Audio not playing after DVD import - UVS9

[daisysdad]

I have imported files from home DVD, edited in the timeline and when I play the project or clip back, I get no audio. Audio setup is all correct, in that original home DVD plays fine in various playback applications. Also, clips in timeline indicate audio track is there, but it just doesn't play! Anyone have this problem?

[Ken Berry]

What audio format does the DVD use? If it is Dolby AC-3, and you have an SE version of Video Studio, then it is unlikely to be able to play Dolby for licensing reasons... (Dolby requires a licence fee and no-one is willing to pay such a fee for software which is being bundled free of charge with some hardware, as most SE versions are...)

[daisysdad]

Thanks, Ken, I think this must be the problem. My DVDs are burned from Sony MiniCam DV tapes. The audio track definitely says "Dolby digital" when it is being imported by my VS9 bundled SE version software. So I guess the only answer is to pay the $60 for version 10? Seems kind of pointless to have even offered the bundled software at all if you can't even edit home videos!

[Ken Berry]

Where did the DVD come from? I mean, did you burn it yourself? Or did someone else burn it for you? And what was VS bundled with?

I am assuming that the DVD was not produced with your version of VS in any case. Otherwise, you would be able to play its Dolby audio. If someone else produced the DVD, then you would need to ask that person to re-burn the project but using either LPCM audio or mpeg-layer 2 audio...

You could also try a free AC-3 filter from videohelp.com which will at least allow you to import the Dolby, though it will then have to be converted to either of the above 2 formats.

As for bundling, that is not the choice of Ulead, but of the company making the hardware with which the Ulead product is bundled. If the VS9 SE came bundled with your Sony camera, it would not have trouble importing the DV audio as a mini-DV camera does not use Dolby audio but a variant of LPCM.

[daisysdad]

Thanks, Ken. I was just feeling a bit disgruntled that there should be any problems at all. The VS9 came bundled with my Packard Bell PC, which I just bought 2 weeks ago. Before that my old PC didn't have enought capacity to edit videos, burn DVDs or even really effectively play back DVDs. So, I sent my DV tapes off to a supplier to convert to DVD. The files are in VOB format. It appears that they are using MPEG-2 layered audio files. I'll try a filter from videohelp.com and see if that works. Cheers. Ron

[Ken Berry]

I am a little confused. First you said that the files definitely said they were Dolby. Now you say they are using 'MPEG-2 layered audio files' which to my mind suggests 'mpeg layer 2 audio'. This is a completely different format to Dolby, though similar in file size. mpeg layer 2 audio is not part of the NTSC DVD standard, though in practice, most recent NTSC DVD players will play it. And certainly Video Studio should have no problem with it as it does not require a licence. So I am sticking to my original interpretation that in fact you have Dolby files...

[pdunn]

I've got VS9 and I can import DVDs thank you. I could not on version 8 though. I've got a Sony DVD recorder, dunno which format of Dolby.

[daisysdad]

When I am importing to VS9 from the DVD (PAL, by the way, not NTSC), it says "audio track: Dolby digital" in the file specifications. When I look up the file extensions on the DVD disc itself, they are listed as .VOB - I understand from other sources that the audio tracks of a .VOB file are "MPEG layer 2" by definition. Is it possible to have .VOB files that use different audio file types? How can I actually confirm what they are without going back to the supplier of the DVDs? Also, I downloaded the AC3 filter from videohelp but the instructions are not very helpful. What are you supposed to do with it? At what point do you "filter" the files? I'm trying to fix the problem with my edited DVD video files which currently do not play the audio track through VS9, without starting all over again (at least 20 hours of work so far). I was editing tghe video track merrily along without checking the audio track initially, as I assumed that it was fine. When I decided to check the audio, I couldn't hear it, even though it shows up on the VS9 timeline. Do you think it's even theoretically possible to "fix" this problem without starting all over again? Thanks for your patient help.

[Ken Berry]

There's a slight confusion of terminology here. All standard video DVDs are made up of a set of files which use .VOB, .IFO and .BUP as their extensions. The last two, as the extension suggests, are InFOrmation and BackUP files. I have no idea what VOB stands for, but I like to think of it as 'Video On Board'!! In reality, they are mpeg-2 files, and the video and audio has been multiplexed in them. And it seems as though the audio format your DVD is AC-3 multiplexed with the video files.

But mpeg-2 is not the same as mpeg layer 2. The first is a video format and the second an audio format (which is more correctly, but confusingly, layer 2 of an mpeg-1 file!! ) It uses .mp2 as its extension.

As for the VideoHelp AC-3 filter, it has been some years since I had to use it, so forgive me if I seem vague. Hopefully someone with more recent experience might pop in here. But I simply installed it on my computer and, if I recall correctly, it then acted as a sort of plug-in to Video Studio (I was using VS7 and 8 at the time). It would at least allow me to open and hear an existing AC-3 file within Video Studio, but would not allow me to specify Dolby AC-3 as an output audio format in any new DVD I planned to burn. I had to specify either the standard (though large) LPCM format or else mpeg layer 2 format. The latter is fine for me as it is part of the PAL DVD standard. But as I say, it is not part of the NTSC DVD standard, though most modern NTSC DVD players have no trouble with it.

[sg]

Hi,

I have a similar problem...

First of all, I have the AC-3 Filter installed and am working with Video Studio 8. I am able to capture Video from a DVD without any problems (audio works ).

I was trying to capture a video for a friend (using a mini DVD camcorder). However, when I tried to capture it, there was not audio. The disk has a DVD_RTAV folder, which I believe indicates a VR mode? I've captured other disks like this without problems...

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Scott

[Ron P.]

Thought I would jump in and add to Ken's post about the .VOB file extension. I too was puzzled by what it actually stood for, and Ken you were not far off... VOB = Video OBject.

Source:
http://filext.com/detaillist.php?extdetail=VOB