Timeline plays a clip, but not next one, but CTI moves

[JanPalVid]

Newbie here - Have downloaded clips from my Sony Handycam HDR-SR11. They are in .MTS format on my computer that I added to my Premiere Elements 8.0 project.
If I position the CTI at the beginning and click on Play, it will play that clip and the CTI keeps moving across the 2nd (unconnected) clip, but the 2nd clip doesn't play.
Even if I nestle them side by side with or without a transition, Premiere won't play the clip.
The clip that won't play WILL play if I move the CTI over it though.
Can anyone guide me to where to start the troubleshooting?

[Paul LS]

Welcome to Muvipix JanPalVid...

What is the spec of your computer? With AVCHD footage (which requires a fast computer to playback clips without rendering) if your computer is not "fast" enough then when the CTI transitions from one clip to the next the program can "stall/stutter" for a while before playback commences. If the second clip is short then you may not even see any playback. One way to overcome this is to render the footage by hitting the "Enter" key on your keyboard. The red line above the clip should turn green and playback should be smooth.

If this is your problem then you need a faster processor to playback the clips on the timeline without first rendering them.

[JanPalVid]

Thank you Paul. I have a 2.70 GHz AMD Sempron(tm) processor. 2.00 GB RAM (1.75 GB Usable), 32-bit Operating System, WIndows 7 Ultimate, C-Drive 55.9 GB Used & 242 GB Free Space. It's a new computer.
I just opened the project up and I'm not sure how you mean to use the enter key. Do I need to have the CPI at the start or in the problem clip, or any clip. I tried the Enter key and the Timeline Hrs/Min/Sec/Frames started counting upward and going beyond the total minutes I had so I did something to stop it, which I can't remember

[Peru]

Make sure the work area bar is over the clips you need to render.
When you hit enter to render it will only play the clips under the WAB after rendering.

[JanPalVid]

I researched the WAB and rendered my files. I then played the video from the beginning and it played smoothly clear through. Then I showed it to someone and it was smooth for the first third of the way through and then started stalling out & I could see the CTI jumping several frames ahead. Thank you both for getting me further along. Am I pretty much out of luck on speed with the above specs? Is there anything I can do to boost the speed if this is the issue, or do you recommend that I convert the files to another format? Thank you again!

[Paul LS]

As Peru said, with the WAB covering your clips you want rendered you simple hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard. A window will open up saying Rendering and when complete the red line above the clip in the timeline will turn green (I hope you are using Timeline mode and not Sceneline mode for viewing your clips) and the clips should start playing. The red line above the clips indicates that you may not be able to playback the clip smoothly without rendering.

And, unfortunately your processor is way under powered to edit AVCHD clips natively, ideally you need a quad-core processor. Your best bet is to convert your clips. If your final export will be to standard definition convert to widescreen DV-AVI, if high definition HDV MPEG2. See this recent thread that discussed conversion of AVCHD clips.
viewtopic.php?f=89&t=9121

[JanPalVid]

Thank you Paul - yes I rendered properly in the timeline (have not been using the sceneline) & I got the red line to change to a green line and I did save before closing. However, this morning the green line is only above the first clip. The remaining clips have a red line now and the movie is not playing smoothly again. Also, there is a section on the work area bar that has four vertical lines close to each other on the ruler. What is this and how do I get rid of it? I will study the conversion process later - I have to leave for my day job in a few minutes. Any help appreciated - thank you for welcoming me!

[Paul LS]

Yes, the red line reappearing after saving a project is a bug. It occurs for certain clips but at the moment I cant recall why.

I think that the section of the the work bar with the 4 vertical lines that you are refering to is for grabbing the work bar and moving it around. Why do you want to get rid of it?

[JanPalVid]

Hello Paul - Thanks for sharing what the little vertical bars were - you're right that I wouldn't want to delete them. I rendered the files again and that time it held. I've been taking some tutorials on lynda.com learning more about video editing. I'm now learning about uploading the video to YouTube. Thanks again.

[Steve Grisetti]

And don't forget to check out the tutorials here on Muvipix.com too!

[JanPalVid]

Thanks - I will check those out.