Regular problem with video playback &...

So, I am regularly having two problems (I wonder whether they are connected) that I cannot solve and am hoping someone can tell me if I am out of luck or if I need to do something or add something.



For example, because it happened again today. These are details about the file stuff:



Type:AVI

Bit Rate:133kbps

Dimensions:624x352

Audio format: LameMP3

Frame rate: 23 frames/second

Data Rate: 1131 kbps

Video Sample Size: 12 bit

Video Compression: XVID



First Problem: If I play the file - I use Media Player Classic - it plays fine. Open it in Windows Media Player and it plays fine. Try to edit it in Premiere and the file loaded into Premiere is filled with what I believe are called audio video sync problems, so I have to constantly unlink audio and video and adjust it. It loads and does not need to conform.



I have the same problem on my laptop(Windows XP Home) and desktop (XP Pro), the desktop with twice the RAM. I have the K-lite Mega codec pack installed. I would call myself a beginner when it comes to video editing. I understand generally what codecs are but I am not capable to making any tweaks to the K-lite Mega codec pack (if I should have) so it is setup as installed.



Second Problem: The video in the playback box never plays back normally. I have tried adjusting the playback settings: have changed the aspect ratio between the software and harware option and adjusted between the three desktop display options. Occasionally it is ''ok'' but most of the time not and never just normal.



Any help is much appreciated.



Thank you.
Regular problem with video playback %26...
These problems come from trying to edit XVID which is a delivery format rather than a format for editing. Your best bet is to convert the video to DV-AVI. You could try to convert using MPEG_Streamclip:

https://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc4800e
Regular problem with video playback %26...
Okay...the plot thickens



I downloaded MPEG_Streamclip, but when I loaded the lastest XviD file I mentioned, the screen was still white, nothing to see, though the title of the file was at the top of box (as though it had been opened) and the bottom right corner details showed the correct length of the video. When I pressed play, it moved along as though it was playing something but still a white screen.



I checked the details on the page you referred me to and I do have Quicktime. I have 7.5.5. Pro (my digital camera makes .MOV movies so I originally got it for that).



I didn't know if it was actually there and just that I cannot see it for some reason, so I exported it to AVI as described also in the same page you referred me to. The only option I selected other than the ones told to was frame size, where I selected 624x352.



After ages of ?encoding I now have a movie same length as my original file except that it all black instead of all white. So it has ?encoded my white MPEG Streamclip screen as a black movie.



Why isn't my video viewable in MPEG Streamclip? What am I missing? Hope that all makes sense?



Thank you for your help so far :)

It looks like MPEG_Streamclip can not or does not have access to the Xvid codec on your system and so the video is not decoded. You need an Xvid to DV-AVI converter but I am not aware of any free ones.

Converting to Divx and Xvid is pretty easy.



Converting FROM Divx and Xvid is not because the files are so highly compressed.



If it's possible at all, you may be able to do it with Super -- though, again, coming from such highly compressed files, you may not get the best quality DV-AVIs.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Paul:

XviD codec is contained in Mega K-Lite I understand, as it asked permission to ?uninstall the Xvid codec I had already installed separately, when I installed that codec pack. Do I have to do anything to K-Lite for MPEG Streamclip to access it, or is the fact that I installed that codec pack enough.



''Xvid to DV-AVI converter'' - If I was to buy one, is there one you would recommend?



Steve:

Okay...

Super: Output Container: ?AVI

and what video codec and audio codec would I select?

Any other options I should select for the file mentioned originally above...to try converting the file with Super.

:)

I looked at MPEG_Streamclip and it does not appear capable of working with Xvid files.

You could download this free version of the Apex conversion utility. However it installs a ''survey'' package on your computer that can be removed using Add/Remove Programs. Otherwise you can buy the enhanced non-free version that does not have the extra package:

http://www.tompegx.com/video-converter-free.html

M O'Neil,



I use DigitalMedia Converter (Deskshare, ~US$40) to do most of my file conversions. To date, it has worked almost perfectly with a lot of different CODEC's. One MUST have the CODEC properly installed on the system, as it does not come with any of its own. It handles Xvid %26amp; DivX well, though there IS the quality hit that Steve mentions. No way around that. PE has always worked perfectly with the DV-AVI Type II files from DMC. However, Premiere Pro often sees them highly truncated. I actually use PE to Import the file (plays perfectly there), and then just Export to DV-AVI Type II (same file format and exact same size), for use in Premiere Pro. Whatever it is, that P-Pro does not like about the file is fixed in PE. Go figure, as they are the same exact size and Dupe File Finder reports that they are identical. One, shows up with a tiny Duration in P-Pro, the other is perfect. Gotta be just one bit, or something that is off and messes up P-Pro. That is the only limitation I've ever found with DMC, and it affects about 1 file in 10. Still, PE handles the converted files perfectly.



I use a freeware program G-Spot (www.headbands.com/gspot) to tell me the specs of most AV files, especially the CODEC. Another thing that it does is survey the system, and will tell if you do have the necessary CODEC installed. Another freeware program for the latter is Sherlock the CODEC Detective. Be aware that it will throw false-positives for corrupt CODEC's from Adobe - it's a naming convention thing, and it will say that all Adobe MainConcept CODEC's are broken. They are not. With most other CODEC's, it's spot on, but you just need to ignore the false positives with Adobe ones.



Good luck,



Hunt

Don't forget about VirtualDub. VirtualDub will read Xvid, and then you can export to a different format, preferably DV-AVI. VirtualDub will do batch processing as well.



http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/



Download the XviD Codec (encodes and decodes):

http://www.xvid.org/

I tried this already and then we had a blackout so going to try again and hope it goes through before a second one...lol

Hello:

Thank you Robert J. Johnston, the_wine_snob, Paul_LS and SteveGrisetti for your help so far.

So this is where I am at now:

Files all seem to be of the same type, so I will just say ''the file'' for the one I am working with right now.

Loaded file into VirtualDub.聽 I like that program.聽 Well done, whoever made it.聽 Did some basic cutting of unwanted stuff.聽 Saved as AVI.聽 Saved both a Direct Stream Copy and a Full Processing Copy.

Opened the FP copy in Premiere Elements and it plays without audio sync problems that I can see. Have edited it some so far and still no problems.

Before I do any more editing work, I decided to save it (SHARE) in different formats to see what happens.

Goal: Looking for no audio sync problems.聽 Best quality I can get with a 1GB file size limit.

Saved as DV-AVI:聽 plays fine.聽 no audio sync probelms.聽 love the video quality.聽 2.95GB, so too big

Saved as Flash:聽 Do not see any audio sync problems.聽 Do NOT like the quality (flips back and forth between clear and all pixely (is that a word).聽 32 MG

Saved as Mpeg: Media Player won't play it (thought Media Player with KL Mega Codec played everything?) (It loads it but doesn't play?); Quicktime won't play it.聽 Windows Media Player just did.聽 Do not see any audio sync problems.聽 Like the video quality. 631 MB.

Saved as Windows Media: Do not ''think'' there are any audio sync problems; if there are, they are very subtle.聽 Not crazy about video quality.聽 Better than flash video option though still flickers between two types of qaulity (if that makes sense) . 52MB

Any suggestions as to what I should do at this point to meet my stated goal.聽 I assume [share]ing is what I should do?聽 Is there any exporting or any other options I do not know about.聽 Without your help I figure I will Share to MPEG?聽 Not sure why Media Player won't play it and Windows Media Player will?

Any thoughts on the best choice for me?聽 Thanks for your help.

It sounds like you're having success sharing to a number of formats.

What is the goal, M? What format do you want to save it as?

Premiere Elements 7.0 ''Conforming'' mpg...

Why does PE create all of those files in the media cache folder for every one of my projects? Is there a way to stop this? They take up tons of unnecessary space on my drive. Thanks.
Premiere Elements 7.0 ''Conforming'' mpg...
It depends on what you're using for source files and your project is set up, David.



Besides, the space they take up should be incidental, compared to the 500 meg per minute AVIs use. (And you won't save space by loading MPEGs, because Premiere Elements needs to turn them into AVIs in order to work with them.)



Generally, if you're concerned about space on your hard drive and you're editing video, it's time to get a larger hard drive. Video editing requires hundreds of gigabytes of space and sometimes almost that much more for scratch disc and temp files.
Premiere Elements 7.0 ''Conforming'' mpg...
Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. PE dumps a bunch of template files (e.g. autumn_leaves_prv 48000.cfa) that aren't even part of my project into the cache folder of my project. I can see it doing this in the background in the lower right corner - conforming this file or that file. I don't need these files in my project and I don't want them taking up space. Most of the work I do are short videos of my son's band for YouTube (see www.youtube.com/stillpendingmusic if you are curious). I've been getting by with very little hard drive space and it has worked out fine. I am just curious about these template files that are being ''conformed'' for every project I make and dumped into the cache folder taking up unnecessary space. Thanks for all of your helpful replies.

This is discussed over on the Muvipix forum:

http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=57%26amp;t=4710%26amp;p=41099%26amp;hilit=autumn_leaves_ prv#p41099

Clip to Timeline

When adding a video clip to the Timeline in PE7, it inserts itself in the 'Video/Audio 2' lines rather than to 'Video/Audio 1'.
Clip to Timeline
Does it install in Video/Audio track 4??? If so your video's audio format does not match the audio format of the project preset. So if you add a 5.1 audio clip to a stereo project (or vice-versa) the video/audio will go to track 4.
Clip to Timeline
I just tested it again, and this time it did install to Track 4. Sorry, but can't figure out how to fix. How do I change the project preset?

When you open PE7 you get the start up screen where yuou select your project. You need to select New Project, Chnage Settings. Not all projects are stereo apart from the AVCHD presets that state ''5.1 channel''.

Thankyou very much, I appreciate the help - works fine now.

Menu Creations in Premiere Elements 7

Why can't I add a menu template? I followed the steps correctly and I still can't add a menu, what's wrong?
Menu Creations in Premiere Elements 7
What steps did you follow and what is not happening?



It's hard to tell if you're doing it right -- or if it's a problem with the program -- if we don't know what you're doing!
Menu Creations in Premiere Elements 7
I did these steps:

~Imported Video

~Clicked on Disc Menus

~Chose a menu

~Clicked Apply



No menu would appear

Sorry, Andy. This is still shorthand and really doesn't give me any details to work with.



I still have no idea if you've created a project by placing video on a timeline or where your menu isn't appearing.



Can you post a screen capture somewhere that we can look at?



Or maybe it would be best if you contacted Adobe Tech Support so that they can spend some time troubleshooting this with you.

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bbe7d56

Andy Herrman



Just a few thoughts before you decide to contact Adobe T/SAt this point, I also cannot judge if you have a serious problem with Premiere Elements 7 or if you are misunderstanding how to apply a DVD Menu to your project.



Does Import Media = you have used Get Media to bring media into the Project View/Media and have dragged it from there to the Timeline, applied some scene markers there, then hit Disc Menus OR have you just left the media in Project View/Media, nothing to the Timeline, and then hit Disc Menus? However, whether or not any thing is on the Timeline, you should still be getting a DVD Menu in the Disc Menus Monitor after you select a Menu and hit Apply.



Clicked on Disc Menu



Chose a MenuHit Apply

I was going to ask if you highlighted (blue rectangle) the Menu of choice, but, since you said that you clicked on Apply, I am further assuming that you did highlight the choice and therefore had an active (not grayed out) Apply Button.



After you hit Apply, did you get any message or dialogs, like:

Missing Menu Marker Dialog

Automatically Set Menu Scene Markers



At this point, in the bin below the Disc Menus Monitor, you should see a Main Menu and a Scene Menu. Which ever one of those is selected in the bin will be the one that is showing in the Monitor. So, when you say No menu would appear, are you saying that there were no menu images in the Monitor and/or the bin?



By any chance, are you looking for the DVD Menu to appear on the Timeline? You are never going to see the Main Menu or the Scene Menu on the Timeline of the program. You can edit the menu in the Disc Menus Monitor and check its button workings in the Monitor by pressing Preview.



Again, please excuse if I have asked inappropriate questions, but I was not sure what was happening or not happening in your situation.



ATR

Yes, the movie is in the timeline.



Yes I highlighted the menu I want. No I did not get any messages or dialogs, and no, I know that the meu does not appear on the timeline. It is not showing up in the Disc Menus monitor.

Andy Herrman



I just saw the following topic in this forum. Check it out to see if any of it applies to your situation.



http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b803c6/0



ATR

Andy Herrmann,



As I recall, Adobe T/S offers free installation troubleshooting to owners of the latest version of Premiere Elements, namely version 7. Otherwise, it is a paid for T/S service.



We could go onto another level of troubleshooting here, but to protect your rights under that Adobe policy, it would be to your advantage to check out the problem with Adobe T/S as soon as possible.



I will be watching for your progress.



ATR

%26lt;Andy_Herrmann@adobeforums.com%26gt; wrote in message%26lt;br /%26gt;news:59b80424.4@webcrossing.la2eafNXanI%26lt;br /%26gt;%26gt; Yes, the movie is in the timeline.%26lt;br /%26gt;%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;%26gt; Yes I highlighted the menu I want. No I did not get any%26lt;br /%26gt;%26gt; messages or dialogs, and no, I know that the meu does not%26lt;br /%26gt;%26gt; appear on the timeline.%26lt;br /%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;They never do. You have to add the menu markers where you want them to %26lt;br /%26gt;point to in the timeline.%26lt;br /%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;%26gt; It is not showing up in the Disc Menus monitor.%26lt;br /%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;Try adding some scene markers to the time line, first.

Hello Andy,

Did you find a solution to your problem ? I have the exact same issue and I can't find a way to sort it out.

Thx

Gunther

I've written a Steve's Tips article on adding and customizing DVD menus. It's a free download from the product's page at Muvipix.com.

http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=41

Having the exact same problem too. What's the fix?

Hello Steve,

Thanks. This is a good tutorial, however it doesn't fix the problem. It seems to be more of a technical issue from the software itself...

Hope anybody finds a solution because this is getting very frustrating.

Cheers

I'm with Steve on this. I am still not sure what is being done, and what is happening, or not happening.

Rather than a Menu ''creation'' issue, this seems to be an issue with PE7 not using a selected Menu from the Template's Library.

As we now have three users with problems that seem to be at least similar, clarification of the exact problem(s) would seem to be in order.

Can someone outlne the exact steps that they are using, give a description of their Project, and exactly what is happening, or not happening with regards to their Menu? It could be something as simple as not pressing an OK at the appropriate time, or perhaps it's a glitch with some particular Menu Template in PE7 (stranger things have been known to happen). The more detail, the better.

Wishing everyone good luck,

Hunt

FYI: I was able to solve the problem by uninstalling and re-installing PRE7. Now I can drag menu tempates in just fine.

But, I ran into yet another problem with PRE7, totally unrelated. So I uninstalled PRE7 again and this time left it uninstalled.

I'm using PowerDirector now and kicking myself for wasting my money on PRE7.

Repeating a background clip without...

I have a 5 second background clip that I want to repeat 6X into a final 30 second clip without any transition. In other words, it should look like a continuous loop before I chromakey over it. How do I accomplish this in Premier Elements 7?
Repeating a background clip without...
Just put 6 of them back-to-back on the timeline.
Repeating a background clip without...
If the last frame of the clip is the start of a new cycle, then you can cut off the first frame of each succeeding clip, so you don't have two consecutive frames that are the same.

I guess I'm looking for a stacking feature that can seamlessly create one 30 second background scene from six 5 second clips, because when you chromakey your second clip (in this case 30 seconds), it will only attach itself to one 5 second clip.



I've seen this stacking icon on the importing of similar clips done automatically.



So what I'm attempting, is taking a 5 second background clip and wanting to make it into a seamless (repeating) 30 second clip, before I chromakey my second 30 second video overtop of it.

That isn't something you can do in Premiere Elements, Thomas. Sorry.

Try exporting the 6 x 5 seconds clips as a DV-AVI, File%26gt;Export%26gt;Movie. Bring this 30 sec clip back into Premiere Elements and use the chromakey.

Well what does one do with all these short motion clips? How do they get them to repeat in the background over and over again when making a chromakey newscast or infomercial?

Paul LS:



Bingo!I exported six of the same clip as an AVI and imported it back,,,,and its a 30 second seamless (looping) scene.



Many Thanks!

NTSC

I have Premier elements 3.0 running on Vista.

I have been editing sucessfully.

I have a couple of film that were taken on an older us spec . camera and are therefor NTSC format. They play o,k on my new Sony camera but I cannot capture onto Premier.I have tried the setup at the open sceen set to NTSC but when I try to capture some footage the camera operates but all I get is a scrambled still picture on the capture screen. Am I being stupid or will Elements not accept the NTSC film. Mick
NTSC
Try having the NTSC tape playing before opening the capture window. Also the preview may not be seen in PE7 monitor.
NTSC
It could also be that, since you are in the UK, you installed a PAL version of the program.



When you say you set up NTSC in the ''open'' screen, do you mean that you started a new NTSC DV project?



Also, can you confirm that you're capturing over a FireWire cable from a miniDV camcorder?

Thank you for your input. Yes I am using a firewire from my mini dv recorder

Yes I started it as a new NTSC project

Mick

What happens if you capture using the free utility WinDV?

http://windv.mourek.cz/

Did you try with the tape playing before opening the capture window?

Hi Paul

Yes it seems to work if I get the right sequence and start the tape first. It seems a little tempremental as I have had a coouple of

Frames dropped during capture meesages. Should I do anything else

Again thank you

Mick

Frames dropped may not be a problem... do you notice any audio sync issues or and judders in the playback? If not the dropped frames are not an issue... assuming it is reporting them correctly.

Yes I have had a few judders and once I got no playback picture but could hear the sound track. I am still experimenting so have not started the project yet

Again thank you

Mick

**HELP** DVD Templates NOT WORKING PE7!

Please help. I just installed the additional content and I am trying to use the DVD templates. The templates show up in PE7, but when I drag a template to the drop spot in the Disc Menus area, nothing happens. I have tried clicking the Apply button, too, and still nothing. PE is installed on my C: drive, but I installed the templates on an external USB drive (M:). Could this be the problem? I don't really have space on my primary drive for the 4GB of templates. Thanks in advance for any help.



David
**HELP** DVD Templates NOT WORKING PE7!
I don't know what you mean by dragging the template to the drop spot, but that's not how you create a DVD menu, David.



You go to Disc Menus, select a template and click Apply.



If this is what you're describing, can you be more specific than ''nothing happens''?



And, yes, installing the templates to an external drive definitely could be at the root of your problems. These menus must be in the DVD templates folder in the Premiere Elements program files, on your C drive. Otherwise, I'm surprised you can even see them!
**HELP** DVD Templates NOT WORKING PE7!
Also, if you are running low on free hard drive space you may not be able to export/burn your project anyway. Ideally you want at least 40 or 50GB free when you start a project.

By dragging and dropping, I mean that in the Disc Menus on the left part of the screen it says, ''drag a template here...blah blah''. Either way, dragging a template or clicking apply I get an hourglass for about a half second, then nothing happens. It seems odd that the installer would let me install the templates to my external drive, even though I installed PE to my C: drive. Well, what I may try to do is uninstall it from the C: drive and actually just install PE to my external drive since I've got plenty of space there.



I'll let you know what happens. Thanks.

You won't be able to use Premiere Elements on your external drive, David. It will only work if it's installed on your C drive.



Are you lacking space on your C drive? This could be another potential problem. I recommend a minimum of 30 gigs free and defragmented on your C drive. (You definitely need at least 20 for the program to run well) -- and more if you're editing over half an hour of video.

Well, I reinstalled on my external drive (I saw the message above too late), and, lo and behold, it actually seems to work fine!



Looks like I'm off and running. Thanks.

It is because of the memory. Please shutdown and restart the machine or give some free spaces in your hardisk. I think it should work.

Out of curiosity, why do you need so much free space on the C: drive if PE is set to use a separate drive for all configurable file I/O (media cache, preview files, etc)? What does PE do on the C: drive other than perhaps bump up the page file?



Paul

I don't think you really do need the free space on your C: drive. I installed PE on my external drive, even though someone said it wouldn't work. It does work just fine. I only have 5GB free on my 60GB laptop drive (my laptop is not performing well, as you can imagine, but that's another issue). I also only have about 25GB free on my external drive. Everything is working fine, however, including the DVD templates, which are also installed on the external drive. I just completed the rendering of a 45 minute DVD at the highest quality setting. It tool a while, but rendered perfectly.

5 gig free? David, you do like to live dangerously! Even Microsoft recommends a minimum of 15% free space on your drive for basic functions -- and Premiere Elements is anything but basic!

I know. What can I say? I have a new laptop coming this week, so that will help. It's hard when your internal drive is only 60GB. I think my new one will be 160. It should take me a little longer to fill that one up!

Go for the same process after shutdown and restart. I still feels it is becuae of memory. Please check the memory size when you could not apply the template.