PE 14/14.1: Text Menu Options Explained

INTRODUCTION

Premiere Elements 14/14.1* Expert and Quick workspaces contain the same Text Menu and options. Before the Titler is opened all the Text Menu options are grayed out except for "New Text/Default Text, Default Roll, and Default Crawl" as well as for "New Motion Title" choice. Once the Titler is opened by selection of one of the "New Text" choices, use of the following other Text Menu options become available for Titler objects** (text and shapes)

ISSUE
The use of some of these Text Menu options are self explanatory; some are not and need explanations and comments beyond that which is usually seen in existing feature documentation.

TEXT MENU OPTIONS EXPLANATIONS AND COMMENTS

Size
Essentially self explanatory. Applicable to Text not Shapes. Open Titler, select the "Add Text" default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Size/Choice of Other, 48, 60, 72, 96, 120, 156, or 180/ and Type. Text Menu/Size could be changed afterward for one or more selected lines of type at a time.

Type Alignment

Applicable to Text not Shapes. Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Type Alignment/Choice of Left/Ctrl+Shift+L, Right/Ctrl+Shift+R, or Center/Ctrl+Shift+C/ and Type. As "one two three four five" was typed, each time from the same starting point, Figure 1 points to the automatic placement of that line of text resulting from each of the Type Alignment choices. A way was not found to change one or more selected lines to another Type Alignment choice without redoing the line.

Figure 1. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Type Alignment Choices

Orientation
Essentially self explanatory. Applicable to Text not Shapes. Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Type Alignment/Choice of Horizontal or Vertical and Type. See Figure 2. Text Menu/Orientation could be changed afterward for one or more selected lines of text at a time.

Figure 2. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Orientation Choices.

Word Wrap

Applicable to Text not Shapes. If the length of a line of horizontal or vertical text exceeds the limits of the Titler box, Word Wrap enables generation of next line(s) to accommodate the excess text within the Titler space. Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/Word Wrap and Type. See Figure 3. Text Menu/Word Wrap could be changed afterward for one or more selected lines of text at a time.

Figure 3. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Word Wrap. Here Demonstrated With Same Single Horizontal Line Of Text.

Roll/Crawl Options
These Text Menu/"Roll/Crawl Options can be used for a roll or crawl title whether the title opened in the Titler came from

• Adobe templates - Text Menu/New Text/Default Roll or Default Crawl

• User Created - Text Menu/New Text/Default Text

See HERE for "Titler/Roll and Crawl Options - Preroll and Postroll" and the involvement of Titler and Roll and Crawl Titles.

Image
Tool Menu/Image has four choices - Add Image, Insert Image into Text, Restore Image Size, Restore Image Aspect Ratio. Focusing on Add Image and Insert Image into Text.

• When the Titler is opened and the title has text already typed in, a background image for the text can be added from the computer hard drive (Text Menu/Image/Add Image). When this Image is applied, it will hide the text that existed. In that scenario, Text Menu/Arrange/Send Backward, moves the selected Image to the back so that the text surfaces and is seen. See Figure 4.

• Often misunderstood is the Insert Image into Text option. This option does not apply an image within each letter in the text.  Rather, at the placement of the mouse cursor in the text, "Insert Image into Text" inserts an image between the text letters (as if the image were another character in the word. See Figure 5.

Figure 4. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Image/Add Image, Finalized With Text Menu/Arrange/Send Backward To Get Text On Top Of Image Rather Than Behind It.

Figure 5. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/Image/Insert Image Into Text. The Image Insertion In This Test Was Done Twice - Between S and U And Next Between M And M.

If an image was wanted within each letter of the word, then the Track Matte technique for doing this is suggested. See Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Guided workspace and the tutorial named "Adding Video in Title".

Transform

The choices for Text Menu/Transform are Position, Scale, Rotation, and Opacity, and appear to relate to selected text as well as selected shapes in the opened Titler. For now, they are being considered as self explanatory.

Select

The choices for Text Menu/Select are 
First Object Above

Next Object Above/Ctrl+Alt+]

Next Object Below/Ctrl+Alt+[

Last Object Below
and they are active immediately after opening of the Titler with Text Menu/New Text/Default Text.
If there are 6 lines of text in the opened Titler, toggling Ctrl+Alt+[ repeatedly selected lines 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 in that specific order one at a time; whereas toggling Ctrl+Alt+] repeatedly selected line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in that specific order one at a time.

 
Arrange

The choices for Text Menu/Arrange are 

Bring to Front/Ctrl+Shift+]

Bring Forward/Ctrl+]

Send to Back/Ctrl+Shift+[

Send Backward/Ctrl+[

For now, they are being considered as self explanatory when dealing with selected text and shapes in the opened Titler. See usage mentioned under the option Text Menu/Image.

Position

The choices for Text Menu/Position are Horizontal Center, Vertical Center, and Lower Third. For now, they are being considered as self explanatory when dealing with selected text and shapes in the opened Titler. But, of note, when more than one line of text are selected at the same time, those lines are being interpreted as a group, and it is the bounding box for the group that is moved according to the Text Menu/Position choice.

Align Objects

According to Adobe documentation,

An alignment option aligns selected objects to the object that most closely represents the new alignment. For example, for right‑alignment, all selected objects align to the selected object that is farthest to the right.

The Text Menu/Align Objects choices are
Horizontal Left

Horizontal Center

Horizontal Right

Vertical Top

Vertical Center

Vertical Bottom

The Align Objects option requires that at least 2 text objects be selected at the same time before the option is active in the Text Menu list of options.

Distribute Objects

According to Adobe documentation,

A distribution option evenly spaces selected objects between the two most extreme objects. For example, for a vertical distribution option, the selected objects are distributed between the highest and lowest selected objects.

The Text Menu/Distribute Objects choices are
Horizontal Left

Horizontal Center

Horizontal Right

Horizontal Even Spacing

Vertical Top

Vertical Center

Vertical Bottom

Vertical Even Spacing

The Distribute Objects option requires that at least 3 text objects be selected at the same time before the option is active in the Text Menu list of options.

View 
The Text Menu/View choices are

Safe Title Margin

Safe Action Margin

Text Baselines
The enabled Text Baselines option is seen when the Titler is opened. Use of Safe Margin helps to avoid text or object cut offs at playback of certain Premiere Elements end products. See HERE and HERE. See Figure 6.

Figure 6. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Expert Workspace Text Menu/View.

The scenario would go Open Titler, select the Add Text default text and hit Delete, click once on Type Tool icon in Titler Text section. Then Expert workspace Text Menu/View to make option selections, with mouse cursor click on wanted Titler monitor location for the text to be typed.
Note: Having Safe Margins enabled in the editing area does not assure that they will be enabled in the Titler workspace and vice versa.

COMMENTARY

Work in progress, especially some rough details when working with the Text Menu options of Align Objects and Distribute Objects.

Please consider the above, and determine if the above works for you to offer a better understanding of the Premiere Elements Text Menu options.


_______________________________________________________________________________
* Although this work with Premiere Elements Text Options was performed with Premiere Elements 14/14.1, its principles are essentially applicable to versions 11 to 14/14.1 and probably earlier versions as well. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 used was on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit and confirmed on Windows 10 Home 64 bit.

**For text as well as shapes in the Titler, Adobe refers to these Titler components as "objects". The Premiere Elements Text Menu options descriptions given above were written to be consistent with that Adobe terminology.

PE: PE Video to iPad and iPad Video to PE

INTRODUCTION

Given the appropriate compatibility support, homemade videos created in Premiere Elements can be placed in a mobile device such as iPod, iPad, and iPhone for playback. Additionally, videos recorded by the mobile device can be imported into Premiere Elements for editing and export. See HERE for "Adobe Premiere Elements Help/Sharing to mobile phones and players" for Adobe's guidelines on the subject. In this blog post, we share our experiences dealing with taking Premiere Elements created video to iPad Air as well as taking iPad Air recorded video to Premiere Elements.

Essentials of the exercise* involve

iPad Air Technical Specifications for Video

According to Apple document 
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

iPad Air App Accepting Video

         There are two iPad Air Apps which can house video. If video is recorded in the iPad Air, 

         video is found in the Photos App (Camera Roll). If the video is created in Premiere

         Elements and placed in the iPad Air, it goes to the Video App. 

        

ISSUES 

With regard to creating Premiere Elements video for iPad Air, the preferred choice is H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats since

• The MPEG-4 video choice has a lesser up to resolution (640 x 480) than the H.264 choice (1920 x 1080)

• There is no Motion JPEG.avi opportunity in Premiere Elements exports.

Nonetheless, there is the possible issue of the iPad recording video with a variable frame rate, and Premiere Elements has problems with video with variable frame rate. The symptoms with the variable frame rate condition typically ranges from audio out of sync to not being able to import the video at all. 

With regard to getting iPad Air recorded video into a Premiere Elements project, Add Media choice indicated would be thought to be Add Media/"Video from cameras & devices"/Video Importer. Although the Video Importer recognizes the iPad Air device, it has not been recognizing video in the iPad Air unless the video is coming from the Photo App.

SOLUTIONS

AUDIO OUT OF SYNC

When video recorded in iPad, consequently it exists in Photo App (Camera Roll).....
Use HandBrake software to convert the video with variable frame rate to H.264.mp4 video with constant frame rate, and import the latter into Premiere Elements using Premiere Elements Expert workspace's Add Media/Files and Folders/Project Assets from where the file is dragged to the Timeline. Refer to

HandBrake Source/Source Selection/File/browse to Computer/iPad/Internal Storage/DCIM/100 Apple/ and select video file in Photo App (Camera Roll). HandBrake Picture and Video Tabs suggested settings are seen in Figures 1a and 1b.

Figure 1a. HandBrake's Picture Tab Settings For Video Variable Frame Rate Solution

Figure 1b. HandBrake's Video Tab Settings For Video Variable Frame Rate Solution

Figure 1a is based on conversion for iPad recorded video 1080p with frame rate minimum 24 progressive frames per second and maximum 30 progressive frames per second. Figure 1b Avg Bitrate was set to match the bitrate of the video being converted.

To confirm the variable frame rate state before using HandBrake, the video in question can be run through the MediaInfo** properties readout software, and the file's frame rate looked at. The display of 3 frames rates in the readout (minimum frame rate, frame rate, and maximum frame rate) confirm the variable frame rate condition.       

iPAD VIDEO TO PREMIERE ELEMENTS PROJECT

When iPad (Photo App) video was recorded in iPad

Make USB connection between iPad and computer, and open Premiere Elements to Expert workspace and use Add Media/"Video from cameras & devices"/Video Importer with "Add to Timeline" enabled.

When iPad (Video App) homemade video exists and is wanted

Open iTunes/Movies/Home Videos where the video had been sync to iPad and is listed in the Home Videos section of iTunes. Right click the entry there for the video, select Copy, and then Paste the video to computer Desktop or Libraries/Videos. From the video's computer hard drive save location, use Premiere Elements Expert workspace's Add Media/Files and Folders/Project Assets from where the video is dragged to the Timeline.

PREMIERE ELEMENTS CREATED HOMEMADE MOVIES TO iPAD

Create the Premiere Elements homemade movie using video and audio formats supported by iPad

H.264.MP4

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit
Export & Share
Devices
Mobile
Resolution = 1920 x 1080
Format = H.264 with MP4 file extension
Frame Rate = 29.97
Audio = AAC, 160 kbps, 48 kHz, Stereo
Duration = 3 Min 19.19 sec
Bitrate = 12 Mbps

or counterpart

Export & Share
Devices
Custom/Advanced Settings/Under Video Tab, Audio Tab, Multiplexer Tab (See suggested settings in Figures 2a, 2b, and 2c)

Figure 2a. Advanced Settings Video Tab Settings For Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Export & Share/Devices/Custom

Figure 2b. Advanced Settings Audio Tab Settings Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Export & Share/Devices/Custom

Figure 2c. Advanced Settings Multiplexer Tab Settings Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Export & Share/Devices/Custom

H.264.MOV

Export & Share
Devices
Custom/Advanced Settings/Under Video Tab, Audio Tab (See suggested settings in Figures 3a, 3b)

Figure 3a. Advanced Settings Video Tab Settings Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Export & Share/Devices/Custom.

Figure 3b. Advanced Settings Audio Tab Settings Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Export & Share/Devices/Custom.

Bitrate Settings setting exists in area below Advanced Settings in Figure 3a. The H.264.mov works if there is a check mark next to " Limit data rate to _____ kbps" and 12000 or 32000 typed in. Bitrate setting greater than 32000 kbps may cause problems with the iPad accepting the file for playback there.

Getting the Premiere Elements video into the iPad

Copy Paste Way

Step 1
Right click Premiere Elements created H264.MP4 video at its hard drive save location, select Copy. 

Step 2
Open iTunes/Home Videos interface and select Movies icon. Use the iTunes' Edit Menu/Paste for the placement of the  copied H264.MP4 video here.

 Figure 4a. iTunes Details For Step 2. Copy/Paste Of Premiere Elements Created Video Into iTunes/Home Videos/Movies

Step 3

Click on iPad Icon. In the interface that appears, place check mark next to "Sync Movies". And, with Movies highlighted in iTunes list in left column, place check mark next to icon and name for the H264.MP4 video. Hit "Apply" at the bottom right of the interface. 

Figure 4b. iTunes Details For Step 3. Sync/Coping H264.MP4 To iPad.

Watch the progress bar at the top of the interface. When Sync (copying) is done there (as indicated by the progress bar), click on iPad icon to view and playback the H264.MP4 iPad video.

iTunes File Menu/Add to Library Way

Step 1

Open iTunes to its Home Video interface seen in Figure 4a, and, with the Movies icon selected, go to File Menu/Add File to Library to browse to and select the H264.MP4 video to be added to the iTunes Library and sync'd with the iPad.

The rest of the Steps are the same as Steps 2 and 3 described for the Copy/Paste ways.

COMMENTARY

The use of iTunes to sync/copy its video imports to an Apple mobile device is not a new idea. The work presented is intended to give those interested in iPad playback of Premiere Elements home made videos some ideas with which to explore and arrive at what works for them.

The whole experience starts with knowing the video and audio formats supported by the device in use. If the process fails, typically the user is directed to "changing the format". Since many devices record with a variable frame rate and Premiere Element does not fare well with such video, variable frame rate and excessive bitrate should be factored into the setup.

As always, work in progress, with updating as indicated.









_______________________________________________________________________________
*Study was done with iPad Air (WiFi Only, 16 GB), iTunes version 12.3.3.17 64 bit, Premiere Elements 14/14.1, Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit; however, principles involves would be guardedly applicable to other Apple mobile devices and Premiere Elements versions.
**Be careful with choices during the download and install of this free MediaInfo software. Although we have not encountered security issues with the link given here for MediaInfo, this free useful video audio readout program has been known to travel with unwanted baggage.

PE: Blu-Ray Computer Playback Updated

INTRODUCTION

This blog post represents an important update of the August 29, 2013 blog post "PE: Blu-ray Computer Playback and More" which is found HERE. Today's VLC Media Player 32 bit version  2.2.1 and Media Player Classic-HC x64 version 1.7.10 (d911f14) were each used in the updated blog post.

ISSUE

An internal LG Blu-ray/DVD burner (BH12L535) has been in use for a long time in our Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit desktop computer. And, Premiere Elements Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc playback has been done with the CyberLink Power DVD 9 software that came with this burner. A Blu-ray burner was wanted for Premiere Elements on Windows 10 Home 64 bit Lenovo laptop computer. So, the internal LG Blu-ray burner was converted successfully to an external one using an external enclosure.

Although the external version of the Blu-ray burner was recognized by Premiere Elements/Windows 7 and 10 64 bit and produced the burn to products, playback of the Blu-ray disc products failed on Windows 10 because, although the CyberLink playback software was compatible with the Intel HD Graphics display adapter on that laptop, it was not with its driver version. A driver version for the laptop's display adapter could not be found to resolve the issue.

This laptop situation motivated the revisiting of "Blu-ray Computer Playback" at the free level. Focus was on the possible use of VLC Media Player and/or Media Player Classic-HC x64 for the laptop Premiere Elements Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc playback.

SOLUTION

The VLC Media Player version 2.2.1 (with or without add ons KEYDB.cfg and libaacs.dll) was found to play back Premiere Elements Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc created with menus, opening to the Main Menu for the movie. Consequently, the VLC Media Player was selected as the Blu-ray player for the laptop. The settings for the VLC's Open Media dialog were essential to success. See RESULTS VLC Media Player Details including Figure 1.

VLC Media Player version 2.2.1 with KEYDB.cfg and libaacs.dll add ons needs more work with regard to playback with playback navigation for scenes and extras of store purchased Blu-ray movies. Since the target of the work was Premiere Elements and not Store Purchased Blu-ray Movies, VLC Media Player playback of Store Purchased Blu-ray Movies was not pursued at this time.

The Media Player Classic-HC x64 advantage over the VLC Media Player was that the former played  back Premiere Elements AVCHD on DVD disc whereas the latter VLC Media Player errored out when presented with Premiere Elements AVCHD on DVD disc.

RESULTS

Summary

Table 1. Computer Playback Of Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Burn To Products. Yellow Highlights = Main Menu Opening Before Movie. Blu-ray/DVD Burner = LG's BH12L535. Verbatim Blu-ray And DVD Discs Were Used In The Premiere Elements NTSC/AVCHD/Full HD1080i30 Projects.

Details

VLC Media Player

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Blu-ray Movie created with Disc Menus
VLC Media Menu/Open Disc/Open Media Dialog and its Disc Tab set for
Disc Selection = Blu-ray
No check mark next to "No disc menus"
Disc Device = Blu-ray drive into which the Blu-ray disc is inserted 

Figure 1. VLC Media Menu/Open Disc/Open Media Dialog Details.

Result: Playback of movie, opening with automatic display of Main Menu before movie begins. Also for navigation of movie, some opportunities for playback navigation with Playback Menu options. Works with or without VLC add on files of KEYDB.cfg and libaacs.dll.

Store Purchased Blu-ray Movie*
VLC Media Menu/Open Disc/Open Media Dialog and its Disc Tab for
Disc Selection = Blu-ray
No check mark next to "No disc menus"
Disc Device = Blu-ray drive into which the Blu-ray disc is inserted
Result: Opens to FBI first play but no Main Menu before the movie. Although player does offers Playback Menu/Title, no way was found to get the movie bonus features to appear. If VLC Media Player is used without modification, there was Blu-ray error citing both of the following

• Blu-ray error. This Blu-ray Disc needs a library for AACS decoding, and your system does not have it.

• Your input can't be opened. VLC is unable to open MRL 'bluray :///F:/'. Check the log for details. 

For VLC modified configuration.....

KEYDB.cfg file**

• A folder named aacs*** (empty) was created and placed in the Roaming Folder according to the path Local Disk C\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\

• KEYBD.cfg was obtained from http://vlc-aacs.whoknowsmy.name/ , by clicking on "get the file UPDATED 21-02-2016!"

• The KEYBD.cfg file downloaded was then placed in the aacc Folder.

libaacs.dll file

• libaacs.dll file was obtained from http://vlc-aacs.whoknowsmy.name/, by clicking  on "VLC 32bits on Windows: put that file in your VLC directory" under the header of AACS Dynamic Library UPDATED 21-02-2016!

• The libaacs.dll file downloaded was placed in the VLC Folder according to the path Local Disk C\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC.

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 DVD-VIDEO Movie on DVD-R disc created with Disc Menus
VLC Media Menu/Open Disc/Open Media Dialog and its Disc Tab set for
Disc Selection = DVD
No check mark next to "No disc menus"
Disc Device = Drive into which the DVD disc is inserted
Result: If DVD-VIDEO on DVD-R 4.7 GB/120 min, then playback opens automatically with display of Main Menu before the start of the movie portion, with or without the VLC add on files of KEYDB.cfg and libaacs.dll. Movie navigation opportunities are also available via player's Playback Menu.

Store Purchased DVD-VIDEO Movie*
VLC Media Menu/Open Disc/Open Media Dialog and its Disc Tab set for
Disc Selection = DVD
No check mark next to "No disc menus"
Disc Device = Drive into which the DVD disc is inserted
Result: First Play still/video, then main menu displayed automatically before viewing the movie, with or without VLC add on files of KEYDB.cfg and libaacs.dll. Movie navigation opportunities are also available via player's Playback Menu. Movie extras are accessible from the Main Menu.

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 AVCHD DVD Movie on DVD-R disc created with Disc Menus
VLC Media Menu/Open Disc/Open Media Dialog and its Disc Tab set for
Disc Selection = DVD
No check mark next to "No disc menus"
Disc Device = Drive into which the DVD disc is inserted
Result: No playback. Instead, Errors Dialog with message "Your input can't be opened: VLC is unable to open the MRL 'dvd:///F:/'. Check the log for details." Same result with and without the VLC add on files of KEYDB.cfg and libaascs.dll.

Media Player Classic HC x64

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Blu-ray Movie created with Disc Menus 
Right click opened "Media Player Classic Home Cinema", from pop up select File/Open DVD/BD, and, with drive selected, click Select Folder at the bottom of the "Select the path for DVD/BD" dialog.
Result: Playback of movie without Main Menu displayed before the movie. Playback navigation appears to be by either of two ways

• Click on a Chapter Marker displayed in play bar at bottom of window playing back movie 

• Right clicking the window playing back movie, selecting Navigation/Chapters.

Store Purchased Blu-ray Movie
Right click opened "Media Player Classic Home Cinema", from pop up select File/Open DVD/BD, and, with drive selected, click Select Folder at the bottom of the "Select the path for DVD/BD" dialog. 
Result: No movie or menus playback. Just Error "Cannot render file."

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 DVD-VIDEO Movie on DVD-R disc created with Disc Menus
Right click opened "Media Player Classic Home Cinema", from pop up select File/Open DVD/BD, and, with drive selected, click Select Folder at the bottom of the "Select the path for DVD/BD" dialog.
Result: Playback of the Main Menu automatically displayed before the start of the movie. Movie navigation appears to be by either of two ways

• Click on a Chapter Marker displayed in play bar at bottom of window playing back movie 

• Right clicking the window playing back movie, selecting Navigation/Chapters.

Store Purchased DVD-VIDEO Movie*
Right click opened "Media Player Classic Home Cinema", from pop up select File/Open DVD/BD, and, with drive selected, click Select Folder at the bottom of the "Select the path for DVD/BD" dialog.
Result:  Playback First Play still/video followed by Main Menu displayed before the start of the movie. Movie navigation appears to be by either of two ways

• Click on a Chapter Marker displayed in play bar at bottom of window playing back movie 

• Right clicking the window playing back movie, selecting Navigation/Chapters.

Movie extras are accessible from the Main Menu.

Premiere Elements 14/14.1 AVCHD DVD Movie on DVD-R disc created with Disc Menus
Right click opened "Media Player Classic Home Cinema", from pop up select File/Open DVD/BD, and, with drive selected, click Select Folder at the bottom of the "Select the path for DVD/BD" dialog.
Result: Playback of movie without Main Menu displayed before the movie. Movie navigation appears to be by either of two ways

• Click on a Chapter Marker displayed in play bar at bottom of window playing back movie 

• Right clicking the window playing back movie, selecting Navigation/Chapters.

COMMENTARY

Work in progress.

_______________________________________________________________________________
*Only Store Purchased Blu-ray Movie available for this study was "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" (1971) with Gene Wilder. Store Purchased DVD-VIDEO Movie available for this study was "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988). More studies need to be done in this area to differentiate between player lack of feature versus and different layouts for the Store Purchased Blu-ray Movie disc content.
**The KEYDB.cfg file is downloaded and placed in the empty newly created aacs Folder in Roaming Folder. After first operation in VLC player, the aacs Folder then contains a vid folder, vuk folder, drl file, and hrl file besides the KEYDB.cfg file.
***Creating a new folder the usual way and naming that folder aacs is part of the VLC add on procedure. Misspelling of folder name can cause failure to playback store purchased Blu-ray movie.




ATR

PE: Blu-ray Playback Navigation Issues

INTRODUCTION

Playback* navigation for the Premiere Elements** disc products can be achieved by the setting of Timeline markers (Scene marker, Main menu marker, Stop marker) and selected Movie Menu theme before the burn to process. See HERE.

Although Stop markers function in the Movie Menu Preview before the Blu-ray or AVCHD burn to disc process, they have never functioned in the playback of the Blu-ray or AVCHD disc produced by the project. This finding is now well accepted, and Adobe includes in its current documentation "Note: Stop markers are used for DVD only"

This blog post points to the "what is" for playback navigation of the Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc as it relates to Timeline Scene markers and Movie Menu Scene Selection.

ISSUE

Playback Navigation of Blu-ray Disc Related to Scene Selection and "Return to Main Menu"

If Scene markers are placed in the Timeline content (video or stills) destined for burn to Blu-ray, the Movie Menu Preview presents as "expected"

• "Play Movie" button selected on Main Menu, entire movie playback, "Return to Main Menu" at end

• "Scenes" button selected on Main Menu, a scene selected in the Scene Selection page, playback of the movie from the point of the particular scene selected to the end, "Return to Main Menu" at end
  

Although the Main Menu "Play Movie" choice for the Blu-ray disc playback ends with "Return to Main Menu", this is not the case for the choice of  Main Menu "Scenes". Now is observed playback of the movie from the point of the particular scene selected to the end, "Return to Scene Selection" page with a highlight on the particular scene that had been selected.

SOLUTION

Accept the Blu-ray "Scenes" as is situation.

or

Use Timeline Main Menu markers, instead of Scene markers, in order to eliminate the Scene Selection page and force a Main Menu page only set up - depends on how many Main Menu buttons per page that the Main Menu theme will accommodate.

or

Export the Premiere Elements Timeline to file to be taken into a 3rd party software for application of disc menus with Stop markers (or equivalent) and burn to disc.

COMMENTARY

In quest for a therapeutic rather than Stop Marker functional effect, application of Stop markers to the Timeline in this Blu-ray situation was found to have no affect on the Scene markers and this playback navigation behavior.

This "Scenes" and "Return to Scene Selection" page matter did not apply to DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc or to AVCHD on DVD disc.

No prior reference was found related to the Blu-ray "Scenes" matter in spite of the fact that it appears to exist at least from Premiere Elements 10 through the current version 14/14.1. This matter was run into when preparing a forthcoming blog post which updates Premiere Elements and Blu-ray disc playback using the free VLC Media Player and free Media Player Classic HC x64.

_____________________________________________________________________________
* Playback as done using computer players (CyberLink Power DVD 9 and VLC Media Player v 2.2.1. Blu-ray drive was LG BH12L535, and Blu-ray disc was Verbatim BD-RE 25 GB disc.
** Study was done using Premiere Elements 14/14.1 on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit and Windows 10 Home 64 bit. Preliminary results suggest that this Blu-ray disc playback navigation "Scenes" matter exists for at least Premiere Elements 10, 11, 12/12.1, and 13/13.1 as well as 14/14.1.


ATR








.

PE 14/14.1: Instant Movie Theme Music

INTRODUCTION

The Premiere Elements Instant Movie* provides the opportunity for the user to take the Timeline Video Track 1 content (max 15 minute duration) to a movie with choice of Adobe supplied themes and assets which can be customized (music and other) at the Timeline level after the Instant Movie process is completed**. See HERE for the Adobe document "Adobe Premiere Elements Help/Creating Instant Movies. The requirement for use of Video Track 1 and the loss of the Break Apart Instant Movie if the completed Instant Movie on the Timeline has its audio component removed before applying Break Apart Instant Movie command is described in Item 025 in the blog post "Premiere Elements 14 Daily Discoveries" found HERE.

The Instant Movies hard drive files that require content download to function can be found in Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 64 bit
Local Disk (C:)\Program Data\Adobe\Premiere Elements\14.0\Online\Movie Themes\All_Lang\

The Instant Movie theme Pan and Zoom is the default that comes with the program installation. It can be found on the hard drive in Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 64 bit
Local Disk (C:)\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 14\Movie Themes\Slideshow\

Each of the completed theme folders contains a .mp3 soundtrack (typically 3 to 4 minutes duration, some with 6 minutes duration). See Figure 1 for details of the content download type. Some of the theme folders contain .mp3 sound effects files as well as the .mp3 soundtrack files. The sound effects are small files with a few seconds duration. The default theme Pan and Zoom uses the Music File Name = Temple of the Moon.mp3 and has Duration = 6min 0sec, Bitrate = 320 Kbps Constant, Channels = 2, and Sampling Rate = 48.0 KHz.

Figure 1. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Instant Movie Theme Soundtracks (File Name And Duration). Content Download Type Themes.

The Instant Movie uses a "Personalize Movie" setup which includes setting categories for Music, Speed and Intensity, Duration, Sequence, Theme Content, and Render Preview. The dependency of the "Personalize Movie" Music and Duration settings and the actual duration of the theme soundtrack file on the computer hard drive are important to the outcome.

Figure 2. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Instant Movie Setup "Personalize Movie". Music And Duration Categories Opened To Show Default Options For Theme Named European Travel.

ISSUE

The lack of the need for customization of the Personalize Movie setup cannot be taken for granted because of the "Instant" in the Instant Movie name of the feature. The choice of those settings, actual duration of the soundtrack file in the theme's folder on the hard drive, and the duration and nature of the Timeline content need to be factored in. A look at these factors is addressed by some examples.

EXAMPLES

Using the European Travel Instant Movie Theme (hard drive soundtrack file duration = 3min 34sec), examples will be given to show the impact of the Instant Movie feature's Music and Duration settings on the resulting Instant Movie (NTSC/DV/Standard project).

With "Theme Music" 

Example 1
When Timeline content duration (14 minutes 55.9 seconds) was greater than duration of Instant Movie Theme soundtrack file (3 minutes 34 seconds) on computer hard drive. And, Personalize Movie Music was set for "Theme Music" and Duration was set for "Match Music".
Result

• Completed Instant Movie duration on the Timeline was 3 minutes 40.6 seconds instead of 14 minutes 55.9 seconds, and music did not present for the closing credits.

• Completed Instant Movie had one soundtrack on project's Timeline Music Track, and its duration was 3 minutes and 34.6 seconds, comparable to the duration of the theme's soundtrack on the hard drive.

Example 2
When Timeline content duration (14 minutes 55.9 seconds) was greater than duration of Instant Movie Theme soundtrack file (3 minutes 34 seconds) on computer hard drive. But now, Personalize Movie Music was set for "Theme Music" and Duration was set for "14 minutes 56 seconds" instead of "Match Music". Duration setting seconds to two places only. So 14 minutes 55.9 seconds was set to 14 minutes 56 seconds instead.
Result

• Completed Instant Movie duration on the Timeline was 15 minutes 0.9 seconds instead of 14 minutes 55.9 seconds, and music was present for the closing credits. 

• Completed Instant Movie had 4 theme soundtrack files (each 3 minutes 34.6 seconds) in the project's Timeline Music Track plus the 42.4 seconds beginning of that theme soundtrack file.

Example 3
When Timeline content duration (14 minutes 55.9 seconds) was greater than duration of Instant Movie Theme soundtrack file (3 minutes 34 seconds) on computer hard drive. But now, Personalize Movie Music was set for "Theme Music" and Duration was set for "Use All Clips".
Result

• Completed Instant Movie duration on the Timeline was 13 minutes 14.4 seconds instead of 14 minutes 55.9 seconds, and music was present for the closing credits. 

• Completed Instant Movie had 3 theme soundtrack (each 3 minutes 34.6 seconds) in the project's Music Track plus the 2 minutes 30.7 seconds beginning of that theme soundtrack file.

Example 4
When Timeline content duration (14 minutes 55.9 seconds) was greater than duration of Instant Movie Theme soundtrack file (3 minutes 34 seconds) on computer hard drive. But now, Personalize Movie Music was set for "No Music" and Duration was set for "Use All Clips".  
Result

• Completed Instant Movie had no theme soundtrack file(s) on the project's Timeline Music Track, and the Beats Track at the top of the Timeline tracks was not present.

• Completed Instant Movie duration was 14 minutes 41.9 seconds instead of 14 minutes 55.9 seconds.

Note: The Instant Movie theme "European Travel" used in these Examples does not come with Sound Effects. If Example 4 had been done instead with the Event/Birthday Party theme which comes with Sounds Effects as well as Soundtrack.....Completed Instant Movie with "No Music" would still have its Sound Effects throughout if the No Music/Use All Clips was accompanied by a check mark next Personalize Movie Theme Content's "Transitions, Effects, and Sound Effects". If the latter did not have a check mark next to it, then only the opening title would have Sound Effects but none thereafter.

Examples 1, 2, 3, and 4 were done with "Auto Edit" enabled with check mark as shown in Figure 2.  The differences in results between when "Auto Edit" was enabled and disabled is shown in Table 1.
The Personalize Movie Duration cannot be set for anything other than "Use All Clips" when "Auto Edit" is disabled.

Table 1. Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Instant Movie. Auto Edit Enabled And Disabled Impact On Instant Movie Music And Other.

OTHER FACTORS

EXAMPLES were done with Personalize Movie's Music category set at "Theme Music" and Duration category variables introduced. Comparable Results were obtained if Music category's "Theme Music" was replaced by "My Music" choice (Sleep Away.mp3  3min 20sec in Libraries/Music).

Attempts to replace the Instant Movie's theme soundtrack at the level of
Local Disk (C:)\Program Data\Adobe\Premiere Elements\14.0\Online\Movie Themes\All_Lang\Events\European Travel
has met with problems

• replacing the European Travel Soundtrack.mp3 with music of choice in the European Travel Folder

and/or

• editing the Notepad document of the European Travel Folder's eurotravel_s_mvth, eurotravel_w.mvth, or eurotravel_hd.mvth

The completed Instant Movie music heard after replacement of the European Travel Soundtrack.mp3  file in the European Travel Folder was that of the replacement only if the .mp3 replacement was given the name European Travel Soundtrack.mp3. But, there was a problem with the replacement's duration recognized by the Instant Movie process.

SOLUTION

When all is said and done, being aware of the above Instant Movie Music factors coupled with  adopting the "what is" to give the wanted end result is the message.


If keeping the Timeline content order is indicated, disabling Auto Edit in Personalize Movie (with its automatically selected Use All Clip in Duration) is preferred.

Although Timeline Audio Track 1 content for the Instant Movie can contain standalone .mp3 music files and audio components from a video audio files, the management of these files by the feature may not be as wanted.

Breaking apart the Premiere Elements 14/14.1's Timeline's completed Instant Movie for customization purposes may be necessary. To break apart 14/14.1 Timeline's completed Instant Movie, right click it, select Clip, and then Break Apart Instant Movie in the drop down menu of the pop up menu that appears.This was done to obtain details of the completed Instant Movie examples above.

_____________________________________________________________________________
* Work done with Premiere Elements 14/14.1 on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit and confirmed on Windows 10 Home 64 bit.
** Still weighing the merits of Video Story versus Instant Movie features.
http://atr935.blogspot.com/2015/01/pe-13-video-story-media-considerations.html
http://atr935.blogspot.com/2016/02/pe-14141-video-story-elements-organizer.html 

July 16, 2018 Update Note.
Please Also Refer To
PE: Instant Movie Details Round Up
https://atr935.blogspot.com/2018/07/pe-instant-movie-details-round-up.html 


ATR