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Participating Frequently
December 3, 2019
Question

importing AVI

  • December 3, 2019
  • 7 replies
  • 1433 views

Hi --

Just purchased and installed premiere elements. went to import several avi files and each one has issues with the sound being slow or distorted. these same files open without problem in VSDC editor, Movie Maker, Movie Editor and Camtasia. What is the issue with Premiere (or what could I be doing wrong...)?

Thanks in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.

7 replies

Community Expert
December 5, 2019

I googled for DVCPRO information.  It seems to be an old, aimed at tape, codec.  There were sites that offered downloads but I have no idea if they are trustworthy.    There were suggestions that it was a codec used in early tape based digital editing needing Mac computers.  

Participating Frequently
December 5, 2019

MediaInfo:

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 5, 2019

You should be able to inport this file.

Rename top folder the clip is in and try again.

Participating Frequently
December 5, 2019

Tried renaming the file, the top folder and moving the file to the root directory (F:\) with no resoution to the problem. The inported video looks fine, but the sound is slowed down; using Time Stretch to speeed up the video 150% restores the sound to the correct speed, but of course the video is now 1.5 times faster.

 

At the risk of repeating myself, VSDC video editor  and Movie Maker open and edit these files with no problems. Premiere Elements strikes the sweet spot between the inscrutable complexity of VSDC and the simplicity but feature paucity of Movier Make, which is why I was eager to use it. Plus in a previous life I was pretty familiar with Premiere Pro. While transcoding is certainly an option, I am not looking forward to doing that for 70+ files thought I suspect I can set up Handbrake (know of it, but never used it) to do the heavy lifting ....

Community Expert
December 4, 2019

"I don't understand why Adobe is not or can not use the same codec...." 

 

It is because editing is more complex with different requirements.  Playback is easy by comparison.  From the help file:  " The technical requirements for editing video files are more stringent than the requirements for playing video files. You sometimes have to transcode (convert) problematic files."

BadBadDog
Participant
December 4, 2019

I DID previously read the Adobe article on Premiere Elements and Cdoecs. What I am having trouble wrapping my head around is that I clearly have a valid codec installed for these AVI files or else VSDC, Camtasia and Movie Maker would not be able to open them. My limitation is that I don't understand why Adobe is not or can not use the same codec to open AVI files. AND if it is true that Elements ONLY works with some codecs, is there a comprehensive list of specific codecs that Elements will snuggle up to ...................

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 4, 2019

Please answer Bob's question about Mediainfo,

Avi is not a codec but a container.

Community Expert
December 4, 2019
Participating Frequently
December 4, 2019

Thanks Bob, I'll get to that computer later today. To be clear: there are some codecs that other editors support (i.e. VSDC and Camtasia) that Premiere Elements does NOT support? If so, is it possible to add codecs to Premiere Elements?

 

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 4, 2019

Depends on the codec used.

Peru Bob
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 4, 2019

Please use the free MediaInfo and post a screenshot the properties of your media in tree view:

MediaInfo 

 

If it is not a supported codec or is variable frame rate, you may need to covert with Handbrake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=xlvxgVREX-Y