I've been using VS8 for about 6 months now and like a lot of people in this forum I've had problems with poor audio sync. I've tried most of the posted fixes with varying success and I thought I'd give back to the forum by offering up my version in case it can help anyone.
System details
Abit IS7 board & 3GHz P4 Northwood
512Mb dual channel DDR
Lite-On LDW851S DVD writer
Seagate SATA 120gig hdisk (partitioned into three as C: 9 Gig FAT32, D: 94 Gig NTFS (for video data) and E:8 Gig FAT 32
Windows XP + SP2
Project properties identical through all stages from capture to burn i.e.
MPEG files
PAL (25 fps) 720 x 576
Upper Field First,
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 6,000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo
VS8 with burn engine update 3.6.17.246 and update patch 8.01 (more on this later).
I mainly use VS8 to transfer my ancient (up to 15 years old) home recorded VHS tapes to DVD. Most of the projects produce DVDs that are about 90 minutes long and are made up of either two 45 minute episodes or three 30 minute episodes. I couldn't understand why some projects would be in sync and others were way off. After weeks of experimenting with different VS8 and capture settings, different burn engines, lots of re-installs and dozens of DVD burns I've come up with a "fix" that works for me and centres on the burn engine files in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD. It seems that success depends on which version of the burn engine files I use for a particular project.
Projects with 3 x 30 minute files are in sync with the burn engine resulting from installing VS8 + 3.6.17.246 engine + 8.01 patch, whereas projects with 2 x 45 minute files are in sync with the regression burn engine I downloaded from a link within this forum (my apologies to whoever posted the link but I can't remember your name or the thread where the link was posted). I couldn't get both types of projects to show OK audio sync when using the same burn engine - they needed different burn engines.
My work around has been to do a clean install of VS8 and then install the updates as per the order in the recommended procedure. (I don't use the 16x DVD burning pack because I haven't got a 16x drive and haven't bothered with the daylight savings time patch.) After each stage of installation I save the files found in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD into a compressed ZIP file. Then when I want to burn a project I delete any existing burn engine files in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD and unzip and use the burn engine I've found to be most suitable for that type of project.
I know it sounds like a right old kludge but I've repeatedly found that if I burn a 3 x 30 minute project after producing a successful 2 x 45 minute project (or vice versa) without swapping the burn engine then the new project is OOS until I change the burn engine.
Some other observations I found during my experiments.
1. The burn engine posted in the forum also gives good sync on movie length projects.
2. I get best sync results by burning directly from project files i.e. selecting Share/Create disk/Add VideoStudio project. I know the recommended procedure is to burn using Share/Create disk/Add Video but I don't like the lip sync I get from a rendered video (produced with or without smart render). The main VS8 bug I've found when burning using project files is that if the project uses transitions then the convert video operation will crash when it reaches the transition. Which leads me to:
3. Transitions. When I tried producing disks using rendered video files I found that if the video used a fade to black transition then I got the dreaded pulsing pixels lasting for about 1 minute after the transition. These pulsing pixels were clearly visible when viewed on a 28" wide screen TV from a distance of 15ft. I don't use transitions at all now. If I want a black screen at the start and end of a video file then I use a 2 second captured black screen video clip at the start and end of the video.
One thing I found with all this reverting to a clean VS install (must be over 30 times) is how convenient it is to back up the C: partition with a disk imaging prog. All this experimenting just wouldn't have been practical otherwise. I can now restore the C: partition to a clean VS8 or pre-VS8 state in about 5 minutes (gives me just enough time to put the kettle on and make a cup of coffee). Its quicker to restore the C: partition than uninstall VS8 and track down the left over files and registry entries.
Like I say, this fix is a kludge and it may not work for anyone but I hope it might help somebody.
Pete
VS8 Audio sync. Another work around fix
Moderator: Ken Berry
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jchunter
Pete,
It's certainly been a lot of work trying to tease out "cause and effect" from the merely coincidental in this very complex A/V problem. I appreciate your efforts to advance the base of evidence.
At first I was horrified to hear that you accomplished sync by doing Add Project in the Burn module but after thinking about it for awhile, the (unnecessary) re-rendering that happens when you do this is similar to the forced re-rendering that I used to fix chronic OOS in two of my projects (ref. thread) http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... hlight=oos). BTW, this thread also noted difficulty with transitions...
However, if re-rendering alone cured OOS, you should have been able to achieve the same result by rendering a project video file...
In any case, these observations together with Trevor's discovery that turning off Smart Render sometimes fixes OOS, (which also works for me sometimes), clearly implicates the rendering code as the place where "the OOS bug lives." Moreover, the wreck that VS9 has made of Smart Render also indicates that the Ulead software developers have been tinkering there in their efforts to fix the problem.
I hope that you will pass on your information to Tech Support.
John
It's certainly been a lot of work trying to tease out "cause and effect" from the merely coincidental in this very complex A/V problem. I appreciate your efforts to advance the base of evidence.
At first I was horrified to hear that you accomplished sync by doing Add Project in the Burn module but after thinking about it for awhile, the (unnecessary) re-rendering that happens when you do this is similar to the forced re-rendering that I used to fix chronic OOS in two of my projects (ref. thread) http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... hlight=oos). BTW, this thread also noted difficulty with transitions...
However, if re-rendering alone cured OOS, you should have been able to achieve the same result by rendering a project video file...
In any case, these observations together with Trevor's discovery that turning off Smart Render sometimes fixes OOS, (which also works for me sometimes), clearly implicates the rendering code as the place where "the OOS bug lives." Moreover, the wreck that VS9 has made of Smart Render also indicates that the Ulead software developers have been tinkering there in their efforts to fix the problem.
I hope that you will pass on your information to Tech Support.
John
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phaydon
Hi John
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't planned on notifying Tec Support because I thought they wouldn't be interested in a work around for what is now an obsolete version. I've only ever notified a Tec Support department once before about a work around I used (not Ulead by the way) and their response was basically "Yes we know. Its fixed in the new version" which made me feel kind of stupid and put me off dealing with any Tec Support again. However from what you said about tracking down the cause of the OOS problem I probably ought to let them know.
Incidentally, the reason I burn a DVD directly from the VS project files rather than rendering the video first and then burning is because I haven't been able to produce lip sync in speech that to me looks correct in the rendered file. By this I mean that during speech the sound is happening at the right time but the mouth of the person speaking doesn't seem to be making the right shape for the words they're saying. I don't know whether I've explained that clearly but its a bit like watching a non-english film thats been dubbed into english. I find that the lip sync just looks more natural if the DVD is burned directly from the project files rather than from rendered files. I must admit I haven't spent as much time experimenting with this lip sync effect in rendered files as I have with getting the basic audio sync looking right. This is mainly because most of my projects are 90 minutes long and rendering with smart render turned off is too time consuming to allow for much experimenting with different settings etc to produce a finished disk. Anyway, now that I've got the basic audio sync working right (for today anyway) I might spend some time playing around with rendering files prior to burn.
Or I might make the change to VS9.
Pete
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't planned on notifying Tec Support because I thought they wouldn't be interested in a work around for what is now an obsolete version. I've only ever notified a Tec Support department once before about a work around I used (not Ulead by the way) and their response was basically "Yes we know. Its fixed in the new version" which made me feel kind of stupid and put me off dealing with any Tec Support again. However from what you said about tracking down the cause of the OOS problem I probably ought to let them know.
Incidentally, the reason I burn a DVD directly from the VS project files rather than rendering the video first and then burning is because I haven't been able to produce lip sync in speech that to me looks correct in the rendered file. By this I mean that during speech the sound is happening at the right time but the mouth of the person speaking doesn't seem to be making the right shape for the words they're saying. I don't know whether I've explained that clearly but its a bit like watching a non-english film thats been dubbed into english. I find that the lip sync just looks more natural if the DVD is burned directly from the project files rather than from rendered files. I must admit I haven't spent as much time experimenting with this lip sync effect in rendered files as I have with getting the basic audio sync looking right. This is mainly because most of my projects are 90 minutes long and rendering with smart render turned off is too time consuming to allow for much experimenting with different settings etc to produce a finished disk. Anyway, now that I've got the basic audio sync working right (for today anyway) I might spend some time playing around with rendering files prior to burn.
Or I might make the change to VS9.
Pete