Getting messed up output from Premiere Pro 2.0

[intExDK]

Hi Everybody

Sorry for the headline, but this really annoys me, and I've tried all that I can think of for now. Anyway, the problem is as follows:
I've made this movie. It's a little short Couonter-Strike Source movie, made from various uncompressed clips captured in-game with Fraps. So, now I'm done editing the whole thing in Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, and I would like to get some output, and this is where the problems begin...
The thing that seems to be wrong with all the output files, no matter what codec I'm using, is that it gets a red touch. The film starts with some white headlines on a black background, and when I look at it in Premiere, it looks nice, but it's almost pink when you're looking at it from an output file. First problem.
Furthermore, I'm having some serious trouble with codecs, which is the second problem. If I try to use DivX 6.2.2, it won't export it. It just freezes at the first frame. Unless I go into advanced and sets the codec to a preset. There is a bar with quality in the one end, and speed in the other, so that you can make an easy preset. When using this method, it exports, but the result is with big squares of strange colors. You know, those pixel mess-ups that are green, red and blue, and they're all over.
If I try to use XviD 1.2.0, it exports, but when I try to run the video file, it doesn't play it properly. It freezes all the time, and doesn't play the movie. The audio is running on in the background, while the video is stuck for like 20 seconds, then changes to a current frame, and then stands still once more.
I've also tried the Adobe Media Encoder, which is the one thing that has actually exported a useful file for me. This way, I could watch the whole movie without pixel mess-ups, but it still has the red touch. Besides that, I don't like the .wmv-format, and the movie is very large. I would like to upload to some site like Youtube or Video Google.
Please help...


~Simon


BTW: I've installed the K-Lite Codec Pack. For some time I thought this might be the reason, so I both tried installing DivX and XviD from individual install files, while having the K-Lite Codec Pack uninstalled, but same result.

[Cobra]

intExDK,

Firstly, welcome to VideoHelp!

I have had to edit the more colourful language from your post. I'd appreciate it if you could keep it a little more polite in future posts!

Many thanks,

Cobra

[redwudz]

Try playing the video in VLC Media Player as it uses it's own codecs. If it plays properly, then you likely have a codec problem. K-lite has been known to do a lot of damage to a system, especially if you had previously installed codecs. It may have corrupted them, which is what some of your problem sounds like.

Some of the other problems may be related to bad joins or corrupted video frames. If you have it in AVI type format, you may be able to scan it with VirtualDub or one it's variants to look for bad frames or joins.

If it does turn out to be a codec problem, you may need a program like Codec Sniper or DXMan to repair the damage. If it's not codecs, then the problem could be in your graphics card adjustments or in the Windows Direct X software. But those would happen with all similar videos. Or you may have a registry problem concering your codecs that a simple reinstall won't take care of.

[edDV]

Mr. ~Simon

Such a sad tale but no useful information is given. You are the FRAPS expert so describe what your input file looks like in resolution, frame rate and video format. What project settings were you using in Premeire Pro 2?

[guns1inger]

A couple of other things to throw into the mix.

Strange tints on playback can sometimes be caused by the overlay settings in your playback application. You might have changed these previously to cater for another film with desaturated colours, and not set them back. Worth checking.

That you can encode to Divx if you use a preset, but not with your custom settings seems to indicate that your custom settings are the problem. As edDV pointed out, while your post is long, it is very light on for technical details. You might wish to add your Divx settings to those requested by edDV.

[intExDK]

Thanks for your answers.
Sorry, but I am no expert in any of these areas, and I don't know much about all this. What I do know is this.
Fraps gave me uncompressed video in 800x600, 30fps. That's all I can tell, 'cause Fraps doesn't give me any more information than that. As to the settings in Premiere Pro, I don't really know what to give you. I'm rendering with "Cinepak Codec by Radius." It's set to Square Pixels. The File Format is "Video for Windows" and the Color Depth is "Millions of colors." Don't know if these things mean anything, because honestly I don't know what they are, anyway; "Fields" is "Lower Fields First," "Display Format" is "30 fps Timecode." Finally I'm running audio at 44100 Hz, and the display format is set to "Audio Samples."
That's the best I can do. If you need more info to analyse the problem, just tell me what to do, and I will do it. You see, the clips from Fraps are really filling up my computer, and I would like to get this film exported in a normal size. It was only made for fun, and doesn't mean much, so I'm looking forward to getting it over with after all.

[guns1inger]

1. Uninstall k-lite, then use Codec Sniper to clean up, as suggested by Redwudz.
2. Use avicodec or g-spot in future to determine what codec you need, then install just that codec.
3. Once your system is a little cleaner, install Divx again (correctly, from an official Divx download, not a codec pack) and try again. Start with one of the presets to see what quality you get.

[intExDK]

Okay, so I've solved part of the problem. I tried changing the output in Premiere to DV AVI, because I've used that before when operating with camera footage. And it actually worked. It gave me a nice output file in good quality without the red touch. But then when I try to compress it in VirtualDub, then the result is almost the same. Though VirtualDub allows me to make an output file in DivX without freezing (Which is a very good thing), it once again picks up that tuning, and the video gets that red touch.
I've also tried with XviD. It also gives me an output file, but with the red touch.
At least, the red tone seems to be the only unsolved problem left.

[intExDK]

Bump!

[edDV]

I can only think of one possibility. The color shift may be resulting from the DV format YUV 16-235 to Divx/Xvid 0-255 scaling. Do you also see the gray scale shift?

[intExDK]

Nope. The only thing is the red tone. And, you've got to remember that it also did this change, before I found out that it worked to export it to DV AVI. And, I'm pretty sure that it doesn't change anything but the red tone in the movie, 'cause I looked at it very carefully, when watching the input and output videos just beside of each other, in VirtualDub, when converting them.
I'll just try to tune the red tone down a bit, before converting them and see if I can try and compensate for the change in the RGB-Colors after converting. Though it isn't a very good solution.

[guns1inger]

Just out of curiosity, if you burn your output to a CD and play it back on another PC, is it still tinted ?

[intExDK]

Very good question, Guns1inger. I will try that later today, and report the result. I'll just transfer it through the LAN-Network to my dad's computer. Does seem a little stupid that I didn't think of that =S