Uninstall The Old Version of Avid Video Engine
1. Close all sessions and Quit Pro Tools.
2. Go to Control panel > select Programs and Features select Avid Video Engine then select Uninstall.
Install the Avid Video Engine from the Pro Tools Utilities.
1. Copy and Paste this to search C:\Program Files\Avid\Pro Tools\Pro Tools Utilities\Avid Video Engine
The Avid Video Engine Install Shield Wizard will popup then proceed to install.
2. Once installed Open Pro Tools go to Setup > Playback Engine > Enable the Video Engine.
If you use Pro Tools 12 then you may not be aware that when the Avid Video Engine is turned on in your Playback Settings, that it immediately allocates nearly 3GB of memory before you open a Session. We show you how to deal with this. The Pro Tools Expert team have tested this on both Mac and Windows
computers and the current version of Pro Tools does seem to use nearly 3GB of valuable memory resources.
Pro Tools 12 and Avid Video Engine memory usage examples for Mac and Windows
In their compatibility charts for Mac and Windows for both Pro Tools 12 HD and Pro Tools 12 Avid say that the minimum recommended specification for using Pro Tools is 8GB, so if you use a computer that has just 8GB of memory, with Pro Tools running as well as the Avid Video Engine only around 4GB will be available for everything else when using Pro Tools. This may not such an issue if you are just editing audio and not using any other applications at the same time, but if you are using virtual instruments as well as other background applications that take up memory then it may be an issue.
What Should You Do?
If you don't need to use video then turn it off, this is how.
Go to Settings/Playback Engine and uncheck the Enable option.
If you do need to use Avid Video Engine in Pro Tools then we suggest you turn it on and off on a per-project basis.
If you have memory constraints then you may also want to consider turning off any other apps that take up memory when using Pro Tools.
Other Options For Video Power Users
We have spoken at length about the excellent Video Slave 3 from Non-Lethal Applications, which has a host of great features and also takes up a tiny 64MB of RAM when its and using its optimised video engine.
Even with its optimised video engine and great feature set, the option to take the video load away from the DAW either on the same machine or another one must be very appealing for those wanting to use video with Pro Tools.
Read our review of Video Slave 3
There is a known issue with Pro Tools 2021.6+ for which the workaround requires manual intervention via an administrator account. As this obviously will not scale to 100 installations, I am looking for a scriptable solution. Here is the Avid's summary of the problem:
“Error launching video engine” reported with non-admin accounts. (UME-1631)
To resolve this:
Switch to an Administrator account
Launch Pro Tools and enable the Video Engine
Switch back to the Standard User (non-admin) account and check the Video Engine setting again
(Note that this is documented in the Read Me for Pro Tools 2021.6.)
My Pro Tools post-install script is as follows: //github.com/jfiliceatcsumb/Scripts/blob/d7d0e061c0fd828d5744ab9f13067b895cae6ad2/ProTools12_P...
06-24-2021, 01:57 PM | |||
| |||
Video Engine won't initialize in PT 2021.6 After installing 2021.6, when I try to open a session the video engine won't initialize. Any suggestions? Reverted back to previous PT version until I can figure this out. __________________ |
06-24-2021, 02:09 PM | |||
| |||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize Are you using an M1 (Apple Silicon) Mac? If so, this is a known compatibility issue as stated in the compatibility notes for this release. __________________ Obsidian Dragon |
06-24-2021, 02:20 PM | |||
| |||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize No, using 2019 Mac Pro. __________________ |
06-24-2021, 02:27 PM | |||
| |||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize Same issue here on a 2018 MBP running Mojave 10.14.6 |
06-24-2021, 02:31 PM | ||||
| ||||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize Are you using a Standard (non-admin) account? If so can you login with an Admin account and try again? |
06-24-2021, 02:47 PM | |||
| |||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize Yup! Swapping to an Admin account fixed it! So something with a standard account that doesn�t allow |
06-24-2021, 03:25 PM | ||||
| ||||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize Thanks for confirming! You should be able to switch back to your Standard User account now. From the PT 2021.6 Read Me... “Error launching video engine” reported with non-admin accounts. (UME-1631) |
06-25-2021, 07:08 AM | |||
| |||
Re: 2021.6 - Video Engine won't initialize Confirmed. Going to the admin account fixed it. Thanks!!!! __________________ |
06-25-2021, 07:26 PM | |||
| |||
Re: Video Engine won't initialize in PT 2021.6 To clarify, this solves the issue for Intel-based Macs. Per the requirements and compatibility documentation, the M1-based Macs still cannot run the video engine. Right? __________________ Obsidian Dragon |