CS4 outputting random black footage

[akkers]

I have loaded some .mov files (from Canon 70D DSLR) to Adobe Premiere CS4 (all the clips have identical properties). I edited the timeline, the clips looked fine. But when I exported the timeline to mp4 or mpg2 there were random bursts or blank (black) frames. In other words the mp4 file would play the footage and theb go black for a few seconds, play the footage and then go black again. This was happening at random places and at different points everytime I exported.

I cant understand how the clips look ok in Premiere but get corrupted on export. Here is properties for one of the clips:

General
Complete name : X:\p6\MVI_0923.MOV
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 44.2 MiB
Duration : 5s 240ms
Overall bit rate : 70.8 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39
Tagged date : UTC 2014-04-24 20:41:30
com.apple.quicktime.make : Canon
com.apple.quicktime.model : Canon EOS 70D

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 5s 240ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 69.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 1.330
Stream size : 43.1 MiB (97%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39
Tagged date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39
Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : sowt
Duration : 5s 240ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 983 KiB (2%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39
Tagged date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39

Menu
ID : 3
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39
Tagged date : UTC 2014-04-24 14:54:39
Bit rate mode : CBR

[roma_turok]

Set export to H264
not to QuickTime/mov, if you want proper MP4 file
and set bitrate to CBR

[akkers]

The file properties above are not for the output file; they are for one of the input files (which are straight out of the DSLR).

[roma_turok]

what properties of output file?

[akkers]

Properties for Output file:
General
Complete name : X:\t2p25.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 1.05 GiB
Duration : 23mn 38s
Overall bit rate : 6 359 Kbps
Writing application : CS4

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 23mn 38s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 6 228 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 7 390 Kbps / 7 390 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.120
Stream size : 1.03 GiB (98%)
Writing library : x264 core 112
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=2 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=1 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=cbr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=7390 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=7390 / vbv_bufsize=7389 / nal_hrd=cbr / frame-packing=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 23mn 38s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 576 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 21.6 MiB (2%)

[roma_turok]

Try download and update to QuickTime 7.7.5 : https://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Do you have updated Premiere CS4 ?
The lastest version is CS4 4.2.1 http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/premiere/win/4.x/PremierePro-4.2.1-mul-AdobeUpdate.zip

[poisondeathray]

If those updates don't help, clear the Adobe media cache in the preferences before exporting

If that still doesn't work, then you can try replacing the quicktime footage with a lossless or near lossless re-encoded version (use the replace function to swap out - it should automatically replace all instances )

[akkers]

I suspect this is to do with lack of memory, but I am guessing. I am using Quad i7 processor with 8Gb of memory on XP. However, I am told that running CS4 on XP only allows 4Gb to be made available so CS4 struggles. Since the DSLR footage is IPB heavily compressed I thinh CS4 struggles.

[turk690]

We sometimes zoom out on timeline view to assess our project. In this view, dragging clips to timeline from source box make clips appear as if they fit together end on end. Maybe, maybe not, especially if snapping is disabled. When you lay clips on the timeline, zoom to maximum view at end of one clip before dragging the next clip to it. See that they fit snugly against one another. If they don't, gaps in between clips show up as the black you see.