Transcoding Error

[John Walker]

Just finished my first full project with PRE 14. Plays back perfectly from the timeline. A mixture of video and an end section of stills with a lot of transitions and music/sounds.

Video clips are all AVCHD 1920 x 1080 (50i 24M (FX) ) Stills are all jpeg.

When I try to burn an ISO image or burn to disc I get and immediate 'Transcoding Error' but with no further explanation.

Have checked through your book but couldn't find reference to this error but I might well have missed it.

Where do I go from here please ?

Regards
John

[Steve Grisetti]

Here are some general ideas:
1) Go to Edit/Project Settings/General and ensure your Project Settings match your video specs.
2) Ensure that your photos are no larger than 2000x1500 px (72 ppi).
3) Do a Save As and save your project to a new folder that has no other files in it. This gives the program a clean slate to work with as it transcodes your files.
4) If you're on a Windows computer, ensure that your hard drive has 50-100 gigabytes of free space and run Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to make sure that that space is clean and not full of fragmentation. This is especially true if you've recently upgraded your OS, but still a good idea if you want to ensure the program can grab large chunks of space to work with.
5) Ensure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card and that you have the latest version of Quicktime.
6) For best results, save your ISO file to a directory folder that has no other files in it.

Also--
Go to the program's Prefences (under the Edit menu on a PC) and, on the General page, uncheck Use Hardware Acceleration -- a settings that has been known to bug up some processes.

[Bob]

Transcode errors can be caused by many things. A common cause is a gap in the timeline. Even a singe frame with no video or audio can be a problem. Check your timeline. If you find a gap, eliminate it.

[John Walker]

Many thank Steve and Bob,

Tried all the above but no change. I then started a new test project and imported a dozen .MTS files and dropped them on the timeline - no gaps. A very simple project with no transitions etc. Rendered and saved to a separate directory on an almost empty drive. Exactly the same result. Transcoding Error pops up immediately.

I then went back to my main project and produced a perfect MP4 file which plays back at high quality without a hiccup.

The only area I'm not sure of is project specs. I allowed Premier to decide on correct settings from the first clip. I've added some attachments. One is the spec of one of my video clips and aother is what Premier has set the project to. I haven't a clue if it's correct but it looks right. I'm hoping that these screen prints might enable a knowledgeable person to see what I'm doing wrong.

Basically, I just do not seem to be able to burn a disc or produce an ISO image no matter what I've tried so far.

Any help appreciated.

Regards
John
ps. probably obvious but just to confirm - I'm in PAL land
.

[Steve Grisetti]

Have you tried saving your ISO into a directory folder that has no other files in it?

[John Walker]

Thanks Steve

Yes I've tried that - in fact all the previous suggestions have been into operation with no change.

A few developments since previous post.

[1] Although not a Blue ray project, I selected the Blue ray option and no Transcode Error and file started to build. I cancelled before completion.

[2] I produced a successful MP4 file which play perfectly

[3] I imported the MP4 file into a new project in Premiere. Again the timeline looks fine and plays perfectly but still got Transcode Errors when I tried to burn a disc or produce an ISO file.

[4] I then tried importing the MP4 file into Movieplus X6 and it made a perfect ISO file without any problem. Playback quality is excellent. This is ok as a temp work around but it's long winded.

As you might guess, I'm totally confused by all this. Are my project settings etc ok for producing an ISO file or burning a DVD? They are correct for matching my camera files.

Is there a bug in 14?

Regards
John

[Steve Grisetti]

No transcoding bugs that I'm aware of.

But if you'd like to place the project and all its media into a Dropbox and share it with me, I'll be glad to see if it will transcode on my computer. That will at least tell us if the issue is with the project file, the program or something on your computer.

If loading the whole bundle of media files creates way too large of a file, you can output your video using Export & Share/Devices/Computer/HD 1080 (1920x1080) with the M2T-H.264 format setting -- then save a copy of your project file, delete all of the media in your copy and replace it with this M2T file. Save that and the M2T file and post those for me to test drive. (Although before you do, try doing an ISO from this project and see if it works first. You may find replacing all of your mixed media with a single M2T file resolves your issue.)

[John Walker]

Update:

I've now produced an M2T file and imported it into a new project. Same result - immediate Transcode Error as soon as I click on 'burn'.

The M2T file is shown in Premiere Export as being for Blue Ray - not sure if this makes a difference as I'm trying to produce a standard DVD.

I'd posed the problem on another forum and a couple of replies have just come in. They both say they think I am missing the mpeg2 codec but don't say how I check or how to obtain it.

When I use the same clips in Serif Movieplus X6 I can produce an ISO file or burn a disc perfectly. My reason for changing to Premiere is that Serif have now withdrawn support for Movieplus and I'm looking to the future.

Two emails sent to Adobe Technical but no response to date.

Regards
John

[Steve Grisetti]

Thanks for forwarding the files to me, John.

The short project you were having trouble outputting output as a BluRay ISO for me without so much as a hiccup on my i5 quad core. Took about three minutes. So the program seems to do exactly what it should -- and there is nothing wrong with your .prel project file or its media clips.

[John Walker]

Thanks Steve,

I think I must have caused confusion in my posts for which I apologise. It's a standard DVD ISO or direct burn I can't produce.

When I opt for BlueRay I don't get a transcode error either. Unfortunately none of the recipients for my DVDs have BlueRay players - in fact I don't have a BlueRay player - it hasn't really caught on over here.

Would you be kind enough to try the files using the DVD option in Export as that is where the transcode error appears on my system.

I've attached the settings where I get the error warning which shows just under the progress bar.
Regards
John

[Steve Grisetti]

The program output a DVD ISO for me also -- even faster. Took less than a minute for your 57 second project.

I also had no trouble burning a PAL DVD.

[Bob]

They both say they think I am missing the mpeg2 codec but don't say how I check or how to obtain it.

The mpeg2 codec is shipped with Premiere Elements and is installed as part of the package. It's unlikely that it's missing, but, if somehow it is, reinstalling Premiere Elements should take care of it.

[John Walker]

Thanks Steve and Bob

Knowing that there wasn't a bug a in the system following your test Steve, made me start to think deeper . I had already reinstalled the program over the top of the existing program in case any files were missing but that made no difference. Tonight, I completely uninstalled and reinstalled PRE14 and 'magic' - it now burns DVDs and ISO files without a problem.

So a big thank you for bearing with me Steve and I can now move forward and continue to learn from your brilliant book The Muvipix.com Guide to Adobe Elements 14. There's a lot of useful info in there that I couldn't have obtained elsewhere.

Hopefully this will be the last you hear from me for a while but I'll continue to look in on the forum.

Kind regards
John

[Steve Grisetti]

That's awesome news, John! Glad we could be a part of your solution.

And thank you so much for supporting our books and Muvipix.com!

[John Walker]

Out of interest, that's the first time I've ever experienced a program mis-load since I first used MS-DOS in the 80s. Guess I've been rather lucky. You never stop learning with computers.

I was seriously beginning to suspect a program bug, which I suppose it was in a way but not a coding error. There was no warning to advise of a mis-load and it launched fine.

Cheers
John