If you are experiencing audio only issues importing 4K HEVC MP4 files to Premiere Pro, you may wish to read this tutorial. It explains a workaround to transcode 4K H.265 MP4 clips to DNxHD/ProRes for use in Premiere with optimum performance.
Issues regarding to working with HEVC MP4 footage in Premiere Pro
“I am shooting 4K video with a Google Pixel 2 XL using Filmic Pro. In the interest of utilizing the best compression methods I utilized HEVC. Unfortunately, when I try to import these 4K HEVC MP4 files to Premiere Pro CC 2018, it only reads audio, there’s no image. How can I solve the issue?”
“I recently updated to Premiere Pro CC 2018 the most recent version. After the update, my Samsung NX1 HEVC MP4 files are no longer supported natively as it previously was. I can only hear the audio but cannot see the video. Is there an update coming that will support .mp4 video files that are HEVC? What should I do to go through this?”
If you are experiencing the same thing as mentioned above, we would recommend converting your 4K HEVC MP4 files to an edit friendly format first, such as DNxHD or ProRes. Here’s the workaround.
How to convert 4K HEVC MP4 files for Premiere editing?
Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter (simply download the proper version depending on your computer’s OS)
Step 1: Start up HD Video Converter as a 4K HEVC MP4 to Premiere Pro Converter.
Step 2: Click ‘Add File’ to import your source media to the program.
Step 3: Select output format
* If you are on a Windows PC, from the “Profile” bar, choose ‘Avid DNxHD 1080p (*.mov)’ as output under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column. (See the screenshot above)
** If you are on a Mac computer, choose ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target under ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue.
*** Note that this converter program can only output Apple ProRes and DNxHD video up to 1080p, if you want to preserve 4K quality of your source files, you can select “4K Video” > “4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format. To export 4K files, please make sure your computer has enough power to process 4K H.264. If not, simply select Apple ProRes or DNxHD as output format depending on your OS.
Step 4: Custom video and audio settings (for advanced users)
Click ‘Settings’ button, the ‘Profile Settings’ panel pops up, on which you are able to modify video and audio settings like resolution, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel.
Step 5: When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding 4K HEVC MP4 files to Premiere Pro supported format. As soon as the conversion is complete, click ‘Open Folder’ button to locate the generated files and now you are able to open them in Premiere Pro for further editing smoothly.
Also read
How to edit Hero6 240fps HEVC in DaVinci Resolve?
Avid Media Composer won’t import Hero6 240fps HEVC files
How to convert Hero 6 240 fps H.265 video to ProRes?
MTS in iMovie 10.1.8-High Sierra won’t import AVCHD
How to install ProRes codec for Windows Premiere?