Rotated GoPro 7 Black videos won't import

[MartinABC]

I've recently purchased a GoPro Hero 7 black and discovered that only files recorded with the camera the 'correct' way up will import in to Premier Elements 15.

Unless the videos are recorded:

A) With the camera's rotation setting set to 'auto' and the camera the 'correct' way up.

or

B) With the camera's rotation setting set to 'Up'.

upon import the error message 'The importer reported a generic error' is given.

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance,

Martin

[Bill Sprague]

From GoPro:  "Video files are recorded using the h.264 codec and the MP4 file type, the exception being some resolution/frame rate combinations on the HERO6 and HERO7 Black. With the HERO6 & HERO7 Black, HEVC (h.265) is utilized for applicable modes. "

Could your "correct" and "up" settings be using the H.265 codec?  If so, Premiere Elements on a Windows machine will need to have those files converted to H.264 with something like Handbrake (which is free).

[MartinABC]

Thanks for the comment whsprague,

Unfortunately not, I've double checked that already, I get a different error message if I try and import H265 files.

[Bill Sprague]

Another thought....  I think the Hero 7 Black came out after Premiere Elements version 15.    If you share a clip on DropBox or similar I can try it on a Windows 10 machine with version 2019. 

[MartinABC]

Thanks whsprague​ I'm running Elements version 15 on a Windows 7 PC, trying my files on a new version of Elements on a newer OS would be most appreciated.

Here is a link to download some test clips I made WeTransfer

The clips are just a recording of some words on a piece of paper describing the orientation setting on the camera and the physical orientation of the camera.  Only 'Auto Up' and 'Lock Up' will work on my PC.

Thanks again,

Martin

[Bill Sprague]

Martin,

I'm working on it.  The download is estimating several hours!

Bill

[Bill Sprague · Accepted solution]

It took awhile!  The link broke twice. 

I put all five clips directly into an "expert" timeline and produced a video.  I made no changes.  You can see the output here.  It appears to all be right side up. 

I'm on Windows 10 and Premiere Elements version 2019.

Go Pro Upright Test on Vimeo

[MartinABC]

Thanks for persisting with the download.

That is a huge help, thank you!

I'll try downloading a trial version of PE 2019 and see what results I get on my Windows 7 PC and report back.

Thanks again for the help, I appreciate it

[MartinABC]

I installed a trial version of PE 2019 on my Windows 7 PC and just like your test all of the files worked ok so it looks like upgrading to PE 2019 will solve my problem.

I checked on the Adobe website and it is around £70 GBP for me to upgrade, given that there isn't really much else of interest to me included in the upgrade it is a bit of tough pill to swallow.  Hopefully there will also be a future update that adds support for H265 which I'd like as well.  So I'm going to hold of upgrading and wait until I can do a single upgrade to get both features.

As a test I also ran one of the rotated files through handbrake and this also overcame the issue, so I'll likely just do this for now, although it will be a bit of a pain.

Thanks for all of your help whsprague​

[Bill Sprague]

Be cautious upgrading.  The newest version of Premiere Elements expects AC-3 Audio support to come from Windows or iOS.  So, there are some video formats (AVCHD, M2TS) that have trouble if you are running Windows 7.  Also, note that Blu Ray burning has been deleted.

On the plus side, iOS does support H.265 so Premiere Elements on a Mac can do that.