Premiere CS3 - the big loading wait (with progress bar...) at DVinfo.net

Alex Wren · May 6th, 2008, 02:48 PM

Does anybody know, why when I load an HDV720P25 project on my PC (XP Pro 4GB ram, Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) do I have to wait so long for the damn thing to load.

On average I can wait 5-10 minutes for the main editor interface to come up. My files are on an external USB2 RAID1 drive.

Please see screenshot for an example of what I have to look at. It goes straight up to 95%ish and stays just like that...

Devin Termini · May 6th, 2008, 02:54 PM

I experience the same thing. Usually only when working on projects with lots of HD footage loaded into the project.

It must have something to do with the amount of media in the project, because when I start a new project it loads up almost instantly.

Marco Wagner · May 6th, 2008, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Wren

...My files are on an external USB2 RAID1 drive...

That is your problem. The USB2 interface is NOT fast enough (regardless of drive speed or RAID) and not recommended by 99% of users here for active project editing.

Daniel Browning · May 6th, 2008, 04:07 PM

You may find additional useful information in this thread which contains almost the exact same question.

Adam Gold · May 6th, 2008, 04:54 PM

I have the exact same issue frequently, and I find it does get slower as the list of assets and the complexity of the edit grows. I have a pretty fast RAID array, internal, and it still pauses for a while at the 95% mark. But nothing like 5 minutes. More like 30 or 40 seconds with a big project.

Alex Wren · May 7th, 2008, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marco Wagner

That is your problem. The USB2 interface is NOT fast enough (regardless of drive speed or RAID) and not recommended by 99% of users here for active project editing.

Thanks Marco,

Do you think it is better to use the drive in Firewire (400) mode? If that won't make much difference maybe I should copy the current project onto the internal 7200rpm drive. I am on a laptop so my options are a little limited.

Harm Millaard · May 7th, 2008, 03:39 AM

The only sensible solution is to use an eSATA disk.

Alex Wren · May 7th, 2008, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm Millaard

The only sensible solution is to use an eSATA disk.

I was just (literally) looking at these. It seems I can get a PCMCIA eSATA card for about £20 and then it all depends on if I want to use a small single (current project only) drive. Or change/add to my current Buffalo RAID1 (sadly USB/FW only) storage solution.

Does anybody recommend any eSATA drives?

Harm Millaard · May 7th, 2008, 04:09 AM

As a rough rule of thumb, the average transfer rate is:

eSATA: 80 MB/s
Firewire: 30 MB/s
USB: 20 MB/s or less, depending on the number of USB devices connected.

Jiri Fiala · May 7th, 2008, 09:02 AM

Just avoid USB disks for editing altogether. They use spare CPU cycles, so the more strain you put onto your CPU, the slower transfer speeds you get. You can get as low as 500 kBps which is next to useless.

Lloyd Coleman · May 7th, 2008, 03:49 PM

Back to the original poster's question. If drive throughput is fast, is it still normal to have to wait some time for a large project to load? I am using internal SATA drives, some RAID 5 and some stand alone. As my projects get larger it is not unusual for me to wait 2-10 minutes for some projects to load. It seems that the number of clips has more to do with the wait time than the size of the clips. A project that has 4 hours of footage in 4 one hour clips will load very fast, but a project with 4 hours of footage broken into several hundred clips, music, voice over, pictures, multiple timelines, etc may take 10 minutes.

I always thought this was normal, but after seeing the responses only dealing with drive speed made me think my wait times are unusual.

Even with fast drives, do you have to wait a while for large complicated projects to load?

Harm Millaard · May 7th, 2008, 03:54 PM

Unfortunately, yes. Loading a project will take far more time if you have many clips than when you have a few (but longer) clips. In your example 4 one hour clips will load significantly faster than 1500 clips from the same 4 hour source material. However, the OP has an added disadvantage of slow disks in a Raid1 configuration. So that makes it even worse.

Julian Frost · May 7th, 2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Wren

Does anybody recommend any eSATA drives?

I use a Norco DS-500, 5-bay eSATA enclosure. It works wonderfully. It's hot-swappable, so I can pop a new drive in for each project if I so chose. It comes with a 4-port eSTATA card too.

You can get More info here.

Alex Wren · May 20th, 2008, 03:25 AM

I now have an eSata drive - it is faster but still takes a while to load.

This seems really quite annoying as it means that 'popping' into Premiere to make some adjustments really does take some planning.

Also if the software crashes or you accidentally shut it down it can really hamper your progress and stem your creative flow......

Noa Put · May 20th, 2008, 07:44 AM

I have been working with premiere 1.5 before upgrading to cs3 and with 1.5 I never had long loading times but with cs3, especially with more complex projects it's about a minute. I just use a separate 750gig drive for my videofiles.

May 6th, 2008, 02:48 PM	#1
Alex Wren Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 161	Premiere CS3 - the big loading wait (with progress bar...) Does anybody know, why when I load an HDV720P25 project on my PC (XP Pro 4GB ram, Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) do I have to wait so long for the damn thing to load. On average I can wait 5-10 minutes for the main editor interface to come up. My files are on an external USB2 RAID1 drive. Please see screenshot for an example of what I have to look at. It goes straight up to 95%ish and stays just like that... Attached Images

May 6th, 2008, 02:54 PM	#2
Devin Termini Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mount Pleasant, MI Posts: 177	I experience the same thing. Usually only when working on projects with lots of HD footage loaded into the project. It must have something to do with the amount of media in the project, because when I start a new project it loads up almost instantly.

May 6th, 2008, 04:07 PM	#4
Daniel Browning Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 949	You may find additional useful information in this thread which contains almost the exact same question.

May 6th, 2008, 04:54 PM	#5
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	I have the exact same issue frequently, and I find it does get slower as the list of assets and the complexity of the edit grows. I have a pretty fast RAID array, internal, and it still pauses for a while at the 95% mark. But nothing like 5 minutes. More like 30 or 40 seconds with a big project.

May 7th, 2008, 03:39 AM	#7
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	The only sensible solution is to use an eSATA disk.

May 7th, 2008, 04:09 AM	#9
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	As a rough rule of thumb, the average transfer rate is: eSATA: 80 MB/s Firewire: 30 MB/s USB: 20 MB/s or less, depending on the number of USB devices connected.

May 7th, 2008, 09:02 AM	#10
Jiri Fiala Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Brno Czech Republic Posts: 453	Just avoid USB disks for editing altogether. They use spare CPU cycles, so the more strain you put onto your CPU, the slower transfer speeds you get. You can get as low as 500 kBps which is next to useless.

May 7th, 2008, 03:49 PM	#11
Lloyd Coleman Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 256	Back to the original poster's question. If drive throughput is fast, is it still normal to have to wait some time for a large project to load? I am using internal SATA drives, some RAID 5 and some stand alone. As my projects get larger it is not unusual for me to wait 2-10 minutes for some projects to load. It seems that the number of clips has more to do with the wait time than the size of the clips. A project that has 4 hours of footage in 4 one hour clips will load very fast, but a project with 4 hours of footage broken into several hundred clips, music, voice over, pictures, multiple timelines, etc may take 10 minutes. I always thought this was normal, but after seeing the responses only dealing with drive speed made me think my wait times are unusual. Even with fast drives, do you have to wait a while for large complicated projects to load?

May 7th, 2008, 03:54 PM	#12
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Unfortunately, yes. Loading a project will take far more time if you have many clips than when you have a few (but longer) clips. In your example 4 one hour clips will load significantly faster than 1500 clips from the same 4 hour source material. However, the OP has an added disadvantage of slow disks in a Raid1 configuration. So that makes it even worse.

May 20th, 2008, 03:25 AM	#14
Alex Wren Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 161	I now have an eSata drive - it is faster but still takes a while to load. This seems really quite annoying as it means that 'popping' into Premiere to make some adjustments really does take some planning. Also if the software crashes or you accidentally shut it down it can really hamper your progress and stem your creative flow......

May 20th, 2008, 07:44 AM	#15
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	I have been working with premiere 1.5 before upgrading to cs3 and with 1.5 I never had long loading times but with cs3, especially with more complex projects it's about a minute. I just use a separate 750gig drive for my videofiles.