I think we casual users misunderstand ....

Question

After 5 years of using Nero, I decided I had had enough with bloatware and switched to Premier Elements. After a *very* frustrating start, I think I have the basics down, and I know why so many casual users are so frustrated with the program. I won't apologize for buying a DVD camera ... I could afford it, I can easily import it and play it, even if I don't run it through an editor.  Premiere Elements is a consumer program and we expect it to work with consumer equipment.
First, we amateurs (read the greek root "doing it for the love of it") expect a program that lets us know in no uncertain terms that it is WORKING. When I import .vob files from my Canon DC410 DVD , Premiere Elements either just sits there, or has a tiny little bar at the corner of the window that says "indexing," or "conforming" the file. Then the program seems to hang. Not so! Even though I have a 'puter that exceeds the specs required, the program is SLOW importing and converting. I have found that opening a stock project with settings that match the video, importing the .vobs into the organizer first, and then right-clicking on a file in the organizer, then selecting "edit in Premiere Elements" works best. BUT you have to wait until Premiere finish indexing and conforming the file before you add the next one. That's where you have to look at the tiny little status bar at the lower right-hand corner of the window. And that progress bar often hangs at 98%, so you just have to hope and import the next one. As you import the files through the organizer, the files disappear from the organizer screen, and appear on the Premiere organizer screen one by one, each replacing the las one, and each is added at the end of the timeline after a lengthy period of indexing and conforming. The best part is that often Premiere does not give ANY indication that it is importing your file if it has not finished indexing and conforming the previous file you imported. Everything seems to freeze, but if you go away, fix supper or run to the store, when you come back, everything is done.
I think the "freezes" that so many report is just that the program is working and it gives no indication that it IS working, and that what we have asked it to do will take some time, and the user is impatient. Having started my computing in 1984 with a state-of-the-art Tandy EX with 2 floppy 5.25 drives and Compuserve, I understand about things taking time.

Answer 1

Good points about things taking time. I've not Imported anything but DV-AVI material into PrE, so I'm not sure about where, and how clearly the Progress Bar is displayed. In PrPro, it's bright and clear in the lower-right of the GUI.
Three things must happen to allow GOP (Group of Pictures) material to be edited, and even on a very fast computer, it's best to wait for the completion of these three tasks:
1.) The GOP material must be converted to all I-frames. It is set up with one I-frame about every 15-18 "frames," with only "difference frames" between these. Since PrE (and PrPro) is a Frame editing NLE (Non Linear Editor), it requires one complete I-frame, per Frame of Video.
2.) The Audio is Conformed to 32-bit floating point to allow for editing.
3.) A Waveform Display file (.PEK) must also be generated.
These tasks are both CPU and I/O (HDD) intensive. On a very fast machine, the Progress Bar goes pretty quickly. I can Import a 1 hour GOP file and be up and editing in about 3 mins. on my workstation w/ PrPro. Do not know if there is any speed difference between PrE and PrPro in this respect.
Thanks for making the above points, as they DO affect many. I'll check out the Progress Bar in PrE, to see how well it's displayed.
Hunt