View Full Version : On Location Clips Only Play Audio in CS3


Jim Long
August 20th, 2008, 06:28 PM
Just installed On Location to a new Dell Studio Laptop tethered to an HVX-200. I shot a few test clips in DVCPro HD (1080i). When I re-play the clips in OL, they look and sound just fine. The avi's will even playback--somewhat--if I open a clip in Windows Media Player ( it defaults to a 4:3 aspect ratio and not surprisingly it plays at less than normal speed).

BUT when I transfer the unedited clips to a much more powerful workstation (Boxx Technologies, AMD Dual Opteron, Adobe CS3 and Prospect HD), only the audio will play.

I also opened a CS3 Project with settings for DVCPro HD, imported the clips and ONLY get audio.

Anyone familiar with this?

Jim Long
August 23rd, 2008, 02:38 PM
At the risk of revealing just how unequipped I am to deal with the digital realm, I got a solution to the above problem on another (gasp) forum.

I mistakenly thought that Adobe (after buying DV Rack) would totally integrate On Location with Premiere Pro--considering the fact that they bundled it with CS3. I also mistakenly thought that I was among a multitude of so-called professionals that would use OL...well, on location and not on my main editing workstation. So, I was shocked to discover that I also had to install OL on the aforementioned workstation for any of the field-acquired OL clips to be used in a project. Silly me, I thought OL would injest the video clips (MXF files from an HVX 200) and that I could simply import those same files into my NLE without having to also install OL on that machine.

I know. The geeks are laughing at me but this is what happens when one is schooled in the analog realm ( I learned to edit audio with a razor blade for pete's sake) and had to transition to the NLE world. Anyway, I have yet to find this piece of vital information (must have OL on both lap and workstation) in the manual or other "help" materials. As a total Adobe user I had to say that the relationship reminds me of memorable past love affairs: when it works, I wish it would last forever but when it fails, it's pure hell.


Hugs and Kisses