Unable to Import MOV into Premiere

[koberulz]

Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : QuickTime
Codec ID                         : qt  
File size                        : 495 MiB
Duration                         : 2mn 35s
Overall bit rate                 : 26.8 Mbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51
Tagged date                      : UTC 2016-10-14 20:49:14
Writing library                  : Apple QuickTime
©TSC                             : 2500
©TSZ                             : 100

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : Intermediate Codec
Codec ID                         : icod
Codec ID/Hint                    : Apple
Duration                         : 2mn 35s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 25.2 Mbps
Width                            : 960 pixels
Height                           : 540 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 1.945
Stream size                      : 466 MiB (94%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51
Tagged date                      : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Little
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Codec ID                         : sowt
Duration                         : 2mn 35s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 28.4 MiB (6%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51
Tagged date                      : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51
Material_Duration                : 155104
Material_StreamSize              : 29779968

Menu
ID                               : 3
Duration                         : 2mn 35s
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51
Tagged date                      : UTC 2016-09-14 07:27:51
Stream size                      : 4

I get a 'codec missing or unavailable' error when importing into Premiere. They play in VLC, although it resembles streaming video over a really bad connection, stopping to 'buffer' every half second.

I've never had issues with MOV files in CS before.

[raffriff42]

'Intermediate Codec' (fourcc 'icod') seems to be unsupported in Windows.
You'll have to use Apple, or convert into something Premiere can read - preferably a lossless format.
In addition to VLC, it looks like ffmpeg can decode it.

[JVRaines]

The problem isn't QuickTime, it's the Apple Intermediate Codec which isn't supported by Premiere on Windows. So you need to transcode it to something Premiere will digest, e.g. ProRes. This can be accomplished with the FFmpeg command-line tool.

ffmpeg -i orig_vid.mov -c:v prores -profile:v 3 -c:a copy trans_vid.mov

[koberulz]

I've got dozens of files here, is there a way I can do them without having to type every single one in manually?

[raffriff42]

Easy.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/356314-How-to-batch-convert-multiplex-any-files-with-ffmpeg

[koberulz]

Okay, now they import alright. But playback is so slow it's useless, same as it was in VLC. Can only get a couple of seconds to play, then it pauses for ages, then another couple of seconds plays...

[JVRaines]

Well, now that you know how to transcode them, take a look at the supported formats and find one that your computer can handle.

[koberulz]

Well...I'm not really sure how to apply that to a different codec, and I don't want to do too much damage to the footage at this stage...

[raffriff42]

From that list I would test DNxHD and ProRes, both good (fast) editing formats. Not lossless but high quality.

EDIT What did you do to get them to import? Did you use JVRaines' suggestion ie ProRes? That should have worked.

[poisondeathray]

Since it already pauses like that in VLC, it probably is an issue with the source file to begin with (eg. maybe it was recorded like that)

[koberulz]

No, it is an actual pause in playback. In VLC, it starts playing, then pauses, then the playback bar gradually fills up with yellow, then playback resumes. So on, so forth. If I drag the play head back to the start, it plays through fine up until the point it had got to previously, then starts pausing again. It's genuinely like a badly-buffering internet video.

[poisondeathray]

Right, so it's still a source problem - since that should not be happening . It's not an encoding problem. It's a source problem. I've dealt with AIC for many years , the ffmpeg workflow works flawlessly with AIC. At 960x540, you're not going to be having HW problems unless it's a very old setup

Do all the videos in the batch exhibit the same behaviour or just that one ?

[koberulz]

All of them that I've checked.

[raffriff42]

Take an example of a file that plays well in your installation and emulate that. If you post a MediaInfo report, we'll help you with the command line.

[koberulz]

Take an example of a file that plays well in your installation and emulate that.

Emulate?

[raffriff42]

Yes, emulate. In the old-school sense, not the computer-science sense.
That is, try to imitate. Use the same codec (but at higher quality), whether that's H.264, MPEG-4 or something else. Use the same container, whether that's MOV, AVI or something else.

[koberulz]

So...find a video file that plays successfully, and use ffmpeg to convert the icod files to that format?

[raffriff42]

Right.
I forgot to mention: try setting a short GOP length (more frequent keyframes) with -g 15, for fast seeking in the editor.

[koberulz]

After a reboot, it all worked fine. I could play the files in VLC, and in Premiere, with no problems. But when I opened the project into which I'd imported all the files, in the bottom left corner it said "Loading [file] (x remaining)", where x gradually decreased as each file loaded, eventually getting stuck at 5. I tried to manually link the first of those five unloaded files, but Premiere stopped responding. Close Premiere, reopened it, opened the project again, and now it's stuck at 19 remaining.

[koberulz]

I tried deleting and reimporting one of the files that wouldn't load, after repeatedly opening the project until it was down to two unloaded files, and it just got stuck at 0%.

[koberulz]

Bump?

I have about a week to turn these into something, so this is pretty urgent.

[raffriff42]

Stunned silence from my end. Post #19 sounds like a completely different problem. I don't know enough about Premiere to help you with that.

> After a reboot, it all worked fine.
That's very odd. I think your computer has other problems besides a missing codec or two.

I don't know what to say since (a) I don't use Premiere, (b) you don't give us enough information, and (c) you seem to switch topics without warning.

[koberulz]

What more information do you need, and how am I switching topics? I'm trying to import these files into Premiere, that's all I've been trying to do.

[SameSelf]

Hey, koberulz. I have never used AIC, but looking at the MediaInfo, it appears to have a fairly modest bitrate—27 Mbps, amiright? Anyway, if you tried transcoding it to ProRes HQ per JVRaines's ffmpeg script example and are having playing playback issues, perhaps your computer can't handle that bitrate since HQ is around 220 Mbps. I would try the LT profile as it should have plenty of bitrate and there is no reason to go all the way to HQ. You may even want to try the the proxy profile as well along with the kostya variant of prores:

ffmpeg -i in.mov -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 1 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -vendor ap10 -c:a copy out.mov

Also, what color is the playback bar at the top of the timeline in PP? Is it red?

[poisondeathray]

You can also try deleting the adobe media cache and temp files, starting a new project

If this is referring to the (now) prores files you're still having problems with, try converting the AIC to something else. Maybe AVI container instead of MOV format, like ut video codec

But it seems like you have other computer problems if a reboot partially fixed both playback in VLC and premiere. I'd also be looking for other processes, maybe virus / malware

[koberulz]

If this is referring to the (now) prores files you're still having problems with, try converting the AIC to something else. Maybe AVI container instead of MOV format, like ut video codec

Like this?

for %%a in ("*.mov") do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -c:v utvideo -c:a copy "ConvertedFootage2\%%~na.avi"
pause

That imports and plays, not sure if there's any UT settings I should have used though.