Beware of updating Premiere Pro from 2015.2 to 2015.3

[Mervyn Jack]

There has been a flood on the PP community forum about the problems people are having after "updating" PP CC from 2015.2 to 2015.3.

Projects you are currently working on will be updated and you will have problems (Save as a new name).
The ability to roll back to .2 disappears and the PP people initially seemed to be in denial.
I was able to roll back via an Adobe partner site who made the .2 version downloadable for re-installation.
Some hardware support has been dropped.
Here's some text I posted on one of the forums so it might seem out of context here, but you'll get the gist.
Treat it as an UPGRADE and Tick (or Untick) the advanced setting to leave the previous version installed.

There seems to be a lot of advice in this thread about General advice not to update in the middle of a project. I'm sure we all apply updates to windows, antivirus software and other software when advised, and usually no problem. One would expect the same with PP. If there is going to be changes that affect our projects it should be an upgrade with warnings.
I posted the rant below elsewhere in this forum, but a few days later I still feel this way, so here it is again. (and I'm not a professional editor but am working towards it.)

Dear Adobe people.
Where in the release notes does it tell us a particular piece of hardware is no longer supported.
Where in the release notes does it tell us this is not a minor .2 to .3 update, but a major update that will stuff up our current projects and we have to start them fresh.
Where in the release notes does it tell us if we update the software we will not be able to go back to the previous version without spending a day reading community posts and downloading the .2 version from a partner website and installing it. (is that even to be trusted?)
Where in the release notes does it say to go to advance settings and tick the leave old version installed.
I tell you what, I am considering if my 20 bucks a month for PP might be better spent elsewhere.
To have software that is used professionally released in this manner to professionals is unforgivable.

[Simon Denny]

What I do now is, install a new hard drive along the Operation system (I'm MAC) and do a fresh install of Adobe products. I have been caught out previously with sharing projects between clients and different PP versions and Apple Operation systems. Backwards and forward comparability on PP is a real issue and I wish Adobe would address this.

[Mike Watson]

We were having a slow week, and upgraded without incident. Turns out we needed the 360 emulation, so it was good that we did.

[Oren Arieli]

My system has also been slow and buggy since the update. Takes me much too long to switch between sequences, play and scrub through a timeline. Thankfully, the projects I have were mostly done, so I'm dealing with it.

Where was that .2 rollback? I can find it and I might need to do so for some older projects.

[Mervyn Jack]

Oren, I got 2015.2 (build 9.2) from this link http://prodesigntools.com/swupdl/upd....2.0/setup.zip

Which was part of a post in this forum matter.
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2171974

Reading ProDesignTools: Adobe® Developments in Focus website is complicated as it takes you from pillar to post and I cant work out which is the correct link, but it's there somewhere. :-)

Anyway, according to Pro Design Tools, Adobe are supposed to be addressing the current issue of not being able to re-install the previous version but I dont know when it will be fixed.

[Ann Bens]

Where in the release notes does it tell us a particular piece of hardware is no longer supported.

Its impossible for Adobe to know which hardware is used. If the hardware is a few years old you can expect for something not to work anymore.
This will give you an general idea https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro...nguageversions

Where in the release notes does it tell us this is not a minor .2 to .3 update, but a major update that will stuff up our current projects and we have to start them fresh.

General editors advice has always been dont update/upgrade a big project especially with a deadline

Where in the release notes does it tell us if we update the software we will not be able to go back to the previous version without spending a day reading community posts and downloading the .2 version from a partner website and installing it. (is that even to be trusted?)

Premiere has never been backwards compatible

Where in the release notes does it say to go to advance settings and tick the leave old version installed.

Most people just hit OK without reading the install window . (agree its a bit hidden but the advanced settings are there).
Its an user choice to delete or leave it.

I have always left older Premiere versions and their matching projects on my computer: just in case.....

[Mervyn Jack]

Well then Ann, perhaps Adobe should test the software with people like me who don't know all the things you assume.

How would I know Premiere Pro has never been backwards compatible? I just pay my monthly subscription and when you issue updates I update. I have several projects that are part way completed so I will now choose not to update and it could be a long time before I do update, so why do I pay a monthly fee. I think I would rather buy software and then I choose when to update.

Please make Adobe call it an UPGRADE not and update, and put some general warnings on screen like "please finish all projects before upgrading" & "Some features from the previous version will not work on the new version" etc.

[Ann Bens]

You can apply for beta testing.

How do you find out if Windows is backwards compatible or not?

"please finish all projects before upgrading" & "Some features from the previous version will not work on the new version" etc.

They dont need to do that. As all projects can be updated/upgraded. But no software is 100% bugfree. And who will be affected and who will not that is anyone's guess.

I am guessing you are p....off and had to learn the hard way, as many before you. Even me.
This will all repeat itself the next cycle. Seen it so many times......
And it is not just with Adobe software.

[Mike Watson]

Originally Posted by Ann Bens

I am guessing you are p....off and had to learn the hard way, as many before you. Even me.
This will all repeat itself the next cycle. Seen it so many times......
And it is not just with Adobe software.

Raising my hand here. I have been bitten by Apple and FCP before. Six months later, it seems like all the bugs are usually worked out and the upgrade is seamless. I used to bite my nails the whole six months, waiting until the coast was clear, but it turns out... I seldom use any of the new features. Now I don't upgrade (ever) until/unless there is a lull between projects.

Ask any IT person working for any business when they install upgrades. It'll be months/years after release. If you work for yourself, you're your own IT person. You learned an important lesson.

And if you don't like Adobe's business model, don't buy from them. There are lots of other video editing platforms out there that charge a one-time fee. I'm not a defender of their crappy business model, I don't like it either. But for Pete's sake stop whining about it. It's been years that they've had this model. If it's not working for you, move. If it's working for you, suck it up.

[Adi Head]

I'm working on a Windows 8.1 laptop.
Have been working about 6 weeks on a project and had absolutely no issues. Recently updated to CC 2015.3 and now preview is choppy and every time I attempt to output anything longer than a minute, Premiere Pro crashes.
I did manage to roll back and install CC 2015.2, but saving my project to be compatible with 2015.2 is not working — so I have no choice but to revert back to an old draft from when I was still using 2015.2 and will have to now recreate all the work that was done since updating.
Is this what we're paying Adobe so much money monthly for?

My laptop is only about a year old and does meet the minimum recommended specs for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

[Ann Bens]

You cannot save a 2015.3 project to a compatible 2015.2 project.
Like said before: Premiere has NEVER been backwards compatible.
Only way to get a 2015.3 project into a 2015.2 project is to export as XML and import into 2015.2.
But If you have used new features they wont show.

[Adi Head]

Hi Ann, Thanks
Yes I realize that. And the XML route is not working for me.
I've reinstalled 2015.2 and using an old draft that I completed before the update to 2015.3.
Now I just have to mirror the changes I made since then.
Just frustrating that Adobe would put out such a buggy update

[Oren Arieli]

I found (what I hope) is the solution to the buggy playback issue, locking, and freezing. It has to do with the default preferences that forces Adobe to use the computer's integrated graphics H.264 decoder instead of the GPU. Details can be found on the forum: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2175589

Basically, it's unchecking a box Preferences>media, Enable accelerated Intel h.264

Just tried it and my system seems to be snappy again. Time will tell.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Adi Head

Just frustrating that Adobe would put out such a buggy update

Yes, no reason why Adobe cannot thoroughly check the literally infinite number of systems available on two wholly different platforms. That's just laziness.

[Mervyn Jack]

I know you're being sarcastic Gary, but Adobe do know what they don't support any longer as this quote in the forum shows.

"And not only is Compute Capability version 2.0 or higher required, but also driver version 353 or higher "

The problem is Adobe are being a bit elusive as to what the new minimum requirements are in the update release notes.
If you go to the "Full release notes" web page on the left is a link to system requirements web page, but the requirements for 2015 is just blanket for 2015, no point releases. And its reasonable to expect that if your graphics card was working on 2015.2 it would work on 2015.3 but apparently not for some.

That wasn't my issue, but someone else's.

I suppose if you really read and comprehended the system requirements, then that persons graphic card was last on the list on CS6 only. So I suppose Adobe can argue it hasn't been supported since CC started even if it did work.

Needless to say, from the posts on the Adobe forum that are continuing, this release is very buggy and not quick way to roll back to 2015.2