AVC problems

I have a video that was recorded with a newer mini cam. It recorded in the following format:



640x480 AVC(Main @L3.1) H264



Things brings PE7 to a crawl on my system (XP home SP3, Pent 4HT 3.2GHz, 2G Ram)



I read several posts stating to convert to DV-AVI. The only prog I have is TMPGEnc 4, which according to the Adobe support, should work. I can't afford to buy anything new.



The problem is I don't know which codec to use for conversion. Nothing is labeled ''DV''.



I have:

Cinepak Codec

Indeo Video

Intel 1YUV

Indel Indeo(R) Video R3.2

Intel Indeo Video 4.5

Microsoft video 1 MSVC

Uncompressed RGB



The ultimate output after editing will be WMV for work purposes.



Which codec should I use?
AVC problems
Unfortunately, none of those codecs will work very well (if at all) in Premiere Elements.



In fact, even those MP4 files, if they are indeed standard DV and not AVCHD, will not work will in Premiere Elements.



What type of camcorder is this, and are you certain it's not AVCHD?
AVC problems
After conversion to DV-AVI, then editing and then exporting to WMV, you will end up with some quality issues I bet ;)

Too much converting and you are starting with files that are already compressed. You want to do as little converting as possible to preserve quality.

It is a cheap Best Buy brand, Insignia - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8940015%26amp;type=product%26amp;id=121521707 6309 .



We are recording simple educational sessions for work using this and a hand held recorder for better audio. My job is to sync the separate audio track with the video.



I converted to mpeg2 and got average quality. We are just going to put it on a web site for others to view. They have a pretty locked down system, so I am using the wmv format.



Is there a way to enable the codecs on my system? I must have a DV codec as I own a Sony DV camcorder. TMPGEnc doesn't list it though.

The codec would be 'Microsoft DV' and it comes with Windows so it should be there. Hopefully someone will come along with a solution for converting the H.264 clips to DV-AVI. If you can't get an answer here you can always try http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/

Found out that TMPGEnc does not support the Microsoft DV codec, you need the Panasonic DV codec http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Panasonic_DV_Codec



Give that a try.

The best solution? Quicktime Pro, a $29 download from Apple.



This great little program will work as a video converter, but more importantly it will work as a basic video editor also. You can likely edit those MP4s with it and then out an MOV for posting on the web (leaving Premiere Elements out of the mix completely, for efficiency's sake).

Excellent suggestion Steve, forgot about QT Pro :)



Also, I was wondering why you aren't MPEG2 files Jason.

You should be able to use those in Premiere Elements too.

Have a look at the camcorder, Chuck. It's really just a point and shoot camera. Not really designed for any serious video work or editing.

I saw that, but the files are being converted to MPEG2 already, those should work fine so I don't know why the conversion to DV-AVI (although that would be preferred from the start). For your purposes Jason you should be able to use the MPEG2 files you already have.

According to the specs, Chuck, the video is H.264-AVI.

http://www.insignia-products.com/pc-384-52-insignia-50mp-high-definition-digital -camcorder-with-3-swivel-lcd-screen.aspx



The specs also recommend editing it with Windows MovieMaker or the Arcsoft editor. (Quicktime Pro would probably not be a good choice with an AVI of this codec after all.)

If editing in Windows Movie Maker is possible then the file can be easily converted to DV-AVI using Windows Movie Maker.



If you can import the file in Movie Maker there is a tutorial on converting to DV-AVI here http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=42 The tutorial is for converting WMV to DV-AVI using Windows Movie Maker, but the different format really doesn't change the steps.

I was trying to convert to DV-AVI based on the forum recommendations. I then chose to convert to Mpeg2 as this was doable with the tools I already own.



Yes, the camera is cheap, but does fine for what we are doing with it. I will try Windows movie maker. I don't know if I will be able to sync the second audio track with it though. I really want to learn PE, and I figured the best way to learn is by using it.

Just tried Movie Maker. Once imported and placed on the timeline, only audio shows up - no video (it's all black).



So Mpeg it is.

I have a similar computer and when rendering or playing back a MP4/H264 640x480 Main L3.1 clip, Premiere Elements is using all remaining CPU cycles. There's no room to do anything else.



If you have the free AVISynth and free VirtualDubMod applications installed, you can convert MP4/h.264 to DV with the VirtualDubMod application, which has batch mode. You may need to obtain a MP4 decoder and demultiplexor, but you may have one already on your machine from other applications. I purchased the MPEG-4 decoder from Lead Technologies. Otherwise you could use Premiere Elements to convert your files to DV on a one-by-one basis.

I need to make a correction about the Lead codec I use. It's the h.264 codec from Lead Technologies.



http://www.leadcodecs.com/Codecs/LEAD-H264.htm



I paid $25 for it.

Jason

Did you figure this out? I am having the same problem. Used AVS Video converted to convert to exact same specs AVI but unit shuts down as soon as it sees the file (I had to re-name it as well). Bizarre. Thanks!

Aarti