Problems importing video

[drh1]

I have never worked with video before in Pro Tools, and have just received a video with a request that I write some music for it. From what I understand, the video was edited in Adobe Premiere, and is an mp4 file, 640x480, 29.97 fps, and I believe is H.264. When I import it into PT 10, the audio is extracted properly onto a new audio track, and the individual video frames appear in a new video track. However, in the PT Video Window it says "No Movie Present." I have spent several hours trying to get the video to play without success, and have not been able to discern the solution from reading the manual. Should I ask the client to resend the video in a different frame rate and codec? Any direction in this matter would be appreciated.

[daeron80]

Yes, have them try a different codec. I get the same thing from time to time. Imports but won't play. H.264 is usually fine but certain choices they make when they compress it can make it incompatible. Not sure which things. Just have them try something different. Wish I could be more specific but I don't understand the video side very well.

[drh1]

Thanks for your response David. I asked the client to resend the video with a different frame rate (23.976) but it did not play either in Pro Tools. It would be helpful if someone could advise what codec, frame rate, etc that is known to work in Pro Tools 10.

[C]

Check your video is online. little circle button next to Blocks/frames option box should be blue.

[drh1]

Thanks Ceri. Yes, I had checked that.

[C]

Great, well then to answer your question:

DV based formats works well (DV PAL, DV NTSC, DVC Pro etc), H264 tends to work okay for most things but you need to have a keyframe every frame, Avid's DNXHD36 will work very smoothly but the files tend to be much larger. PhotoJPEG also works well.

Not sure I've ever worked with a file from Premiere (at least not consciously) but if all else fails from the picture department try exporting either from Quicktime or MPEG Streamclip to one of the previously listed formats.


Hope this helps,

Ceri

[drh1]

Thanks again Ceri. I've now had some measure of success, not with the client's video as yet, but at least to know that the issue does not appear to lie with Pro Tools per se. As Windows 7 comes with a sample video, I thought I’d try and see if it would play in Pro Tools. Voila! It imported without a problem, extracted the audio portion onto a track, and played in the Video Window. That video is a .wmv file, with a frame rate of 29.97 fps, time code of 29.97, and used a Video Compression of WVCI according to the Pro Tools Workspace. I have relayed this new information to the client and hopefully he will be able to export his video in that format.

[Buccanears]

hang on, you have installed Quicktime 7, yessum?

[daeron80]

PT can handle any frame rate and time code format. The incompatibilities come from different compression schemes (is that the right word?). When they go to output the movie, they can choose from dozens or maybe even hundreds of formatting options. Some are compatible with PT and some aren't. It's much more complex than just DV vs. H.264 vs. whatever all else. Some DV is compatible, some isn't. Some H.264 is compatible, some isn't. It would be nice if there were a list of what is compatible but maybe the situation is too complicated to allow for that. It's mighty confusing to me.

{Update:} The last two posts in this thread on the Video Help forum seem helpful. I just now looked at the export options in FCP/Compressor. Bewildering array. Who knows what combinations of encoder, compression algorithm, color algorithm, field dominance, pixel aspect ratio, anamorphic or not, streaming hints enabled or not, etc. are compatible? With any given end use. That's why, when I get one that won't play, I just tell them try a different setting. It usually works second time.

[drh1]

Thanks Buccanears - I had updated to the latest version of Quicktime, and the client's videos played without a problem in the standalone module of Quicktime, but not within Pro Tools.

David - yes, bewildering is an appropriate description of the array of options for encoding video. As you indicated, it would be helpful to be able to tell a client an encoding formula that is common to the major video editors on the market that you know would work in Pro Tools. It would save everyone a lot of time and frustration.