Help! PSE7 Freezes When Attempting to Play a HD Motion BG...

[George Tyndall]

... by right-clicking on it in the Organizer then selecting Play Audio or Video. These are MOV files of roughly 50MB.

Is this to be expected?

Thanks!

[Chuck Engels]

George, what happens in Premiere Elements? I don't know if Photoshop Elements supports MOV files.

[Steve Grisetti]

Well, MOVs, like AVIs, are just a package. They can use any of a number of possible codecs.

But, as long as you've got the latest version of Quicktime installed, you should be able to play most of them -- and even use them for source videos in Premiere Elements.

Well, MOST of them anyway...

[George Tyndall]

Is this to be expected?

Thanks for your replies.

It turns out that the PSE7 Orgzanizer does not support playing the MOV files (although it does display their thumbnails, which is very helpful).

Here's the link to Adobe's chart showing which files are supported:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PhotoshopEl ... B6BE2.html

[Barb O]

George,

I am not agreeing with the statement that the PSE 7 Organizer will not play any MOV files either based on my own experience or based on reading the chart that you referenced.

-- That chart does show MOV as supported under the Organizer column.
-- I just did a right click on a thumbnail for a .mov file in my PSE 7 Organizer, chose Play video and it played OK

Now other considerations are
-- I have Quicktime 7.5.5 installed (Vista Home Premium SP1). This can be sensitive to the level of Quicktime - some just don't work, but I don't think that the problematic Quicktime levels would have given you the thumbnail either.
-- Because it will play one .mov file I would not conclude that it would always play all .mov. That mov was from a 640x480 video clip from a Panasonic digital still camera and I don't know the specific codec.

I don't have an HD mov file - if this is a muvipix download, I suggest that you identify a specific clip.

[RJ Johnston]

Those MOV files are 1920x1080 h.264 files, which is the equivalent of AVCHD. I can't play them without them sticking. If I put them in a standard definition project and then render a preview (dv-avi), then they play back beautifully.

[George Tyndall]

George,

I am not agreeing with the statement that the PSE 7 Organizer will not play any MOV files either based on my own experience or based on reading the chart that you referenced.

-- That chart does show MOV as supported under the Organizer column

Thanks for your reply, Barb O.

However, just above the chart is the following sentence: "However, the following file types are not recognized by both programs:"

Yes, all my HD Motion BGs are HD--and none of them will play, for example, tybhd004.mov (HD04), by right-clicking on the thumbnail.

[Bob]

However, just above the chart is the following sentence: "However, the following file types are not recognized by both programs:"

Poor and confusing wording to be sure. But, it doesn't mean those file types are not supported in any of the programs. Barb is correct. The chart shows which of those file types are supported in each program -- non-support is indicated by the absence of the file type in the column for the program. If you examine the chart, you'll notice that each file type is missing in at least one of the columns. Which is what that poor wording was trying to convey.

[George Tyndall]

However, just above the chart is the following sentence: "However, the following file types are not recognized by both programs:"

Poor and confusing wording to be sure.

I was wondering about that, Bob, but the fact is that my experience is the same as RJ Johnston's: the HD Motion BGs won't play by right-clicking on the thumbnail. I checked my version of QuickTime, andi it's 7.5, so I went to the Apple website, where I learned that 7.6 is the latest version. Problem is, the installer also wants to download, with Quicktime, the latest version of iTunes, which I do not want, for reasons I've stated elsewhere.

Would "upgrading" to Quick Time Pro help--without causing any of my other software (all of which are currently working perfectly together) to begin to malfunction?

In any case, I'm happy that I can see in the PSE7 Organizer the thumbnails--and even happier that the HD Motion BGs play perfectly when dropped onto the Timeline of a PRE7 project.

[Barb O]

George,

I downloaded an HD background from Muvipix and it did play OK for me from a Photoshop Elements Organizer thumbnail right click, Play video choice.

-- I downloaded the muvipix HD 04 background (which is file name tvbhd293 in the resulting unzipped .mov file).
-- I played it first from Windows Explorer in Quicktime 7.5.5 where it played OK - (after I found how to do a Fit to Screen on the Quicktime window because my monitor resolution is only 1280x800)
-- then I used Photoshop Elements 7 to import it to a catalog, did the right click on the thumbnail and chose Play Video
-- This HD 04 (tvbhd293) background also played for OK for me when playing from within the Photoshop Elements Organizer

I still suspect that the version level of Quicktime is significant here. Unfortunately I can't give you info about 7.6 because I have not used it.

ADDITIONAL comment
Using that same catalog in Premiere Elements, I was able to double click on the thumbnail for that HD 04 background and have it play OK

[Bob]

Would "upgrading" to Quick Time Pro help--without causing any of my other software (all of which are currently working perfectly together) to begin to malfunction?

I don't believe it would help. The "Pro" upgrade unlocks functionality in the Quicktime Player, but the codecs are the same.

You should be able to download just the Quicktime Installer without Itunes. On the download page (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/), notice that there are two radio buttons: the quicktime + itunes installer is the default but right underneath that is quicktime only.

[George Tyndall]

[... notice that there are two radio buttons: the quicktime + itunes installer is the default but right underneath that is quicktime only.

Yes, Bob, I did select the lower button, and that is why I was surprised to get the message that the Installer wanted also to update iTunes. Anyway, I just now installed QuickTime 7.6.92.0, and I was pleasantly surprised by the Read Me: "QuickTime now supports H.264 video," however, downloading the software and restarting gives the same result as before, namely, I can open SD Motion BGs but not HD.

It seems PSE7 wants to open the file but then there is a, for lack of a better word, flash just like we see when a Popup is blocked.

[George Tyndall]

George,

I downloaded an HD background from Muvipix and it did play OK for me from a Photoshop Elements Organizer thumbnail right click, Play video choice.

Thanks for sharing that information, Barb O. I wonder whether our different experience results from using different OSs, in your case Vista Home sp1 and in mine XP MCE2005.

[Barb O]

I wonder whether our different experience results from using different OSs, in your case Vista Home sp1 and in mine XP MCE2005.

I can't really say, but I would still suspect something related to Quicktime or Qucktime <-> Adobe Elements rather than the operating system.

Can you play that same HD background clip, if you just play it in Quicktime directly (meaning not from Photosphop or Premiere Elements Organizer)?

[George Tyndall]

Can you play that same HD background clip, if you just play it in Quicktime directly (meaning not from Photosphop or Premiere Elements Organizer)?

Yes, I can play the HD Motion BG directly from my HDD. Also, they import and function perfectly on the PRE7 Timeline.

A new development that I just now discovered is that, in addition to the HD Motion BGs, NONE of my other HD clips will play--but the SD ones, including the SD Motion BGs, will!