Problem VS10+: Audio Clicking Sound every second

[nosnoop]

I have been using VS10+ for a while without any problems with DV or some movies from my digital cameras. But I am having problem with a new digital camera, Panasonic TZ1, I bought. The movies from TZ1 is Motion-JPEG in mov quicktime container. The Audio is recorded as 8bit Mono at 8kHz. When I render each clip individually - no problem at all; comes out perfect.

But once I start to join two or more clips together, some of them would have this loud clicking sound, exactly one click per second. I have tried various Audio settings at project properties: including Dolby (tried various bit rate), MPEG (tried various bit rate) and LPCM. I still get clicking in each of them - but may not be at the same clip or places.... very strange. I also tried splitting the audio... tried "Normalize sound"... no change. And the clicking can be heard from the "Create Sound File".

I have uploaded some samples to illustrate the clicking:

The first sound file is from 3 clips, no transition effect. The second clip (25s in length) started from 15 s; and the clicking sound can be heard until the 3rd clip started at 40 s. The original clips have sounds from TV, and some sounds from the Autofocus and Zooming, and some sound from me fiddling with the controls. wma format (135kB)
http://www.geocities.com/no_nosnoop/Click01.wma

If I just render the second clip alone, no clicking: wma (75kB)
http://www.geocities.com/no_nosnoop/Click02.wma

System: PC Windows XP
Settings: Audio: stereo
NTSC 29.97 frames / second
Frame type: Frame based
Frame Size: 720x480 4:3
Compression: NTSC DVD
Quality: 100
Variable 8000kbps
Audio: LPCM

Original File: Motion JPEG, mov
640x480 30fps
8bit Mono 8kHz

I would appreciate any pointers, TIA.

[Ron P.]

You can do a search on this and find some others have had the same issue, including me. My Kodak P880 does the same. I have no idea why, and so far have not found a solution to it.

I don't make it habit to record video with a digital still camera. Since I know that this is annoying clicking is going to be present, I will opt to use it for its real purpose, taking great digital still images, and save the video for my digital camcorder...

[nosnoop]

You can do a search on this and find some others have had the same issue, including me. My Kodak P880 does the same. I have no idea why, and so far have not found a solution to it.

I read about the Kodak problem during my search. But I thought it was caused by the MPEG-4 codec used by Kodak. 'Cos mine uses Motion JPEG, and I thought it would be much simpler to decode.

I don't make it habit to record video with a digital still camera. Since I know that this is annoying clicking is going to be present, I will opt to use it for its real purpose, taking great digital still images, and save the video for my digital camcorder...

Neither do I. But for my wife, that's the best solution. She can put the digital camera in her purse, but not a camcorder .

I really want to make this work, as the Video capture by the TZ1 is pretty good for a camera. It uses pixel binning for video output, so its low light performance is surprisingly good.... great actually (considering its noisy stills output); better than most other digital cameras I have tried. Plus the ability to zoom and focus during movie mode, 10x optical zoom with optical image stabilization during movie mode, and the option of true wide screen mode at 30fps, can give some useful video at a very small package.

Has anyone tried converting it from QT format to something else? Would it make any difference. If it does solve it, I am willing to buy a QT Pro license (haven't seen the use of it so far).

[Ron P.]

Guess what, the Kodak P880 also uses the MJPEG codec. The clicking noise I'm getting almost sounds like motor noise. It's consistent, almost to the point of being able to use it as a metronome. It does not overwhelm the audio that's on video, but enough just to let you know it's there.

You might try Audacity (free audio program) to see if you can remove it. I've tried with mine but did not fair well. Partly because there was always talking occuring, and no way to get a good sample for Audacity to work with.

[charlescmo@googlemail.com]

But once I start to join two or more clips together, some of them would have this loud clicking sound, exactly one click per second.

I get exactly the same problem with my TZ5 camera. I have no solution yet but I am chasing it through with Corel/Ulead technical support, so I hope to share a resolution with you soon.

In the mean time, have you (nosnoop) managed to correct the problem yourself. At the moment, I cannot see any reason for me to keep VST 11. Thinking about taking it pack to PCWorld and getting my money back on the basis it is not fit for purpose.

I notice the clicking noise is almost in sync with the second counter on VST preview screen. For me it occurs in rendered material (consisting of a number of TZ5 clips) and also during playback in the preview screen in VST. I have tried rendering many different formats, and i notice the clicking/tapping noise appears on my clip somestimes in different places. Therefore, i do not think it is anything to do with noise is coming from the camera, because it does move around.

I will keep you informed of my progress.

[Ron P.]

Does your camera record the video in the MOV file format?

You might try this fix provided by Member Bill, bsuthers:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 543#110543

[charlescmo@googlemail.com]

Does your camera record the video in the MOV file format?

You might try this fix provided by Member Bill, bsuthers:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 543#110543

Clicking noise is no more. I downloaded MP4Cam2VI tool http://sourceforge.net/projects/mp4cam2avi, and "passed" the original camera video files with no loss in quality and then relinked the new video avi files instead of the camera mov files. The clicking noise is now gone for good.

Thanks vidoman you were a great help.