Problems importing MOV files in ProRes format using Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

Problems importing MOV files in ProRes format using Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

Hi Ramy,

Thanks for your offer to help.

The message we get is 'The importer reported a generic error' I know it is not much help but that is all we get. All MOV files are encoded the same way, we checked each file data stream using third party software and each file is identically encoded, some files import without a problem at all, others don't

Ross

Hi Ramy,

Thanks fro the quick reply, I noted my answers below.

Ross

Are you on a trial version? The trial version does not have all codecs installed. You only get them once you’ve activated with a fully paid version. - Yes we have the full version business account via creative cloud

Have you activated your product successfully? Without a full and valid activation, some codecs might not work correctly. In Adobe’s words: Sometimes, codecs aren’t available because the software can’t communicate to the activation server. - Yes the software will only work when online

Is Quicktime installed (for any codec in a .MOV container)? - Yes QT is installed, as I mentioned some of the files import perfectly fine

Have you installed and activated the necessary codec packs or plug-ins correctly? - Yes

Have you copied ALL the files from the media card/drive to your source footage drive? This is the most likely reason for the second error above. - We copied all files on a second local drive on the PC

Are your files copied from a Mac-formatted (or PC, the other way around) drive? - The videos were telecined via a specialist company, they very likely would have used MACs, we tried importing the same files on a MAC and they import fine, we also have a second PC with Adobe, one running Windows 8.1 and one Windows 7 both exhibit same problems

Are your folders encrypted (in green in Windows) or Zipped or Compressed? - No encryption

Do you have the latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro? If not, update. - Yes

Delete the Media Cache. You’ll find it here: Yes we did this

File (or Premiere Pro) > Preferences > Media

So you are aware, I have also been in touch with Adobe, they first told me that Premiere does not support ProRes, after pointing them to their own website where it says it does, they logged in remotely, checked the files, ran some tests, renamed files but could not find the problem. Their solution is to transcode all files to another format, but we have 100s of videos and this will add time and cost, and in any case Premiere should import ProRes files, and it does, 6 out of 8 or 10 times.

Dear Ramy,

When installing Premiere Pro CC, there is not software activation as such, you are only asked to enter the username and password to 'activate' the software, I am not aware that there is any other way of activating Premiere. In the old days we used to do that when we installed a local copy on the PC but with Creative Cloud this works differently.

I can certainly re-install the software but bearing in mind that we have 2 brand new PCs and both are new installs, I have some reservations that this will help. The fact that about 70% of the files import fine, means the codec is working.

I appreciate this is not a straight forward problem, bearing in mind that the files are encoded using the same software at the same time with the same settings. And Adobe have already had a go at this with no success, I logged two support calls with two different techs although I wasn't too impressed with their knowledge of Premiere Pro.

Ross

Hi Ramy,

I followed your instructions on one of the PCs but still exactly the same problem, as I mentioned the problem is not that I cannot import any Prores files, but rather that some work and some don't, even though they were all encoded the same way.

The fact that we have 2 PCs with two clean installs both exhibiting the same problem, it points to something else than the ProRes codec installation. It must be the way Premiere deals with ProRes files.

All files work fine on Premiere on a Mac, but not the PC.

Ross

Hi Ramy,

Yes I can certainly import the file if I convert it to another format, but it is not a process we want to go through as we have hundreds of videos, and our guys use both Mac and PCs so we need to be able to transfer files from one system to another without having to transcode.

The first person from Adobe support told me that Premiere does not support ProRes at all, only after I asked him to speak to his boss, and pointed him at the Adobe website where it says Premiere supports all ProRes formats, that he started to look into the problem in a bit more detail, and the fact that I could import 8 our of 10 files.

So they weren't that helpful.

But thanks for trying, I was hoping that someone may have come across this very specific problem because I've run out of ideas what to try.

Ross

Thanks Ramy, we have installed three new computers, all with a fresh install of Adobe Premiere, but we have the same problem with all of them.

Correct me if I am wrong, if I go through the above process, all I am doing is to ensure that I have a clean install.

As we have have set up 3 new Premiere edit suites, is there any point in doing above process, which is in essence creating a new install.

Many thanks,

Ross

Hi Ramy,

Apologies for the delay, too many things to do and too little time. I have followed your instructions. I have now re installed adobe on 1 of the computers and followed your instructions but has made no difference whatsoever.

We have also invested in 3 new workstations and all have Premiere, and they all have the same problem. So this seems to be a common issue across all PCs.

Ross

Hi Ramy,

I had two support calls with Adobe, they logged in remotely via teamviewer to see if they could trace the problem, they analysed all files, the ones that worked and the ones that don't but one told me that Premiere does not support ProRes files, which is incorrect, the other support came up with no solution.

I am not sure what you mean about firmware, we are using HP and Fujitsu work stations, Adobe supply the software, the firmware is supplied by the hardware manufacturer and these are all up to date, we always update the firmware on all new hardware when we install the operating system.

Thanks,

Ross

Hi Ramy,

I did ask if the issue could be escalated but they said that they there was no means of doing that. Hence the reason I thought I would try to see if anyone here had the same problem.

Ross

I agree especially as we are paying lots of money for the subscriptions but they have been very unhelpful when I contacted Adobe and the first support call I made, they were totally uninterested in the issue and suggested we use another format, but these are all library footage encoded by third parties and the last thing we want to do is to have to keep transcoding to other formats.

The libraries one is based in the UK and one in Germany, using different encoding companies to telecine the footage, so this is not an issue with one single source of video / encoding.