Best way to bring in a Premiere Elements 3 project?

Question

Hi everyone:
I have used PE3 for a number of years, but have just recently purchased PE9.My system does meet the minimum requirements; I checked again just before writing this.
I am having difficulties with bringing in a PE3 project, into PE9.
When I rendered my project, it literally took 48 HOURS!!! And after all that, the quality was terrible - really jerky, pixelated, etc.
So I obviously have something wrong somewhere.
I would appreciate any help you guys can provide me with.
Thankyou.
Kind Regards
Rach

Answer 1

Neale has addressed the "low disk space" issue from above, so I will address Handles. When one adds Transitions, a certain number of Frames will be used, before and/or after the set In & Out Points. Those are Handles. Since most NLE's (Non Linear Editors) do not actually work with the original Clips, but only a proxy for display purposes, the program will access the original files, when time comes to Export/Share. It will then gather those necessary Frames from the original Clip, so that there is material (the Handles), to allow the Transitions to work. When one has Exported/Shared to a new AV file, the originals are not accessed, and only the Frames in that AV file are available. This ARTICLE goes into more detail on Handles - what they are, where they come from and how they are used with Transitions.
Were I outputting an AV file, to be edited later, I would set all In & Out Points very loosely, so that when I do go to edit, I have the necessary Handles. Say you have a Clip, of a young lady picking up a telephone, and making a call. You want the In Point to be the moment that her hand touches the telephone handset (let's call that Frame 61), and you have 02 sec. of material before that Frame (~ 60 Frames). Rather than setting the In Point to that Frame 61, I'd reset it to approximately Frame 29 - 30, to allow for Transitions later. When all Clips have been adjusted in that way, then I would Export/Share, knowing that I will reset to the desired In & Out Points, when I "tighten up" my edit of the resulting AV file, and still have the extra Frames (Handles), to do my Transitions. That is what I meant by a loose edit.
The opposite of that method would be to do a tight edit, where I know that I have the perfect In & Out Points, and adequate Handles, then add the desired Transition, before doing the Export/Share. I would know that I will not have the ability to really change any of this later, as it will be burned into my output AV file, but if I have done my editing as I desire, I will be fine. If this is a commercial job, I will get the client to sign-off on that tight edit, as if I later need to change things, I will then have to go back to the original footage, and replace what I have, with that - can be a lot of work in a big Project.
Good luck, and hope that helps,
Hunt