Premiere Pro Optimum Settings?

[RossF]

Hi, Can anyone let me know the best settings to setup Premiere Pro sequences to work with 4k inspire files? I'm used to just using the DSLR presets. Am having some issues with rendering the 4k and lag when I watch. I took a 1080p 30fps HD preset that Premiere has in the main menu then changed the resolution to 3840 x 2160. Am getting pretty bad lag watching the files in real time even though the previews are set to 1/4. Most of my output will be 1080 anyways so maybe I should just shoot that way.

I have a 2011 Macbook Pro.
2.3 GHz i7 Quad Core.
16gb Ram
AMD Radeon HD 6750 1024mb graphics card
Running OSX 10.9.5

The videos are playing from an external HD, maybe loading them onto my internal SSD will help, or is my machine just too slow?

 

[Kilrah]

I'm afraid your machine is just too slow to handle the 4K footage smoothly. You might want to try in iMovie/FCPX as they are better optimized to the Apple hardware before just switching to shooting 1080.

 

[RossF]

****! Guess I will have to upgrade to a retina sometime soon though. Is there any easy way for me to convert my 4k footage now to 1080? I guess I can just do that in Premiere too.

 

[InterMurph]

You might want to try in iMovie/FCPX as they are better optimized to the Apple hardware before just switching to shooting 1080.

This is not true. Premiere Pro is every bit as good and "optimized" as either iMove or Final Cut Pro. The main difference is that Premiere Pro does a much better job of handling the H.264 video than the other two.

The specs on that computer are a little short of what you would want for editing 4K video. Make sure that you have the proper video drivers installed; that can make a big difference.

And try a 1080p clip to see if that is any better.

 

[RossF]

Thanks for the tips, I'll try updating the video drivers I know it hasn't been done in a while. I edit with 1080p regularly and it's always pretty smooth. Would Premiere Pro CC have any advantage over CS6 for handing the files?

 

[Kilrah]

This is not true. Premiere Pro is every bit as good and "optimized" as either iMove or Final Cut Pro.

This is not true

Quite used to both... While it plays OK when it is playing it's the "navigation" that's quite different. Premiere always "lags" a bit when scrubbing a timeline with the 4K footage even without effects (preview updates at maybe 2-3 fps), and pressing play always has a ~1sec delay until it actually starts playing.
On the same machine with the same files FCPX scrubs more smoothly and is responsive, even with when adding a color correction and timewarp that aren't pre-rendered on top of each other.

 

[damoncooper]

Edit in a 720 or 1080 timeline. Export to 4k. The render will take a long time but who cares. Let it run over night when you are happy with your edits and you should be good to go. You sleep, your computer works

 

[dcbrewer]

This is not true. Premiere Pro is every bit as good and "optimized" as either iMove or Final Cut Pro. The main difference is that Premiere Pro does a much better job of handling the H.264 video than the other two.

The specs on that computer are a little short of what you would want for editing 4K video. Make sure that you have the proper video drivers installed; that can make a big difference.

And try a 1080p clip to see if that is any better.

What specs would be desirable in machine to edit 4k?

 

[InterMurph]

If I were building an editing system today, I would start with this CPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117402

$390, 6 cores/12 threads, 15MB cache. If that's too steep, there are plenty of quad-core/8-thread CPUs for around $300.

The other key item is the video card. The choices there are wider and less clear; you can spend $600 on a GTX 980 with 4GB of memory, or $300 on a GTX 770 card.

For the rest: an appropriate mother board, either 16GB or 32GB of RAM, a 512GB or 1TB SSD drive (I have a Samsung 850 Pro 1TB at $560; the 512GB version is about $350).

The bottom line: if you spend $1,500 on parts, you will have a screaming system. $1,200 should get you a really good system.

 

[tweaker]

My Mac Book Pro 13" Mid 2012- 2.5 ghz intel core i5,16gb 1600 DDR3,Intel Graphics 4000 1024 MB, needs beefed up for using with Adobe Premiere Pro for smooth scrubbing of videos!!!

Will just the GTX 980 4GB provide the oomph or does it also require the CPU as mentioned above fitted to my mac?

Any other better/easier/cheaper options out there?

Thanks in advance

 

[Kilrah]

Uh, if your Mac is a laptop like you said it's not upgradeable beyond memory (and you have enough of that).

 

[RossF]

Anyone that's having issues on slightly older Macbook pros have you tried Adobe Premiere Pro CC instead of CS6 or CS5, I think CC handles 4k better. Needless to say I upgraded from a 2011 tricked out unibody with 16gb of ram to a mid 2013 macbook. Upgraded software at the same time...4k is nice & smooth in Premiere Pro now but I think CC still helps.

 

[InspiredOne]

Anyone that's having issues on slightly older Macbook pros have you tried Adobe Premiere Pro CC instead of CS6 or CS5, I think CC handles 4k better. Needless to say I upgraded from a 2011 tricked out unibody with 16gb of ram to a mid 2013 macbook. Upgraded software at the same time...4k is nice & smooth in Premiere Pro now but I think CC still helps.

Yes, I'm using PP CC on a PC that's about three years old using a Core i7-3930K CPU @3.20 GHz with 32 GB of RAM. The 4k video plays and scrubs flawlessly.

 

[tweaker]

Thanks for reply.

If my laptop has enough memory(16gb) and cannot be updated further should I forget about PP as it subs with a lag and use something else or is there a work-a-round to speed up subbing without the lag?

 

[Kilrah]

You can try iMovie (as it's supplied free with Yosemite) and if it works well you may want to upgrade to FCPX.

If iMovie won't work well you'll just need either to shoot lower resolution or a new computer...

 

[sdjackaerial]

Hi, Can anyone let me know the best settings to setup Premiere Pro sequences to work with 4k inspire files? I'm used to just using the DSLR presets. Am having some issues with rendering the 4k and lag when I watch. I took a 1080p 30fps HD preset that Premiere has in the main menu then changed the resolution to 3840 x 2160. Am getting pretty bad lag watching the files in real time even though the previews are set to 1/4. Most of my output will be 1080 anyways so maybe I should just shoot that way.

I have a 2011 Macbook Pro.
2.3 GHz i7 Quad Core.
16gb Ram
AMD Radeon HD 6750 1024mb graphics card
Running OSX 10.9.5

The videos are playing from an external HD, maybe loading them onto my internal SSD will help, or is my machine just too slow?

To answer one of your questions directly--the way to set up a sequence to match your footage (instead of the DSLR sequence you are using) is to right click on your clip in the bin and choose "sequence from clip". This will match all the settings for you, ie: frame rate, clip resolution, etc.
However, this won't make your machine play the clip any better. It definitely seems from your specs that you are under-powered (I think I just made up a word there..lol). Even more than processor and RAM, it's about your video card, which you can't upgrade in your laptop. Another piece of the bottleneck in most editing systems is where Premiere and After Effects cache to. If you build (or buy) a desktop machine, which I recommend--make sure you invest in a SSD for caching to. That will make a huge difference too.
Regarding video cards--I have a desktop which had an NVIDIA GTX660ti. It did ok with 4k. Not awesome, but pretty good. Now I have the GTX980. It's unbelievable. Also in After Effects..it's like a new machine. And my other specs (processor, RAM, SSD for cache) are top notch..no need for upgrade. Shows how much of a difference a video card can make.
Cheers, mate.

 

[pgale]

Have any of you got ultra smooth scrubbing in Premiere Pro CC (latest)? I mean scrubbing in source monitor or by dragging the CTI on a timeline with native 4K .MOV or .MP4 directly from the Inspire 1 with no transcoding and no effects applied.

I'm a professional lighting cameraman, editor and animator and have a couple of pretty beefy systems although they're getting a little old now at 2-3 years old. HD and HD Prores, XAVC etc I can edit ultra smoothly but the Inspire 4K is fairly choppy on scrubbing and that's really slowing me down. 4K playback is fine though.

My edit PC has:
i7 core X980 (extreme) 6 core with HT at 3.33GHz
24 GB RAM
GTX680
Samsung 840 Pro's for OS and cache drives
Fast RAID array's for footage drives etc

So wondering if upgrading is going to get me anywhere like the smooth performance I'd like (same as HD scrubbing).

Guess I really need to try an up-to-the-minute PC build to see how smooth it is.

Paul.

 

[damoncooper]

Use a 1080 sequence for editing. I have a MacBook laptop with fast external disk and it's not "buttery" smooth scrubbing but it's pretty close.

 

[InspiredOne]

Have any of you got ultra smooth scrubbing in Premiere Pro CC (latest)? I mean scrubbing in source monitor or by dragging the CTI on a timeline with native 4K .MOV or .MP4 directly from the Inspire 1 with no transcoding and no effects applied.
Paul.

Our systems sound very similar. I'm not experiencing any trouble. In fact,, I am amazed at how smooth everything is running using the 4k material.

I have found that scrubbing over a 5 minute shot in the source monitor and a five second shot on the timeline have always been two different things--1080p or 4k.

Realize that isn't any help, but I'm stymied as to what could be happening on your system.

 

[pgale]

Use a 1080 sequence for editing. I have a MacBook laptop with fast external disk and it's not "buttery" smooth scrubbing but it's pretty close.

Good tip - that is faster, even if you put all your footage into a 1080 sequence and scrub that for clip selection.