CS4 and mp4 / h.264

[AlexBrandon]

Greetings all,

I have been given a task to edit a file that currently only exists as an h.264 file. Upon importing it using the Media Browser in Premiere Pro CS4, it only recognizes the audio.

The file is 1280x720 at 23.98 FPS, H.264, .mp4 file.

I tried VirtualDub to convert it to a raw AVI but that didn't work. Any ideas as to how I can edit this and re-export to an h.264?

Thanks!

-Alex

[Paul LS]

Welcome to muvipix Alex

Where did the video clip come from? Do you know from which camera?

As you say you are probably going to have to convert it before bringing it into CS4. Knowing the source might help. Otherwise Quicktime Pro may convert it. But you would need to buy it, although it is inexpensive.

[Steve Grisetti]

As Paul implies, an MP4 can be a lot of things.

It could be an AVCHD file -- or it could be a file from a cheap Flip camcorder. The former is easy to work with in Premiere. The latter, not so much.

[Dashinuke]

I have the same problem. I've recorded with a Toshiba Camileo on a memorycard, and the output are 720p h.264 .mp4 files. I can open them on my old machine with AE 7.0, but on my new machine with AE and Premiere CS4, it only recognises the audio. Ive installed some codecs, ffdshow and CoreAVC, without any results

[Chuck Engels]

So you have the most current version of Quicktime?

[Chuck Engels]

And another thought, check out Super (free download) http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SUPER
and see if you can view the files in Super and/or in Quicktime.

[Dashinuke]

Seems I'm having version 7.1 while the latest is 7.6. So updating quicktime should solve the problem ?

I can play the files in quicktime (7.1) and in media player classic (which I never managed to do on my previous pc).

I know the application Super, but someone else allready suggested exporting the .mp4 in quicktime pro to a .mov. I managed to get the .mov work in cs4, but I have allot of files, so converting them all isnt really an option, altough you can list/queue them in super.

[Chuck Engels]

There may not be any alternative other than conversion, but you might want to convert to DV-AVI rather than MOV just because you won't have to render the footage in Premiere then. Either Super or Quicktime Pro will work fine, if you already have Quicktime Pro that is the best option.

Updating Quicktime might solve the problem altogether, try importing a file when you are done and see what happens. I don't have the answers, just trying to help you find them

[Chuck Engels]

I can open them on my old machine with AE 7.0, but on my new machine with AE and Premiere CS4, it only recognises the audio.

Is the old machine XP and the new machine Vista by chance?
You could also just export a new file from AE 7 on your old machine and then import that onto the new machine and CS4.
I know you don't want to do the conversions if you don't have to but it may be the only option. At least you have multiple ways to accomplish the conversion if you have to.

[Dashinuke]

I understand, and I appreciate the effort Its just that i've read that Premiere supports avchd files, but my files happen to be not one of them And the entire codec/filetype often gets me terribly confused. I might switch to Vegas then, since I'm editing a holiday video. The next video's ill shoot will be with my own (soon to buy) camera, hopefully in a proper avchd format.

But I've just come to the realization that I mostly work in After Effects anyway, so i'll probarly have to convert them anyway

Ill see if can update quicktime, and Ill install Super.

I have like 3 hours of material, so I guess the best thing to do is to convert them in some batch program like procoder or squeeze (Or super ofcourse)

[edit] Yeah, old machine XP, new machine Vista64

[edit2] Super can play the .mp4 files, no problem

[Chuck Engels]

I am hoping that our moderator Paul LS pops in here before too long. He may have some really good ideas for you as he is very much into AVCHD editing and Premiere. He is in the UK so he should be around before too much longer.

[Paul LS]

Are these files from the H10 or S10, I doubt if it matters because I guess they are the same format? I had a real struggle with some files from the H10 trying to edit them in PE7 and Vegas Pro. PE7 would crash when I imported them and Vegas Pro would just import the audio. In the end I converted them with Procoder and imported them into PE7. You could give Super a try, it now supports H.264.

[Dashinuke]

It was the camileo pro (model of the S10, only bigger)

I'll see if I can convert them with super. I don't think updating Quicktime will fix this problem then. The newest Quicktime gives a error 46 in Vista (sigh). Wellk known problem among the user, but Apple doesn't acknowledge it as a problem. So converting it is

I still find it strange that it would be possible to import them into AE7/XP, en it fails on a AE CS4/Vista64. Is it then some kind of supporting problem ?

Thanks for the help guys, otherwise I would have been searching the entire weekend for possible codecs

[Bob]

One of the problems with AVCHD is that the specification doesn't precisely spell out all the details of how the video is to be compressed. That was deliberate to allow each vendor some leeway in implementing it on various camera platforms -- what works well in one camera with a high end processor may not work at all in a low end camera. However, that leaves a lot of room to introduce incompatibilities. Regardless of how the video was compressed, it was intended to be played back using a standard algorithm. It doesn't allways work out that way, especially for editing which requires a more precise decode. Some cameras definitely produce video that is more problematic to work with then others. Sometimes conversion is the best option.

[Chuck Engels]

Wow, thanks for the great info Bob and Paul
You guys are