Premiere Pro to Premiere Pro 1.5 issues

[Sean McHenry]

OK folks, I upgraded, or rather did a clean installation of Premiere Pro 1.5 after using Premiere Pro (7) on a project. Now, if I attempt to import this project into the new version, it spins for about 15 minutes before opening the sequence and when it does, there is no video in the monitor (in the application) window.

Even if I tell it to render the work area, it just goes "blip" says it's done and stares at me. Audio seems to be fine but no video, no renders and even parts of the interface windows are corrupted. If I call up something else like the file explorer over the application, parts of those windows fill the monitor views and stay there.

Weird stuff like that. Now here's the twist. If I start a brand new project, everything is just fine.

Any ideas? I may need to redo this project in the near future and am not looking forward to rebuilding it from scratch.

Do these newer version still have preference files that can get corrupted? Is there a way to tell if the prproj file is corrupted? If I post the prproj file, can somebody else try to open it in 1.5?

Thanks folks.

Sean McHenry

[Rob Lohman]

Just as a perhaps simple solution. Does Premiere allow for EDL
saving and loading? If so you might re-install PPro 1.0 and then
load your project and save is as an EDL and try to load that in
1.5. That might at least get you back on track. Do you happen
to have a camera or some other DV device attached? If so try
doing this without it attached. Otherwise I have no idea.

[Rob Wilson]

Sean,

Can't help with a fix but can confirm that I had the same problem. Good news is that I had finished all of the previous projects so I haven't needed to open them since. I'll be watching this thread to see what the fix is. Can't believe that 1.5 is not fully backwards compatible with 7.0.

[Pete Bauer]

I'll probably not be of much help, but let's give it a go. I have not had any problems with either Premiere 6.x or PPro 1.0 projects OPENING in PPro 1.5 and don't think I've done any IMPORTS of project files since I got 1.5. I did a search of the Adobe forum and didn't find anything quite like what you're describing. Also couldn't find anything that says whether PPro 1.0 and 1.5 project files are different in any way, but you never know.

This probably amounts to nothing, but you used the word "import." Make sure you've tried both "File > Import", AND "File > Open Project". It may be that "import" won't do file conversions properly, or vice versa. It shouldn't matter whether you "import" or "open," but worth a try if you haven't already had a go at both ways.

The only other thing I can possibly think of is related to your "Linux used here since 1998" tag line...do you perhaps have a multi-boot system or some other unusual config that might choke PPro somehow? It does require a lot of scratch disk space, RAM, etc. What's your hardware / software setup?

[Sean McHenry]

Sorry for the time delay but we have moved recently and things are quite screwy at home right now as to how to set up temporairly and all that..

So, nope, that machine is pure windows XP Pro with 1GB DDR 333MHz RAM, XP 2500+ AMD heart, dual nvidea graphics card, 40GB main drive and 120GB internal drive as well as a 120GB external USB 2.0 drive (yes, it works fine for video) This install was done after maiking sure the system was back together and working 100 % on the old software. Avid Upgrade went fine as did the actual upgrade from 7.0 to 1.5.

I have tried the import feature as well as the open function on the project file. I have the project completly backed up on DVD and even brought the copy of the project file back in and it's the same so I doubt any file corruption with it.

What bothers me is I am not alone according to Rob. We may be the only two who are having this but at least we aren't alone.

I am wondering if I can install both until this project goes away. I may try installing them together (in different directories) tonight.

It's a weird one. I'll keep checking Adobe for updates. I also want to try attaching the USB drive to the laptop, load 1.5 on it and if it behaves the same. Hmmm?

Sean

[Pete Bauer]

Hmmm. Still not many great ideas, but I'll throw at you what I can think of.

Do all PPro 1.0 projects behave like this in 1.5, or is it specific to this project? I tried a few of my old projects. Opening Premiere 6.x project files brought up a dialog box requiring a conversion to PPro format. PPro 1.0 files did not and appeared to open natively. No problems on my system.

If it is "thinking" for 15 minutes before the project is ready to use, it sure sounds like it isn't able to read a file properly or a bad internal command is looping until it times out or something...the project files should be open within seconds. That said, although PPro 1.5 is supposed to allow you to start editing without waiting for audio files to conform, perhaps there may be some background stuff going on...audio conforming, codec conversion? (especially if the source file is a big MPG or QT; I think PPro has to convert them internally to AVI to use them). Try:
- Check your HDD light during the process
- Have the Processes tab of Win Task Manager up and see what processes are working, and how much processor power they're using.
- Afterwards, check the Windows system logs (and I think PPro may have an error log file, but not sure about that) to see if any messages were generated.

Next, maybe a codec problem, or timebase difference, or audio sample rate difference, with a source file compared to the project? The codec problem has happened to me...got an AVI file that originated in Russia which played fine in Windows Media Player, but not at all in any other application ("unknown codec"). If you haven't already done so, try substituting another DV AVI file that you know is good in place of an offending source file within the project and see if it behaves better. And also try creating a new project file and then putting an offending clip onto the timeline. That might help narrow down where the problem actually resides.

With the monitor window behaving oddly as you mentioned, I suppose it could be either within PPro, or an interaction/bad setting related to the video driver.

You've got a pretty up-to-date system, so I'm sure you're running NTFS, but if by chance you have FAT32, you'll have file size limitations (4GB).

At first, I was going to say that using both 1.0 and 1.5 upgrade at the same time wouldn't be legal (although you should be able to do it, but be careful not to Activate too many times!), but the license allows you to have the software installed on two machines, as long as you're only using one at a time. Although not within the license to load both versions at the same time on the same machine, it is hard to imagine Adobe's lawyers getting too upset since what you're doing is troubleshooting a problem with their program.

If all else fails, gather up what you know and do send Adobe Support a cogent email. I know a lot of folks like to bash their support, but they did have a simple work-around out very quickly when a quirky After Effects Pro 6.5 installation problem occurred due to ATI video card issues. They just might be able to help.

I have another day before I'll be on the road; if you want, you can send me the project file and I can try to open it. Since all the source files will be "offline" it may tell us something if the project file won't open on my machine either.

Fingers crossed for ya!

[Sean McHenry]

Being an old PC and server builder, I have done everything you mentioned in the troubleshooting section of your note with one exception. I will look for an error log file tonight.

It has a similar feel to those long conforms it did between 6.5 and 7.0.

Keep in mind I am talking about a rendered, finished project here that I am trying to open in a native DV format. I can't get it running for that project to even try to add new footage, let alone a different format.

Oddly, other projects are just fine. The project length was about 10 minutes.

Using NTFS on all the media drives.

Still a mystery.

I'll try to figure something out this weekend. Just did a fresh project in 1.5 and all seems good.

I am an Avid trained editor on their stuff and use Xpress Pro 4.3.1 currently on the same machine setup. I work for a major broadcast and post production equipment supplier and we have a big Apple demo going on right now in our demo room. FCP HD is looking pretty good these days. I could never go Mac however.

Too many years in Windows and Linux. I sure wish they would get up to speed on a Linux platform. Maybe FCP HD for RedHat?

Anyway, see you guys down the log.

Sean

[Pete Bauer]

Sean,
I'm just catching up again after a vacation "away from it all" and wondering if you've had any luck?

[Sean McHenry]

Nope, Luckily, I havent had to deal with it yet. I suppose I will end up backing up to the Pro 7.0 version to get any work done on that project but I tell you, it sure screws up my work flow having to back up a version just for one project.

Sean