Hi, amateur video editor here with an issue using kdenlive. Some of the clips in my project have the video frozen for the first 1-2 seconds. I initially thought this was just something that was set to happen in the preview window; however, after rendering the project, these clips in the finished product are still frozen for the same initial 1-2 seconds. It appears there are set points where the video portion of a clip "starts". For example, the start points might be at these times from the source:

31:24,04
31:26,04
31:28,04

So if I put a clip on the timeline that starts at 31:26,04 then video starts immediately. However, if the clip starts at 31:25,19 then the video will show the still frame at 31:26,04 for half a second (with the correct audio), then will resume normal video once playback passes 31:26,04. Likewise, if the clip starts at 31:26,19 then it will show the still frame at 31:28,04 for 1.5 seconds (with audio) before normal video is shown.

I've tried messing around with proxy clips a bit; if I turn proxy clips on then the still frames are gone when playing from the timeline. However, I cannot render with proxy clips turned on, so I need to turn them off, and then the still frames return. I'm also using a fairly old version of kdenlive (16.12.1). I've tried downloading the newest version and the rendering crashes, but based on the preview screen it doesn't look like that would fix the issue anyway.

Has anyone experienced this issue before, or have any ideas for how it could be fixed? Any assistance is appreciated!

Version 16.12.1 is not maintained anymore. If you are on Linux try with the 20.08.0 AppImage. If you are on Windows try with 20.08.0 as well. What are your project settings (1080p25)? If you work with proxy, the final rendering is done with the original footage. So, no problem working with proxies in the timeline.