Trouble with MPEG2 in Premier 6

[Beatrix Kiddo]

I am having an unholy heck of a problem using MPEG2 files in Adobe Premier 6! I have been given DVDs with video material I need to edit. I managed to translate the VOB files into MPEG2 files. The MPEG2 files play perfectly with Windows Media Player, etc. I am able to load the MPEG2 files into Premier 6 and then place them in the timeline. However, I'm completely unable to play these files in Premier. And when I try to render them into a different format, it always ends up looking jerky with frequent pauses or jumping back several frames.

I've tried a couple of MPEG2 CODECs and it seemed to make differences. So I think it might have something to do with the MPEG2 CODEC. Does this problem seem familiar to anyone? Is there a MPEG2 CODEC that I need?

It doesn't make sense that I can author DVDs with Premier but I can't load, edit, or translate these MPEG2 files. What is going wrong?

I have been at this for more than a week.

[Marc Peters]

You'll need to render the video in the timeline before you start editing - otherwise, as you say, the video will be jerky . Double click the area just above the timeline. It will turn yellow. Right click and select preview. Now you'll be able to edit that area a tad more effectively.

[Beatrix Kiddo]

You'll need to render the video in the timeline before you start editing - otherwise, as you say, the video will be jerky . Double click the area just above the timeline. It will turn yellow. Right click and select preview. Now you'll be able to edit that area a tad more effectively.

I'm sorry. You don't understand. Let me make myself clear.

That doesn't work. I'm trying to explain that no matter what I do with the MPEG2 file in Premier (build a preview or render it to any other format) the results are always jerky. It's not playing normally. It plays 1 frame and freezes on that frame for a second. The pacing is normal; the soundtrack is perfectly normal. The video is completely unacceptable.

Do I have the wrong CODEC? Or is this a fundamental problem Premier 6 requiring that I buy the newest version of Premier Pro? I find it completely unacceptable that even though my version of Premier is old, it should be able to process a file that uses an even older CODEC.

[Beatrix Kiddo]

Let me try to explain it differently. (I wish I could post an example.)

I load the MPEG2 into Premier and place it on the timeline.

I export the timeline to a new movie file. (QuickTime, Windows Media, etc., anything)

When I play the resulting file, it freezes on one frame for a second. The sound plays normally. Then after about a second, it shows another frame and freezes. Then another. It's like I'm watching somebody walk a step, step, step, hear him walking normally, but all I see are the frames that show each footfall. No motion. No frames are being shown between each step. Just freeze on one frame.

It's hard to describe something like this.

It plays back like this:

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

when it should be playing like

123456789012345678901234567890

I'm only seeing the "1" frames.

[Marc Peters]

Could you confirm that you have rendered the timeline? Additionally could you confirm the amount of RAM on your system?

[Beatrix Kiddo]

Could you confirm that you have rendered the timeline? Additionally could you confirm the amount of RAM on your system?

Yes, I rendered the timeline. I got the same result.

Total Physical Memory: 1,047,564 KB
Available Physical Memory: 752,844 KB
Total Virtual Memory: 3,568,452 KB
Available Virtual Memory: 2,679,948 KB

[Beatrix Kiddo]

I am at my wit's end. I've tried re-installing Adobe Premier 6 and my Pinnacle DC1000 software. Still no luck. The only improvement is that I can now actually play the MPEG2 footage from within Premier. I couldn't do that before. And I still can't "render" my timeline any differently.

This is completely insane. Why can't Premier 6 properly interpret MPEG2 video? With Windows Media Player, it plays just fine.

I can't find any information on the internet about anyone else having this problem. :(

[Marc Peters]

A short term workaround would be to convert your MPEG to DV AVI outside of premiere (for example in VirtualDub or FlaskMPEG) then use this for editing. Infact, when I've been given MPEG to edit, I always convert to AVI as it's much easier to work with.

[Beatrix Kiddo]

A short term workaround would be to convert your MPEG to DV AVI outside of premiere (for example in VirtualDub or FlaskMPEG) then use this for editing. Infact, when I've been given MPEG to edit, I always convert to AVI as it's much easier to work with.

Actually, that's what I've been trying to do for the last solid week. I've had nothing but trouble. It seems that every single AVI file that I create with other programs does not load into Premier. It feels like I've tried every single permutation and setting to generate dozens of different variations of AVI files. But no luck.

Then, as I learned more about DVDs, I discovered that VOB files are really just MPEG2 files. Once I managed to extract the MPEG2 files, I figured that it would be best to use that in Premier. But I can't even use MPEG2 files! Nothing works. It seems that it's been nothing but frustration.

In other respects, my video workstation operates fine. I mainly use it to capture footage from videotape and edit it without problem in Premier. But it seems that it's almost completely impossible to import and manipulate anything that's created with these weird DVD ripping-related programs.

I will try, once more, to use VirtualDub and FlaskMPEG.

[Marc Peters]

Make sure you select DV AVI. Sticky email me and I'll explain.