Can't scrub, can't view preview, can't render. Project simply isn't working.

[mikeo25722615]

I don't exactly know what the problem is. It looks like its limited to the project I'm working in, but I want to understand this better as it could possibly result from the files I'm working with. Basically whenever I load this project I can't play back my preview. Here's a list of things that are happening to elaborate on the problem:

• When I press play almost usually nothing happens. The preview image remains stuck on what it was last on when I loaded the project. Occasionally I've gotten audio to playback either while scrubbing or after pressing play, but for the most part nothing usually happens.
• If I minimize the window and come back to it the preview image (which is stuck on what it was the last time I save the project) completely disappears and only the gray background remains.
• I've tried rendering my timeline. When I do so, the program will play through the video sequence but only the audio plays while it does this. At some random point it'll stop, and I'll have the problems I've shared above.
• I've tried to change the scratch disks to different disks, but these settings don't save on exit. Changes to things like audio devices do save though.

While this is going on, I can click through menus and even save. But if I try to close the program it hangs. Viewing the process in the task manager shows that it's "not responding" and I have to end the program from the task manager.

In terms of my setup I'm on Windows 10 and my hardware should be more than sufficient to avoid problems with memory and space:

CPU - Ryzen 5 5600x

GPU - RTX 3080

Ram - 32 GB

Storage - My project is on a 2TB HDD, but my video files are on a 2 TB SD. It's 1440p footage encoded at 60 FPS with NVEnc if that matters.

[Steve Grisetti]

It's probably related to the deep specs of your video file. What model of camcorder was this video shot with?

Open one of your videos in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and then copy the text of this report and paste it to this forum. Most likely there is a mismatch between your video specs and project settings that is keeping the program from performing efficiently.

And it must be a pretty serious mismatch too! With that processor, you should be able to do some pretty heavy lifting!

[mikeo25722615]

It's actually from an application. I use Bandicam and OBS to record video game footage. Normally I edit with Adobe Premiere Pro CS 6, but I don't have it installed on this machine and I don't believe it supports HEVC. Anyway, I've rendered 2 different projects with footage from the same game last week, so I assumed I wouldn't have any problem doing the same today. What I did was open a previous project and saved it under a new name to start this most recent project. I don't know if that would have any bearing on what's happening now...

Here are the details from one of the files I was editing in the timeline:

General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (mp41)
File size : 2.46 GiB
Duration : 13 min 25 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 26.3 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2021-03-05 10:38:29
Tagged date : UTC 2021-03-05 10:38:29
Writing application : Bandicam 5.0.1.1799 / DX9 / Nvidia NVENC

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main@L5@Main
Codec ID : hvc1
Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration : 13 min 25 s
Bit rate : 26.1 Mb/s
Width : 2 560 pixels
Height : 1 440 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 59.081 FPS
Minimum frame rate : 0.638 FPS
Maximum frame rate : 60.060 FPS
Original frame rate : 60.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.120
Stream size : 2.45 GiB (99%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2021-03-05 10:38:29
Tagged date : UTC 2021-03-05 10:38:29
Codec configuration box : hvcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 13 min 25 s
Duration_LastFrame : -1 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 164 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 259 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 15.7 MiB (1%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2021-03-05 10:38:29
Tagged date : UTC 2021-03-05 10:38:29

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm assuming you're using version 2021. I'm also assuming that if you're using Windows 10 you've installed the HEVC codec.

That said, there are things that are likely choking the program. 

1) Your video is 2560x1440, a resolution and aspect ratio not supported by the program.

2) This is compounded by the video's use of a variable frame rate. Most newer versions of the program can edit variable frame rate video, but not at this unsupported resolution and certainly not at a rate as high as 60 fps.

I would not recommend trying to edit this video in Premiere Elements. Third party video recorder software can produce some challenging video formats anyway, but this one is particularly challenging.

If you plan to record and edit video of your screen, I'd recommend you use a program that includes both a recorder and editor. Camtasia is an excellent example,  but CyberLink PowerDirector Ultimate is less expensive and does include a screen recorder that produces video it can easily it.

[mikeo25722615]

That's weird I thought Elements supported exporting up to 4k. I've been able to import vids at 1440p and render to 1440p@60fps fine before with Elements (I've worked on two projects up to this point). Initially when I first started using the program it was crashing, but that appeared to be because Intel hardware acceleration was selected by default, and I'm assuming that's incompatible with my AMD CPU, so I disabled it and haven't had any problems up until now. I've also encountered posts like this one where a user had a similar use case and was able to edit and export fine once they solved their problem.

I've noticed, though that elements experiences severe memory leakage, even when it appears stable, so maybe importing vids at this resolution is a problem. That's very disappointing.