I am now needing to render every time I make any kind of a change at all. Even if I just make a cut in a section the line along the top of that whole section is orange and when I try to play it, the audio is usually OK but the video stops and starts. So after every single change I now have to render. I didn't used to have to do this. My computer is defragged. I am not running anything else except Elements. Any suggestions as to why this is happening?

Are you editing simple AVCHD MTS video from your Canon camcorder and are your project settings a perfect match for your video?

Also, go to your Preferences and uncheck the option to use Hardware Acceleration (which only improves performance if you have and Intel Graphics system).

Yes, it is AVCHD MTS video, recorded at 60P. I am attaching screenshots of the project settings. The Hardware Acceleration is unchecked, as that was causing problems before.

Well, clearly your project settings don't match your video specs, if you're really shooting in 60p.

But I'm surprised you're having performance issues with such a fast computer.

Is your computer a simple, stock set-up -- no partitioned drives or virtual memory spread to another drive or RAID setups or anything beyond a basic computer?

And, likewise, is there anything at all unusual about how Premiere Elements is set up? Are your media and project files on your C drive or in another location.

What's going on is very strange. If everything you have setup is standard, I can't imagine what would cause your renders to be lost every time you re-open your project.

Is there a way to make the project settings match?

Off the shelf computer. Not partitioned. All parts of each video in one main folder though divided into separate folders in it.

As far as I know Premier Elements is set up OK. Loaded it from the disc and there were no complications. We still have the menu malfunction so that is an issue. Also I keep getting a message saying that the update to 13.1 is available. Click to install and it says it is installing. Opens the program again and the message saying that the update to 13.1 is still available. No matter how many times I try to install it, it does the same thing. So there may be glitches somewhere in the program, but I don't know how to fix it.

It doesn't lose the renders when I open a project. But as soon as I do anything at all, even just cutting the video and nothing else, then the video is so bad it needs to be rendered right away so I can work on it.

Something else that is happening is that when I open a file which I have worked on previously and saved on this computer, no alterations, it often has to conform the audio. Should it need to do this almost every time?

Read this thread in Adobe forums about audio conforming. It has some good information that may help you figure out what's going on. It's about Premiere Pro, but it applies equally to Premiere Elements.

Thanks Bob. That may be what is going on. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you how to do what they want you to do...

Another example of what is happening. It used to be if I added a transition, then only the frames involved in the transition needed to be rendered. Now the whole clips on either side of the transition need to be rendered again. Does this help anyone figure out what is happening?

Just to confirm, saddletree, you do have Quicktime 7's components installed on your computer, right? I have a vague memory of this constant rendering issue being related to an older version of Quicktime.

It doesn't look like there is any quicktime on my computer, nor has there ever been when it was working better.

saddletree, There's been a problem with clips that have been stabilized (shake reduction fx). Render files become lost or lose sync when you open the project, especially if there are other effects on the clips with shake reduction. I think I recall a problem as well when titles are used in parallel with clips that have shake reduction. Do you have anything like that?

And I still would recommend your installing the Quicktime components, as the program does depend on them.

I haven't used the shake reduction fx at all.

Steve, I did install quicktime. No changes

I had a tech guy come in today to check out the computer and see if he could help. He was able to get the 13.1 installed well, and right off the bat it looked like it had helped. I put in a transition and only those frames needed rendering, as earlier. But with very minimal working with the program, it was all back the way it was before, needing rendering for the full video segments if I added a transition or even made a cut. So... what does this mean?

Oh, and if I do upgrade to 15, what does this do to the files I have worked on? Will they be all messed up? And how different is that program? This one has been enough of a learning curve (as you all who have helped me know! Thanks!) How different is 15 from 13?

The general advice is to complete the project in the version of PrEl that you started that project in.

However, you can import that project into a newer version of PrEl but, just in case, make sure that you keep a copy of the previous version's .prel file so you can go back to the older version of PrEl if you need to.

Note that once you begin working on the project in the newer version of PrEl there is no going back to the older version unless you choose to lose all of the work that you carried out in the newer version. (Hope that makes sense )