Hello everyone,

I'm a Mac guy! But I'm editing on a PC with Premiere Pro CS5 that is connected to 2 other PC edit bays. We all pull files from the same server. My Problem is when I try to multi cam edit anything, I can't see the footage because it is so jittery and stalled. Even doing a simple 2 camera edit is impossible. We shoot on EX-1r's. The project I'm editing has about 500 clips in it.

The PC is a Quadcore? Geforce 8800, with 8gb RAM. I will be the first to admit that I am not a technical person. So I probably sound like a jackass right now to you all. But if there happens to be a BRILLIANT PC guy or gal that could help a poor Mac user with this problem. I would be forever grateful.

p.s. I've already done the latest update. :D

You have 2 problems - accessing the files from a server, and your underpowered rig itself.

I suspect that if you stored the files more locally, your problem would be grealy ameliorated. Can you put the source files on a disk connected by e-sata to your PC? If so, try it.

The PC is very 2008, and will always struggle with multcam edits, but without any effects on the clips, it should still be usable, with a better disk etup.

Another thing to try is to disable the audio from the multicam source; this worked in earlier versions to free up resources and seems to make a difference even in CS5. Here's what I do:

In the Multicam source sequence, keep Audio 1 free. Just shift all the audio tracks down one line.

In the Multicam nested sequence, Alt-right click Copy the audio track, then paste it to Audio 2. Disable Audio 1, then Alt-right click Audio 2 and disable Multi-cam. You can't just disable multicam in Audio 1, because Premiere will then try to rewrite it when you edit. It's a minor annoyance to remember to trim Audio 2 with Video 1 when you edit, but it does seem to help playback.

Hope someone can help you. I have the same problem on a blow torch of a computer. It's an i7 980 overcranked to 3.9Ghz with 24 GB ram. You're computer should be fine.

I'm really unhappy with CS5. Adobe needs to release an update YESTERDAY!

Lloyd,

I've read your posts on different forums. You do have a similar problem - it's the networked disks. So the same advice applies as here: get a better, more direct connection to the source video files.

In the past, Adobe has specifically advised against editing from network drives for just this reason. Don't know if the same admonition is posted on the CS5 info pages but it seems to me it would still be valid, as the issue may not be CS5, but the drive setup.

FWIW, I've just spent the last 6 hours on the phone with tech support. They have helped with a lot of side issues. I'm not out of the woods yet, but it's not crashing (at least not right now).

1. Clear the media cache first thing. I noticed that this helped with the overall responsiveness A LOT! Before I couldn't scroll through my project files at all, but now I can as expected.

2. Click OFF "Write XMP ID to Files on Import" and "Enable Clip and XMP Metadata Linking" in the Preferences.

3. Delete the folder "5.0" (or rename it "old"). In Windows 7 it is here by default: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Premiere Pro\5.0

4. Call computer manufacturer tech support and make sure you have the latest Nvidia drivers that THEY support. These CAN BE DIFFERENT.

5. Close out of Premiere entirely. Hold SHIFT while left clicking on the Premiere icon. Don't let go of the SHIFT key till you get to the welcome page.

These things helped a lot, but not entirely.

6. The usual clean up Windows temp files, etc.

7. Cross your fingers and pray it keeps working.

The network isn't the problem. I'm again streaming 7 XDCAM videos nested inside each other (all videos viewable). Of course I couldn't do that with 3 other computers running the same test. But this seems to be working (kind'a) again.

The only thing that it is doing weird still is when you click outside of Premiere and then come back it, it stalls for 5-10 seconds.

CS5 for me is fine. Multi-cam is perfect as long as the data is on the local drives - network streaming is just not up to it, at least not on my 10/100 network. I've found it also helps to actually have the source files on different internal drives - or at least more than one. A big external drive via USB2, another via firewire, and two internal drives gives me few problems with AVCHD material. HD is an awful amount of data, and multiple streams is pretty demanding.

The only thing that it is doing weird still is when you click outside of Premiere and then come back it, it stalls for 5-10 seconds.
You don't have antivirus software running do you? There was a post on the Adobe forums about this very issue. It turned out that the poster had Avast AV running in the background. After he uninstalled Avast the issue disappeared.

Mitch,

You sort of hit the nail on the head - sooo many people have other software installed that cause issues. For example, stick someone on a PC with CS5 and a Matrox Mini and that person will think Premiere is the biggest piece of junk. Why? Because Matrox's software causes all sorts of issues.

About networking: transferring files over a network uses a good amount of CPU power.

Lloyd, my guess is that Premiere caches video for playback, which is why you can play 7 clips but for Multi Cam, I think Premiere reads from each source at full resolution. Have you yet tried the multi cam with the clips on a local drive? Are you connected via gigabit or fibre? Is the server a NAS or SAN? Is the Media Cache stored on a local drive or the server?

For the 7 clips, are they all different and are all playing audio?

If there is a good side to your problems, it is that you will end up helping many others looking to edit over a network, including me. I use xdcam ex, edit up to 4 camera multi cam and I am currently looking into moving the files into a centralized location for 3 PCs. So, if there is anything that I can do to help, let me know.