Time Stretch of Premiere Elements 15 Changing My Input

[ENV2005]

Hello. I am using Premiere Elements 15 on Win10-64 and when I try to time stretch a png file to match the length of an mp3 file, the input keeps changing to some ridiculous other time. For instance, I put in 00:00:14:00 and the time will change by itself to 00:00:15:26. If I put in something like 00:00:14:1, it changes to something like 00:27:13:45 (going off memory and I have literally been up all night). This behavior is consistent no matter if I do it in the Assets box or the Timeline.

This is ridiculous. I just upgraded from 11 and am really considering asking for a refund. Does anybody have any idea what's up here?

Thanks in advance.

[Bill Sprague]

I'm not sure where you are putting in the numbers. 

Instead, try the Expert mode, grab the right edge of the PNG and drag it to match the MP3.  

(I just tried it and it worked).

[ENV2005]

I cannot drag like that (or I would have) because I am quadriplegic from ALS and use a system that tracks my eyes to control my computer. The eyes are not stable enough in movement for that. In Time Stretch you can directly input the numbers to the box which pops up with the time (click on the numbers) and I copy them from the sound file to the image for perfect matching. I have been doing this for years with 11 with zero issues.

Sorry for being "special" but even us cripples still need to do video work.

[Peru Bob]

ENV2005  wrote

I cannot drag like that (or I would have) because I am quadriplegic from ALS and use a system that tracks my eyes to control my computer.

Just a guess:

I wonder if the driver for the system that you use may be causing the problem.

Was the driver recently updated?

I have been using MP3s for years on 11 with zero problems.

Some people have problems and some don't.  I just convert to wav because I did have a problem with some mp3s.

[ENV2005]

To which driver are you referring? Nothing has been updated for a few months. 11 was working perfectly last week and nothing changed until I installed 15.

[Peru Bob]

ENV2005  wrote

To which driver are you referring?

I didn't know if there might be a driver for the hardware that tracks your eyes.

[ENV2005]

good idea but that's not the issue. I think I just found the answer. Stay tuned...

[Bill Sprague]

ENV2005  wrote

good idea but that's not the issue. I think I just found the answer. Stay tuned...

Great!  I'm waiting and very curious.....

[Peru Bob]

whsprague  wrote

   wrote

good idea but that's not the issue. I think I just found the answer. Stay tuned...

Great!  I'm waiting and very curious.....

Me, too.

[Peru Bob]

Time Stretch is really intended for video, not stills.

Probably not related to your problem, but you should convert mp3 files to wav files before importing into Premiere Elements.

Mp3 files can be problematic, if not immediately, then possibly later in the project or upon export.

[ENV2005]

The User Guide specifically details doing Time Stretch for stills... I have been using MP3s for years on 11 with zero problems. And in my particular case the issue is with PNG images. I will try with a BMP image (the image equivalent of WAV).

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm with Bob. How can you apply a Time Stretch to a still? Stills have no action that can be sped up or slowed down.

Can you reference where in the user guide it discusses this?

[ENV2005]

Here you go:

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/set-duration-imported-still-images.html

Time stretch for stills is necessary to match any audio with which you want to associate one. In my case I have custom images as title and credit shots with music which I use for introduction and ending for my videos. I find this MUCH easier than mucking around with titles in Prel.

[Bill Sprague]

ENV2005  wrote

Here you go:

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/set-duration-imported-still-images.html

Time stretch for stills is necessary to match any audio with which you want to associate one. In my case I have custom images as title and credit shots with music which I use for introduction and ending for my videos. I find this MUCH easier than mucking around with titles in Prel.

I got it to work.  I "time stretched" a still to match a generic MP3 without grabbing the end of the clip.  Not knowing your limitations or your favorite methods, I'm not sure how to help.  But, I would like to!  Where do we start?

Bill

[ENV2005]

Right on, Bill!I I appreciate the desire to help. My limitations are surprisingly minor for my condition, but sometimes minor things can be an impenetrable barrier... By the way, thanks so much for reading previous responses to get the full scope. Typing using only one eye does not predispose one to enjoy repetition.

OK, to business: What I do to get an audio file and a still image to match duration is go to Time Stretch in the audio clip, click on the time stamp number to select it (gets highlighted), right-click, and select Copy. Then I to Time Stretch in the still image, click on the time stamp number to select it, right-click, and select Paste to paste the number from the audio. Everything is groovy up through this point. The correct number pastes in. But when I hit OK, the number changes to some preposterous other value. The preposterous value is always the same depending on what number I put in. 14:41088 always becomes 27:37:13, 14:4100 always becomes 15:16, 27:11520 becomes 08:07:20, etc. It's like some algorithm is deliberately distorting the values, although I cannot spot the pattern. This is very confusing and intensely frustrating behavior.

This is a brand-new installation of 15 with no settings changed from default (although what ever setting could be causing this is beyond me ). I uninstalled 11 and am going to try to reinstall that as a stop-gap so my project is not on hold indefinitely.

Thanks so much for trying to help me out. Do Adobe engineers monitor these questions? Based on my decades of being an Information Technology professional, I have a feeling this will need a perspective that deep.

[Bill Sprague]

ENV2005  wrote

.......

Thanks so much for trying to help me out. Do Adobe engineers monitor these questions? Based on my decades of being an Information Technology professional, I have a feeling this will need a perspective that deep.

Not publicly.  This is a user to user forum.  Adobe provides a space for all of their products, but the Adobe employees generally stay out of it.  Sometimes, on the more mainstream apps like Lightroom, staff people will enter a "conversation" when trying to find the source of an anomaly.   With the variety of computer brands, operating systems and graphics cards users have, it can be entertaining to follow!

[Bill Sprague]

ENV2005  wrote

.......

OK, to business: What I do to get an audio file and a still image to match duration is go to Time Stretch in the audio clip, click on the time stamp number to select it (gets highlighted), right-click, and select Copy. Then I to Time Stretch in the still image, click on the time stamp number to select it, right-click, and select Paste to paste the number from the audio. Everything is groovy up through this point. The correct number pastes in. But when I hit OK, the number changes to some preposterous other value. The preposterous value is always the same depending on what number I put in. 14:41088 always becomes 27:37:13, 14:4100 always becomes 15:16, 27:11520 becomes 08:07:20, etc. It's like some algorithm is deliberately distorting the values, although I cannot spot the pattern. This is very confusing and intensely frustrating behavior.

......

A few posts back, I said I got it to work.  I did it by reading the time code by hovering the mouse over the work area bar, memorizing the displayed time code and typing it into the Time Stretch for the image.  

I tried it your way with the cut and paste.  On my computer it worked fine. 

I do see a difference though.  On my computer the time codes look like this:  "  00;01;43;22  ".  If I remember from the first training videos I watched (produced by Steve!) I think it stands for "Hours;Minutes;Seconds;Frames".  I don't see formats like "14:41088"  or "14:4100". 

If you go to Edit > Preferences > Media, what is the status of the "Display Media Timecode....." box?   Mine is checked. 

[ENV2005 · Accepted solution]

Hosanna in the Highest!!!

"... and Sir Robin slew the beast, and there was much rejoicing."

Thanks, Bill - your response here was the clue I needed. Not noticing that Time Stretch was now buried in the Clip menu option instead of top-level as it is in Prel 11 (when working with clips in the Timeline), I was trying to do it in the asset view box. That was where I noticed colons (:) instead of the more-familiar semi-colons (;). I also was puzzled by the mysterious use of 5 digit precision rather than the usual 2. So 14.41 seconds (00;00;14;41) looked like 14.41088 (00:00:14:41088). So who knows what was going on with that behavior. Time Stretch in the Timeline - what I should have been doing - still works fine.

Profound apologies for the Chicken Little exercise and profound thanks to all for your advice. But, it's a lesson I shan't forget.

[Peru Bob]

Thanks for posting this so that others may benefit from your solution to the problem that you were having.

[Bill Sprague]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Peru+Bob  wrote

Thanks for posting this so that others may benefit from your solution to the problem that you were having.

Me too. 

Bill

[ENV2005]

Of course! Dangling unanswered questions online seriously frost me so I shouldn't do that to anyone else. This is a practice I have carried on for about 2 decades (during my truncated IT career). Even though the issue was PEBCAD ("Problem Exists Between Chair And Desk", meaning in this case me), it's just proper etiquette to post the ultimate solution. I am not used to being a Luser, so perhaps this will bring me some humility...

[Bill Sprague]

ENV2005  wrote

My limitations are surprisingly minor for my condition, but sometimes minor things can be an impenetrable barrier...

FWIW, I too am "disabled".   Officially, I have a "Disabled Veteran" rate of 40%.  It is invisible to most people and does not affect my typing.  It still sucks.  But, it is what it is.

[ENV2005]

ALS 9lou gehrig's disease gets really hard to hide really quickly. Being quadriplegic with a big hose sticking into your neck is always conspicuous. I will answer your Preferences question after I get 11 or 15 working. In my time numbers I was truncating the preceding 00:00 for the sake of speed in typing.

[Bill Sprague]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Steve+Grisetti  wrote

I'm with Bob. How can you apply a Time Stretch to a still? Stills have no action that can be sped up or slowed down.

Can you reference where in the user guide it discusses this?

There is confusion here!  The OP has a MP3 of a fixed length.  I think he/she wants a still to display for the same duration of the MP3.  It is not speeding up or slowing down.  It is only displaying longer.  

As you taught me Steve, stills will import at a default display duration.  Once in, each can be changed to display for shorter or longer periods of time.  I'm used to doing it by grabbing the end of the clip.  The OP seems to need to do it by typing in numbers. 

I'm totally screwed up or have it figured out.  With luck I can help him/her.

Bill

[ENV2005]

yeah the default length for stills is 6 seconds. In Prel 11 it was 5.