Cannot use rotated videos on Adobe Premiere Elements 15

[beketa]

I took some videos with my phone upside down. The videos have metadata like "rotate: 180", which I confirmed with ffmpeg. So with other tools, for example Google Photos and the default Windows video player, these videos are played in normal orientation. But in Elements Organizer 15, they are played upside down. What is worse, Adobe Premiere Elements 15 cannot add those videos to a project showing an error message.

I know Organizer 15 and Premiere Elements 15 are quite old. My question is, does the latest version of Organizer and Premiere Elements support such rotated videos?

[Steve Grisetti]

You can download the free trial of the latest version and easily find out.

But it all depends on what is causing the error. You don't say what kind of phone you shot your video on, but it makes a world of difference whether it's an Android or an iPhone or if it's an old iPhone or a new one. Is the program able to handle a video from your phone that is NOT upside-down?

If you'd like you can open your video 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. With this detailed report we may be better able to offer you advice.

[beketa]

Thank you for your reply and helpful suggestion, Steve.

I forgot to mention that I had installed the free trial a while ago. So it is already expired now. My phone is Pixel 3. Premiere Elements 15 can handle a video from it when it is in the normal orientation (not upside-down) without any issue.

The result from mediainfo is as follows (removed part of the data which looks like location). You can see that it has "Rotation : 180°".

General
Complete name : PXL_20210430_130530101.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size : 243 MiB
Duration : 1 min 31 s
Overall bit rate : 22.2 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2021-04-30 13:07:03
Tagged date : UTC 2021-04-30 13:07:03
xyz : ***

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=60
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1 min 31 s
Bit rate : 22.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Rotation : 180°
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 30.000 FPS
Minimum frame rate : 28.302 FPS
Maximum frame rate : 30.949 FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.354
Stream size : 241 MiB (99%)
Title : VideoHandle
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2021-04-30 13:07:03
Tagged date : UTC 2021-04-30 13:07:03
Color range : Full
Color primaries : BT.601 PAL
Transfer characteristics : BT.601
Matrix coefficients : BT.601
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 1 min 31 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 2.10 MiB (1%)
Title : SoundHandle
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2021-04-30 13:07:03
Tagged date : UTC 2021-04-30 13:07:03

The reason I think the issue is caused by rotation is that I can "solve" the issue by removing "rotate: 180" by the following command:

$ ffmpeg -i upside-down.mp4 -c copy -metadata:s:v:0 rotate=0 normal.mp4

Then Premiere Elements 15 can use the resulted normal.mp4. It is shown upside-down, but we can rotate it in Premiere Elements.

[Steve Grisetti]

That metadata could be the issue. It also appears that this video uses a variable frame rate, something version 15 can struggle with. (Versions 2020 and 2021 can work with that type of video.)

Another option is to use Handbrake to convert your video to a more conventional mp4.

[beketa]

Thank you so much for the helpful information, Steve.

I was going to consider upgrading to 2021, but now that I know how to deal with the issue, I might as well wait until 2022 🙂