My avi video files are no longer supported in PRE9? Help!

Question

I created a movie in premiere elements 9  several months ago.  My video was imported from avi files on my computer.  The avi files were originally downloaded from my camera.  Everything was fine and I even burned a near finished copy of my project on a DVD.  Now, several months later, I open up the project to put my final touches on it and notice that all the avi video files are red in the timeline.  On the organizer tab for my project under media type, it says, "offline".  So, I clicked on the avi file and it asks me to find it.  I find it (the files have not moved) and click on it and I get this error, "Error Message. This type of file is not supported, or the required codec is not installed."  This is very strange.  Do you have any ideas? My operating system is Windows 7.

Answer 1

I kind of suspected MJPEG (just a hunch, as two other CODEC's, commonly wrapped in an AVI, DivX and Xvid, seldom every play correctly to start with).
Now, there are many "flavors" of MJPEG. It is an older CODEC (or really type of CODEC, as there are so many versions), that was ressurected for use in mostly (then) stills cameras, with video capabilities added. It is not a bad CODEC, but each camera mfgr. has tweaked it for their purposes. This can create issues. MJPEG is not the "universal," that say DV-AVI Type II is. Canon will have a version, Nikon another and Panasonic yet another. They all show as MJPEG, but will be a bit different. A similar analogy can be drawn with Camer RAW files - Canon's differ from Nikon's, which differ from Panasonic's, though they are all Camera RAW. Also, Nikon, for instance, is constantly changing what is in their NEF (Camera RAW) files, so that the newest will require the latest release of Adobe Camer RAW (ACR), to be processed in Photoshop. MJPEG is similar to that, with fewer variations - but still individual variations.
Now, there could well be reasons that things have changed. The first one to strike me would be that you installed the software that came with that camera, and included its specific version of the MJPEG CODEC, then later removed say the camera's utility, taking that specific version of MJPEG away. You might well have others, but PrE is having a hard time matching them up.
In that article I linked to on MJPEG, I mention two popular MJPEG CODEC's, Morgan and MainConcept. Both are rather generic MJPEG CODEC's, and when MJPEG resurfaced, they worked fine for most such files. However, as time has elapsed, and camera mfgrs. tweaked and tweaked, they are less likely to work 100%. Once, they were the "silver bullet" for MJPEG - but not so much any more.We began seeing more users, with either, or even both, still having issues with newer MJPEG CODEC's. As most camera mfgrs. ship a copy of their specific version, somewhere along with the camera, it became common practice to recommend installing that specific version from the specific camera's utility disc. Unfortunately, that was not always easy to do. Some included their version of MJPEG as a separate installation (best way, IMHO), but many incorporated it into the camera's driver installation (still good), and then there are those instances, where the specific version of the MJPEG CODEC is installed along with other utilities on the disc, such as maybe a little editing program, or a file cataloging utility. Scant mention is ever made of the specific MJPEG CODEC, and how it is installed on one's system. The latter method seems to be the most common now. I have the full utilities, including the camera's own editing programs, installed for my Canon, my Nikon and my wife's Panasonic. That means that I have at least five (think that the total count is eight on my workstation) MJPEG CODEC's: one for Canon, one for Nikon, one for Panny, one Morgan and one MainConcept.
What camera produced those MJPEG AVI files?
Do you have that camera's editing and cataloging utility installed?
Do you have the utility disc for that camera?
Have you removed any such editing, or cataloging utility, between the time that the files worked, and when they did not?
I do not believe that any version of PrE actually installs any version of MJPEG (could be wrong here), though they work with, and include various other MainConcept (mostly MPEG) CODEC's. That means that one will need to install an MJPEG CODEC, and the one specific to that camera, might be required.
You obviously do have an MJPEG CODEC (or more), installed in your OS. As there is a vast difference between playback of an AV file, and editing that same file, it could be that PrE is just not able to use the installed version, with those files. As it once was able to edit them, I am guessing that something has changed, and it could be as simple as cleaning out one of the supplied utilities for the camera, that also removed its specific version of the MJPEG CODEC.
As PrE does not install the specific version of the MJPEG CODEC, many recommend not trying to edit such material. I am not of that mindset, but do allow that one might have to do some extra work (and work that is NEVER outlined in the camera mfgr's literature - unfortunately), to get things to work. I had to install a bunch of programs, that I will never directly use, just to be able to edit the MJPEG AVI's from my family's cameras, in both PrE and PrPro. I hate having to do that, as it fills up my HDD with stuff, that will otherwise never be used - but I need the specific CODEC, and it's only available to be installed WITH other software - all too common nowadays, and a mistake on the part of the camera mfgrs. IMO.
Good luck, and I hope that with the specific MJPEG CODEC, you will be back up and editing your footage, as you were once able to do.
Hunt
PS - sorry for writing an entire encyclopedia there, but MJPEG is not as simple as it could be.