Premiere Elements 7 crashes and freezes ->unusable

Report · Oct 18, 2008

Hello all

For a long time, I was looking for a programm to cut my AVCHD clips taken with a Canon HF100 camera. In the past I used for DV videos Adobe Production Studio (Premiere CS2, Encore CS2). I have tried AVCHD with AVCHDUpshift to convert the AVCHD clips to MPEG clips and cut it with Premiere CS2. The final video I have tried to burn with NERO 8. But this is very cumbersome.
I recently saw, that Adobe has released the Premiere Elements 7 with AVCHD support. Because of the many negative posts of Pinnacle Studio 12, I expected better stability and performance from Adobe Premiere Elements 7. I gave it a try.

Installation was OK.

I tried to add about 50 clips to the AVCHD project -> takes a long time but OK.

Playback quality of the clips is very bad. Video quality is bad (blurry), audio quality even worse (2 seconds you can hear sound, 2 seconds no sound, 2 seconds sound, 2 seconds no sound ....). With PowerDVD playback of the clips is fine (video and audio).

I have put 6 clips on the time line (total of 1 minute with dissolve transitions). After pressing the Enter key, it takes a long time to render. Why? No smartrendering seems possible.

I tried to add a disc menu -> crash. Tried again OK, tried to remove disc menu -> not possible, tried to drag another template to the disc menu-> crash..

Tried two times to select the blu-ray output medium -> crash. Tried it again -> OK.
Tried to export this one minute to blu-ray -> freeze after some minutes saying, not enough memory (in the taskmanager about 2.2GB of the 4 GB are used, premiere.exe used about 1GB)
Tried with different export option MPEG-2, H.264 ->freeze after some minutes, always saying to low in memory.

Tried to export H.264 to file -> OK. But then I have only the movie, and no disc menu. I don't want another program to create the menu and another program to burn it...
Export to Blu-Ray seems impossible.

I have tried to work for 4 hours. I had at least 10 crashes and freezes, then I gave up and deinstalled it.

The support recommends for example to disable Anti-Virus, running Vista in very basic mode (no glass etc.). This is not what I want and this is not the way users have to do with their computer. Not a single bad program has to define the functionality of a good running PC to the minimum.

The bottom line:
This is the worst program I have ever got from Adobe. I would like to know, if somebody had success to burn a blu-Ray disc.

My HW: New HP DC7800 Quad 2.5GHz, 4G Ram, 1x250G Raid1 C:, 1x750G Drive D: Data, OS Vista Business all latest Driver, Blu-Ray Recorder LG GGW-H20L

Report · Oct 18, 2008

> clips taken with a Canon HF100 camera

As I recall it the other person having problems with the program was also using clips from this camera. Perhaps there's some incompatibility there (not that there should be, but different camera manufacturers do seem to be using quite different AVCHD implementations).

Report · Oct 18, 2008

I have used HF100 clips in PE7 with no issue. Dont have a Blu-ray burner so cant burn to Blu-ray. Our, computer specs are similar. I can edit and add effects and play back directly from the timeline without the need to render. However I do not have any background processes running and I am running on XP.

If you are getting the low memory warning on export save your project, close PE7 and re-open it and it should be OK.

Report · Oct 18, 2008

I wonder whether this could be related to virtual memory settings? The other day I discovered mine were set wrong, and reverting to the "let Windows do it" or whatever it is, seemed to improve stability. Won't change anything about playback though (which is fine here anyway).

Report · Oct 21, 2008

I have the same HF-100 camera and also expreience problems with PE7. It frequently crashes and runs out of memory. I have a Quad Core AMD with 4 Gig of memory and Vista Ultimate 32. I use all the latest

My first observation is that the HF-100 records in 50i or 25P.

The default AVCHD project settings is 25i. The only thing you can do is make a new preset and change it from 25i to "frames". I seems a bit more stable now..

Report · Oct 23, 2008

A few days ago i started working with PRE7 on my brandnew Intel Quad core, 4 GB, Vista Business 64 bit system, and so far it is running very smoothly.
I am using a Canon HF-100 as well, so working with AVCHD files.

I did a lot of editting on a 40 minute film, using a lot of the new features. I did not experience any crashes or hangups so far.

Yesterday i exported the film to DVD (normal DVD res) and the result looked acceptable on my 42" plasma (no DVD menu, just the film). Unfortunately, the movie is 2,8 GB on disk, and PRE7 is not using the full capacity of the DVD disc. But this is discussed in another thread i believe.

This weekend i am going to try and add scene and menu markers, and aplying a DVD menu to the film...

Report · Dec 12, 2008

Good afternoon,

Up until Premiere Elements 7 I had nothing but great things to say about Adobe. I was an adobe defender to the max, have all the product lines from Dreamweaver, fireworks,Flash, Photshop, you name it I have it-even the media servers and Director-but this-this bad bit of software is NOT the Adobe I know this is crap.

I've built my machine from scratch with the intent of high end media-and despite Vista and the flak-I've never had even a hiccup or a crash and I keep mine on 24/7 almost like a server.
\
This is the only product out of dozens I use a year that WILL CRASH VISTA. It starts with overloading superfetch, you disable that stupid program and then it overloads other critical functions-
this is by far the worst software adobe has put to market-do not buy it-it will crash

Report · Dec 12, 2008

Thank you for sharing, grfujk.

If you'd like let Adobe know how you feel (instead of just telling other users, most of whom are using this product with few or no problems), click the Contact button at the top of this page.

Meantime, hope you find a solution that works for you.

Report · Dec 12, 2008

Google Adobe Premiere Elements 7, Vista and Crash and then tell me how most users have few or no problems.

Report · Dec 12, 2008

I didn't say few do. I said most don't. There are hundreds of thousands of copies out there, and you don't hear from the people it works for.

But it's really not a debate, grfujk. If it doesn't work for you, there are alternatives. I wish you well.

Report · Dec 19, 2008

Not so "few" I fear. I've used many Adobe packages for many many years, with virtually no problems (retired IT technical support specialist). I'm reasonably familiar with Premiere Elements and have yet to get version 7 to last more than 10 minutes. How this product passed compatibility testing defeats me. The only other user I know has abandoned Version 7 as in his own words "I can't afford to spend hours fault-finding a product that should have been sorted out before release" My problem is not in the sophisticated detail of PRE's finer points - the program seldom lasts long enough to enter the "edit" screen. This is a disaster!!!

Report · Dec 19, 2008

Hamish,
In most cases like yours the fault is in the system drivers being old or incompatible with the software. This is especially the case with the Audio Drive and in particular RealTek Audio.

If you have the most current version of Quicktime and you have updated your system drivers, audio and video for sure, and you are still having issues, then you may have a valid point.

Report · Dec 30, 2008

Hi,

I would like to cut a mpeg-4 video with Adobe premiere elements 7 or 2. It does not seem possible. Has anyone any suggestions? When i try it, premiere 7 crashes, premiere 2 takes 30 hours to render a 2 hour video. When I use mini DV everything works fine.

Report · Dec 30, 2008

Convert your mpeg 4 video to DV-AVI, you will probably need to spend $30 on Quicktime Pro for the conversion ;)

More video help, information, tips and tricks at http://muvipix.com

Report · Jan 12, 2009

Mr Grisetti please note - I am also one of the Prem Elements 7 users who cant get this application to run for more than 5 minutes without it crashing and this is despite following the detailed work out option provided by Adobe on this link http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb404998&sliceId=2

Its not a case of you saying "If it doesn't work for you, there are alternatives. I wish you well." - What kind of comment is that. I was a very happy user of PE2 and have now upgraded to PE7 and loaded onto a new computer (O/S Vista Home) that easily meets the Adobe required specs.

THIS PROGRAMME DOES NOT WORK , it has not been thouroughly tested and it is us, the users who have to find solutions for you? Adobe are charging me money for this product - can I charge them back for my troubleshooting time.

Go and get this product fixed and release an update we can all download.

Regards RW

Report · Jan 12, 2009

Sorry, rp, but nobody on this site works for Adobe. We're all volunteers from around the world, doing our best to help people run and learn this program, based on our experience and personal skill set.

We do this not because we receive any compensation for it. We do it because we're so pleased with how the program works for us and we want to help others enjoy that same experience.

But we've got no power to fix the product or issue an update. For that, you'll need to contact Adobe. You can do that by clicking the Contact button at the top of this page.

Also, much as I enjoy this product, five years of experience running this board has shown me that it's not the best tool in every situation. So, when I say that you should look at another product, I'm certainly not brushing you off. I'm just suggesting that, rather than pounding and kicking and screaming at your computer because Premiere Elements doesn't do what you want it to do, you'll likely be better off finding a product that does.

Report · Jan 12, 2009

OK Steve, fair comment and I was under the impression that you spoke for Adobe so I apologise for that as well.

First up, for me PE2 was a teriffic performer and as far as I am concerned I do not want to work with any other application because Prem Elements I know well and rate highly.

The issue still remains one of getting it to function as it should. I know mine doesn't but if there are thousands out there whose PE7 does work, then what are they doing right, what do they have that is making it work right.

Is ther anyone who has encountered freezing /crashing problems and been able to resolve them - what did they do to retrieve the situation?

Anyone?
Thx RW

Report · Jan 12, 2009

Most crash issues are caused by one of two things, trying to edit a incompatible video format and/or bad audio drivers. Those are probably the two main causes for problems in Premiere Elements by a long way.

So what type of audio do you have? If it is RealTek you probably need to update your driver.

What type of video are you trying edit? There are serious problems with DivX and xVid formats among others.

Report · Jan 12, 2009

The computer is new its a Dell (I am in the UK)- at work at he moment so I will check out sound tonight - The film I am trying to edit was originally imported from mini DV tape (not HD) into PE2. When I got the new computer I upgraded to PE7 and imported the Vid footage into it- it imports fine and saves out OK- but as soon as you start to edit, doing virtually anything it crashes.

Comp is a Dell dual core running at 2.66ghz 3 gig Ram, 128 ATI graphics card 500gig sata drive- Quicktime has been loaded just recently so should be up to date.

Report · Jan 12, 2009

By the time they ship 'New' computers the software, drivers and firmware are already out of date. There are probably a dozen updates for that computer ready for download on the Dell support site. I recommend you update anything that is available, especially the audio driver ;)

Report · May 12, 2009

I am having a similar problem with Premiere Elements 7 crashing every few minutes while editing. The project is about 2 hours of miniDV clips. I have 3GB of RAM with a Core 2 Quad processor running Vista Home Premium OS. I have tried updating Quick Time and all my drivers, and also uninstalling and reloading Elements. Any ideas that might help resolve this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Report · May 13, 2009

I would advise you to start a new thread rather than tag on to this old one, you will get more attention/responses.

A two hour timeline might give probelms if you have effects, titles , transitions. Have you tried shorter projects? Do these give the same problems? It is best to create a number of shorter sub-projects rather than one large project and when complete combine them in a master project. You can maintain quality be exporting each sub-project as a DV-AVI using File>Export>Movie.

Report · May 13, 2009

Paul_LS,

Thanks for the input. I have done a couple of shorter projects without

problems, So I will follow your suggestion to create shorter subprojects and

export them.

I am moving over from using Pinnacle Studio where I had no such problems

with long projects

I will need to adapt to Premiere.

Report · May 13, 2009

Two hours of video is a lot of video to ask your computer and resources (RAM, Video Card, etc) to crunch. Your computer has just about the minimum resources needed to process a short (15 minute) movie. Remember.... When you make the slightest change in a timeline (such as shortening a single clip by a few seconds, the sofftware and computer must then rearrange the entire timeline after you make the change. Honestly, you need a better computer, such as a Quad-core processor, with at least 8GB of RAM. Read though many of the posts above this one and you will see the advantage of having a more capable computer.

Here's another suggestion to avoid very long timelines (movies). Asking friends and family to watch much more than 15 or 20 minutes of home video is asking a lot. When taking video, (and even when editing video), try to keep your individual clips at 5 seconds or less. Yes, it's true, and it works! Don't do much panning and zooming (stay fixed on your subject). By following just those few suggestions, your movie/timeline will be much more manageable/editable, and, it will be more interesting to your viewers.

Report · May 13, 2009

Kentrda,

Thanks. My intention was to start with raw video of 2 hours and edit it

down to around 30 to 45 minutes, but maybe it was too much to start with.

I have a Quad core processor but it is running a 32 bit Vista system. Can I

increase useful accessible memory to more than the current 3 GB? Or do I

need to move to a 64 bit OS?