"Failed to return a video frame: Cancelling the operation"

I get this error after a few minutes when I try to export an MPEG-2 from Premiere CS3. Hundreds of other people seem to have the same issue, confirms Google, but I have yet to find a solution! Anyone?
Cheers!

Herbie747,
After working through the tips provided by John, look at your Timeline very closely for gaps. When there is a "Failed to return... " error, it is most often associated with gaps (even one frame gaps) in the video. I zoom in to the "frame level" and step through the entire Timeline. If you use the PageUp/PageDown keys, you should see a smooth flow from Clip to Clip. If you get "pause," a "skip" or a "hesitation," you have probably found your gap.
Good luck,
Hunt

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Please Help! PrE 4 "failed to return a video frame" on my project!

Big project, I finally pulled everything all together and on the render to H.264, I get "Adobe Premiere Elements (4) failed to return a video frame."
I really had hoped to get this in today (it's a video pitch for my dream opportunity). Any help you guys/gals can lend would be greatly appreciated!

Bill, thank you! Your article did help, and I was able to get the video to completely render. I essentially used a "Title" track, stripped down of its text/shapes to fill in all the gaps. Seems to have done the trick on that issue.
Unfortunately, I must have done something wrong, because the audio and the video are now terribly out of sync. The odd thing is, it seems to be matched sometimes, but then the video of me talking appears to speed up or slow down - the audio does not sound distorted but the video appears to be changing speeds. It's kind of throwing off my "Oh maybe I added too long of a gap Title frame and skewed the audio" theory.
I was dreading this moment. The moment when all is done and I can't export cleanly! Perhaps I should pose the audio sync problem as a separate question, because this is a fairly detailed project (lots of images/video popping up) and I fear that I'm having some sort of conversion or codec issue now
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Adobe Premiere Elements failed to return a video frame. Cancelling the operation. (For 3.0)

This is the message that comes up everytime I try to export my 6 minute 10 seconds film. I have used 2 of the 'Video Effects' and the film is mainly made up of AVI files.Will someone please tell me why this is happening and how I can fix it. Thank you very much

This error often shows up when there is a gap in the Video Timeline.
What I would do is zoom in on the Timeline to about the maximum. Hit Home to get the CTI to the 00;00;00;00 point. Now, hit PageDn to step you through your Clips. With the zoom at the max, you should be at the frame-level, so even a 1-frame gap should be visible. However, sometimes even max zoom will not clearly show them. What you need to do is watch the CTI, as it progresses from Clip to Clip. If it seems to "hiccup," or "stutter," you have probably found your gap. In most cases, you can just Select (Lasso) all Clips following and drag them so that the gap is closed. In some cases, you might just want to change the Out Point of the preceeding Clip to close it, or extend the In Point for the following Clip to close. Don't forget to check the entire Timeline for more.
One little caveat. If you do find gap, and close it up with the Lasso and drag method, and also have a Soundtrack that extends the total length of your Video, check that there is NOT more Audio, than you now have Video. If you do, you have two choices: click-drag the Audio's Tail to line it up with your Video's Tail (only if you have just a touch of silence in your Soundtrack, or can slightly alter you Fade-out to work as you want. Or, you can go to the Project panel, and choose the New icon, then Black Video. Drag that to butt up to the Tail of your last Clip, and then click-drag its Tail so that you have maybe one frame more Video, than Audio.
I hope that you'll be able to find a gap, and that it will be the problem. As I said, this is usually the cause for that error message.
Good luck,
Hunt

Application failed to return a video frame

This is no problem to me anymore, but if someone have this error appearing ir rendering process, I can share my solutions. I had to spent some week before I finalize my current project in Premiere Pro CS3. I manage to test all solutions, what people provide in different forums about this error message. I cannot say, that something of this is nuts, maybe there are different problems under this one error message.
1) first they say, that there should not be any gaps between you videos or sequences in timeline – not a single black frame
2) your audio should not be longer than video on timeline. same – not longer than a single frame
3) when you render, you should close all sequences ir timeline palette (they will not be deleted, just closed)
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Good luck!

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for posting your observations, and experiences.
I did this ARTICLE for the most likely cause of "Failure to Return Frame" error.
You also make an important note of the Duration of the Audio vs the Video. As the Video takes center-stage, having even a few Audio Units extra, means there is a gap in the Video. To keep this from happening, and to also address some other potential issues, I always end each Timeline with about 02 sec. of Black Video, and always end the Audio within that.
What I find odd, however, is that I have seen Timelines with many gaps, and they Transcode fine, yet have seen Timelines with one 1-Frame gap, that would yield the "Failure to Return Frame." Why the gaps are not 100% universal in shutting down Transcoding, is still a mystery.
Appreciated, and good luck,
Hunt

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For the Audio Assets, the best that one can do is to use PCM/WAV, and use any number of audio-editing programs to convert that.
Still, your error is "Return a Video Frame." That indicates an error in the Video portion of the Timeline.
Besides gaps, do you have any overly large still images?
As for any gaps, did you use the method outlined in the linked article? They can be very hard to see, even when zoomed into the max view (Frame View).
I still did not see the CODEC of the used AVI files. Can you provide that please, as it might make a differenece?
Good luck,
Hunt

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Hello everyone. I am working on a project on video processing, and i need to be able to do image processing on individual video frames. However, to do this, I need to convert the frames to an appropriate format, namely jpeg. It is actually the conversion from buffer frame to BufferedImage that is important, as i already have an approximate knowledge of filewriter for the saving of already rendered file.
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there are several other threads tied to this topic, some of which do not work for me, or simply do not suit my needs, so please do not link me to them unless you are sure its the real solution.
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P.s: i am only a beginner to intermediate student in java and programming in general so...

Here is the code i am currently using.
package Test;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.media.*;
import javax.media.control.TrackControl;
import javax.media.Format;
import javax.media.format.*;
import javax.media.bean.playerbean.MediaPlayer;
import javax.media.util.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.awt.image.RenderedImage;
import java.awt.image.*;
import javax.imageio.ImageWriter;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.media.control.FrameGrabbingControl;
* Sample program to access individual video frames by using a
* "pass-thru" codec. The codec is inserted into the data flow
* path. As data pass through this codec, a callback is invoked
* for each frame of video data.
public class FrameAccess extends Frame implements ControllerListener {
Processor p;
Object waitSync = new Object();
boolean stateTransitionOK = true;
* Given a media locator, create a processor and use that processor
* as a player to playback the media.
* During the processor's Configured state, two "pass-thru" codecs,
* PreAccessCodec and PostAccessCodec, are set on the video track.
* These codecs are used to get access to individual video frames
* of the media.
* Much of the code is just standard code to present media in JMF.
public boolean open(MediaLocator ml) {
     try {
     p = Manager.createProcessor(ml);
     } catch (Exception e) {
     System.err.println("Failed to create a processor from the given url: " + e);
     return false;
     p.addControllerListener(this);
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     System.err.println("Failed to configure the processor.");
     return false;
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     if (tc == null) {
     System.err.println("Failed to obtain track controls from the processor.");
     return false;
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     for (int i = 0; i < tc.length; i++) {
     if (tc.getFormat() instanceof VideoFormat) {
          videoTrack = tc[i];
          break;
     if (videoTrack == null) {
     System.err.println("The input media does not contain a video track.");
     return false;
     System.err.println("Video format: " + videoTrack.getFormat());
     // Instantiate and set the frame access codec to the data flow path.
     try {
     Codec codec[] = { new PreAccessCodec(),
                    new PostAccessCodec()};
     videoTrack.setCodecChain(codec);
     } catch (UnsupportedPlugInException e) {
     System.err.println("The process does not support effects.");
     // Realize the processor.
     p.prefetch();
     if (!waitForState(p.Prefetched)) {
     System.err.println("Failed to realize the processor.");
     return false;
     // Display the visual & control component if there's one.
     setLayout(new BorderLayout());
     Component cc;
     Component vc;
     if ((vc = p.getVisualComponent()) != null) {
     add("Center", vc);
     if ((cc = p.getControlPanelComponent()) != null) {
     add("South", cc);
     // Start the processor.
     p.start();
     setVisible(true);
     return true;
public void addNotify() {
     super.addNotify();
     pack();
* Block until the processor has transitioned to the given state.
* Return false if the transition failed.
boolean waitForState(int state) {
     synchronized (waitSync) {
     try {
          while (p.getState() != state && stateTransitionOK)
          waitSync.wait();
     } catch (Exception e) {}
     return stateTransitionOK;
* Controller Listener.
public void controllerUpdate(ControllerEvent evt) {
     if (evt instanceof ConfigureCompleteEvent ||
     evt instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent ||
     evt instanceof PrefetchCompleteEvent) {
     synchronized (waitSync) {
          stateTransitionOK = true;
          waitSync.notifyAll();
     } else if (evt instanceof ResourceUnavailableEvent) {
     synchronized (waitSync) {
          stateTransitionOK = false;
          waitSync.notifyAll();
     } else if (evt instanceof EndOfMediaEvent) {
     p.close();
     System.exit(0);
* Main program
public static void main(String [] args) throws IOException {
     /*if (args.length == 0) {
     prUsage();
     System.exit(0);
     //String url = args[0];
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     if (url.indexOf(":") < 0) {
     prUsage();
     System.exit(0);
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     //mp1.setMediaLocation(new java.lang.String("file:D:/FiMs/299_01_hi.mpg"));
     //mp1.start();
     if ((ml = new MediaLocator(url)) == null) {
     System.err.println("Cannot build media locator from: " + url);
     System.exit(0);
     FrameAccess fa = new FrameAccess();
     if (!fa.open(ml))
     System.exit(0);
static void prUsage() {
     System.err.println("Usage: java FrameAccess <url>");
* Inner class.
* A pass-through codec to access to individual frames.
public class PreAccessCodec implements Codec {
* Callback to access individual video frames.
     void accessFrame(Buffer frame) {
     // For demo, we'll just print out the frame #, time &
     // data length.
     long t = (long)(frame.getTimeStamp()/10000000f);
     System.err.println("Pre: frame #: " + frame.getSequenceNumber() +
               ", time: " + ((float)t)/100f +
               ", len: " + frame.getLength());
     * The code for a pass through codec.
     // We'll advertize as supporting all video formats.
     protected Format supportedIns[] = new Format [] {
     new VideoFormat(null)
     // We'll advertize as supporting all video formats.
     protected Format supportedOuts[] = new Format [] {
     new VideoFormat(null)
     Format input = null, output = null;
     public String getName() {
     return "Pre-Access Codec";
     // No op.
public void open() {
     // No op.
     public void close() {
     // No op.
     public void reset() {
     public Format [] getSupportedInputFormats() {
     return supportedIns;
     public Format [] getSupportedOutputFormats(Format in) {
     if (in == null)
          return supportedOuts;
     else {
          // If an input format is given, we use that input format
          // as the output since we are not modifying the bit stream
          // at all.
          Format outs[] = new Format[1];
          outs[0] = in;
          return outs;
     public Format setInputFormat(Format format) {
     input = format;
     return input;
     public Format setOutputFormat(Format format) {
     output = format;
     return output;
     public int process(Buffer in, Buffer out) {
     // This is the "Callback" to access individual frames.
     accessFrame(in);
     // Swap the data between the input & output.
     Object data = in.getData();
     in.setData(out.getData());
     out.setData(data);
     // Copy the input attributes to the output
     out.setFormat(in.getFormat());
     out.setLength(in.getLength());
     out.setOffset(in.getOffset());
     return BUFFER_PROCESSED_OK;
     public Object[] getControls() {
     return new Object[0];
     public Object getControl(String type) {
     return null;
public class PostAccessCodec extends PreAccessCodec {
     // We'll advertize as supporting all video formats.
     public PostAccessCodec() {
     supportedIns = new Format [] {
          new RGBFormat()
* Callback to access individual video frames.
     void accessFrame(Buffer frame) {
     // For demo, we'll just print out the frame #, time &
     // data length.
     long t = (long)(frame.getTimeStamp()/10000000f);
     System.err.println("Post: frame #: " + frame.getSequenceNumber() +
               ", time: " + ((float)t)/100f +
               ", len: " + frame.getLength());
     public String getName() {
     return "Post-Access Codec";
and here is what itprabhu5 proposed to use to convert and save the frames as .png(or .jpeg in the same way)
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.media.*;
import javax.media.control.*;
import javax.media.format.*;
import javax.media.util.*;
* Grabs a frame from a Webcam, overlays the current date and time, and saves the frame as a PNG to c:\webcam.png
* @author David
* @version 1.0, 16/01/2004
public class FrameGrab
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
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          CaptureDeviceInfo deviceInfo = CaptureDeviceManager.getDevice("vfw:Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32):0");
          Player player = Manager.createRealizedPlayer(deviceInfo.getLocator());
          player.start();
          // Wait a few seconds for camera to initialise (otherwise img==null)
          Thread.sleep(2500);
          // Grab a frame from the capture device
          FrameGrabbingControl frameGrabber = (FrameGrabbingControl)player.getControl("javax.media.control.FrameGrabbingControl");
          Buffer buf = frameGrabber.grabFrame();
          // Convert frame to an buffered image so it can be processed and saved
          Image img = (new BufferToImage((VideoFormat)buf.getFormat()).createImage(buf));
          BufferedImage buffImg = new BufferedImage(img.getWidth(null), img.getHeight(null), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
          Graphics2D g = buffImg.createGraphics();
          g.drawImage(img, null, null);
          // Overlay curent time on image
          g.setColor(Color.RED);
          g.setFont(new Font("Verdana", Font.BOLD, 16));
          g.drawString((new Date()).toString(), 10, 25);
          // Save image to disk as PNG
          ImageIO.write(buffImg, "png", new File("c:\\webcam.png"));
          // Stop using webcam
          player.close();
          player.deallocate();
          System.exit(0);
however, i am unable to use it together with my code... i m not even sure if im using it at the right place.. (note that u will have to discard some lines from the second code, because it is actually grabbing frames from a webcam in that example)
if any1 can make it happen please help me. thx.

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Hello,
I am having some serious problems in trying to get this working
so if u have any idea to get it working please help.
Aim : I need screen shots of a movie, what that means is I need certain frames of the movie as images. Say for example, the first frame, the 20th frame, and the 60the frame, ( eg for a 100 frame movie)
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pln

If I have a list of Vimeo videos on a webpage, how can I use just one video frame and have all videos play in that one frame?

I am creating a page with a list of Vimeo video links. I want to have only one video frame on the page. So no matter which video link a user clicks on, the chosen video needs to play in that one video frame on the page. How do I do this in Muse?
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