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weslowsk
Participant
March 13, 2018
Answered

Video preview window is black

For Adobe Premiere Elements 12 on Windows 7 (32 bit) I tried to import a m4v file. Once it imported it, the video preview window is black. Audio works fine.

Why is the preview window black?

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    Ann Bens
    Ann BensCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2018

    Might work if you change the extension to mp4 or mts if that does not work,

    run the file through HandBrake and convert to mp4.

    See how that goes.

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    8 replies

    Community Expert
    Bill SpragueCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 13, 2018

    It may be explained by what Wikipedia says: 

    "The M4V file format is a video container format developed by Apple and is very similar to the MP4 format. The primary difference is that M4V files may optionally be protected by DRM copy protection.

    Apple uses M4V to encode video files in its iTunes Store. Unauthorized reproduction of M4V files may be prevented using Apple's FairPlay copy protection."

    It may also be that if you install Quicktime on your computer, Premiere Elements will "borrow" the necessary codecs. 

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    weslowskAuthor
    Participant
    March 14, 2018

    Thanks for the suggestion. However, I already have QuickTime installed (it's no longer supported by Apple so the latest version is at least 2 years old). I confirmed that I can open the m4v file with QuickTime just fine.

    I know that the m4v is not DRM protected, so that's not the issue.

    I'm running Windows as a VM in Virtualbox 5.2. For my VM's configuration, if I have "Enable 3D Acceleration" and "Enable 2D Acceleration" selected, the preview window is black. When only "Enable 2D Acceleration" is selected or if neither of the options are selected, then the preview window is not black and actually shows the correct video. However, the audio and video are badly out of sync when I play/preview the video in Expert view. So, I guess I know how to get past the black preview window issue, but I don't know how to get past the sync issue.

    Any suggestions, given my scenario?

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    Ann Bens
    Community Expert
    Ann BensCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2018

    Might work if you change the extension to mp4 or mts if that does not work,

    run the file through HandBrake and convert to mp4.

    See how that goes.

    Translate
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