No video thumbnails

[dad of 1]

I am using Photoshop Elements 6. I just bought a sony camcorder when I import the videos everything goes smoothly except I can not figure out how to get a thumbnail for the file (The first frame of the video) I just get a film strip icon instead. When I previously imported video from home made dvd's Photoshop used the first frame of the video as the thumbnail.

[Steve Grisetti]

Are you talking about seeing a thumbnail in Premiere Elements 4?

Have you tried clicking on the little filmstrip icon to the left of the video track name (Video 1, Video 2, etc.)? This should toggle you through your clip view options.

[Steve Grisetti]

Or are you talking about viewing the clip in the Organizer?

If you are looking at video from a DVD or which was not captured over FireWire, you may not see a thumbnail. Many video types don't generate thumbnails, and you'll see just a blank filmstrip icon instead.

[dad of 1]

I am not using elements 4 just photoshop 6. The videos I imported from homemade dvds were avi and thumbnails automatically appeared in photoshop. The new camcorder videos are mpg and have the blank thumbnail. If I purchase elements would it give me a thumbnail option for my new mpg files? I am trying to keep things simple its great to be able to keep all my digital photos and videos in the same program from what I have read elements will use the organizer from photoshop 6. Thanks for your assistance

[Steve Grisetti]

No. You will not see thumbnails of MPEGs either. (Note that Organizer in Premiere Elements is even more primitive than the one in Photo Elements.)

[Barb O]

Dad,

Which Sony camcorder? My son has a Sony HDD SCR-SR100 camcorder and it produces .mpg files. So we many have similar files.

Dad, Steve and Chuck,

Short version of my response is --
I think that the cause for no thumbnail image in the Photoshop Elements Organizer is lack of a system registered mpeg2 codec available to all applications on that PC.

Longer version of my response with supporting details --

My experience has been with the Photoshop Elements 5 Organizer. However, I called the problem in to Adobe Tech Support and based on discussion with Adobe I think the situation is the same for Photoshop Elements 6 Organizer. I am not sure about the Premiere Elements 4 Organizer.

The PSE Organizer needs an mpeg2 codec registered to Windows as available to all applications in order to be able to create a thumbnail.
-- Our Sony camcorder came with Image Mixer software, but installing it does not give me a PSE thumbnail.
-- Even an MPEG2 file created by Premiere Elements will not have a thumbnail - the MPEG2 codec used by Premiere Elements is not registered to Windows for general use
-- Chuck has recommended installing the K-Lite codec pack for a source of the necessary codec. However I have been remiss and have not done this

-- However, I was recently working on a classroom PC where an MPEG2 codec had just been installed for a different class and there was a thumbnail for my mpg file (from the Sony camcorder) in the Photoshop Elements 5 Organizer

[dad of 1]

installed K-Lite codec pack and a mpeg2 codec and still no thumbnails on the videos from my Sony DCR-SR45 more suggestions? I hate to convert the videos fom mpeg to avi just so I can have the thumbnails. Thanks again for the help past & future.

[Barb O]

Dad, a couple of different thoughts. I don't think that you should need to convert the mpg files in order to get the thumbnails so I suspect that it just takes some more troubleshooting to isolate what is missing.

I am wondering what you did to try to create the thumbnail image?
After you installed the mpeg2 codec,
-- did you right click on the exisiting film stirp thumbnail and choose Update Thumbnail?
-- Or did you remove that mpg file from the catalog (NOT checking to also delete from your PC hard drive) and then import that mpg file to the Photoshop Ele ments Organizer again after the codec was installed?

Also I now found Chuck's previous post to me about the codec pack and it has more detailed information.

Try this link because it think it will take you directly to Chuck's post where has imbedded screen shots to illustrate
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1988&p=16237&hilit=klite+k+lite#p16237

[dad of 1]

I installed the codec package from your attached link. I now have the thumbnails on my desktop computer (xp) but the same download did not produce the same results on my laptop running PE (vista) Will try to work on it tonight again. Thanks again were making progress!!

[Barb O]

I always like good news.

I don't have a Vista machine yet. However there are a few people on these forums who do. So do post back whatever you find and if you have not solved it for Vista we will try to find someone else on these fourms who can help.

[dad of 1]

Barb
Updated quicktime to version 7 and thumbnails appeared on the laptop!! Don't understand why but who am I to question success.
Thanks for all the assistance.

[Barb O]

I don't understand why there would be a relationship between a thumbnail from an .mpg file (mpeg2) and Quicktime either. However, as you said - why question success.

And thanks to Chuck Engels for the original instructions about the download and installation of the K-lite codec pack.

[Chuck Engels]

This was a very informative thread, thank you both very much