How can I get Premiere Elements 15 to import ALL of a .MOV file?

Report · Mar 31, 2018

Here's the background:

I purchased Premiere Elements 15 over a year ago.
I now have a lot of files in .MOV format that I created last year from mini DV tapes. A LOT OF THEM. I converted them using a camcorder and ran them through iMovie 10.1.8 to create the .MOV files.
I'm working on a MacBook Pro (2011), 2 GHz Intel Core i7; 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3. I'm on Sierra 10.12.6. (I'm hesitant to upgrade my OS on this MacBook Pro. The recent OS is not supposed to work with iMovie 10.1.8. The iMovie version I have is the only one that will work with my camcorder and convert my old movies.)
I've got QuickTime 10.4 for Mac. And I've got 90-140 GB of free storage on the hard drive - depending on what I'm doing.

So here's the problem: I can't import ANY .MOV files as a WHOLE file. It just does not happen. It seemed to work fine in 2016 and early 2017 when I was testing it out. This week, I've tried to import 14 files so far. I've tried all at once. And one at a time. Premiere imports the first few frames and maybe some other frames, BUT does not import the remainder. For example, an .MOV clip might be 3 minutes long, but only 30 seconds will import.

Here's other things I tried:

I experimented with converting a .MOV file to .MP4. I used iMovie to do that. I then imported the .MP4 file into Premiere. And it imports just fine. But, of course, the .MP4 file is much smaller and the quality is not supposed to be as good.
I downloaded a trial version of Premiere Elements 2018. I had even more problems with that; it won't import ANY audio. And I had the same problems with importing .MOV files. MP4 files imported OK, but with NO audio.

One more thing: I will be burning these movies to DVDs for the elderly ones & for folks in our family living in far away places with no internet.

And did I mention I am a novice at home movies? Please point me in the right direction. Any comments & advice are appreciated!

Report · Mar 31, 2018

Open one of your MOV files in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and copy and paste the report it generates to this forum.

Once we see what those MOV files are made of, we'll better be able to advise you how to proceed.

Report · Mar 31, 2018

Thanks for replying, Steve Grisetti. Here's the MediaInfo report for one of my .MOV files:

General

Complete name : /Users/suzannevorlicek/Desktop/Shell Beach 1989 Vorlicek Clan Christmas Orig Clips/Clip #1 Body Board ShBch 2009-05-06 21_18_58 (fcp1).mov

Format : MPEG-4

Commercial name : DVCPRO

Format profile : QuickTime

Codec ID : qt 0000.00 (qt )

File size : 322 MiB

Duration : 1mn 26s

Overall bit rate : 31.0 Mbps

Recorded date : 2009-05-06 21:18:59.000

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:01

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:11

Writing library : Apple QuickTime

com.apple.quicktime.make : Apple

com.apple.quicktime.model : MacBookPro8,2

com.apple.quicktime.software : Mac OS X 10.12.6 (16G29)

com.apple.quicktime.creationdate : 2017-10-31T21:13:09-0500

Video

ID : 1

Format : DV

Commercial name : DVCPRO

Codec ID : dvc

Duration : 1mn 26s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 24.4 Mbps

Encoded bit rate : 28.8 Mbps

Width : 720 pixels

Clean aperture width : 704 pixels

Height : 480 pixels

Clean aperture height : 480 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 4:3

Original display aspect ratio : 4:3

Clean aperture display aspect ratio : 4:3

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) fps

Original frame rate : 29.970 (29970/1000) fps

Standard : NTSC

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:1:1

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Interlaced

Scan type, store method : Interleaved fields

Scan order : Bottom Field First

Compression mode : Lossy

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.357

Time code of first frame : 00:00:01;23

Time code source : Subcode time code

Stream size : 253 MiB (79%)

Encoded stream size : 34.3 MiB (11%)

Title : Core Media Video

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:01

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:11

Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio #1

ID : 3

Format : PCM

Format settings : Little / Signed

Codec ID : lpcm

Duration : 1mn 26s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 2 048 Kbps

Channel(s) : 4 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz

Bit depth : 16 bits

Stream size : 2.44 MiB (1%)

Title : Core Media Audio

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:01

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:11

Audio #2

ID : 1-0

Format : PCM

Muxing mode : DV

Muxing mode, more info : Muxed in Video #1

Duration : 1mn 26s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 768 Kbps

Encoded bit rate : 0 bps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz

Bit depth : 12 bits

Delay relative to video : -1ms

Stream size : 7.96 MiB (2%)

Encoded stream size : 0.00 Byte (0%)

Audio #3

ID : 1-1

Format : PCM

Muxing mode : DV

Muxing mode, more info : Muxed in Video #1

Duration : 1mn 26s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 768 Kbps

Encoded bit rate : 0 bps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz

Bit depth : 12 bits

Delay relative to video : -1ms

Stream size : 7.96 MiB (2%)

Encoded stream size : 0.00 Byte (0%)

Other

ID : 2

Type : Time code

Format : QuickTime TC

Duration : 1mn 26s

Time code of first frame : 00:00:01;23

Time code, striped : Yes

Title : Core Media Time Code

Default : No

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:01

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-01 03:27:11

Bit rate mode : CBR

Report · Mar 31, 2018

There is nothing at all unusual about this video file that would cause a problem when it's loaded into Premiere Elements.

As an experiment. try changing the file suffix from MOV to DV. That may make it easier for Premiere Elements to identify.

But otherwise this is a pretty standard DV file -- the simplest file format for video programs to edit.

Report · Apr 01, 2018

3 audio channels does not sound right.

Report · Apr 01, 2018

Steve Grisette: Thanks for replying. I did what you suggested & changed the extension of that same file (Clip #1) from .MOV to .DV. I then imported that .DV file into Premiere Elements 15. It did the same thing. It chopped off about 75% of the file and only kept the first 25%.

Other things I tried:

I took that same .MOV file (Clip #1) and opened it in iMovie. It looked fine. All of it was there. I then burned it to a DVD using a trial version of iSkysoft DVD Creator. It chopped off the movie, just like Premiere Elements 15. And it added one more problem: there was NO audio at all. Just to be sure, I opened up the Audio Folder in that DVD's contents and nothing was there.

Something to note:

I did have problems capturing and converting all my movies from Mini DV tapes from the camcorder into iTunes. I experienced iTunes skipping quite a few frames if I just hit the button and walked away. But if I noticed the movie was only being captured in part and skipping over segments, I would stop capturing. Then I would restart the process to get the skipped-over parts to capture. I used this baby-sitting process to capture all of my Mini DV tapes. I'm wondering if Premiere Elements 15 is sensing that same thing - like some sort of a pause or break - which might signal to Premiere that the movie file has ended. And I'm wondering: Is there is any way to override this in Premiere Elements 15?

Report · Apr 01, 2018

There's definitely something odd about those files, scv.

I've captured miniDV video over a FireWire connection using iMovie and I've always been able to edit the video in Premiere Elements. So I don't know what's up.

Report · Apr 01, 2018

Interesting. What file formats have you imported into Premiere? .MOV? .MP4?

.MP4 imports OK into Premiere Elements 15. But the quality is not as good as .MOV files.

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How can I get Premiere Elements 15 to import ALL of a .MOV file?