behavior if I also close down PP and restart it. The effect is random and does not appear to be associated with any plugins.

I have also tried starting up PP, creating a new PROJECT and then importing the test Project.

I tested the latter with Adobe support and we removed all my 3rd party plugins. Same problem.

Also tried duplicating the Project file.

Maybe I should reinstall the system?

When I’ve Googled this problem, there are loads of people who have suffered this and none has come up with a solution which worked for me. And I tried all of them.

Any further advice appreciated – or any test which I can do to track down the cause. I think I have eliminated the 3rd party plugin question. But maybe there are other matters which I can eliminate.

Suppose I were to disconnect external backup drives and the two external RAID Zeros I have made using a Sonnet Technologies 4-Port USB 3.0 PCIe Host Card. Remove the Sonnet card from the computer too — disconnect everything I can find except mouse and keyboard.

This disconnection thought is the only new idea I have. Whadda ya think?

Thanks for reading this gurgling ramble …

Many thanks,

Harry.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Dear David,

Hail, O Wise One …

Thanks for the informative response. I will follow your advice and purge my system of all Abobe stuff using the Adobe Cleaner App. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Many thanks for your advice which has always proven to be on the money.

Best, Harry.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Me too.

Harry.

[Harry Bromley-davenport]

Thanks very much for the reply. I’ll give that a shot.

Harry.