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Anonymous
December 8, 2011
Answered

iPhone 4s Video - Serious Sync Issues Eliminate Premiere as a tool

  • December 8, 2011
  • 21 replies
  • 167975 views

I was excited to see how great the video is from the iPhone 4s.  I have taken one hour 1080P videos of lectures that look great.  However, when pulled into Premiere (CS5), the sound goes out of sync to the point that it is unusable after about seven minutes.  I have checked the original file (.MOV) using QT - it plays perfectly.  Indeed, I can trim and split the file using QT and I know that creating a bunch of small videos to link in Premiere would be a solution of sorts. 

What is the deal?  No ability by Adobe to handle MOV files and the screwy indexing they use?  Disappointing. 

Or have I missed something?  The sync problem is apparent in the source window - before I add to sequence. Any ideas?  Has anyone tried this with an iPhone 4S video beyond 10 minutes?

Brad

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer martinalejandrogg

    1- Download Handbrake.

    2- Change from Variable Frame Rate to Constant Frame Rate.

    3- Import to PPro.


    Cheers.

    21 replies

    Show previous replies
    andrewfitz-edu
    andrewfitz-edu
    Participant
    December 4, 2014

    I've had this same issue, haven't tried changing extension... that would be too easy.

    I found it had to do with variable frame rate. Also, if it was recorded upside down it would flip. Here's a terminal code to use handbrakecli to convert the videos:

    Handbrake CLI to Convert iPhone to Premier Pro with Rotation and Audio Sync

    Hope it helps!

    H
    HarleyTDavis
    Inspiring
    March 7, 2015

    Why not just pass through AE, and conform it that way?  You could decompress it.

    Premiere focuses on using a standard frame speed.  Ever try to put a 24p video into a 30p sequence?  It speeds up, gets shorter.  Put it in a 24p and count the seconds...  Then count the seconds in the 30p...  VFR is not an option when you edit frame by frame.  Premiere is only an NLE not LE.  Other editors allow LE or time based editing, with real time, on extremely powerful hardware.  Premiere was made for the masses, and will work with lesser hardware, as an NLE (frame based).  Linear editing requires dropping or meshing (creating) frames where some edits are made, and squeezing them in while keeping audio synced.  This might seem like a small task, but it isn't.  The frames for the entire second have to be re-scanned, and conformed to the audio, and when playing back, the algorithm for playback has to adjust to the new frame rate.  While the output should play on anything, it's not standard, and when you output to a codec, you will have a lot more processing to get the frames conformed to a standard frame rate.  Premiere keeps the standard all the way through the workflow, and allowing for lesser hardware to be used to process the same quality output.

    AE will conform your video to a CFR, and you can place the comp into premiere directly.  You may want to render the comp out first, but it's really more to taste than required.

    S
    SpeyerOutlook
    Participant
    November 2, 2014

    issue is variable frame rate versus constant - premiere only works with constant frame rate and iphone, ipad shoot using variable. need to convert from one to the other using an application like handbrake. this doubles production time. agree - go over to vegaspro.

    Kevin-Monahan
    Community Manager
    Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    March 31, 2013

    Really sorry to hear about your experience. I also have an iPhone 4S. I recently used it for a dash cam with lots of long takes. FWIW, I had no problems with audio sync, however, I am running OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion. Perhaps an upgrade to your OS might help?

    Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
    C
    CalebMcLaughlin
    Participant
    April 1, 2013

    If your footage is consistently lit, then the variable FPS doesn't really come into play.  The only time it varies (as far as I can tell) is to compensate for lighting changes (lower FPS allows a lower shutter speed, and thus more light).  I, like Kevin, have experienced the relief of a driftless iPhone video, but not often.  You can download a few apps to lock off the FPS, though if you're a pro having to edit iPhone footage, you probably aren't shooting it yourself...

    H
    humananon
    Participating Frequently
    April 1, 2013

    Caleb that's exactly right, thank you for bringing this up so people understand why they use the variable rate.  You can actually see this play out in my footage, where the black areas light up a little bit in a green tone.  So you can download the app to shoot the video in constant rate?  If so do you know what it's called?  I don't shoot the video at the moment, but I may start doing it for the client to avoid these issues.  Thanks for the feedback!

    G
    Gordon James McDowell
    Inspiring
    March 31, 2013

    Have faced exact same situation.

    Have (sadly) come to terms with not being (presently) able to use native iPhone 4S footage in Premiere Pro.

    I do have a Sony Vegas licnese, and Neat Video license. I've used this as an excuse to pre-process all footage thru Neat Video filter.

    Basically everything is recompressed. But it is an opportuntity to use some image processing that would otherwise be annoying on-the-fly.

    This approach is painful in licensing fees (and feeding thru each capture one after the other). So I'm not saying it is great.

    But your observation/experience PPro is not up to 4S import is correct. This is what I do. (6.0.3)

    I do hope PPro is improved so the footage can be imported directly.

    the_wine_snob
    the_wine_snob
    Inspiring
    March 31, 2013

    Gordon,

    Thank you for providing your workflow.

    Personally, I think that it's time for Apple to move away from the variable Frame-Rate in the iPhone. That is OK, if one ONLY wants to view the footage on an iPhone (and probably an iPad), but makes editing that footage tough. Note sure what the motivation was, for incorporating the variable Frame Rate, but it does get in the way, when trying to edit.

    Good luck, and maybe Apple will reconsider with iPhone 6, or whatever comes next?

    Hunt

    H
    humananon
    Participating Frequently
    April 1, 2013

    Hunt thanks adding to the discussion.  Caleb cleared this up mentioning the variable rate used to compensate for low light while shooting.  I originally thought this was silly because of the issues I was having, but if the newer operating system can handle this then it makes sense to do it to maintain well lit footage or as you thought if the iPhone 6 can eliminate this issue regardless of which operating system we have.

    H
    humananon
    Participating Frequently
    March 31, 2013

    I had  the same issue editing some iphone footage.  I used "handbrake" to convert the iPhone variable frame rate footage to constant rate.  I imported and began editing.....however I could not render footage before editing.  If I did it would go back to being out of sync.  So I edited and exported without rendering.....with success. 

    I made a short video on what I did here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUo2j_ibpNM

      C
      CalebMcLaughlin
      Participant
      April 1, 2013

      One clarifying question, humananon:

      When you say to edit unrendered, do you mean not to render any preview files within Premiere?  Or do you mean not to transcode the footage to ProRes or whatever intermediate codec you like to use?

      H
      humananon
      Participating Frequently
      April 1, 2013

      Yes,

      The redline above your tracks that indicates unrendered footage, you want to keep it unrendered to edit the footage....Otherwise, you will be trying to edit the footage out of sync.  I don't know why it exports in sync even if it's rendered, but it would be difficult to make the cuts if you edit it out of sync.  So I just import the "handbrake" footage, edit it unrendered and export. 

      This can be an issue if your computer cannot handle the unrendered footage or you have effects and multiple layers, but I managed okay so far.  Ideally I would prefer non-iphone footage, but the client needs it done, it's going to get done!

      E
      energybell
      Participant
      December 5, 2012

      I got my videos back by organizing up my iPhone photos & videos files through iPhoto.

      A
      Anonymous
      January 8, 2013

      QuickTime 10 doesn't include the save as reference movie option.

      I had the same issues editing iPhone video for a client, and was able to change it from Variable Frame Rate to Constant Frame Rate, keeping the file in the same H264 format by using HandBrake.

        Baz R
        Baz R
        Known Participant
        October 30, 2012

        open file into quicktime, goto save as, save as refrence video. Done

          L
          LumberZach
          Participant
          November 4, 2012

          Oh my dear lord.

          I just wasted two whole evenings trying to figure out why my iPhone 4 videos kept outputting with the sound out of sync in After Effects CS6. I'd done it successfully without problem before (though always with videos filmed indoors or with consistent daylight; the video I was attempting to edit was filmed at night under bright carnival lights), so I felt myself slipping gradually into madness because I didn't know the light mattered at all. I tried every kind of render setting and even tried my hand at Premier, which led me to this thread. Eventually, I found out iPhone 4 videos use variable frame rates, but I had no idea how to change them or force their framerates to actually match up with an After Effects composition. Then, Studio North Films up there droped this bomb of genius, "open file into quicktime, goto save as, save as refrence video. Done"

          All I had to do was open the original movie file in Quicktime, save it and BAM — its framerate was no longer variable. My iPhone movies work beautifully in After Effects. Everything is right and wonderful in the world again.

          Thank you, Studio North Films.

            the_wine_snob
            the_wine_snob
            Inspiring
            November 4, 2012

            Great news!

            Many have praised the iPhone footage, but it is basically designed to be played on an iPhone/iPad, where that variable FPS will be handled for playback, but not so much for editing. That QT Save_As is a good trick for stabilizing the variable FPS.

            Good luck,

            Hunt

            Z
            zikade
            Participant
            December 11, 2011

            The iPhone does indeed record with a variable framerate, depending on lighting conditions for example. Still, you could export it from QuickTime player into something like ProRes and import that into PPro.

            C
            Cocovanna
            Participating Frequently
            December 9, 2011

            I've had sync issues with the iPhone 4, that looks at lot like yours. When I looked at my footage with Interpret Footage, it showed "Use Frame Rate from File: 31.5789", and Mediainfo showed a varying frame rate. Setting the frame rate (in Interpret Footage) to 29.97 fixed the problem completely. It's worth a try

            A
            Anonymous
            December 10, 2011

            Tried interpret footage at 29.97 and no effect on the sync.  Again, QT plays this perfectly.  Premiere is out of sync by over one second at the end of 45 minutes.  Output from QT is also out of sync.  When I say OOS - it is in the imported file in the source window - and then of course in the sequence too.  I am beginning to think that this particular file is just whacked - but interesting that QT can handle it correctly.  Curious.  Will take another video on Sunday.

            Brad

            John T Smith
            Community Expert
            John T SmithCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            December 10, 2011

            >Output from QT is also out of sync -snip- interesting that QT can handle it correctly

            Ah... which is it... QT does it correctly, or not?

            the_wine_snob
            the_wine_snob
            Inspiring
            December 9, 2011

            Quick question: do you, by chance, have a Matrox card installed on your computer?

            Good luck,

            Hunt

            A
            Anonymous
            December 9, 2011

            No Matrox Card.  Running on a 2010 MacBook Pro with the Lion (10.7.2).

            One other piece of info.  I shrunk the file from the original 8G using QT.  The smaller file was sync'd.  I put that into Premiere - no joy.  I uploaded the smaller file to Vimeo and they were able to process it with no loss of sync - they obviously don't use premiere!

            Thanks for your help!

            Brad

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