Problems importing AVI into Premiere Pro

[Tim Kurkoski]

I’ve used the TechSmith codec with Premiere Pro just fine before. The problem is likely due to resolution. You’re probably capturing at 800×600 or some other computer screen-sized resolution. But unless you’ve changed them, your project settings are at video (DV) resolution: 720×480 (or 576 for PAL). That means the video has to be reduced, and some pixels are getting tossed out, and depending on the content and the detail in it, Premiere may not be doing it in the most optimal way.

The best solution is for you to create a project with custom settings that match the resolution, frame rate, and codec of your captured video. This should work as long as you don’t need to combine it with real video footage. In which case you’re probably still best off editing the screen capture footage in it’s own project, then exporting AVI files at DV resolution to be used with your other footage.

[Jaskeyah]

Thanks for your suggestions. Ultimately, my project will contain both computer screen capture video, real video, and sometimes a combination of them both at the same time. Even if I edit the video capture footage in its own project, I’m assuming I will have the same “resolution” challenges when exporting for DV unless I can “true up” the computer video resolution with the DV resolution?

[Tim Kurkoski]

Yes, resolution is a challenge for you on this project.

First, decide on your output format, and use that resolution for your project settings. If you’re going out to video resolution (tape or DVD), do one of the following:

a. When you do your screen captures, set the application to capture at video resolution size- 720×480 or 640×480.
b. When you place your screen capture footage into the video-sized project, don’t scale it down. Leave it at or near 100%, but animate the screen so the area visible is what is being focused on.

If your output is going to be for a larger size, to fit the screen capture at 100%, you’ll need to either scale up the video to match (which could be ugly), or let the video play with a border around it. The upside of the latter option is that you can get creative with the border.

[Andy The g.]

I’m having a problem importing an AVI into a premiere sequence. I can see the clip in the viewer without any problem, but as soon as it goes into my timeline, it’s just black. Any suggestions?

Andrew Gregg
Director
LiveABC Taiwan

[Tim Kurkoski]

Andy- What version of Premiere are you using, and what type of file are you importing.

FYI- In a case like this, where you are asking a different question than what the thread was started with, you should start a new thread.