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Importing .mp4 into Premiere Pro CS4 = Crash?
My Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 keeps crashing whenever I try and import .mp4 into the program.
In fact, almost every time I do it the program causes my machine to Blue Screen.
Granted, I am on Vista but no other programs seem to be causing the issue so I seem to think it’s the .mp4 file format.
Can someone first confirm that assumption?
Then secondly if putting .mp4 into Premier Pro is a no no than are there any programs that do BATCH conversions from .mp4 to .avi?
I don’t want to have to sit there and select one file over and over again to convert.
Thoughts?
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9 Replies
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There are many flavors of Mp4, some are even protected, so without knowing where they came from it’s hard to tell what’s causing the crashes.
The best way to convert them to AVI is with a copy of Quicktime Pro, although there is no batch option.
You could also try Tmpeg Xpress. There’s a batch option there and as long as you are able to import thew files there, you’ll have a wide choice of export settings.
But a blue screen is most likely not directly due to the files themselves, but something more serious with the system itself.
That’s probably a hardware problem, possibly RAM or graphics card, or due to some app running in the background.
I would recommend running this program before starting Premiere.
I would also use a program like Speedfan and check the temperatures inside the machine.
Vince Becquiot
Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area -
He can try Format factory which can take almost any video or sound format and convert it to something else. Best of all, its free, so saves you some cash in your pocket.
Mikkell Khan
Director
Diamond Films Ltd. (Trinidad and Tobago) -
Sorry – I’m getting the .mp4 files from a Flip Mino Pro HD
Does this help shed any more light into what I should use?
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Perhaps I should just go back to XP?
Please advise… I really want to just use the Flip Mino HD I own as opposed to having to buy a new camcorder.
Any advice?
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I am having the same kinds of problems with premiere CS4 and my Flip video. Premiere just seems to lag up and eventually freeze; at that point I almost have to reboot the whole computer before I can get anything to work again. It’s really pissing me off. I have been trying to convert the video into .avi but I am not having any success with converter programs out there.
Why can’t premiere cs4 handle Flip video?
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I’m hoping some video pros stop by to tell us 🙁
I’m getting to the point where I may just consider buying a new camcorder so I don’t have to deal with this crap. Even if there is a fix I assume it requires some sort of video conversion software which is annoying in itself to have to even bother doing that.
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Not to sound egotistic, but a Premiere upgrade alone costs twice as much as this camcorder.
A working workflow usually requires both Adobe and the camcorder maker to work together in order to allow a format to be properly supported. I can’t imagine this happening on a format that will probably change again next month. Also keep in mind that there are hundred of these camcorders around, each with their own proprietary format.
There is an easy solution to the problem and that is converting the files to a format that can be edited prior to importing.
Vince Becquiot
Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area -
An Adobe friend game me the suite for free for a present so technically the camera cost $199.99 more than the software…
If the only option you think would be to deal with it like that then I think I’ll just buy a new camcorder.
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OK, there are two issues here – importing MP4 footage and then working with it.
First things first… MP4 is a compressed format unlike DV. This makes it a pain to edit and Premiere Pro starts choking on it when you try to do for example a multi-camera edit with different file types.
Anyway, here’s how to import MP4 into your project:
1. Click “File” > “Open in Bridge…”
2. Browse to your MP4 media and double click on it. It will now appear in your project asset panel.
3. (Optional, but recommended…) Create a new sequence with 1 video and 1 audio track and drag your MP4 asset onto the timeline.
4. Click “File” > “Export…” > “Media” and it will launch a new window for you to enter your export settings. I suggest something like the following in the Export Settings:
Format: Microsoft AVI
Preset: PAL DV (for UK or NTSC for US – if your footage is widescreen select that too).
Location: Preferably a different hard drive to the one where your source footage resides but in any event choose one with a high read/write speed.
5. Go to bed/pub/school etc while Premiere transcodes the media for you! It takes forever! You can queue a number of files for transcoding and save your output settings as a preset. The resulting AVI files will be considerably bigger than your MP4s, so make sure you have enough space! I’ve just transcoded a 3.8GB MP4 and it is now a 8.6GB AVI file!
6. Delete the timelines from your project with the MP4 assets and just work with the AVIs. Premiere will love you again and you will be able to apply effects etc to your heart’s content.
My other advice is to sell your camcorder and buy a secondhand DV tape camera. That’s what I’m about to do!
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