How to get Media Encoder to encode for proxy files in CS4

[ciddyguy]

I have an older 4th gen Dell 9020 Optiplex SFF desktop with the 4570 Core i5 processor, with 16G of memory installed and an Invidia Geforce 610 GT for graphics and run CS4 as that's what I still have to edit with, it's the full master suite. At this point, funds are tight due to Covid, still on furlough etc, plus my PC is too old to run the latest CC version of Adobe products anyway and am having an issue with importing footage into media encoder to generate proxy files for easier editing as the CPU bogs down in rendering anything just about.

Since CS4 can't natively take H.265, but can do H.264 no problem, so my GoPro Hero 9 footage gets converted to H.264 no problem, but then the issue is, getting it to 1280/720 for proxy file editing and once I set up the encoder to encode, and I hit the que, it blips and it's done, but the file is not playable. In the format, I initially set it to Quicktime, so when I click on that, it gives me in the preset colum, NTSC DV or NTSC DV widescreen, widescreen does not work, it just blips and says it's done, in an instant, but VLC can't play it, it's like only a frame or 3 gets done, that's it.

Then I left the format in H.264, and then choose 720, 23.976, which I change to 37.97 as a custom, and now it won't even do a frame or 3, still does not work.

Any ideas, short of finding an old copy of CS5 or CS6 somewhere to get by until I can do a full upgrade of both software and PC. I'm trying to edit for YouTube. My Canon Vixia camcorder does H.264 as is, so can be handled directly by CS4, unfortunately, the GoPro, not so much.

I do transcode the footage from H.265 to H.264 via Handbrake and it appears I can transcode to a lower res with HB, but Premiere recommends I use ME so the files for full res footage is linked. I know CS4 media encoder is clumsy and quite clunky and basically renders my PC useless for a whole day when I export a full video, and understand that there is not much that can be done about it, even with current versions.

Again, any ideas?

Thanks!

[ciddyguy]

OK, still getting crickets here, so tried something, tried Handbrake to create the proxy files at 1280x720, 29.97. They came out alright, and can be played in VLC player, no problem, I can import them into Premiere Pro CS4, but when I go to double click to play in the source monitor, a white dialog box comes up saying an error occured and Premiere shuts down. Even the transcoded GoPro footage (from H.265 to H.264 so PP can accept as is) won't work in Premiere, but my native AVCHD footage at 1080P will play in Premiere, as it should and GoPro footage has worked before, once converted to H.264 using either AME or HB. That said, when I open Premiere, I have to reset workspace, and then double click on the sequence file in the project panel to get the timeline to properly load. I do run compatability mode to have CS4 run fine in Windows 10, I think it's Vista or Win 7.

Any ideas, outside of possibly the depracation of Flash having something to do with this? I was able to use PP CS4 with my last video that I uploaded on July 5th to YT, but using full res 1920x1080 files as I had not been able to successfully do proxy files, and thought I finally figured that out, but now, not so much with this current issue.

[ciddyguy]

I thought it solved itself, until I remember I needed to double click on the files after import. It imports, but when I double click to bring into source monitor, ir fails, an error ensues and shuts down. Only the Canon Vixia footage works, but it's already AVCHD/H.264, Go Pro needs to be transcoded to convert to H.264 from H.265 format, then from there both get converted to 1280x720 for proxy file editing. A look at the converted file for the Canon as proxy footage, the frame rate is incorrect, not 29.97fps, but 9000fps, what? Can't be, so that's my problem (I hope!) will need to fix.

Should be 1280x720 @29.97fps. Back to the drawing board.

[ciddyguy]

OK, I tried something, that is, going back to my original clips the GoPro made, which I checked and it still shows they were generated back in May and are still 1920x1080, 30fps footage, so should still be HEVC/H.265 footage.

I went to the raw files on that card and struck a copy for proxy files in Handbrake and generated fresh, 1280x720 files.

Then I went in and generated from the same micro SD card used in the camera files for this project, and generated an H.264 1920x1080, 30fps footage and put them in a separate folder for full res files.

Still the same proxy files sends up an error of Timecode.cpp 1077, and then shuts down, once I click OK and another dialog box says, an error occured and Premiere needs to shut down. I have submitted the report twice but being this is CS4, I doubt it'll get looked at.

However, this time, Adobe now loads back up with the original kitchen cleanup project folder like normally and the entire workspace loads back up, including the timeline sequence so there is that. However, still can't load up I even just tried to import and load into source monitor the full res 1080 file and same thing, timecode.cpp 1077 error and needs to shut down.

Please, can anyone assist here? Just because CS4 is old, does not mean it needs to be ignored. BTW, using handbrake so not certain if it got corrupted and needs to be reinstalled/fixed or what, but the properties dialog box shows it to be all there. I may try ME again and see if I can get it to ingest and generate a proxy file(s), now that I'm aware that one should not try to transcode on top of an already transcoded file, but go back to the original source to generate any transcoding.

Thanks.

[ciddyguy]

Now what? Windows 10 did an update I was not expecting it to do and now Premiere Pro does not work well.

Loading clips already imported into Premiere does not fully load up right away and takes several minutes to all show, and any clips in the source monitor now show up.

However, the effects tab in the media browser bin does not work, I can't get it to drop down the submenues and the search does not work. However, I can navigate through the media browser just fine.

I did double check the compability and its still on Windows 7, as it should be.

I did get proxy files to work by using HB to do proxy 1080, and while that helped with scrubbing and what not, it's far from perfect as it takes a while before I can use it and when doing contrast adjustments, it's yellow instead of red so that's an improvement. However, rendering it will turn it green, but takes more time than it did if I left it compressed from the camera (H.264).

Any ideas?

[Warren Heaton]

The Premiere Pro Proxy Workflow was not introduced until Premiere Pro CC 2015.4.

Even with your H265 source footage transcoded to something low resolution and Premiere Pro CS4 friendly, you will have to manually switch back to the full resolution clips.

The GoPro Cineform CODEC was very good for Windows back when CS4 was new.  I would consider transcoding your H265 to that CODEC for your full resolution and also use that CODEC for your low resolution.  Keep your full resolution at the current frame size and use Cineform 3.  Scale your low resolution to 1280x720 or 960x540 and use Cineform 1 or 2.

As far as purchasing CS5 or CS6, Adobe authorized resellers can only sell the current versions.

The best authorized price for Adobe Creative Cloud that I've seen is for California college students at $40 for the All Apps subscription for 6 months (one semester) from collegebuys.org; however, you must be enrolled in a CA college with a .edu email address (the cost is subsidized by the state of California).