Beginning with Premier 6: Canon AVIs show as black

Mark Michalowski

Guest

Hi there!
What a brilliant forum! Just starting out with Premier 6 (having used Windows Movie Maker for a few months). I’m probably just being stupid, but I’m really struggling to get started. I have a Canon Ixus digital 50 that takes pretty good movies, in AVI format. I had no problem importing them into WMM, but I can’t work out what I’m doing wrong with Premier.

1 I start a new project.
2 I import an avi clip - which appears as a little thumbnail in the 'Bin' list, and plays fine when I double-click on it.
3 I drag the clip to the timeline, on the 'Video A' line.
4 I drag the marker back to the start (BTW - what’s the keyboard shortcut for 'rewind right back to the start?') and press the spacebar.
5 The marker moves along and I hear sound, but in the Monitor window, it’s just black (with a cross in the top left corner).

What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried the Timeline/Preview option, but it makes no difference. Is it a problem with the avis themselves, or am I just being dim??

Any help would be hugely appreciated - I’m tearing my hair out here!! ))

Thanks in advance

Mark
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