Video files being marked Offline

[DWSmithACS]

I edit a series of video files to make a DVD, but each time I re-enter Premiere Elements, most of my videos get marked as "Offline".  I have not moved any files, so the "pointers" should still be valid.  After noticing this, I then use "Replace footage" to re-link to the same file, and it look good.  But once I close Premiere Elements, and re-open it again for another editing session, they show "Offline" again.  My project has about 58 video files that I need to edit together.  Does anyone know what might be causing this?

[John T Smith]

What is the physical location of the files?

Are they on an internal drive, or an external drive?

If external, have you told Windows/Mac to "lock"  the drive letter?

[DWSmithACS]

They are on an internal hard drive (D).

I even started editing all over again (writing to a new prel file), and by the 4th day, they are almost all marked as "Offline".

This is using Windows 11 21H2, fully up to date with all updates.

This time, Adobe Premiere Elements shows v20.0 (I previously had 20.2 before I uninstalled and re-installed from a fresh download).

Frustration is getting the better of me, as it never tells me that files are missing.  I just see "Offline" in the Project Assets drop-down, and when I go to create a DVD or MP4 file, I see the "media offline" screen instead of my video.

The MOV videos that keep doing this were from my iPhone.

The MP4 videos from another video camera are not experiencing this issue.

Do I need to convert MOV files to MP4 before I can use them?

I know that I used to have to do that with previous versions, but was told that Premeire Elements 2022 would properly handle MOV files.  Maybe it doesn't handle them as well as I was led to believe it did.

I'll try using Handbrake to convert them to MP4 files, and replace them in my project, and see if that makes a difference.

[John T Smith]

I edit MOV files from a Canon SX510 camera and have zero problems

Video from a cell phone can cause problems, using handbrake will "often" solve those problems

[Rich in KY]

I am having the same problem, among others. The .mov import of 60 fps HEVC files seems to have a limit. I have a library of 80 .mov files. I try to import them and it imports 69, then it throws an error saying I have no HEVC codec, although I do, since it imported 69.

I proceed with my project and like you, after an edit session is closed, some of them are now offline. I also have issues with the video disappearing after inserting music files. I render, no video, close and open the project and the video preview is working but now there are a lot of offline files, some files that didn't import before are now there but others that did import are missing.

Around and around I go, chasing my tail, standing on one foot while patting my head and rubbing my tummy, trying to get this software to work.

[Rich in KY]

Do you have all the files in the same folder and are you importing the folder? I'm having the same problem as you but I thought I'd try putting them in a single folder and just importing that to see if it solves the problem

[Rich in KY]

It doesn't. I think it's an issue with the HEVC imports. Doesn't seem to happen to other media.

[Bill Sprague]

iPhone produced HEVC video at 60 frames per second (fps) seem to continue to be issues for some but not all users.  The latest version of Premiere Elements may be better, but I'm not sure.  The solutions seem to be either setting your phone for a more compatible editing format for future videos or using Handbrake to convert what you have to a more editable format.  

[Rich in KY]

I am able to import the same .mov files into Corel VisualStudio 2020 or into Cyberlink PowerDirector 2019 with no problems.  I have APE2022. I don't think there is a later version.  I have a ticket open with Adobe and the contact said it shouldn't be a problem for just those few files.  I gave him access to all of the .mov files I'm importing. So far no reply.

It doesn't answer the question why only the .mov files come back marked as "offline" when none of the others do. Because of the import issue with .mov HEVC files I believe it's also manifesting itself in other ways. In the project I have now the import threw errors after the first 69 files(from 7/2/22 to 7/20/22). However, there are files from 7/21, 22, 23 in the project. The files that are rejected will import into another empty project, but it won't take all of the files prior to those, just some. If it is able to import some of the files that tells me the issue is somewhere in the software import task for .mov files.

I don't know what's going on with the software but it doesn't have problems with .mp4 or any photo file, just .mov. I don't think it's right to release software that is supposed to import HEVC files but you have to first convert them to H.264 from H.265, or find some other workaround.

[Rich in KY]

Sorry, it's taken me a while to get back here. I got frustrated with Premiere Elements, purchased Cyberlink PowerDirector 20 and have been working on that. It's a really powerful tool, but it's the pits on making DVDs or iso images of DVDs. However, it makes an iso of Blu-ray files with no issues; go figure.

Anyway, I found the problem to not being able to import more than 69 HEVC files or, after being able to do so, having them go back and forth between being available and being offline.

On my Lenovo laptop is a Lenovo tool called Advantage. There is also an Intel driver tool. Both work independently of each other. I would get a notice from both that a driver needed to be updated. I did Vantage (video driver and BIOS update) then Intel (another video driver). Voila! I could import all the HEVC files I wanted...then I couldn't. Another notice from each that an update needed to be done. I did so but noticed that they were the same video drivers as before. After updating again, I could import HEVCs again... but not for long.  I figured out that the Intel driver was the correct one (newer) and Lenovo Vantage would overwrite it with an old one. They went back and forth. Vantage was doing an update even though I had auto update turned off. I disabled Vantage in Services and now I seem to be working well again.

Just wanted to update this in case anyone else had the problem.