Jump to content

Adobe Rant


Neumann Films
 Share

Recommended Posts

I cannot stand it when companies behave like Adobe has.  

First things first, I contacted them in December when we were shooting our video with the GH5 and tried to get some help on the software side of things.  It took hours to get past the foreign level of customer service...nothing against it, it is what it is.  That level of customer service can't do shit and we all know it. They recite the FAQ page for the most part.  Once I finally got to someone that could DO something about the problem, they pretty much said I was out of luck.  So I went the long route, I graded in After Effects, clip by clip.  I viewed "proxies" on the camera to find the in/out points.  I cobbled together a workflow in the time that I had.  Now, keep in mind that Adobe HAD, in their possession, 10bit GH5 footage in December.  Footage that they knew they would have to prepare for by the time the camera hit customers.  They also knew what that date would be.

Fast forward to GH5 ship date and the Adobe workflow is still a complete mess.  Still, for anyone looking to at least get somewhere, After Effects is an option to get started. 

Fast forward to today.  I updated to the latest Adobe AE and Premiere thinking "Hey, this has to be the GH5 update as it's the normal 2-3 week delay for new cameras and Adobe". Wrong.  After Effects, my one solid rock on which I had built my foundation, was pulled out from under me.  Now I'm left to transcode using some weird freeware that takes an eternity.

The worst part is that the solution is so simple.  Just...have real customer service.  Don't be so greedy.  DJI learned this lesson because people got fed up with shitty customer service.  Now, you call DJI and yeah...you wait for a while, but when you get on the phone you're talking to someone that actually knows what they're talking about and can help you out. 

Have any of you ever browsed the Adobe forums?  Are ANY of the questions "answered"?  It's like in the US "Office" when Toby from HR reveals that all of the complaints get filed in a big pile and the point of it all is just for people to have a place to vent.  Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that.  Fuck that, indeed.

All right, back to individually transcoding each clip in Rocky Mountain Movie Converter (...you read that correctly).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

You could always try 8 bit until NLEs catch up. Adobe won't spend the resources (which are likely considerable) until there is enough of a user base to warrant doing so, so they likely won't implement it for quite some time. It will be the same sort of situation as when the NX1 first came out, where for a long time the big NLE programs did not support native editing of H.265 files.

It will happen when it happens, until then you can either transcode with some utility, or just shoot in formats which are directly readable.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is the issue with the workflow using GH5 files? 
Is it something that you can't get around by using another NLE?

Adobe software can be really frustrating sometimes. When it works its great... but a LOT of the time it seems to not work. Or not as it should anyway. 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try using Assimilate Scratch. It accepts - for base editing and high-end hard grading - even a GH5 6K video (hevc) files without any transcoding. Its workflow is way more intuitive and delivery-transcoding process (including native prores!) much faster than Resolve and Premiere. Only downside for editing is - just one audio track.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adobe's pretty much lost me. I'm over the subscription pricing, I'm over the bloated software...

If I could find some genuine replacements for AE, Photoshop and Lightroom I'd be happy to get rid of Adobe once and for all...

Maybe it's time to try Fusion..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The GH5 problem sucks but to be honest I've had good experiences with Adobe when I've needed help. They do screen shares and have a tech figure out problems. The three times that I've done a session with them they've figured out an obscure problem.

They do need to set up a real feature request email system though. That would be smart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

Absolutely +10000

I am going to write a blog about this.

Adobe's GH5 support has been completely off-hand.

7 hours ago, Neumann Films said:

All right, back to individually transcoding each clip in Rocky Mountain Movie Converter (...you read that correctly).

Do you have a Mac to hand? Try EditReady, it's the best $50 I ever spent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, tugela said:

You could always try 8 bit until NLEs catch up. Adobe won't spend the resources (which are likely considerable) until there is enough of a user base to warrant doing so...It will happen when it happens, until then you can either transcode with some utility, or just shoot in formats which are directly readable.

 

 Yup, spot on!! That's exactly how condescending and unhelpful Adobe support was.  Great impression man!

(largest eye roll in the history of eye rolls)

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Absolutely +10000

I am going to write a blog about this.

Adobe's GH5 support has been completely off-hand.

Do you have a Mac to hand? Try EditReady, it's the best $50 I ever spent.

Good!  No, don't have a Mac at my disposal.  

5 hours ago, anonim said:

Try using Assimilate Scratch. It accepts - for base editing and high-end hard grading - even a GH5 6K video (hevc) files without any transcoding. Its workflow is way more intuitive and delivery-transcoding process (including native prores!) much faster than Resolve and Premiere. Only downside for editing is - just one audio track.

I mean, I'm not opposed to that but moving software is like moving where you live.  Its an ordeal and I really don't have the time to do that right now.  At some point...yeah, it might be time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adobe's Creative Cloud revenue grew 40% last year. They are making a ton of money despite what others said when they decided to go whole hog from perpetual to subscription-based licensing. 

And I agree with Luke. Their support is quite bad. The forums are largely there so users can help other users with minimal Adobe help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adobe lost me years ago.

I am a long time stills photog.  When they went to the Credit Card model of Photoshop CS, I was out.

The arrogance of the mismanagement was it for me, it wasn't about price.  At the time, and still do, I felt betrayed.

I can go on and on about this bad experience, as it really hurt me personally, but I wont, they are available on the various many still photo websites.

Unfortunately, my stills workflow is still Photoshop CS6, I actually love it, as I have put huge ammount of time and monies in learning it for a comfortable workflow.

I purchased a Resolve dongle last year, and am slowly learning Davinci for my video work.

I just wish there was an AE alternative, as I always thought that app was very interesting to me.

Good luck to us all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

C300 II 10-bit IPB and ALL-I 4K and 1080p play ok in the latest release (MXF container). Haven't checked since last release; 12-bit 1080p played ok but slower.

I think I read somewhere that rewrapping GH5 to .mxf without transcoding will work (fast as a file copy and lossless).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, buggz said:

I purchased a Resolve dongle last year, and am slowly learning Davinci for my video work.

I just wish there was an AE alternative, as I always thought that app was very interesting to me.

Good luck to us all.

The AE alternative exists, it's Blackmagic Fusion, on the same model as Resolve, but it's an entirely new software to learn indeed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't find the need to transcode footage all that frustrating. Yes, the lack of support by Adobe is annoying and you'd think (hope) they would be supporting this camera by now but AME does an efficient job of getting my footage into ProRes 422 HQ or DNxHR HQX. I can convert on my iMac (27-inch 3.5 GHz i7, 32GB RAM, 4GB VRAM) at about 2x speed. Then I have a working, hi-res, 10-bit master that I can bring into Premiere or Media Composer. Maybe it's my years of needing to transcode DSLR footage that not immediately having Premiere or AMA support isn't a big deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adobe is very slow to upgrade things. I hate how you have to nest when adding some fx (stabilize and twixtor) to non native res files. Fit to fill sucks, max motion effect sucks. Ame has room to improve too. It should have pass through for audio (especially when you can only relink to files with same amount of audio channels DUH), same as source frame rate, and ability to add pre/suffix to file names. Edit ready is much better.  The fan boys ruin it for those who want to improve the software. Customers need to be more demanding. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I abandoned Premiere for FCPX & Resolve mainly for 3 reasons:

1. Its hard to afford or justify their subscription model, unless you are a professional that makes a ton of money. It would probably be cheaper if they charged me by the hour! So I spent $200 for FCPX with Motion & Logic pro. 

2. CPU hog and bad XAVC-S handling. There us just no way I would even be comfortable editing 4K on a laptop. With FCPX & Resolve I can edit 4K footage with plenty of effects like butter with a dual core laptop and an external GPU

3. Color shifts on skin tones

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Jn- said:

Hi JCS, this may be what you meant, I brought it up in another "Adobe" thread.

GJeffrey tool, on Vegas forum put it together, very useful, GH5 10 bit 422 to MXF, rewrap.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/gh5-4k-24-30p-problem--105152/#ca658650

I made an old style batch file, CV2MXF.bat wrapped around GJeffreys code to give basic log file and choice options.

I had previously made a batch file, old style, "Convert to Prores", it, CV2P.bat, also requires ffmpeg.

The 2 that I uploaded on 20th. on the other thread, need to be removed by Andrew, these 2 are newer.

CV2MXF.zip

CV2P.zip

Cool- I tried Photon (which I wrote) which uses ffmpeg- however the latest version of ffmpeg doesn't rewrap the video correctly to MXF. Good to hear someone has it working (as it should in theory for rewrapping).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WTF? Back then, when you shared some clips of your footage, all of them played in real time in Premiere even with luts applied.

I opened today the project i have saved, Premiere prompt me to save the project again because i use the latest version now and -surprise- the 10bit files are not supported anymore! :astonished: Go figure...

I use a mac (10.12.4), by the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • EOSHD Pro Color 5 for All Sony cameras
    EOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
    EOSHD Dynamic Range Enhancer for H.264/H.265
×
×
  • Create New...