Huge problem with the A1s

Brian Brown · March 21st, 2009, 11:06 PM

Footage works great for me (looks great, too.... is that a stock XH-A1? Nice DOF). Anyways, I ran it through the paces with CS4 on my Vista-64 box. In PPro, I loaded it up with various effects, brought it into AE with Dynamic Link. Played back with zero problems.

I guess it's clear that you have some software issues. I wonder if there's conflicting MPEG software loaded on your system somewhere... codec packs, etc.

David Chilson · March 22nd, 2009, 07:59 AM

First off, nice footage (I was thinking spinnerbait might be better.....) and I agree with the others that it's not a camera problem. I was able to download it and it worked fine in my system also. So there has been more than enough people who can edit it but BOTH of your computers can't? The good news is that whatever it is, you have replicated it on both your systems so that's a good clue. Here is what I would do:

1. Backup everything.

2. On one computer, uninstall any other programs/add ons/premiere elements etc that may have some conflicting mpeg software. Don't do them all at once, but restart after each unistall to help isolate the problem. Start with unistalling elements then reboot your computer, this is also a good time to say a little prayer, and try CS4 again. If it works, good. If not keep doing this until you have exhausted all options. (Sometimes things have become so corrupted, even though you have removed the offender, that number three is necessary)

3. Reformat the drive, install OS, update OS, install CS4 and update CS4. This may be a good idea anyway because having a clean install makes for a more efficient place for working on all that new A1 HD footage!

I have a Matrox RT.X2 system with CS3 that works great and am also building a CS4/64 Bit/Vista Ultimate system. Having two systems like you do is a good idea. Being a chicken and the person that Murphy was thinking about when he wrote that law, I bought a KVM dual monitor switch so that I can use all my monitors/mouse/keyboard/surround sound with both computers. Plus the third monitor still works with the Matrox.

I was only going to do this as a work around until CS4 matured but like the idea for a long term workflow. Knowing that a solid backup is just a switch away makes for a more restful nights sleep.

Mitch Hunt · March 22nd, 2009, 08:14 AM

Thanks, yes it's a stock A1s raw clip with absolutely no changes or add ons except Stephen Dempsey's Vivid RGB preset.

I haven't installed any codec packs on ether computer. The only software that has been installed main editing computer: The Adobe Creative Suite CS4, Premiere Elements 3.0.3 and 6, Photoshop Elements 5.0, disc defrag software, Microsoft Office 2007, and probably a couple more that I'm not thinking of.

Is there something that isn't installed that should be? What would you do if you had this problem?

David Chilson · March 22nd, 2009, 09:29 AM

Mitch,

I can feel your frustration but I think you missed the point in my previous post. IMHO as far as software is concerned, you are not missing anything. You have too much. On your main editing computer install the OS, CS4 and Internet explorer, (to get updates only) and that's it. No elements of any flavor,virus protection, nada. You have proven to all of us having two different versions of premier elements, one of photoshop elements, the CS4 suite plus whatever other software makes a terrible combination. Twice, on two computers. Thinking you need to ADD something else to make it stable is not going down the right road.

You can try the backup/uninstall/reboot procedures I suggested previously, SOMETIMES it works but it does leave crap behind. But it sounds like you need a fresh install and it will save you much more time and headaches in the long run.

If you have the premiere and photoshop elements installed because you are not quite yet comfortable with the CS4 suite, put those on the other computer and work with them there. A great tutorial based training aid to get you up and running with CS4 (or any program for that matter) is at Lynda.com. It's some of the best money you can spend.

Hope this helps and let us know how you make out.

Dave

Adam Gold · March 22nd, 2009, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitch Hunt

What would you do if you had this problem?

I'd follow David's advice. But I'd skip immediately to step 3.

Mitch Hunt · March 22nd, 2009, 12:58 PM

I uninstalled Premiere Elements and restarted the computer. Imported the video into AE and guess what, it didn't turn green! But after scrubbing the timeline it did crash, every time. I then imported it into the Media Encoder. Worked great! No more green video at least. But it was the same old story in Windows Media Player, take a look at the screenshot below.

I found out that the codec for this video is the MainConcept (Adobe2) MPEG Video Decoder. Could this codec need reinstalled?

David Chilson · March 22nd, 2009, 03:42 PM

Mitch,

Sounds like you are on the right track but I think you’re in for a OS and CS4 reinstall. Shared files may have been removed, you never know what can happen.

In all honesty, your system is probably border line for running CS4. I know it meets the Adobe minimums, but personally I think Adobe should change them. If you read their own white paper on this, they list MUCH higher computer specs as optimal.

I jumped on the CS4 64 bit bandwagon late last year, dreaming about the upgrades, Photoshop in true 64 bit, upgraded Soundbooth and on and on. All you have to do is just make a few hardware and software upgrades. So $1500 later with a Q9650, 64 bit Vista Ultimate and the CS4 Production Premium upgrade I was all set. It was 60 days of hell.

I had been running CS3 with the Matrox RT.X2 system and it was rock solid. I upgraded to the Q9650 and it was faster yet. I was really excited. The vista 64 install went well once I found out about the 2GB install limit. Getting 64 bit drivers was not too bad, but updates for the Matrox RT.X2 never surfaced until after I abandoned the project.

When I tried to run CS4 with it’s higher system requirements it was a lot slower than CS3 with the Matrox card and the real time playback wasn’t even close.

I had been burning Blu Ray discs for 18 months with never a crash and now Premiere and Encore were apologizing to me on a regular basis, as incessantly as a dive bar owner wanting to close. Deadlines were approaching and to save what little sanity I had left, I went back to CS3.

Currently I am building another computer that will handle CS4, the Matrox card with 64 bit Vista but am not placing any pressure on myself to make it function for paying work. So with that background, here is what I would advise you to do.

It sounds like you have a deadline looming and with CS4 being your only option, start new with a OS and CS4 install like previously discussed. The first thing you should do is back up all your important data. Don’t add ANYTHING to your system that is not required in your upcoming project.

Not sure what your computer expertise is but here are a few pointers when you install Vista.

IMPORTANT! Do initial install with 2GB of memory only. After you have installed Vista, install all current updates then shut down your computer, install the rest of the memory and restart. Vista will now recognize the other memory.

If you can, install from the bios. You will have to change the boot order so that whatever drive you have the Vista CD in is listed first. After install go back and change the order back. This will give you the cleanest install. When asked about quick or full disk reformatting, pick full.

If you are not comfortable with that, you can install from windows. Vista will compress old files for you, it just makes for a larger install.

If at any time you get a blue screen, read IMPORTANT above. You have backed up all your files, right?

After Vista is installed, check for updates.

Install latest drivers for video card etc.

Install CS4 and updates.

Write back and tell us how great your system is.

Dave

Mitch Hunt · March 29th, 2009, 10:21 PM

I took the plunge, and reinstalled Vista, updates and drivers on my machine. I have some good news and some not so good news. First the good news, Adobe seems to be working with the HD video the way it should (Finally!). But, Windows Media Player still has the same problem (see post above)! Doesn't this happen to anyone else? Here's how it happens: import the video, press the stop button or let it get to the end, then hit play. Another thing, when trying to capture in HDV Split, it ether crashes or says it cannot receive data from the camera.

Thanks for all your help!

David Chilson · March 30th, 2009, 08:42 AM

Mitch,

Glad to hear you are almost there. Now for the Media Player. Sounds like the problem lies with your "import the video".

Make a small (30 second) project to quickly check the process. You can use a longer one you already have, it will just take more time.

Click on File-export-adobe media encoder.

When the media encoder pops up, select MPEG2, entire sequence, hdtv 1080 29.97 high quality. (Assuming you shot on your A1)
Quality slider to 5, Hit OK.

Name and save.

After it's done, navigate to the file, double click it and Media Player will play your video minus the green screen in all it's HD splendor.

Dave

Peter Moretti · April 2nd, 2009, 05:36 AM

David,

Your footage looks really nice :). I was able to import it into both Avid Media Composer 3.1.1 and Sony Vegas 8.0c. IMHO, like others have noted, your footage is fine.

Mitch Hunt · April 3rd, 2009, 02:55 PM

Would there be a better format than MPEG to convert my video to for editing?

Bob Schneider · April 4th, 2009, 04:50 PM

Hi Mitch,

For whatever its worth, it did play the first time when using Windows Media Player. However it would not play a second time. It gave me the same garbled screen you showed in an earlier post. I did not try to load it into Premiere.

Mitch Hunt · April 5th, 2009, 11:51 AM

I'm wondering if Windows Media Player isn't fully compatible with HD video. Here is the way it happens to me:

1. Open the video in Windows Media Player
2. Press the stop button or let the video finish
3. Hit play

Is this how it happened to you Bob? Do others have the same problem?

David Chilson · April 5th, 2009, 04:06 PM

Mitch,

It must be contagious. This had never happened to me before until I loaded up a test clip for a client on Youtube last week.

When first viewed in SD it plays fine. After the SD version plays and you select the HD button, the screen resizes and goes green like yours! Hit play again and it plays as it’s supposed to.

I played it on my system with no problem before uploading, so I'm baffled. I don’t think I have ever uploaded anything to Youtube previously that contained an After Effects project with a different resolution than the video.

What version of Media Player are you using?

If you haven't seen enough green screen......

YouTube - Matrox 1280 264 direct

Dave

Mitch Hunt · April 5th, 2009, 06:16 PM

David, I'm using Windows Media Player version 11.0.6001.7004. That's exactly how my videos looked on my editing software until I reinstalled the OS. Premiere Elements 3.0.2 seems to have been the culprit. But I still can't capture from the A1s with HDV split. As soon as the record button is hit it immediately crashes.

March 22nd, 2009, 09:29 AM	#34
David Chilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Walworth, NY Posts: 292	Mitch, I can feel your frustration but I think you missed the point in my previous post. IMHO as far as software is concerned, you are not missing anything. You have too much. On your main editing computer install the OS, CS4 and Internet explorer, (to get updates only) and that's it. No elements of any flavor,virus protection, nada. You have proven to all of us having two different versions of premier elements, one of photoshop elements, the CS4 suite plus whatever other software makes a terrible combination. Twice, on two computers. Thinking you need to ADD something else to make it stable is not going down the right road. You can try the backup/uninstall/reboot procedures I suggested previously, SOMETIMES it works but it does leave crap behind. But it sounds like you need a fresh install and it will save you much more time and headaches in the long run. If you have the premiere and photoshop elements installed because you are not quite yet comfortable with the CS4 suite, put those on the other computer and work with them there. A great tutorial based training aid to get you up and running with CS4 (or any program for that matter) is at Lynda.com. It's some of the best money you can spend. Hope this helps and let us know how you make out. Dave Last edited by David Chilson; March 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 AM.

March 22nd, 2009, 12:58 PM	#36
Mitch Hunt Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Broken Bow, NE Posts: 145	I uninstalled Premiere Elements and restarted the computer. Imported the video into AE and guess what, it didn't turn green! But after scrubbing the timeline it did crash, every time. I then imported it into the Media Encoder. Worked great! No more green video at least. But it was the same old story in Windows Media Player, take a look at the screenshot below. I found out that the codec for this video is the MainConcept (Adobe2) MPEG Video Decoder. Could this codec need reinstalled? Attached Thumbnails

March 21st, 2009, 11:06 PM	#31
Brian Brown Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Estes Park, CO USA Posts: 426	Footage works great for me (looks great, too.... is that a stock XH-A1? Nice DOF). Anyways, I ran it through the paces with CS4 on my Vista-64 box. In PPro, I loaded it up with various effects, brought it into AE with Dynamic Link. Played back with zero problems. I guess it's clear that you have some software issues. I wonder if there's conflicting MPEG software loaded on your system somewhere... codec packs, etc.

March 22nd, 2009, 07:59 AM	#32
David Chilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Walworth, NY Posts: 292	First off, nice footage (I was thinking spinnerbait might be better.....) and I agree with the others that it's not a camera problem. I was able to download it and it worked fine in my system also. So there has been more than enough people who can edit it but BOTH of your computers can't? The good news is that whatever it is, you have replicated it on both your systems so that's a good clue. Here is what I would do: 1. Backup everything. 2. On one computer, uninstall any other programs/add ons/premiere elements etc that may have some conflicting mpeg software. Don't do them all at once, but restart after each unistall to help isolate the problem. Start with unistalling elements then reboot your computer, this is also a good time to say a little prayer, and try CS4 again. If it works, good. If not keep doing this until you have exhausted all options. (Sometimes things have become so corrupted, even though you have removed the offender, that number three is necessary) 3. Reformat the drive, install OS, update OS, install CS4 and update CS4. This may be a good idea anyway because having a clean install makes for a more efficient place for working on all that new A1 HD footage! I have a Matrox RT.X2 system with CS3 that works great and am also building a CS4/64 Bit/Vista Ultimate system. Having two systems like you do is a good idea. Being a chicken and the person that Murphy was thinking about when he wrote that law, I bought a KVM dual monitor switch so that I can use all my monitors/mouse/keyboard/surround sound with both computers. Plus the third monitor still works with the Matrox. I was only going to do this as a work around until CS4 matured but like the idea for a long term workflow. Knowing that a solid backup is just a switch away makes for a more restful nights sleep.

March 22nd, 2009, 08:14 AM	#33
Mitch Hunt Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Broken Bow, NE Posts: 145	Thanks, yes it's a stock A1s raw clip with absolutely no changes or add ons except Stephen Dempsey's Vivid RGB preset. I haven't installed any codec packs on ether computer. The only software that has been installed main editing computer: The Adobe Creative Suite CS4, Premiere Elements 3.0.3 and 6, Photoshop Elements 5.0, disc defrag software, Microsoft Office 2007, and probably a couple more that I'm not thinking of. Is there something that isn't installed that should be? What would you do if you had this problem?

March 22nd, 2009, 03:42 PM	#37
David Chilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Walworth, NY Posts: 292	Mitch, Sounds like you are on the right track but I think you’re in for a OS and CS4 reinstall. Shared files may have been removed, you never know what can happen. In all honesty, your system is probably border line for running CS4. I know it meets the Adobe minimums, but personally I think Adobe should change them. If you read their own white paper on this, they list MUCH higher computer specs as optimal. I jumped on the CS4 64 bit bandwagon late last year, dreaming about the upgrades, Photoshop in true 64 bit, upgraded Soundbooth and on and on. All you have to do is just make a few hardware and software upgrades. So $1500 later with a Q9650, 64 bit Vista Ultimate and the CS4 Production Premium upgrade I was all set. It was 60 days of hell. I had been running CS3 with the Matrox RT.X2 system and it was rock solid. I upgraded to the Q9650 and it was faster yet. I was really excited. The vista 64 install went well once I found out about the 2GB install limit. Getting 64 bit drivers was not too bad, but updates for the Matrox RT.X2 never surfaced until after I abandoned the project. When I tried to run CS4 with it’s higher system requirements it was a lot slower than CS3 with the Matrox card and the real time playback wasn’t even close. I had been burning Blu Ray discs for 18 months with never a crash and now Premiere and Encore were apologizing to me on a regular basis, as incessantly as a dive bar owner wanting to close. Deadlines were approaching and to save what little sanity I had left, I went back to CS3. Currently I am building another computer that will handle CS4, the Matrox card with 64 bit Vista but am not placing any pressure on myself to make it function for paying work. So with that background, here is what I would advise you to do. It sounds like you have a deadline looming and with CS4 being your only option, start new with a OS and CS4 install like previously discussed. The first thing you should do is back up all your important data. Don’t add ANYTHING to your system that is not required in your upcoming project. Not sure what your computer expertise is but here are a few pointers when you install Vista. IMPORTANT! Do initial install with 2GB of memory only. After you have installed Vista, install all current updates then shut down your computer, install the rest of the memory and restart. Vista will now recognize the other memory. If you can, install from the bios. You will have to change the boot order so that whatever drive you have the Vista CD in is listed first. After install go back and change the order back. This will give you the cleanest install. When asked about quick or full disk reformatting, pick full. If you are not comfortable with that, you can install from windows. Vista will compress old files for you, it just makes for a larger install. If at any time you get a blue screen, read IMPORTANT above. You have backed up all your files, right? After Vista is installed, check for updates. Install latest drivers for video card etc. Install CS4 and updates. Write back and tell us how great your system is. Dave

March 29th, 2009, 10:21 PM	#38
Mitch Hunt Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Broken Bow, NE Posts: 145	I took the plunge, and reinstalled Vista, updates and drivers on my machine. I have some good news and some not so good news. First the good news, Adobe seems to be working with the HD video the way it should (Finally!). But, Windows Media Player still has the same problem (see post above)! Doesn't this happen to anyone else? Here's how it happens: import the video, press the stop button or let it get to the end, then hit play. Another thing, when trying to capture in HDV Split, it ether crashes or says it cannot receive data from the camera. Thanks for all your help!

March 30th, 2009, 08:42 AM	#39
David Chilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Walworth, NY Posts: 292	Mitch, Glad to hear you are almost there. Now for the Media Player. Sounds like the problem lies with your "import the video". Make a small (30 second) project to quickly check the process. You can use a longer one you already have, it will just take more time. Click on File-export-adobe media encoder. When the media encoder pops up, select MPEG2, entire sequence, hdtv 1080 29.97 high quality. (Assuming you shot on your A1) Quality slider to 5, Hit OK. Name and save. After it's done, navigate to the file, double click it and Media Player will play your video minus the green screen in all it's HD splendor. Dave

April 2nd, 2009, 05:36 AM	#40
Peter Moretti Trustee Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Sherman Oaks, CA Posts: 1,259	David, Your footage looks really nice :). I was able to import it into both Avid Media Composer 3.1.1 and Sony Vegas 8.0c. IMHO, like others have noted, your footage is fine.

April 3rd, 2009, 02:55 PM	#41
Mitch Hunt Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Broken Bow, NE Posts: 145	Would there be a better format than MPEG to convert my video to for editing?

April 4th, 2009, 04:50 PM	#42
Bob Schneider Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Chicago area Posts: 98	Hi Mitch, For whatever its worth, it did play the first time when using Windows Media Player. However it would not play a second time. It gave me the same garbled screen you showed in an earlier post. I did not try to load it into Premiere.

April 5th, 2009, 11:51 AM	#43
Mitch Hunt Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Broken Bow, NE Posts: 145	I'm wondering if Windows Media Player isn't fully compatible with HD video. Here is the way it happens to me: 1. Open the video in Windows Media Player 2. Press the stop button or let the video finish 3. Hit play Is this how it happened to you Bob? Do others have the same problem?

April 5th, 2009, 04:06 PM	#44
David Chilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Walworth, NY Posts: 292	Mitch, It must be contagious. This had never happened to me before until I loaded up a test clip for a client on Youtube last week. When first viewed in SD it plays fine. After the SD version plays and you select the HD button, the screen resizes and goes green like yours! Hit play again and it plays as it’s supposed to. I played it on my system with no problem before uploading, so I'm baffled. I don’t think I have ever uploaded anything to Youtube previously that contained an After Effects project with a different resolution than the video. What version of Media Player are you using? If you haven't seen enough green screen...... YouTube - Matrox 1280 264 direct Dave

April 5th, 2009, 06:16 PM	#45
Mitch Hunt Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Broken Bow, NE Posts: 145	David, I'm using Windows Media Player version 11.0.6001.7004. That's exactly how my videos looked on my editing software until I reinstalled the OS. Premiere Elements 3.0.2 seems to have been the culprit. But I still can't capture from the A1s with HDV split. As soon as the record button is hit it immediately crashes.