Premiere Elements 14 - Laggy

[VaeVictuz]

Hello Everyone,

     I am new to Elements and bought version 14 before 15 came out for editing OBS 1080p content. I noticed that when I load my mp4 capture(4GB size) into Elements and play the content, the video will lag and the audio will keep playing normally. I am using the Razer Blade 14. This is the version with the 970m Nvidia GPU, 16GB ran and 512 GB SSD - Amazon.com: The Razer Blade (2016) 14" QHD+ Gaming Laptop (6th Generation Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 5...  For reference I can take the same mp4 capture and edited it on my macbook pro with iMovie and the I don't experience any lag. I plan on installing Elements on the macbook to test that next. The specs on my Razer should be able to handle Elements. I looked over the settings and did some searching and could not see a way to optimize the performance. I am reaching out to the community in hopes someone might have run into this and might have a workaround.

Thank you for the help!!!

[Steve Grisetti]

Video from recording devices, like camcorders, use standard methods to produce editable MP4s. Open source software that captures video from, say, your computer screen, often uses non-standard systems for compressing the video including variable frame rates.

Open your video in the free download MediaInfo. Set MediaInfo's View to Tree and copy and paste the report it generates to this forum.

Once we know what your file is composed of we'll be better able to recommend how you should proceed.

[VaeVictuz]

Steve, thank you for the help. Here is the output:

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 4.12 GiB

Duration : 14mn 41s

Overall bit rate mode : Constant

Overall bit rate : 40.1 Mbps

Writing application : Lavf57.66.102

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : Main@L4.2

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 14mn 41s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 40.0 Mbps

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 60.000 fps

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.322

Stream size : 4.10 GiB (100%)

Color range : Full

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : 40

Duration : 14mn 41s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 163 Kbps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

Frame rate : 46.875 fps (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 17.2 MiB (0%)

Title : Track1

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

[Steve Grisetti]

I don't know what the isom codec is that the program used to compress this video, but that's likely at the core of your problem.

Try using the free download Handbrake to convert the video to a more standard MP4, per my tutorial, and see if the program is better able to edit this new video.

Fixing Out of Sync video with Handbrake - YouTube

[VaeVictuz]

Thank you Steve. On my next capture I will use a different codec like MKV and test. I am not sure I want to convert all my videos but looking at a different codec could be the best direction. Thanks again.

[Steve Grisetti]

The MKV codec may not be a better option, if you plan to edit in Premiere Elements.

As I've said, this video just isn't designed to the standards of editable video. Pretty much anything directly from OBS (or FRAPS or El Gato or other screen capture apps) is going to give Premiere Elements and most other editors fits.

[VaeVictuz]

This is great to know. Are there other editing platforms I could use? If not it sounds like I might have to handbrake as a work around.

[Steve Grisetti]

Try the free trial of CyberLink PowerDirector. It can sometimes handle a wider range of video types.

But no guarantees. As I've said, this video isn't designed to editable video specs.

[VaeVictuz]

Thanks again Steve. I will give it a shot.