Preview panel in Premiere Elements 10 stopped working

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Hi

The preview panel on Adobe Premiere Elements 10 has stopped working.

It was working fine until a couiple of weeks ago. I'd created a film and rendered it OK but after watching decided to do a little more editing.

When I opened up the project the preview panel was just grey/blank. I move the cursor over a piece of film and just got like a snap shot.

I can hear the soundtrack but no picture.

I have tried a few suggestions from various sources as follows.

I've updated the video/display drivers (directly from the manufacturers website)

I've updated Windows for all the latest updates.

I've updated all the video players and codecs I could find on my PC.

I've updated Java.

I've done a cleanup and defrag but there is about 650 gb of freespace.

I've deleted the Bad Drivers file on a few occasions, this did give me a stuttering playback in the preview panel briefly but that has stopped again.

If I open a different window over the top of Premiere, part of that image stays in the preview panel when I close or minimise that window.

The video files I have been using have been mostly AVCHD files but these have worked fine for the last 18 months when I first installed this program.

I've tried converting files to AVI, MPEG, MPEG2, WMV etc but still nothing in the preview panel.

Totally stuck now, I've been trying to find a solution now for over a week and need to do some more editing.

I liked this program as an editor up until now but it maybe time to look for an alternative if I can't get a solution.

Kind regards and thanks in advance for any other suggestions

Steve

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Hi. I just want to say that I would love to get it answered also. I have the same problem.

I've been using Adobe Premiere Elements to make my videos for the past 7 years and never had a problem. Edited a simple animation like 3 or 4 weeks ago but then, since last week I've been facing the exact same issue.

I also tried to update drivers and software and everything, didn't work. Also tried to change the files format from MP4 to WMV or AVI, nothing work.

I'm looking forward for this problem to get a solution.

Best regards and a big thank you in advance to everyone that can help us with it.

Joao Jose Gois

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Steve, you've done all of the things that I'd recommend. Though you may also want to update Quicktime to the latest version.

You should also go under the Edit menu and ensure that your project settings match your video specs -- which in this case are AVCHD.

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Hi Steve

Thanks for the reply.

I'd updated Quicktime as part of the players and codecs attempt.

Is it possible for the project settings to change?

The project I was working on, I'd already created a movie from but just wanted to tidy it up a bit more.

I've tried creating a new projects using the same video files and video files that have different formats, nothing new or previously created shows in the preview panel.

I have numerous projects created over the last 18 months (mostly using AVCHD files) which I've tried but they are all the same.

The problem seems to be a bit more fundemental. I read in another forum that there was a problem with a newer version of Flash Player (not specifiic to this problem but caused errors in Premiere).

I've got to admit that I haven't tried regressing anything as yet because most of what I've read has said to update.

Report · Oct 14, 2013

FHS

In my read of your issue description, the only troubleshooting that seems to have any (however small) impact on the issue was the deletion of the BadDrivers.txt file. And, from what you wrote, I am suspecting that the video card and/or the video card driver is at the core of your issue. Have you tried rolling back the video card driver?

Also, have you looked at the Playback settings and Playback Quality settings accessed by right clicking the Edit Mode monitor which I believe you are calling "Preview Panel"? Please distinguish

Edit Mode Monitor - view of Timeline content at location of Timeline Indicator - Is the problem here?

Preview Window - accessed by double clicking file in Media or Timeline. Is the problem here?

We have had a recent thread (need to dig it out) where video card driver roll back was the fix. But, problems with the same symptoms can (often do) have diffeent causes. And, the answers are in the details.

ATR

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Hi ATR

This is what I call the preview panel. As you can see from this, it has an image of part of my desktop on it.

This was caused by me minimising PE10 then opening it again.

If I open a window over the top of PE10 then that section of the screen will be in the preview panel.

The project which is open is the one I'd already produced a film from. None of the settings have changed from when it was working OK.

Nothing within PE10 has changed apart from the preview panel.

Newsflash ---

I've just rolled back the graphics driver and its now playing again. Great.

Still confused as to why this happened when I'd only updated the driver after the problem occured and gone back one level.

Anyway it doesn't matter now it seems to be working again and I can now finish off this project and get on with the next one.

Many thanks ATR also Steve Grisetti for your input.

Note to Johnnymaxx (Joao Jose Gois) -- Give this a try, hopefully this will solve your problem too.

Report · Oct 14, 2013

FHS

Great news.

I will go hunting for that recent thread where rolling back the video card driver was the solution to the issue present.

We can compare the video card and video card driver in your case and the other. My recollection is that, in the other case, it was a NVIDIA video card. Which one was involved in your case?

Thanks for the follow up. Much appreciated.

Continued success.

ATR

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Hi everyone.

Unfortunately none of this worked for me. First I tried to update Quicktime and it didn't work. Then I decided to downgrade video card driver and it also didn't work. Lastly, I decided to completely remove Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and reinstall it, but it also didn't work.

Right now I don't know what else to do, so I'll go back to work on my Notebook that in there it is working.

But for knowledge purposes I want to say that I use Windows 8 - 32 bit version, with an nVidia Video card (GTX 660ti). The driver I had was version 331.40 and now it is 327.23. Like I said, I used to work with this computer for a long time, I have done a lot of videos, including one around 14 days ago, after my video driver was already updated to 331.40. I have no idea what happened, I didn't change any componnent or installed anything in my computer lately, not even any games.

I'll keep looking ways to fix it, but for now I'll better work on my notebook to have this job done.

Thank you everyone for all the help.

Yours,

Joao Jose Gois

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Hey all,

Just wanted to chime in here with my solution for this exact problem.

Just like everyone else I was suprised and frustrated by the sudden change in the software that had worked well just a few weeks ago.

just like everyone else I started to update every driver I could, every codex, every thing I could imagine.

Then I stumbled upon this thread and the idea struck me that instead of updating, I needed to roll back the driver for my video card.

I went to the nvidia site (sorry ATI) and choose drivers. THIS IS IMPORTANT: I then clicked under the main box on Beta and Older Drivers. From here you can pick older drivers to try to roll back to. I decided to go all the way back to may 2013. IT WORKED!!!

I hope this helps someone somewhere who almost deleted the software out of frustration and lack of documentation like I almost did.

GL

Report · Oct 14, 2013

Attention: FHS, Joao Jose Gois, and mcasman

mcasman

What NVIDIA video card driver was involved in your case?

In the recent thread of bcstaat here, the NVIDIA video card driver roll back resolved the basic problem

http://forums.adobe.com/message/5742929#5742929

In this case the NVIDIA video card seems to be GTX760. The roll back appears to be to v320.49. Brad

the originator of that thread was eager to alert others to the issue and resolution that he encountered.

ATR

Report · Oct 14, 2013

The original driver was the most current as of the post. I believe 331.40 and the immediate step back 327.23. Both of them proved to be problematic, while a roll back to May 2013 (first one I picked, as I recall Premiere working fine that month) resolved my issue. For the sake of complication my video card is a 580.

Report · Oct 14, 2013

mccasman

Thanks for the further details. All helpful.

ATR

Report · Oct 14, 2013

BINGO!

Just want to let you all know that going back to nVidia driver from July (320.49) finally worked!

I was going to get the one from May like mccasman explained, but I remember making a short movie in august. So I decided to get the one from July, the first one before the September one (327.23) that was also giving me trouble, and now it works.

So, to conclude: with my nVidia GTX 660ti, I was suffering from the problem that no image was shown in the preview window with the 2 latest drivers installed (331.40 and 327.23). They were released in October and September respectively. When I downgraded my driver to versio 320.49, released in July, the problem was solved.

Again, thank you everyone.

Best regards,

Joao Jose Gois

Report · Oct 15, 2013

mccasman

Could you indicate what version of Premiere Elements you are using and on what computer operating system it is running.

So far 3 of the 4 of the following are using Premiere Elements 10

Joas Jose Gois (Johnnymaxx)

Premiere Elements 10

NVIDIA GTX 660 ti

320.40 worked; 327.23 and 331.40 did not.

FHS

Premiere Elements 10

NVIDIA GTX 430

March 2013 worked; not the latest.

bcstaat

Premiere Elements 10

NVIDIA GTX 760

320.40 worked; not the latest.

Mcasman

Premiere Elements _______?

NVIDIA GTX 580

May 2013 worked; 327.23 and 331.40 did not.

Wondering if issue is restricted to Premiere Elements 10 for some reason?

Thanks all for great contributions.

ATR

Report · Oct 15, 2013

Oh sure sorry, I thought that was assumed as per the thread title. It was Premiere Elements 10 indeed

Report · Oct 15, 2013

mcasman

Thanks. Sometimes users with different versions but similar problems contribute to a thread. Because of that I wanted to verify that particular point regarding Premiere Elements version..

Very interesting, so far all Premiere Elements 10.

Thanks for the follow up. Appreicated.

ATR

Report · Oct 23, 2013

Holy crap, thank you SOOOO much for referencing a rollback of the nVidia drivers. It is backwards to everything else I read, so I had thought it would be a moronic move. Turns out, it worked for me, too. I am so relieved. I had only recently decided to max out my RAM and get a video card (instead of using the choppy on-board video chip), and I got an nVidia GT610 2GB. I did all these upgrades specifically to speed along my video editing and make the playback run smoother. So, imagine my sheer panic when I finally bring up PrE 10 and the Preview Panel gives me ZERO video playback. Not for a new project, not for any old projects, not for media files on my computer, or imported from the camcorder. Bwaaaahhhhh--I felt like saying to the video gods, "I'm so sorry for fussing about choppy, I take it back, I take it back!!!" I had the same display problem FHS shared, with my desktop windows bleeding through that panel, and I got audio but no video...or just weird random stills from the video once in a while. I was using the nVidia updater, because I had read that they were really good about keeping up and playing well with Adobe, so I thought I had all the right moves. I even uninstalled PrE and then reinstalled it, to no avail, so I was totally desperate. Two days later, and a few dozen blood pressure points higher, and I finally found this thread. (why the heck was it so hard to find, I wonder???) Anyway, thank you, thank you, and thank you, for taking the time to post here.

Here's my deal:

Premiere Elements 10

nVidia GT 610

320.49 worked (that's the May release I found for my card--not 320.40); 331.58 did NOT work; I did not bother trying 327.23

My OS is WinXP64 Pro

Report · Oct 23, 2013

procrastistamper

Thank you very much for reporting your results on this Premiere Elements 10 NVIDIA video card driver(s) issue.

I have added your report to the thread that I set up to keep track of those who have encountered the problem.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1317675?tstart=0

It was my hope that the thread would attract the attention of those who can fix the problem. So far I have not seen any feedback from NVIDIA nor Adobe on this.

ATR

Report · Oct 24, 2013

I have had the same problem and usedyour solution; it has worked! One strange, to me, facet was that I could get the clips to play using the Motion Tracker but not without. New computer with Nvidia GTX660.

Thank you everyone for the support.

Report · Oct 24, 2013

Allan Devon

Thanks for reporting your Premiere Elements 10 and NVIDIA GTX 660 issue.

You did not say, but I am assuming that you are using Premiere Elements 10.

How far did you have to roll the driver back? What computer operating system are you running Premiere Elements 10 on?

ATR

Report · Oct 24, 2013

Hi,

Yes Premiere Elements, running on Win 7 Home Premium 64, Driver rolled back to the May 320 xx version. Pain in the neck! Any other details please just ask

Allan

Report · Oct 24, 2013

Allan

Thanks.

ATR

Report · Oct 27, 2013

I tried to roll back the drivers but my machine is brand new. How do i get a earlier version of this driver? I uninstalled the current driver and when i downloaded the New/older version It says cant find device (Video Card). Does anyone have a step by step for this?

Report · Oct 27, 2013

Chris Rolbiecki

You do not state specifically that you are dealing with a Premiere Elements 10 NVIDIA video card. For now I am assuming that you are:

Since you are dealing with Premiere Elements 10 in a new computer, I would suggest that you contact NVIDIA direct for the instructions to get its driver working with Premiere Elements 10 in your computer environment. This approach has worked for others.

Alternatively, you might contact the manufacturer of the computer about alternative video cards/video card drivers. You do not want to void any warranty services from it.

Looking forward to more details and further developments.

Thanks.

ATR

Report · Oct 27, 2013

Thanks for the response. Well I'm actually using elements 11 but getting the same problem you guys are havering with 10. My video card is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 760. So I will take your advice and correspond with the folks at Nvidia. I just couldn't figure out how to put the older drivers in. When I deleted the drivers I think the on board video takes over and when I put the older drivers in it says it can't find my video card (Nvidia) and won't finish the install. I looked in the CMOS and it says the onboard video is disabled. Not sure what's going on.

Sent from my iPhone