Friday, August 14, 2015

PE 13/13.1: Failure to Add Media from Mobile Albums (Adobe Revel)

INTRODUCTION

The Adobe Revel presence in Premiere Elements 13/13.1 Editor is seen at the import and export levels.
  • On the Import side....In the Editor's Expert and Quick workspaces' Add Media includes an Elements Organizer choice for accessing source files for the project from Mobile Albums (Adobe Revel) as well as from Local Albums. 
  • On the Export side....A project's Timeline content can be uploaded as AVCHD.mp4 (1280 x 720 @ 29.97 progressive frames per second) to Adobe Revel using Publish+Share/Private Web Album.
The same Mobile Albums and Local Albums seen in the Editor under Add Media can be seen in the Elements Organizer workspace's Album Column to the far left of that workspace. And, files in these albums can be introduced into the Editor by right clicking the file's thumbnail in the Elements Organizer workspace and selecting "Edit with Premiere Elements Editor" from the drop down menu that appears.

That is the way that these Adobe Revel features work in Premiere Elements 13/13.1 or, we thought that they did.

ISSUE 

It has been found that the Premiere Elements 13/13.1 Editor user cannot get source files for the project from Mobile Albums using the Editor's Add Media/Elements Organizer and the choice of files in any of the Mobile Albums. This situation exists in Premiere Elements 13/13.1 on Windows 7 Professional SP1, Windows 8.1 64 bit, Windows 10 Home 64 bit, and Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. The problem does not exist in Premiere Elements 12/12.1 on the same computer with Premiere Elements 13/13.1.

In looking at this Add Media from Mobile Albums problem closer, it is seen that highlighting/selecting the Mobile Album's file and clicking Add Files results in two error messages.
  • Downloading Files dialog - "Gathering account Info"
         and
  • Error dialog - "Could not collect login info".
 See Figure 1.

Figure 1. Premiere Elements 13/13.1 Add Media/Elements Organizer And Mobile Albums File Selected/Highlighted And Then Add Files Clicked Resulting In Two Error Messages Different Than Those Displayed In Figure 2.

And, then when Mobile Album file's thumbnail is dragged to the Editor's Timeline, two other error messages appear
  • Downloading dialog - "Checking for asset revision"
         and
  • Download Unsuccessful dialog - "Couldn't download files. Please check your network connection.
See Figure 2.

Figure 2. Premiere Elements 13/13.1 Add Media/Elements Organizer And Mobile Albums File Dragged To Editor Timeline Resulting In Two Error Messages.

All other Adobe Revel features in Premiere Elements 13/13.1 appear to be working as expected, with the exception of the Editor's Add Media/Elements Organizer and specifically Mobile Albums. The Local Albums do not appear affected by this matter.

SOLUTION

The cause of the failure to Add Media from Mobile Albums (Adobe Revel) was found to be related to the Premiere Elements 13.1 Update. The problem does not exist in Premiere Elements 13 and in Premiere Elements 12/12.1. It is not known what in that 13.1 update could have triggered this particular Editor Add Media failure. Confirming information is being sought.

Two possible workarounds might be

 Do not update 13 to 13.1  
This situation exists in Premiere Elements 13/13.1 on Windows 7 Professional SP1, Windows 8.1 64 bit, Windows 10 Home 64 bit, and Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.
 
or 

Bring the Mobile Album files into the Editor workspace from the Elements Organizer workspace directly instead of using the Editor's Add Media/Elements Organizer with its Mobile Albums choice. 
Files in these Mobile Albums can be introduced into the Editor by right clicking the file's thumbnail in the Elements Organizer workspace and selecting "Edit with Premiere Elements Editor" from the drop down menu that appears.

COMMENTARY 

Work in progress.


ATR