Perplexed with PE9

[zimmedl+1]

With all of the photo editing that I do on my computer I have never been more frustrated about trying to get a program to work right. I am talking about PE9. It seems to work and then it doesn't. Here is my current problem. When I launch PE9 I will either open an existing project or create a new one. In either case, when I open it from the welcome screen it opens up but then is frozen. I can not edit, I can not get media etc. If I do a Ctrl Alt Del on my computer and it tells me that PE9 has quit responding. So then I close the application. If I go to the folder in my documents where the project is located and click on the prel file inside of that folder it will open PE9 and the project seems to work fine. It is very frustrating to open PE9 from the desktop icon and then have it freeze once I open it up. Does anyone have any idea as to how to fix this?
I have deinstalled and reinstalled the program using the add/remove programs from the control panel but that did not fix the problem either. Another thing that is bugging me is that I continue to believe ( not 100% sure ) that I am picking the correct settings when I start a new project but ALWAYS when I bring in a clip, I get the message that the format is wrong and needs to be fixed. I have two different formats that I am trying to bring in - not in the same project. One is a HD format from a Canon 5D MK11 and the other is Sony Flash camcorder not HD. I even tried converting the Sony flash MPEG file to DV format with Super. The PE9 program did not like that either with the setting I picked. I would be a somewhat happy camper if I could get these two problems fixed or resolved.
Here is my computer information:
Intel Core (TM) 2 Quad CPU
Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
4.0 GB of RAM on Windows XP. I know that the actual available amount of RAM is less do to Windows XP.
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
Thanks,
Denny

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Denny,
Sorry to hear you are having such problems with the program.

How long are you waiting when you open the program before deciding it is frozen?
Just because Task Manager says "Not Responding" doesn't really mean anything.
If the program is busy doing stuff in the background Task Manager will always say that.

How long are the projects you are currently working on?

Some projects can take 3 - 5 minutes for Premiere Elements to actually come to life, it depends on what is in the organizer and what all is in your project.

There is another way to open the program, skipping the Welcome Screen and that might help you also.
If you look under; C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 9
you will see two .exe files, try opening the program with the "Adobe Premiere Elements.exe" (you can create a shortcut for your desktop).
The other .exe file is the "Adobe Premiere Elements 9.exe", that is the one that is used in the shortcut that takes you to the Welcome Screen.

Using the other method of opening the program may help, give it a shot. If you have any questions just let us know.

[roadsideron]

One of the problems that could cause that is having a video clip in your organizer that PE is having trouble reading. I've had that happen in PE 7.0 and I was able to find and delete the offending file and all was right. I'm not sure how you'd find that file it that is the case here. Another thing, is your splash screen freezing before you get to the window where you can choose an existing project?

[Chuck Engels]

Thanks Ron, you reminded me of something else that could cause these types of problems.
Make sure your video and audio drivers are up to date as well as Quicktime.
Any of those can cause problems like you are seeing.

[George Tyndall]

If I go to the folder in my documents where the project is located and click on the prel file inside of that folder it will open PE9 and the project seems to work fine.

Personally, that is the ONLY method I now use to open any of my PE projects, regardless of the particular version that I used to create it, and here is why: I want to be always certain that I am opening the correct (intended) PREL file. (All my PREL files are stored on one of four different external HDDS, each of which has 2 backups. Because it sometimes happens that I find myself wishing to edit a project that I created months or even years earlier, I tend to retain nearly all the PREL files I have ever created.)

In the past, when I was still using the Welcome screen, it would sometimes happen that I could not be sure which of the proposed PREL files I wished to open.

Once I began going directly to the PREL file on the particular external HDD, I've never opened the wrong project.

[Matthew Max]

What a great piece of wisdom, George. In this age of backups backups backups, it's easy to lose our recent work. When I was taking library science courses in grad school, a veteran librarian said, "If you can't find a book in your library's collection, you don't have it." She meant that you have to know where something is in order for it to be useful.

I'm using your way of opening projects from now on.

[zimmedl+1]

Thanks everyone for your replies. You are all very helpful. I have created a shortcut using the .exe file that was suggested. It SO FAR seems to be working better by being able to avoid that Welcome screen. In answer to your previous questions, I am in the learning stage with PE9 so my projects are only test projects. That is to say, I am only using 2-5 clips in these projects just to see how this program works. None of the projects are big. So when PE9 would open from the welcome screen after I picked a project ( either an existing one or to create a new one ) my desktop area ( monitor, task, timeline/sceneline, media, get media - everything would just freeze up. I couldn't do anything. I had to close out of PE9 and the only way that I could get it to work was by coming in through My Documents Prel files. Anyway, I will try using the new shortcut and see what happens.

On a follow up from my first post, does anyone have any idea why I get a mismatch on the files that I am importing into PE9. I purchased the Muvipix.com book and am trying to follow it religiously. I think that I am bringing in the video files correctly in the settings when I create a new project but ALWAYS get a mismatch message. I say o.k. fix it but why does this happen? I use a Canon 5D MK11 for my HD and I am using a Sony Handycam ( flash and SD card memory) in standard definition. The Canon for example, is set up to record in 1080 with 30fps. This is what I put in for my settings but always get the mismatch. Am I doing something wrong or is there a fix?

Thanks again for all of your help. Denny

[Steve Grisetti]

Can you be more specific on which Settings preset you are selecting?

Naturally, being two different formats, these camcorders will each require their own separate project and specific presets.

[zimmedl+1]

I understand that you should not mix and match video formats on a project. So these mismatches are not because of that. I am keeping just one format to each project that I create.
Example: I use a Canon 5D Mk11 for HD and the preset that I am using is listed under DSLR presets. It is 1920x1080 16:9 video shooting at 30fps. I looked at my camera settings and this is what I am using. Yet, when I put those clips into the sceneline/timeline I get the mismatch message. I can not figure out what I am doing wrong.

The other format that I use is from a Sony DCR-SX63 camcorder. The specs tell me that this camcorder is putting out video in MPEG-2PS and audio in Dolby Digital 2ch with Dolby Digital Stereo Creator. This camera has internal memory of 16 GB and I also have a SD card installed. I have tried two presets with this format. 1: Without doing any conversion, I tried The preset from Hard Disk, Flash memory Camcorder - The Standard 48kHz, Standard definition 720x480 4:3 video . Since this is not HD, I thought this was the appropriate one. 2. Also, I tried converting this format to DV using the Super converter. All went well with the conversion but again when I put this converted clip into PE9 I got a mismatch. This time I used the preset of DV at Standard 48kHz 720x480 4:3 video from a miniDV tape based camcorder.

I must not understand what I am doing so your help is much appreciated.
Denny

[Steve Grisetti]

You seem to be using the correct settings for the DSLR, so I'm not sure why you're getting mismatch warnings with it. But if you select the option to let the program set your project settings, what settings do you then see when you go to Edit/Project Settings? And, when you do let the program choose your settings, do your clips show up on the timeline with no red lines above them?

Your Sony may be a bit tougher of a fit. It's one of a new breed of multi-format standard def camcorders that introduces so many variables that we're still not sure what to recommend.

First, I would recommend you only shoot in HQ mode if you plan to edit in Premiere Elements. Then I would select the 720x480 standard def project preset under Hard Drive, Flash Memory Camcorder as the project preset. It still may not be a perfect match. You'll see a red line above all of your clips on the timeline, so you'll need to continually render as you work. But that, unfortunately, as likely as good as it's going to get for this camcorder format.

Unless someone who uses one of these cams has discovered a solution that works. These standard def hard drive cams are, unfortunately, not made to interface with third-party editing programs.

[zimmedl+1]

Thank you Steve. I will continue to work on this and maybe I will discover what is different. I have another question but will post it separately since it is a different subject. Wow, I am trying to follow your book but my program doesn't want to co-operate. Could I have gotten a bad copy of this software? I am using the packaged DVD version.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Wow, I am trying to follow your book but my program doesn't want to co-operate. Could I have gotten a bad copy of this software? I am using the packaged DVD version.

See if re-installing the software helps. The re-install should not affect any project work in progress.

[zimmedl+1]

I did reinstall it once and things are still screwy in certain areas. Not sure what to do next at this point. It's not that things are falling apart but rather there are pieces that I find missing as I pointed out in another post. I have not even tried to output a video yet and that is what concerns me. I am learning this program but these little annoyances keep getting in the way.

[nickky007]

...Example: I use a Canon 5D Mk11 for HD and the preset that I am using is listed under DSLR presets. It is 1920x1080 16:9 video shooting at 30fps. I looked at my camera settings and this is what I am using. Yet, when I put those clips into the sceneline/timeline I get the mismatch message. I can not figure out what I am doing wrong...

I'm a PrE9 beginner myself and not too happy about the presets. But I developed my own simple strategy. I let Pre9 select the preset which it prefers for my footage (see Steve's book, Chapter 3, page 50 "Automatically fix mismatched project settings") and then adopt it as my own choice.
Step 1: New project. I deliberately use a preset which I am fairly sure will be a real bad choice and tease PrE9 to change it.
Step 2: When I drag my first clip to the timeline, Pre9 offers to choose the correct preset. I agree and let it do its magic. Now, Pre9's preset is my preset. From now on, I always use Pre9's chosen preset for this type of my footage.
This works well for my footage.

It may not work as well with your footage. For example, if Pre9 did not have a preset that matches your footage entirely. I guess, in that case, Pre9 would switch to the predefined preset which comes closest to your footage. Since it did not match completely, PrE9 still would need to do some conversion, the least possible amount of conversion, I hope.
I use Mediainfo (freeware) to inspect my footage details and to compare them to Pre9's favourite choice.

What happens if you accept Pre9's choice for your Canon 5D Mk11 HD footage? You save the project. Open it again and add some other clip of the same kind to the timeline. Will it want to change the project settings again? Then I would suspect that Pre9's earlier profile choice comes close but does not fit completely.

[Steve Grisetti]

Usually, you'll only see the Project Mismatch screen when the first clip you've added to the timeline doesn't match. So I don't believe it will change your project settings again when you add new footage from another camcorder to the same project.