Don
Thanks for the update. Sorry the news was not better.
If you ever want to give Premiere Elements Motion Tracking Mode another try, please let me know.
In most cases, it is the object to be tracked and the tracking object at the core of Motion Tracking Mode issues.
But, if you cannot get the feature started, we cannot point to those factors in troubleshooting.
The Motion Tracking Mode does work in Premiere Elements 10. I do not know that it ever got great generalized reviews.
Adobe did not put the feature into Premiere Elements 11, but they did return the feature to Premiere Elements 12.
I do not know if you want to invest the time...you could download and install the Premiere Elements 12 tryout and determine if
its Motion Tracking feature is new and improved as said by some.
Motion tracking | Learn Premiere Elements 12 | Adobe TV
Best wishes for whatever your video editing decisions are.
ATR