Organizer will not play videos or even display thumbnails, says CODEC is missing

Report · Sep 15, 2020

On an Apple iMac running 10.13.4

Organizer shows all the 1000+ photos in my library but all of the 60+ videos show as grey boxes. When I try and play one I get an error box that has my system is missing the required codec. I doubt this as every other video player on my system can play these. They were recorded in an iPhone 6.

I have tried transcoding to different formats using 3rd party software with no luck.

the file is an MP4, codecs are h.264 and aac.

Could this be related to the other problem I posted where Premier Elements silently crashes before even putting up a splash screen?

Report · Sep 15, 2020

Replying to my own question because I can't edit it: I tried Adobe Bridge. It has zero problems with these files. It can preview and play the video files just fine. "Organizer" is the only software that seems not to work.

Report · Sep 16, 2020

Which version of the program are you using?

Open your video in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and then copy the report that appears under Text and paste it to this forum. Once we know the detailed specs of the video's compression system we'll better be able to advise you.

Report · Sep 16, 2020

I have Adobe Organizer version 18.0 from the adobe.com web site. I got this all to work OK on another Mac. But I want it to work on the computer I own. On my iMac I can play this file from all other apps even within Adobe Bridge.

Here is the report. (the video was recorded with an iPhone 6+, a rather old iPhone)

General

Complete name : /Volumes/g-drive/Chris/PhotoVideoOriginals/Mac Photos App Export/Yosemite National Park, CA - Snow Creek Trail, July 16, 2020/IMG_0575.MOV

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : QuickTime

Codec ID : qt 0000.00 (qt )

File size : 16.0 MiB

Duration : 8 s 438 ms

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 15.9 Mb/s

Encoded date : UTC 2020-07-16 18:35:00

Tagged date : UTC 2020-07-16 18:35:09

Writing library : Apple QuickTime

com.apple.quicktime.location.ISO6709 : +37.8048-119.4603+2644.762/

com.apple.quicktime.make : Apple

com.apple.quicktime.model : iPhone 6 Plus

com.apple.quicktime.software : 12.4.6

com.apple.quicktime.creationdate : 2020-07-16T11:35:00-0700

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High@L4

Format settings : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, Reference frames : 1 frame

Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=30

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 8 s 438 ms

Bit rate : 15.8 Mb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Variable

Frame rate : 29.970 (29970/1000) FPS

Minimum frame rate : 28.571 FPS

Maximum frame rate : 30.000 FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.254

Stream size : 15.9 MiB (99%)

Title : Core Media Video

Encoded date : UTC 2020-07-16 18:35:00

Tagged date : UTC 2020-07-16 18:35:09

Color range : Limited

Color primaries : BT.709

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC LC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 8 s 437 ms

Source duration : 8 s 499 ms

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 89.6 kb/s

Channel(s) : 1 channel

Channel layout : C

Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz

Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 92.3 KiB (1%)

Source stream size : 92.9 KiB (1%)

Title : Core Media Audio

Encoded date : UTC 2020-07-16 18:35:00

Tagged date : UTC 2020-07-16 18:35:09

Other #1

Type : meta

Duration : 8 s 438 ms

Other #2

Type : meta

Duration : 8 s 438 ms

Report · Sep 17, 2020

Premiere Elements can struggle with AVC MOVs, particularly when they have variable frame rates.

I don't know what to recommend other than converting the file to a constant frame rate or, even better, a standard MP4.

There may be other solutions that other may suggest, but those are my thoughts.

Report · Sep 23, 2020

This is why Adobe offers trails, I guess. I just found that this software can't handle video from a five year old iPhone. I actually did try transcodoing and I tried other video files from other cameras. I get the same error in all cases.

It is even worse. Premiere Elements silently crashes before it puts a window up on the screen. The icon bounces, there is some disk activity then it stops.

But other Adobe software seems to be better. Bridge works well.