is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever
by david payne
on
Aug 12, 2009 at 12:42:35 pm
I love the adobe media encoder and being able to queue up different projects in CS4 but unfortunately thats it. The rest of it stinks.
I am so sick of ImporterProcessServer.exe crashing and forcing me to quit the whole program.
Also when handling HDV streams I occasionally get a red screen/green pixelated glitch and about a third of the time this crashes premiere, rendering it totally useless when i reopen the project. I have just lost 3 hours worth of work despite saving 3 copies of the same project, now none of them open without totally crashing.
I will be switching back to an older version as soon as I've attempted to rescue what I can from this buggy awful time wasting version.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Nathan Tinsley on Aug 12, 2009 at 5:22:35 pm
I have had similar stability frustrations with CS4 but I but I think I may be on to why it is occurring. First of all the system that I'm using is roughly as follows.
Dell Vostro 410 Workstation
3 gigs ram
Quad Core Processor
Sata Raid 5 array
NVIDIA GTX250 graphics card
Premiere Pro CS4
Windows XP
Cutting Exclusively HDV sequences.
Again that is a very rough description of the system. This system does NOT belong to me, nor is it set up the way I would prefer meaning it's connected to the net, it's got Norton Anti-Virus software and it's running XP instead of Vista. So it can't make use of all the ram and it's hampered by the 32 bit architecture instead of 64 bits which, I've read, is really where Premiere Pro would like to be. That's strike one.
Strike two is that I'm working in HDV NATIVE! Which is a HUGE tax on system resources. Even though I have a quad core cpu and a relatively good graphics card I find the system boggy from time to time on playback. There just doesn't seem to be enough clock cycles to go around. I have also had horrible luck rendering large sections of the timeline. I can almost count on a crash 100% of the time. I have to move the work area and render in chunks. Again if you work in HDV natively you really are working with a format that was NEVER meant to be edited. I really think a better idea would be to try an intermediate codec like cineform to "get out of the GOP" as they say or get out of that heavily compressed long GOP(group of pictures) format that HDV is! The thing is if you do that then you pretty much have to upgrade your storage to a raid array that can increase your video bandwidth. I know it's cheaper to work with HDV on the front end of shooting and capturing but we really pay for it on the editing end of things in time, frustration and missed deadlines.
If it were my machine I would trick it out with brand new processors, maybe even 8 cores, tons of ram, like 8-16 gigs if possible and Windows Vista 64bit. Then I'd like to see how it handles an HDV workflow. I'm pretty sure it would be more stable. Baring that a perhaps cheaper alternative would be to upgrade your storage to a faster raid array and covert your HDV footage to an intermediate codec and try editing again. Basically that would take the load off your processor and make your edit experience smoother. I really don't think that going back to CS3 would help you here but it might. I too lost hours of work on a project that corrupted. That's infuriating. I dialed up the autosave to every 5 minutes and 30 versions to combat that. I don't know what else to do regarding that one. I'm always gun shy that I will loose a project.
Well that's my two cents. I don't know if it helped or not. Good luck.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by david payne on Aug 12, 2009 at 8:05:15 pm
thanks guys. The rendering in chunks issue that Nate described is something I can relate to however this is rarer. Far more common now is that I scrub through some HDV footage on the timeline and experience a green/red pixelation glitch which then fully crashes the system.
The issue is I get the same problem on 3 different set ups. All are XP, all have at least 3gb of ram.
Nate mentioned storage and I should probably say that I edit directly from a USB 2 external hard drive. I know people don't recommend this, but it is just much more practical for me so I can take things home over the weekend and edit on another machine (where the problems still persist)
I recently edited a wedding using the pc's local drives and STILL experienced glitch/sync/crash issues.
Surely this can't be down to my system if it happens on 3 pc's when using a different combination of drives?
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by nicky van der walt on Aug 13, 2009 at 7:28:04 am
Hi,
Sounds to me like you are trying to do the impossible.
CS4 is a monster piece of software and is very resource hungry (a lot of people see this as buggy).
We are running CS4 on systems ranging from Core i7's with 12 GB of RAM and 4 drive RAID 5 setups to QUAD CORE XEON systems with 24 GB or 32 GB of RAM and 8 drive RAID 5 setups, all on Vista 64 and its pretty stable.
Yes every now and then someone tries to do funny things with odd media and we stumble a bit, but other than that, if you run it on 64 bit system with enough RAM and fast enough drives, you should not have many issues (of course there will always be some issues, but this goes for all software).
I would never try and run CS4 on XP with only 3GB RAM or on a single internal drive or USB 2.0 drive (even worse!!). That would just be torture.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by david payne on Aug 13, 2009 at 8:16:28 am
nicky i see your point, but the previous version worked with virtually no problems. Sure a bit of lag from the external but thats it. The PC I have the major problems with and use most often is 4gb ram with 3 seperate sata drives. I have set up scratch discs on one drive, system files on another and video on a third (and sometimes on the USB)
I don't have an option to upgrade this particular PC as it is at my work. Whenever I shut down the PC after editing I get various not responding messages (Front Capture is one that I can remember from the top of my head).
When I have finished this project I think I will revert back to the previous version of premiere and see if the problems persist. If they do I'll make up an excuse with the PC and try to get it upgraded...
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by nicky van der walt on Aug 13, 2009 at 8:28:17 am
Hi,
Windows XP 32 bit only uses 3 gigs anyway, so the extra gig does not really make a difference.
I understand what you are saying about previous versions working, but also remember software manufacturers develop new versions based on advances in technology (both hardware and software).
CS4 is optimized to run on 64 bit systems and perform much much better on Vista 64 / Win 7 64 than XP/Vista/Win 7 32 bit. Add at least 8 gigs of RAM and you have a system that should run smoothly.
Something else to note is that on a edit system you should run NOTHING else but CS4. Dont use it for internet / email / office work. NEVER play games on it. Also make sure you have the latest updates.
I guess we are lucky in the sense that we have access to budget to acquire the technology needed.
So to answer your question... No, its not just you... BUT with enough budget and technology CS4 can be stable and a pleasure to work with (in my opinion that is) :)
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Tim Kolb on Aug 13, 2009 at 1:05:30 pm
I'm not sure what to make of this issue... When you test various systems, have you been moving the same media from the same project around? Media problems wouldn't be out of the question...
While I wouldn't recommend it, I use CS4 on a a Dell M90 running XP Pro with only 2 GB of RAM to edit EXcam footage on a USB2 drive. I allow for the occasional lag...it seems to work without crashing.
The one caveat I have is that even on my laptop, I only run Quadro series display cards... I'm not sure if that makes a difference, but I've not had a lot of issues. Anecdotally, it does seem that many people with problems seem to have ATI display cards, or NVIDIA gamer cards.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Todd Roush on Aug 13, 2009 at 8:49:54 am
It's not just you.
My gut is that they just tried to do too much. Adobe bought up and combined a bunch of software's some time ago and have been trying to patch them together.
My issue with CS4 is that it does not play well with much of anything and I have 4 computers to prove it, 2 of which were bought band new with little on them.
I am running Adobe now with Vegas since I am new to the Vegas interface but I have to pass my projects back and forth to get them out of the computer.
Adobe is in trouble with this one and everybody knows it. If you build your own computer specifically for it to their specs you may do all right.
Good Luck!
Todd
Todd Roush
Dreamscape Digital Media
Canon XH-A1's - Dell Studio XPS i7, 920, 2.66 gig,6 gigs RAM (soon to be 12) 650 gig SATA, 1TB eSATA external, 3TB USB(storage). 512gig ATI video card, 28" HannsG Monitor, 24" Dell Monitor.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Todd Roush on Aug 13, 2009 at 9:03:52 am
PS, CS4 has been stable on my i7, 6 gig RAM, 5TB system, but suddenly I can no longer export ANYTHING. Not to media encoder and not to my HDV cameras. When I attempt it, all "set display" icons go blank along with all the arrows in that track section. I have tried reverting to previous setups in the operating system (system restore) but to no avail.
Too bad, this system was really rocking for a while but I have had export issues with 3 other systems so there is something up with the DLL thing.
I am no computer troubleshooter anymore and the time required is obscene so I keep buying new computers and working around things using other software. VERY frustrating but we're behind and have deadlines. No time for BS.
Cheers,
Todd
Todd Roush
Dreamscape Digital Media
Canon XH-A1's - Dell Studio XPS i7, 920, 2.66 gig,6 gigs RAM (soon to be 12) 650 gig SATA, 1TB eSATA external, 3TB USB(storage). 512gig ATI video card, 28" HannsG Monitor, 24" Dell Monitor.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Vince Becquiot on Aug 13, 2009 at 3:32:14 pm
Todd,
If a major system issue like this happens, be it because of a windows update, plugins, or corrupted files, a Windows restore will do nothing to solve the issue.
What WILL work 99% of the time is a re-installation using my method.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by kujtim ereqi on Aug 13, 2009 at 6:36:18 pm
I have no problems running Premiere cs4 with vista 64bit in two computers with 8GB each.
Adobe is trying to fit Premiere more and more in the professional market. That's why we need more ram and stronger computers. For me this is a good thing, because I work in the professional market and can afford buying a good PC. But for sure that is not good for those who can't afford it.
As Vince said,format it..
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by david payne on Aug 14, 2009 at 10:46:48 am
I've been waiting for windows 7 to fully released so that I can see if this helps my problem. I assume I'd have no problem running 8gb of ram if I have windows 7? And premiere will see all of the ram unlike with XP?
The issue I have is that it is not my pc so cannot upgrade/format it. I think in this instance I'm going to try going back a version and seeing if problems persist.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Theresa Green on Aug 17, 2009 at 6:09:02 am
It is most definitely not just you. Very, very buggy and most of the time Adobe seems to be in denial. Also, this problem, amongst many others, takes quite a bit of effort to find questions and answers in the Adobe forums. As with other bugs I have encountered, the new forum is very hard to search on and if you perservere you find many similar posts on the same topic but they are all over the place and a solution to one of the posts does not necessarily make to the place where some other poor soul is encountering the same problem.
There also does not seem to even be a section of the Adobe site where Adobe can list let alone acknowledge some of the current bugs. If I know that there is a problem but it is being worked on I would not be so unhappy. Some guidance with possible work arounds could also help. Instead, you are made to feel that it is something you have done. Eg:- recommend uninstalling any program that might conflict.complete clean uninstallation of all the master collection CS4 suite and reinstallation with all updates have you tried this? have you tried that? Have you got enough ram? For goodness sake, just acknowledge that 100s of others are having the same problem and tell us you are very sorry for any convenience and that you are working on solutions.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Todd Roush on Aug 17, 2009 at 6:14:11 pm
Theresa,
Great observations and I concur completely. I used to work in customer support way, way back and what we do when we don't have an answer is flip it back on the customer by asking tons of questions. It puts the workload on the customer and makes them feel like it's something with their system.
The online help concept was good on paper but it's just far too vast now. There are far too many conflicts and one of the lists I recently received would have likely taken me 2 days to get through so I use Vegas as a workaround. Over the years I suspect I will become a full time Vegas user but the interface is very different.
I love CS4 when it's running but I'm not into fixing computers anymore and I really don't have the knowlege to do it anymore.
Priority #1 to me is that you install the program, and it works. I have a business to run.
Cheers,
Todd
Todd Roush
Dreamscape Digital Media
Canon XH-A1's - Dell Studio XPS i7, 920, 2.66 gig,6 gigs RAM (soon to be 12) 650 gig SATA, 1TB eSATA external, 3TB USB(storage). 512gig ATI video card, 28" HannsG Monitor, 24" Dell Monitor.
Re: is it just me or is CS4 the most unstable buggy software ever by Jim Simms on Aug 27, 2009 at 6:21:13 am
I have not upgraded to CS4 specifically because it is so resource hungry. My computer is a quad core that's only a year old but I already have too much frustration with Prem Pro CS3. I can't imagine trying to work in CS4.
Recently I had to call Adobe Customer Support multiple times regarding an order of Lightroom I had not received. It was a complete fiasco. Given that delay and the futile attempt at ordering Lightroom on their web site(finally had to place my order over the phone) I've lost hope in Adobe.
