So im having a horrible lag issue in Adobe premiere. Im shooting 4k RAW in .MOV format on the x5s and quicktime player or adobe will not open the .MOV file so i have to change the name to .MP4. I never had this problem with the inspire 1 x3 in .MOV file. The video clip is only 50sec long and it is literally impossible to edit even if i pre render it in premiere. I have a late 2015 5k iMac and it should not create this kind of lag. Could this be a setting i have wrong on my Inspire 2? I appreciate any help!

I think you mean that you shot in ProRes, since its a .mov file you have. The only RAW format you can shoot in is CinemaDNG and those are bunch of DNG files. What codec did you use, ProRes 422 og 4444? If you have lag then maybe first start by making proxy files within PP, I dont know what GPU your iMac has but it seams to be having trouble keeping up.

Runi Posted at 2017-1-28 13:09
I think you mean that you shot in ProRes, since its a .mov file you have. The only RAW format you can shoot in is CinemaDNG and those are bunch of DNG files. What codec did you use, ProRes 422 og 4444? If you have lag then maybe first start by making proxy files within PP, I dont know what GPU your iMac has but it seams to be having trouble keeping up.

No, I shot in just h265 4k and raw format. I've edited other 4k footage on this computer and have had zero lag thats why I'm confussed.

userfc2794c25a Posted at 2017-1-28 14:56
No, I shot in just h265 4k and raw format. I've edited other 4k footage on this computer and have had zero lag thats why I'm confussed.

h.265 is quite an intensive codec and requires a lot more horsepower than h.264 to render. There's no quality gains only file saving, revert back to h.264 and you should be good.

Can you tell me how you're working with the H265 files in Premiere?  I try to bring my files in and Premiere doesn't recognize them (its fully updated)

Jon Snyder Posted at 2017-1-29 06:09
Can you tell me how you're working with the H265 files in Premiere?  I try to bring my files in and Premiere doesn't recognize them (its fully updated)

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Jon Snyder Posted at 2017-1-29 06:09
Can you tell me how you're working with the H265 files in Premiere?  I try to bring my files in and Premiere doesn't recognize them (its fully updated)

Are they MOV or MP4 files

Does the video playback fine outside of Premiere? Which version of Premiere are you using?

userfc2794c25a Posted at 2017-1-29 12:46
Are they MOV or MP4 files

They are MOV files.  

open up activity monitor.

then open up premiere and start scrubbing through the footage, and watch your CPU %. It might be bottle necking your computer.

if thats the case, use proxy settings.

DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-1-29 17:26
Does the video playback fine outside of Premiere? Which version of Premiere are you using?

Files playback in windows 10 media player.  I use the most up to date version of premiere, whichever that currently is.   Ok i checked.  2017.0.1 v11.0

im assumin you mean when u try to edit the files its all choppy and doesnt allow smooth play back while scrubbing / jogging right?

DO not use h.265 till Kaby Lake processors are released. This is a good format for file transfers but not for viewing or editing (yet)

I cant even bring the h265 files into premiere.  Unrecognizable format. I have a 10 core 6950x extreme edition processor.  Honestly i would want to just convert them to prores for editing.

Jon Snyder Posted at 2017-1-30 08:05
I cant even bring the h265 files into premiere.  Unrecognizable format. I have a 10 core 6950x extreme edition processor.  Honestly i would want to just convert them to prores for editing.

you need to change the name of the file to .MP4 then it'll download codec and open , i tried using h264 and it works a lot better and opens without changing the name

Premier Pro does include support for H.265, so I would contact them for help via a ticket for your issue. If you have the suite, Adobe Media Encoder should be able to convert any media output from the I2 to something you can use in PP.

H.265 is going to be too much for many current machines.   My advice is to keep shooting in H.265 at full bitrate, then transcode your footage into a high quality CODEC like ProRes for editing.  This will maintain the maximum quality and also be easy to edit.

If you shoot in H.264 you are throwing away too much important visual data in the first stage.

Having said that, if you have the X5-R and are shooting both RAW and H.264/H.265 simultaniously, then it's fine to use H.264 for the edit before swithcing over to the RAW footage for your final grade.

jimhare Posted at 2017-1-30 13:41
H.265 is going to be too much for many current machines.   My advice is to keep shooting in H.265 at full bitrate, then transcode your footage into a high quality CODEC like ProRes for editing.  This will maintain the maximum quality and also be easy to edit.

If you shoot in H.264 you are throwing away too much important visual data in the first stage.

Confusing...  Someone posted that H.265 is not better at image quality than H.264 - it only compresses more and therefore delivers the same image but in a smaller file size.  I thought H.265 has smaller file sizes AND better image quality....  What is the truth?

I 2 Fly Posted at 2017-1-31 03:36
Confusing...  Someone posted that H.265 is not better at image quality than H.264 - it only compresses more and therefore delivers the same image but in a smaller file size.  I thought H.265 has smaller file sizes AND better image quality....  What is the truth?

If you think about it, the same quality at a smaller file size means BETTER quality at the same file size.  ;-)

The key is to shoot the full 100Mb/s using H.265, which by your own description of it will look better than H.264 shot at 100Mb/s.

some even go to say h265 looks like h264 shot at 130mbit.

ive yet to notice it.

if you are using an mac with premiere then prores, if you are using a pc then using the built in ingest settings to create proxys at h264 720 seems to work well for me.

jimhare Posted at 2017-1-31 05:34
If you think about it, the same quality at a smaller file size means BETTER quality at the same file size.  ;-)

The key is to shoot the full 100Mb/s using H.265, which by your own description of it will look better than H.264 shot at 100Mb/s.

Cool!  And thanks!

Alessandro Gara Posted at 2017-1-31 06:05
some even go to say h265 looks like h264 shot at 130mbit.

ive yet to notice it.

The main place you should notice is in areas of extreme complexity, like moving water or grassy areas.   

I would love to see some side-by-side tests but haven't come across any.

Beyond that you may notice improvements when grading the footage.   H.264 falls apart pretty quickly when pushed, curious to see what H.265 does.

Either way it's probably best to transcode to ProRes before working with it.  

assuming you are editing on a mac... there is no prores for pc, you can edit it but ive not found a free way to convert footage to prores using premiere/ ame?

Allow me to share some of my experience with you,
First of all hardware is the most important factor for our problemless work flow.
As far as Premiere is concerned, i know that from AVCHD times Adobe had issues with the video encoders: AVCHD files needed to be rendered (RAM preview) before having realtime playback. Other software - Edius, or FinalCut for example - are capable of playing back AVCHD, or MPEG4 high definition files without any need or pre-rendering. The same happens with 4K video, try to use FinalCut and i think that you will not encounter the same problems of real time playback.
Furthermore, in Premiere you need to set your timelines the right way: If you create a timeline in HD format (1920X1080) and you insert a video with different resolution (higher or lower, it makes bo difference the software will render it before being able to play it back in real time - and in full resolution. So, try to play around with different codec and playback settings when you create a new timeline, in order to find out the appropriate ones.
And, finally, you still can't import and edit video smoothly, you can change video to NLE vest supported video formats with a third tool, this way is the best and direct, you can refer to here.I hope that all the above will prove helpful

I have the same issue, I opened a ticket with them... they weren't able to decipher what was the issue...  however this is a PP issue, FC didn't have that issue... go figure...
Update: I did some testing and the problem has to do with the Audio... that is... with the lack of audio...

I moved footage from my OSMO into the sequence and it works perfectly!  This is not a hardware issue but a software issue.

The Osmo part plays and imports fine, the I2 footage imports RED... same settings the only change is I used D-LOG in the I2...  I will do some more troubleshooting.

Interesting...  I shoot mainly 4K H.265 (X5S) and edit / render with Prem. Pro 2016 - using a i5 PC with only 8Gb of RAM.  I use proxies all the time and can only use MP4 files.  It is slow but works.  Going to upgrade to Kayby Lake system soon.

I did some more troubleshooting this weekend, all the test had the same settings 4096X2160, MOV, H264. 1 minute of recording

GH4 footage = Premiere Pro did not have any issues with this file.

Inspire 2 Footage had serious issues playing a 1-minute clip.

So I took the file out of the I2 put it on Final Cut put some music and exported it with the same original settings, to my surprise the file was ingested in PP with zero issues... it seems the Audio is the problem to my issues... now the question is how do I fix this issue...

I2 Air Wolf Posted at 2017-5-29 18:02
I did some more troubleshooting this weekend, all the test had the same settings 4096X2160, MOV, H264. 1 minute of recording

GH4 footage = Premiere Pro did not have any issues with this file.

You are right in saying the GH4 4K files are no problem when using Premiere Pro.  I experience the same.  The 4K files from both the I2 as well as the P4 P are rendered very slowly in Premiere Pro indeed.... (I have tried it with and without audio!)

ManAndDrone Posted at 2017-1-28 16:23
h.265 is quite an intensive codec and requires a lot more horsepower than h.264 to render. There's no quality gains only file saving, revert back to h.264 and you should be good.

That is not true of the drone footage. They record at 100 Mb/s regardless of codec. My H.264 files are the same size as my H.265 files of the same length. The only difference is that the H.265 files have double the compression so theoretically should have better quality. I'm not saying to stick with H.265 just clarifying. If the OP is having issues with H.265 then obviously should try H.264. The file sizes will be the same but the compression will be less which should be easier on the CPU.

Cobra44Magnum Posted at 2017-5-31 08:24
That is not true of the drone footage. They record at 100 Mb/s regardless of codec. My H.264 files are the same size as my H.265 files of the same length. The only difference is that the H.265 files have double the compression so theoretically should have better quality. I'm not saying to stick with H.265 just clarifying. If the OP is having issues with H.265 then obviously should try H.264. The file sizes will be the same but the compression will be less which should be easier on the CPU.

You do not gain quality. Please elaborate on your theory that h.265 is "better quality" than h.264, better prediction yes.

Please watch this FYI :

ManAndDrone Posted at 2017-5-31 13:54
You do not gain quality. Please elaborate on your theory that h.265 is "better quality" than h.264, better prediction yes.

Please watch this FYI :

H.265 has twice the compression of H.264 so under normal circumstances you will get a file that is half the size. This is because the bit rate is reduced (cut in half) so the resulting file is smaller. The contents in that smaller file have the same quality because of the extra compression.

However, the DJI drones that support H.265 keep a constant bit rate (100 Mb/s for the P4P and I2) no matter which codec you choose so the file size is going to be exactly the same. The difference is that the H.265 file contains twice as much data due to the extra compression. The bit rate remains the same for lower resolutions as well. Some posts here and on Phantom Pilots have talked about shooting in 1080P instead of 4K because you get the same 100 Mb/s but with less pixels you get better quality. Their logic is that if you are going to render the final video to 1080P anyway, they would rather have 100 Mb/s for that frame size as opposed to having the same 100 Mb/s but for a much larger frame size (4 times the pixels).

Anyway, some people claim that the difference between H.264 and H.265 is noticeable and others claim they can't tell them apart. For every YouTube video you find saying that there is no difference you will find one that says that there is. Ultimately that is up to the person using the video files. If your end game is publishing to YouTube it won't matter much since your video will be highly compressed in the end anyway. Again, if H.265 is giving the OP trouble then they should try H.264 for sure.