Audio clipping (saturating) when creating MPEGs

[El Geraldo]

I'm trying to use VS10+ to make MPEGs of all my VSP projects before I assemble them onto an NTSC DVD. Each MPEG has evidence of the audio being clipped on peaks; I frequently hear a clicking or popping sound.

When I used to create DVD files (VIDEO_TS folder) directly from the VSP files using the 'Share' menu in VS8, I never got this problem.

Background: I upgraded to VS10+ because I was getting the nefarious 80041C21 error whilst doing the above, and found the sticky post on this forum that suggests creating MPEGs before creating a DVD.

Is there any way to get VS to automatically adjust the overall audio level so that it doesn't clip? Funny thing is - when I listen to the project (in VS10 or VS8) I don't hear any clipping. It's only when it's turned it into an MPEG and I play that file back in a media player. I am using the suggested settings from this forum, including Dolby Digital 2ch, 256kbps.

[BrianCee]

have you tried checking the "Normalise Audio" option on the last screen in the 'Create Disc' module.

[El Geraldo]

have you tried checking the "Normalise Audio" option on the last screen in the 'Create Disc' module.

Thanks for the suggestion, but... I haven't got that far.

I'm turning my VSPs into MPEGs before I create a disc. If the audio is clipped in the MPEG file, normalizing it afterwards won't fix it. You can't bring back lost information; it's the same as an over-exposed photograph - saturation has occurred and data has been lost.

I have done some more experimenting. If I use either VS8 or VS10+ and create an MPEG with PCM audio, there's no clipping. If I use VS10+ and select Dolby Digital then it clips like crazy. VS8 of course doesn't do Dolby Digital.

* Anyone else found this problem?
* Is there any way to have VSx reduce the overall volume level for a whole project? (I only see controls to set the level for each clip in the project).
* If I use PCM audio, will I still be able to compile the MPEGs into a DVD without it having to convert the audio?

[Black Lab]

Anyone else found this problem?

Does this "clipping" appear on the burned disk? I had problems similar to what you describe, but after burning the project the sound was perfect. Wouldn't hurt to give it a try on a RW

Is there any way to have VSx reduce the overall volume level for a whole project? (I only see controls to set the level for each clip in the project).

If you are following the Recommended Procedure then you are making a new avi file from your project before you are creating your mpeg file. If so, then just adjust the volume of that newly created avi before rendering it the the mpeg.

If I use PCM audio, will I still be able to compile the MPEGs into a DVD without it having to convert the audio?

At the burning stage you can select Dolby Digital or LPCM.