HD in PE7

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Guys,

I am in the middle of my first HD Project in PE7. A problem is all of a sudden the computer just closes down with no warning. This can happen 2 to 4 times in an afternoon.
A little while ago we read on this site about allowing more ram for PE which we did on our old computers, and it improved the performance. We now have new computers and
for the life of me I can't remember where to do it and I can't find it on the site. I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.
I have done all the right things etc. re size of stills and have converted my AVCHD MTS to WMV, and except for that happening everything goes along fine. What seems to be strange is that
some days the computer does not close down, ocassional warning low on system memory but that's about it.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Computer Specs:
Intel i7 2.80GHZ, 8 gb DDR3 Ram
750 W Power Supply:
1 GB DDR4 Memory Video Card
Windows 7 Pro.
Thank you in advance.

[roadsideron]

Can you be more specific when you say, "Close down"? Does it shut off compeletely and reboot, or does PE just shut down and your computer returns to the desktop? Did you build this system or was it bought pre-built?

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Bubby! Welcome to Muvipix!

Windows 7 is an excellent operating system -- but, particularly in the 64-bit variety, not all of the 64-bit drivers are compatible with 32-bit Premiere Elements. And that may or may not be the problem. But hopefully, when Windows 7 SP1 is released later this summer, it will resolve most of the these issues.

I'm not sure who advised you to convert AVCHD to WMV, but that's probably not the most efficient workflow. I'd advise converting the AVCHD to HDV -- and making sure your Premiere Elements project is set to the HDV project setting, of course. See if that works any more smoothly for you.
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/390605?tstart=0

True HDV, when used in a project set up for HDV, should load to your project's timeline without a red line above it. If that happens, you'll know you're using the most efficient video format for your settings.

If not, then make sure you render often. (Press Enter -- the red lines above the clips on your timeline will turn green.) Rendering is the best way to keep even inefficient video working as stably as possible.

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Guys, and thank you so much for the replys.
In answer to the first question, we both had the same computers built with the same specs. This time to our specifications. My husband (Little Nac) has had no problems with his, but having said that, he is only working on SD footage. What I mean by "closing down" is that all of a sudden, the computer just shuts down completely. Does not re-boot or go to the desktop, it just shuts down. I wait about a minute then have to push the button to re-start the whole system.
Now for the AVCHD question.
When we returned from our usual two months in your great country this year, it was the first time I had actually used my Panasonic camera. I didn't realize that the file ext, was MTS.
I then knew I had to convert it as PE7 would accept about 30 secs, but anything more than that, it would just lock up. So we went on the Net to research all the various converters. We downloaded as many as we could (including the free ones), and converted a couple of pieces of footage, from all the software and burnt a couple of DVDs to play on our DVD player.
After about a week of testing, we felt that the program Pavtube gave the best results. Especially quality wise, it seemed brilliant, so we bought it.
The reason we elected to go with WMV is because in Pavtube there is a special setting for Adobe/Sony Vegas, and one of their recommended settings is WMV.
After your suggestion Steve, I have just done some experiments with the settings you recommended.
Here is the results:
I used the same video clip for each test.
1. Each size is at least double in size to WMV.
2. You don't have to render it as you said, but half the audio is lost on some of the clips.

The sample setting I used:
MPEG-2 HD Video
The size of the video of 15 secs. long:
MTS=27.1MB, WMV=16.9Mb, MPEG=65.9Mb

Thanks once again, for all the help.

[roadsideron]

Did an independent shop build these for you or did a commercial computer corp do them? First off, I doubt whether software could shut your system down completely like it's doing. The first thing to suspect is the power supply. Even if it's new it could be defective. Next is to make absolutely sure all the electrical connections are seated properly including the power cord at the wall socket and into the back of the computer. I've seen power cords that wern't pushed all the way into the back of the power supply cause problems. Your system is a heat monster. The core i7 920 runs hot. The cpu fan may not be properly installed or not cooling properly which could cause a shut down. And if it was my computer I would reseat all of the components back into the motherboard including the Cpu. When you have a very complicated system such as a computer it could be something as minor as a memory stick not being pushed into the socket all the way which could cause major problems. I would first check all the plugs into, and out of the power supply on the mother board and the back of the power supply first. If you have a digital volt meter you can locate a free molex plug and monitor the actual voltage from that plug. You can only monitor the 12 volt and the 5 volt from that plug, but on the 24 pin plug you can monitor the 3 volt levels. On your system you also have a four or eight pin 12 volt plug that plugs into a socket near the cpu. On your system it should be an eight pin, but some just use four pins, which should work. Anyway, unless you send it back to where you bought it to have it trouble shot, you're probably going to have to devote some time to finding the problem. What you might want to try first is to take some of your husbands SD clips and spend some time editing them to see if it could be the HD clips. If no shut downs then it's a software problem. If not, then it's probably a hardware problem.

There are also programs that can monitor your system temperatures. Here's one I use:

http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

and another one I use:

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

Try them as you edit and watch your temps.

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Roadsideron

Thanks so much for your quick reply.
Yes it is an Independent Shop, and over the time they have built 8 computers for us. But this time these were definitely built to
our specs.
We will look into everything you have suggested, and I will definitely give the shop a call on Monday morning, and have it checked out.
Thanks once again

[Bob]

Abrupt shutdowns like that are almost always a hardware problem, usually the power supply; It could also be the motherboard, but that is less likely. It is possible for a program to tell the motherboard to shut off the power, that's what Windows does when you shutdown, but that's not something that an application program should do and it's extremely unlikely that a bug in PrE could do that. Rendering and encoding HD media, being cpu intensive tasks, cause a higher current draw and produce more heat. If there is a marginal component, that could very well trigger a shutdown. If it's still under warrenty, I'd have the manufacturer check it out.

WMV uses lossy compression and the compression ratio is very high. That makes it good as a distribution format, but is not well suited for editing. HDV is a better choice. You shouldn't be having the problem with audio, something's not right.

[Bubby Grub]

Thank you guys for the info.
Bob, I will be phoning the store first thing in the morning.
Could you or someone else please point me in the right direction of which HDV I should be using. Ones I have tried lost my audio. Either all of it or part of it. In Pavtube there seems to be so many, and Pavtube is a free download, so if it is at all possible maybe you could download the trial version and check out all the various conversions. I really don't understand about Bit Rates and compressions etc. If you could help me out that would be really great.
Thank you in advance.
Regards, Bubby Grub

[roadsideron]

HDV in m2t format is what tape records at. It's 1440x1080. I edit clips from my Canon HV20 all the time with no problems. I haven't yet worked with other HD formats yet. I use Blender to output MOV HD clips and Xvid clips and use them in PE 7.0 with no problems. I always use 1280 by 720 from Blender and mix them with my Canon HDV clips with no problems so far.

[Steve Grisetti]

The article I linked you to above should point you to the program and the specs that should produce a perfect HDV, Bubby.

[Bubby Grub]

Thank you all.
I am just about to take my computer back to the shop where we had it built. My hubby phoned them this morning and they said it definitely needs to be checked out.
When I get it back, I'll try all suggestions and let you know how I get on.
Thanks again,
Regards,
Bubby Grub & Little Nac

[Jayell]

Just in case they don't find a computer problem, I recently had a similar issue with my brand new computer rebooting every few days. Turned out to be a bad UPS.

[Bubby Grub]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update on my troubles with the new Computer closing down.
Just got it back from the shop, they tell me it was a crook Video Card.
So hope all ok now, only time will tell.
Thanks once again

[roadsideron]

Crook meaning crooked as in not seated in the slot properly?

[Steve Grisetti]

I give those folks credit. Many times these little shops refuse to admit the problem is at their end. Glad to hear you found someone who's going to leave you a satisfied customer, Bubby!