Low system memory, premier has encountered...
 

Hi, I keep getting these messages, low system memory, save and proceed with caution. and after doing that it says premier has encountered a problem and must close, and it does. It does this when scrubbing the timeline. It might do it at other times but I cant get past just trying to scrub the footage. I have a quad core, 4gigs of ram, a terabyte raid hd, updated drivers, and all I do on this machine is edit. Any thoughts?

There are a couple of things to consider here. First, try closing timeline windows you're not using, keeping only the active timeline open. That will save a little memory. If you've finished you editing, you can remove unused assets from the project. If that's not enough, you may need to break your project up into sections. I have to resort to that rather often.

I'm assuming you're using 32-bit Windows. Another option to consider is invoking the 3GB switch which allocates 3GB to the applications. I believe the default is 2GB. The way to do this differs by operating system and is quite simple for Vista, although I don't recollect the command. I've only recently done this so I don't have a lot of experience but others report results ranging from good to negligible. Google "3GB switch" to get results. The clearest instructions I found were from a 3D graphic software company's site. Sorry, I cannot remember who it was.

HTH.

thank you tripp, I will try that. That is something I havent tried yet. I only have one sequence open and with about 40 min. of vedeo.

Memory Usage Option in Premier Pro
 

Go to preferences, general, and select the option somewhere near the bottom which selects memory usage: performance vs size (I think). Go for the size (or whatever), not performance. It should get rid of your error message.

John

After installing FreeRAM XP Pro and monitoring RAM usage in Task Manager, I have experienced zero memory issues, which is also the primary contributor to the "Crash-O-Matic" tendencies of Premiere.

You're probably working on a big project with lots of material. If so, then you must reboot (restart) your computer daily. This will fix your memory problem.

Daily? Hourly.

My experience is that the /3GB switch and the "Optimize Rendering for: Performance/Memory" slider are both completely useless. For me, the best insurance has been to be very proactive:

1. Set Autosave to 5 min and 5 copies, and learn how to find the most recent one (hint: it's not necessarily the one with the highest number)
2. Every time you do something complex that you don't feel like having to repeat, do two manual saves as well as a "Save a copy..."
3. As soon as you see Premiere slowing down, i.e. it doesn't save instantly or a window takes a while to refresh or the mouse hesitates, save your project, shut down Premiere, and reboot. It's about to crash.
4. Every hour or so, go get a cup of coffee and walk around the office. Reboot while you do this.
5. Move to Vista 64 with 20 gigs RAM. That's been the best aid so far. Hasn't eliminated random crashes, but has reduced them significantly.

Note that moving clips around on the timeline seems to be the most stressful activity for Premiere. I can almost guarantee a crash if I do too much of that. I literally move a clip, do a save, move another clip, save again, etc. A pain but it works.

Thanks all for the help. I noticed when minimizing ppro it dumps the ram build up. It only takes a minute to build it up to that 1.1 gigs when it crashes so i have to pay attention and minimize often. I noticed my dv projects never get over 1 gig of ram usage and it is always hovering in the 900meg area but not continuing to climb to a crash. How do you get a hdv project to do the same? Is there something to adjust to make windows dump the ram at a certain level to stop the climb to 1.1 gigs and the crash? Thanks again TAG

Terry,

You may want to run a memory test. I had a similiar problem and found out one stick was bad. After I purchased new, problem went away. You can find the test as a free download by searching the web or here is the one I used:

OCZ Technology | OCZ Technology's Memtest86

New memory was cheap and lowered my blood pressure!

Dave

Freeing-up memory used by Premiere CS3
 

I have encountered a similar problem with Premiere CS3 crashing when running a large Cineform project on Vista-32 bit with 4GB RAM. The memory consumed just climbs and climbs. Premier appears never to gives RAM back, e.g. when you close down bins or timelines showing thumbnails.

I am currently experimenting with the 3GB switch to give Premiere more space. But I have not found a way to force Premiere to release memory while still open - minimising the application does not lower memory utilisation levels reported in task manager. Only exiting Premiere results in memory being given back.

How effective are RAM memory optimisation tools in freeing up memory? Does anyone recommend an application for Vista? (FreeRAM XP Pro which is commonly cited does not work on the Vista OS).

I had a similar problem on my machine. The IT department at my company worked literally for days to find a solution. Finally they tried running it without Cineform installed and I had NO problems. I had to have Cineform re-installed to access some of my footage that was in Cineform format and whenever I open a Cineform based project, I still have problems. However, I've been doing all my editing in Premiere's native HDV project without Cineform and I've had not one single memory error message.

I have now tested out the 3GB switch... It does improve stability a bit by giving Premiere more memory above the normal 2GB limit. So you can push things a bit further before it crashes.

The essential issue though appears to be that Premiere CS3 just takes more and more memory as you open up bins (especially with thumbnails displayed) but never gives it back when you close them. So eventually all memory is used up and KAPOOM it crashes. I haven't tested it without Cineform, but I suspect the large full raster HD avi files I am using just push memory requirements to the limit, bringing out Premier CS3's poor memory management... Nothing for it but to split up the project!

Has anyone who has experinced this memory management problem in CS3 now switched to CS4 seen an improvement? I guess it may be a bit early as Cineform hasn't released Prospect HD to run under CS4 yet. But maybe some have experimented with NeoScene or just old Cineform avi files and CS4?

This is getting ridiculous. How can Adobe write code so bad it needs 16 gigs of RAM for EDITING? How is it that I was able to edit HDV nicely with 1 GB RAM in FCP or in Avid on my Vista laptop, not experiencing any slowdowns or stability issues? Premiere is asking for boycott.