After effects cs5 crashing - dynamiclinkmanager, Language registry key, Ivideosource

Question

Hey everyone,
I'm running After Effects CS5 (10.0.2 - most up to date) in OSX 10.6.8 on a Mac Pro tower
2x2.66 ghz dual-core Intel Xenon
7gb DDR2
ATI Radeon x1900 XT 512mb
Dual monitors
I keep getting the following error messages, most frequent to least
<140735089106112> <5> /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/dynamiclink/CS5/dyanmiclinkmanager.app.
<140735243008352> <ASL.ResourceUtils.GetLanguageIDFromRegistry> <0> Unable to obtain the User 'Language' registry key at: Software\Adobe\After Effects\10.5.1\ Defaulting to 'en_US'.
<140735089106112> <Ivideosource> <5> AE push total_frames 180, MC pull frames w/safety margin 180, margin 0.
I have also gotten other error messages pertaining to these problems invovling the gaussian blur filter and some pdf error.
After Effects error: crash occured while invoking effect plug-in "Gaussian Blur".
After Effects error: There was an error processing this PDF Document. (1074397201) ( 50 :: 29 )
I am working with AI files, some have been converted to footage, some still AI - continously rasterizing. I even cleared all AI files out to see if they might have been the problem, still crashing. File works fine on PC. Have reinstalled twice. Need to stay on cs5 because I'm working on files with others.
Crashes randomly in a variety of processes such as scrubbing the time, RAM previews, composing, etc. I have tried resetting all preferences, deleting prefs manually, and some open GL things.
Would cs5.5 or 6 work? We have additional licenses for both. Could also upgrade to mountain lion?
Any other solutions or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Trying to get work done for a client and have tried running AE CS5 on OSX 10.6.8 on a macbook pro - getting the same problems, and its not the file (fine on pc).

Answer 1

Well, I see the letters "PDF" in the error message, and that's where I smell the rat. 
Illustrator can open PDF's: just choose the page you want for multiple-page PDF's.  Then make any necessary changes, and save as an RGB Illustrator document.  Backsave to an earlier Illustrator version if you can.
You can even sort the PDF out into separate Illustrator LAYERS -- not shapes or groups -- which can be used in AE as layers.  Very handy.  Just make sure to create a new layer in Illustrator; most hard-core Illustrator users who aren't used to AE tend to overlook that nifty little feature.