Adobe Premiere preview video lagging?

Question

I am attempting to edit video in Adobe Premiere CS6. When I create a sequence and try to play it back in the preview screen, the video is extremely choppy, which makes editing very difficult (dance videos, i.e. trying to sync with music properly). After some searching, two things seem to work for others - either changing playback quality to 1/4 or 1/2, or rendering the work area before playback. The former seems to have no effect, although the latter (rendering) does create smooth video. Unfortunately, when the render finishes, the video is now playing in super slow motion, and is therefore completely out of sync with the music. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Answer 1

Before I recommend any suggestions I would ask:

1. Why you're still operating on CS6?

From a technology and operating standpoint, CS6 is EXTREMELY out of date and therefore cannot keep up with the size of the files and quality of the footage you're more than likely editing now.

You're software is most likely lagging...which would lead to my next question:

2. How old is your computer?

Depending on the age of the computer you're editing on, that could also be a major factor in the lagging of the software. If you're computer is technologically out of date then that's also adding to the problem with Premiere. You need to be editing on Adobe CC--from a computer that can handle the program and the video files that are being created in 2020. Think about it, CS6 was NOT created to handle 4K footage--even if it's coming from a cell phone.

Assess your editing hardware and software, upgrade them both [if applicable for the hardware] and then you should be good to go.