How to weed out and correct corrupted video files?

[EvanLNorthCoast]

Hello,

I am editing together a virtual choir project for a teacher friend. I am running into issues with a handful of the files that were uploaded by the students and all the beautiful headaches that come with a project like this.

I have a couple specific questions below in red.

Frame Rate issues

As is the case with most virtual choirs I've edited, the files have come in with all sorts of wacky framerates (29.96, 30.01, 51.38, etc.). I know there's not much we can do about that now short of having the students re-record, but nearly all of these were recorded on school-issued iPads--why the wacky framerates? That gives my computer a real workout when there are 40 videos currently playing on the timeline.  Am I correct in assuming that Modify > Interpret Footage will not work because that will also re-time the clip?

Corrupt files

I have identified a couple of the files that I'm assuming are corrupt because when they are added to the timeline, the audio plays, but the playhead freezes and and cannot get the audio to stop playing*. When I remove the files in question from the timeline and reboot Premiere, everything kicks back into working. But my quesion is: Is there a way to identify WHY a file is corrupt or how to fix it? Obviously I can't just discard the file as all the students need to be present in the final project.

A couple of the files also have extremely strange playback in Premiere. (They are .mov files recorded on an iPad.) On Google Drive (where the students uploaded), the videos play back fine. When downloaded to my computer and/or played in Premiere, they are extremely stuttery--looking like bad stop motion or something (Audio is fine). The downloaded file does play back smoothly/correctly on VLC player, but nothing else. Any idea what's going on here?

*Note: This is NOT an issue with needing to update my GPU driver. That is up-to-date.

[EvanLNorthCoast]

Update: Obviously with the framerate issue, I am just taking the ones I know are weird and re-encoding in Media Encoder. I'm more just curious why we're getting these odd framerates in the first place.

[Richard van den Boogaard · Accepted solution]

Please use Handbrake (available from Handbrake.fr) to make constant framerate files out of your source clips.

That will likely solve a lot of your issues, if not all.

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

Unpacking Richard's correct comment, those files have wacky framerates because they are VFR ... variable framerate. You really need CFR, constant framerate, for best working in Premiere.

So yes ... download/install the free utiliity Handbrake and use the settings of the Video tab in that applet to convert to CFR. Click the CFR button, and also set a specific numeric framerate in that box.

Then set the compression to 'near placebo' so you keep the quality up.

Neil

[EvanLNorthCoast]

Thanks both. I will try the Handbrake option.

Asking the obvious question just to be sure: Handbrake has features that Media Encoder does not?

[Richard van den Boogaard]

Handbrake was made as a conversion tool; Media encoder as an export tool for Adobe Video Apps. Herein lies the difference. Variable framerate is never an Adobe way of encoding video...