Premiere CS5 - 43:18 min clip becomes 43:15 min in timeline, ruining subtitle timing

[Creatively Bankrupt]

I'm adding on-screen subtitles from a translator to a bunch of interviews and the timecode slowly slips off as the video goes on.

This 43 minute video is 3 seconds off by the end, so the 2-3 hour interviews are going to be 10+ seconds off by the end and it will be impossible to correctly place the subtitles.

I exported clips with visible time code from Premiere to give to the translator. He had mentioned this first interview being 3 seconds longer than the on-screen time code was showing, and he timed his work to the actual running time his subtitling software was displaying.

Quicktime Movie Inspector lists the .mov running time as 43:18;10. Premiere lists this when I right-click and view the .mov properties.

Does anyone know what I can do to ensure my Premiere timeline's time code matches the actual clip? I've tried to use Interpret Footage to 23.976 and 23.98 and it adjusts the projected duration to 43:18, but hitting 'Okay' changes nothing and it's back to 43:15 when I view the Interpret footage window again.

 

[Gary Huff]

Drop-frame or Non-drop frame? I can't see that part in the screenshot.

 

[Creatively Bankrupt]

The clip properties do not list drop frame or non-drop frame. The timeline is 1080p/23.98 and the sequence settings just list 24fps Timecode under the Display Format pulldown.

 

[PDR]

I exported clips with visible time code from Premiere to give to the translator. He had mentioned this first interview being 3 seconds longer than the on-screen time code was showing, and he timed his work to the actual running time his subtitling software was displaying.

File or metadata might be damaged, as it's signalling to the subtitle software and premiere a different time, but interpreting the file should have worked...

In quicktime, re-export the video , perhaps using uncompressed or prores on a mac, but in the settings enter a custom fps 23.976 in the dropdown menu. Hopefully that will re-write the proper timcodes

The difference between 43:18 and 43:15 is about 1.001x or suspiciously like 24p vs. 23.976 (24000/1001)

 

[maarek]

That properties window shows that there is a slight FPS difference.

 

[Creatively Bankrupt]

Thanks for all the tips! Re-Encoding the videos is not an option, sadly. No amount of interpreting footage would make a difference so I went into Speed/Duration and manually set the clip length to be 00:43:18:03 instead of Premiere's weird 00:43:15:12.

I'd love to know why it is automatically taking a 43:18 clip and shaving 3 seconds off upon import. Even if there's no sequence setup yet and I just view the properties of the .mov after I import it, I see the screenshot from up in my original post. I believe PDR nailed it when pointing out that Premiere is treating the video as 24fps, not 23.976. This happens with everything I bring in too.

I'm about to start work on a feature and when I imported the .mov, the properties show the same discrepancies:

File Path: V:\_Clients\Blue-Underground\Torso\Uncompressed\Torso_Blackmagic_10bit_1080p.mov
Type: QuickTime Movie
File Size: 811.4 GB
Image Size: 1920 x 1080
Pixel Depth: 24
Frame Rate: 23.976
Source Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 24 bit - Mono
Project Audio Format: 48000 Hz - 32 bit floating point - Mono
Total Duration: 01:48:55:01
Average Data Rate: 127.0 MB / second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0

QuickTime Details:
Movie contains 1 video track(s), 4 audio track(s) and 1 timecode track(s).

Video track 1:
Duration is 1:49:01:14
Average frame rate is 23.98 fps


I love Premiere but what is it doing??? I'm on 5.0.3...maybe the new 5.5 would resolve these issues.

 

[Creatively Bankrupt]

I replicated this issue using different 23.98 mov and mts clips on a few machines. A colleague back east loaded a feature he is working on into Premiere and saw the same issue. He had given up on why an audio commentary track was slipping, and it was this same problem.

I found a workaround by going into the speed/duration of the clip once it is in the timeline and forcing the correct duration taken from the Video Track info under the clip properties. All of my subtitle time codes line up and the timeline did not require a render. Exporting the timeline also maintained the correct duration.

I'm left wondering why Premiere alters the duration of the clips from 23.976/23.98 to 24 upon import, especially if it still maintains the true duration in the clip properties and thinks it's 23.98? It seems low rent to adjust the duration of a perfectly good clip, but I don't know what else to do.