video import into adobe premiere 1.5

Hi,

since I had no firewire available on one system, I captured the video from
my Sony Digital 8 Cam (DCR-TR7000E/PAL) with M$ MovieMaker on one system,
and then transferred the files to the system where I have premiere
installed. Now I have the problem that I cannot open the files in premiere,
I get the message that premiere detected an error here :

[\dev\starsky\MediaLayer\Src\Audio\AudioPreviewFile.cpp-301]

anyone knows a solution how I can easily and lossless get the video(s) into
premiere ?

 

Are your captured files DV type 1 or 2?? Make sure your setting in Premiere
are the same for the DV type you are capturing.

Mike

 

recapture with premiere.

 

not possible, source tapes are gone

 

Since the cam is rather old I assume its type 1. How can I change the
settings on how premiere imports the files ? in the import dialog I dont
see any options, and in the common options I dont see any options about
DV import...

greets

Dennis

 

Give the Canopus DV File Converter a try.
It's at http://tinyurl.com/6hmaa

Mike

 

Ok, its converting, but it says it needs 19 hours per 4GB file (and I have
~28GB of video data)... I think in this case its faster to save all the
single clips from M$ moviemaker, so I can have them as single files. Maybe
there is a tool that uses the embedded clip & time information to make this
automatically (and faster than in 130 hours) ?

 

I seem to remember the Canopus convertor making only Canopus codec type
files.. Have you played any of these in Premiere yet?

 

No, its taking ages about 1minute per megabyte now, I think I should abort
and manually copy from M$ Movie Maker...
The Program shows options to convert to M$ DV-AVI2 files, and canopus files
take the same time to create though...

 

yucchhh.. that's certainly no fun.

 

The age of a camera has nothing to do with the type of DV files captured in
Windows Movie Maker, or any other capture program. The user can identify his
DV file type by looking at the result of the captures. Type 1 creates a
combined audio/video stream, i.e. audio is included with video. Type 2
creates separate audio and video, i.e. you get an audio WAV file and a video
AVI file - the Matrox RT cards capture in this manner. The Canopus cards
capture Type 1. Microsoft Windows Movie Maker captures Type 1 using the
Microsoft DV Codec.

If the user wishes to import these into Premiere (whatever version
supporting DV codecs) start a new project and pick custom setting just to
make sure everything is right. Choose General Settings for Microsoft DV
AVI - using the Microsoft DV Codec across the board - 720x480 D1/DV pixel
0.9 48kHz (or 32kHz depending of captured video settings) for audio.
29.97fps drop frame timecode. If the user selected to capture DV-AVI using
Movie Maker on one machine, there is no apparent reason why the video could
not be imported into Premiere 5.1, 6, 6.5 or Pro.

 

The Canopus DV File Converter will only convert Microsoft DV AVI to Canopus
DV AVI and vice-versa. You are wasting your time attempting it.

Please, provide the following information on the video files you have.

Right click on one of the and choose Properties. Choose the Summary tab.
This gives you the frame resolution, audio settings, duration, frame rate
(which will be listed as 29 rather than 29.97 or 30 - so don't worry about
that). You will also find the video sample size (24bit) and the video
compression (codec) listed.

When you start premiere you can choose DV 1394 48kHz audio NTSC which will
most likely load the Microsoft DV Codec, etc. Or, you can choose Custom and
match the settings listed in that Summary of the file to be absolutely sure
the files will import into Premiere.

There was some trepidation over DV file types in an earlier post. Type 1 is
audio and video in a single file, Type 2 is audio and video in separate
files (WAV & AVI). Whenever video is captured in Type 2 there is usually a
link in the video header which tells the program to bring in the audio at
the same time.

If this is the type of files you have and the video will import, even though
there is an error upon loading, place this video on the timeline and then
import the audio file as well. Place it on the timeline under the video
track and it should sync up. You can check the match by placing the timeline
cursor at the end of the video, change the timeline increment to single
frame and see if they end at the same spot. Do the same at the beginning of
the clip. Once the first clip is sync'd this way placing the video with audo
next to each one in succession should keep it all in line properly.

All in all the solution to the problem you are having is right there in that
summary and the setting you are using whenever you start Premiere.

 

Well I have a german version so I assume you mean the "file info" tab in
properties of the file (in windows xp explorer)... the only thing listed
there is the length of the file (e.g. 00:19:49)

Where can I choose it ? When I start up I can choose to create a new project
or choose another project (my current one).
Or do you mean when starting a new project ? Then I have choosed "DV - PAL"
"Standard 48kHz"...

When I save a piece of the file wit M$ movie maker I can import the piece
fine (although it seems that the file type is the same).
The strange thing with the "Canopus DV File Converter" is that it now looks
like it stops right after the first "subclip" (or whatever you call it),
and the file produced is nearly the same as when I save it with M$ Movie
maker.

Well I dont have such a summary thing displaying the properties in windows
explorer. Or do you mean another program that shows this properties ?
And for the settings with a new project, I think I have tried now most of
the probablye combinations of settings, all dont work....

After playing a bit with filemon, it seems that the dv file converter stops
converting at the same point (during reading the file in) where premiere
issues the error, where the timecode (?) of the next scene is located.

greets

Dennis

 

Great, so the error message appearing from premiere is totally my fault ?
Ok, anyone can recommend a software with similar features like premiere pro
that I could try ?

 

It sounds like you're dropping frames. Some capture devices will stop on a
dropped (or can be set to do this). Premiere has an option in the capture
box that lets you ignore dropped frames. If you do this, it will capture
the entire file. However, if you're dropping enough frames it will be quite
visible in the output.

Dropped frames usually indicates one of several things:

1. Poor connections to the video source, i.e. check your cables and
connectors.

2. Insufficient power in whatever device you're using to convert analog to
digital.

3. Too slow a CPU and/or bus to keep up with the digital video stream.

4. Too slow a hard drive.

I haven't been following the entire thread. However, if you're trying to
capture using the huffyuv codec to create uncompressed AVI, you're putting
quite a strain on your hard drive and, more than likely, it can't keep up.
Try capturing to a compressed AVI using the Microsoft DV codec or something
similar. If you no longer have dropped frames, then the fault lies in an
underpowered computer, and the first thing I'd look at is the hard drive.
You may need a RAID system with 7200 rpm drives.

If you load the clip into Premiere, highlight the clip and click on the File
drop-down menu, then click on Properties. Alternatively, I think you can
right-click on the clip and select Properties from there.

The new project settings affect only the output, not the input.

Ah, okay -- another possibility. Lots of capture devices offer the option of
"stop on time code break." You want to turn off that function. Since you
have time code, the easiest thing to do (assuming you have the hard drive
space) is to capture the video as one continuous file with no scene
detection (using whatever software you have handy). Download Scenealyzer at
www.scenealyzer.com -- the shareware version is free. Use it to do
post-capture scene detection (it can do it either based on time code or on
optical detection) and create the clips you want that way.

 

Premiere will handle Type 1 avi files. I don't recall the difference
between Type 1 and Type 2 -- it may have to do with maximum file length --
but the current standard is Type 2. I would assume which type is produced
is a function of your capture software, rather than the Canopus card.

 

Ultra ATA-100 RAID on 2 Athlon MP 2800+ System with 2GB of RAM, dont think
Im dropping frames. I have captured to Microsoft DV Codec with M$ Movie
Maker, and this has a setting to stop on dropped frames and it didnt, and
firewire should be fast enough cable.

Well, thats the entire Problem I *CANT* load the file into Premiere !!

Did you mean www.scenalyzer.com ? I have downloaded. The problem is that I
dont have the source tapes any more so I can only work with the files I
already have. If I load them into scenealyzer the scene detection seems to
work fine, but I cannot find any option to save the single clips, do you
know the program ? Do I need to buy the full version to do this ?

greets

Dennis

 

Ok, found out how it works, you have to end the program and then it asks to
do the changes. The clips I got can be loaded into Premiere fine.

I really wonder why a Shareware program can do such things, while "big" &
"expensive" programs wont even load the files, and give obscure error
messages....

 

From the developer's POV:

Why do it if free shareware programs do it?


OTOH: It's the things that Premiere does that the freebies do NOT do that
makes it worth the money.

 

What??????? Are you sure you are using the Converter, and NOT the
Procoder?