Another little interesting problem

Uhfgood · Post by **Uhfgood** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:50 am

I had downloaded an mp4 file from internet archive, and I wanted to convert it to a format I could watch on my playstation 3 or my xbox 360 (making a data disc to copy the file onto). Only MSP 7 wouldn't open that kind of file. So I took pinnacle studio, and converted it to a divx avi. Now it seemed to work and all, but the audio is low so I wanted to do something about that in MSP. So I tried converting a small piece, but guess what, no audio whatsoever. The audio on this divx avi (no longer the mp4 file) is mp3 audio at 48khz and 128kb/s

I don't know why, but I can play it in any video player I have, I can also open the file in MSP Video Editor and play the preview, and it will play the sound just fine, but actually put it on the timeline, and somehow there's no sound represented at all, and it will not render the audio. Note I have not even put any filters on it, just rendered out a test vid (preview section) of the video. I don't know why but it doesn't want to read the audio.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion, that maybe whatever I make in studio isn't really compatible with MSP, i'm guessing because they're rival products. It's the only thing I can think of. I think along with the tests GeorgeW asked me to do, i'm going to see if I can get some video from some place else and run the same tests on that video, so I can see if Pinnacle purposely introduced incompatiblities or not.

Note the problems i'm having trying to render out a new mpeg file from two other previously created ones, and this audio problem i'm having with this file are different.

Thanks for bearing with me,
Keith W. II

Quick edit:
I tried opening the video file in audio editor and it says "Unable to access the audio codec driver"

So maybe this problem is with the pinnacle, using their own mpeg and audio codecs.

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:10 am

While I admit I am a fan of conspiracy theories (don't get me started on the "moon landing") I don't think it would be possible for Pinnacle to introduce incompatibility code into their output files. As far as I'm aware, MP3s are just MP3s and there's no way to make them incompatible with a specific product. I would guess it has something to do with the way MSP8 handles DivX, remember MSP8 has had no updates for a long time, meanwhile video codecs are being refined and improved (eg DivX 3.1 - 6.0)

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:55 am

Try converting the audio file to WAV with Audacity

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:38 am

troppo wrote:While I admit I am a fan of conspiracy theories (don't get me started on the "moon landing") I don't think it would be possible for Pinnacle to introduce incompatibility code into their output files. As far as I'm aware, MP3s are just MP3s and there's no way to make them incompatible with a specific product. I would guess it has something to do with the way MSP8 handles DivX, remember MSP8 has had no updates for a long time, meanwhile video codecs are being refined and improved (eg DivX 3.1 - 6.0)

MP3s are not just MP3s. They are a bastardised video, believe it or not. An MP3 file is a layer 3 MPEG-1 file, but the video side is stripped out. How this is done and the extent to which it is varies from codec to codec. There is no standard how this should be done. This is fine, as long as you are just playing it in an Ipod or similar, as these ignore the vestiges of video in the headers. But, if you take an MP3 file into a video app, such as MSP, those same vestiges can play havoc with it, as they refer to something meaningful that simply isn't there. If they do, you may get crashes, no sound, wrong playback speed or a system crash, depending on what the codec has left in the block headers - or it may work perfectly.

That is why Steve and others have said n times, where n is a very large integer, convert MP3 to WAV in an audio-only app, like Audacity, so that the NLE is not fooled into thinking that it is looking at a video.

To paraphrase Orwell, not all MP3 are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:59 am

Devil, I think you missed my point. The point I made was that it was highly unlikely for Pinnacle to deliberately make their output file incompatible with any specific brand of software, nor is there a provision for this in the MP3 specification.

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:33 am

ANY MP3 file. from whatever source, is suspect, simply because it is bastardised. I did not suggest that it was done deliberately. Many MP3 codecs are incompatible with NLEs, of any make, but some may be compatible with some makes and not with others. Theoretically, no MP3 file should be compatible with any video app, unless they are an integral layer 3 part of an MPEG-1/2 file (not sure offhand about MPEG-4), because they lack the video.

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:06 am

Devil, again, you missed my point. I'm not disputing that an MP3 is a MPEG-1 format file, and that it isn't always 100% compatible with NLE, I'm already well aware of this.

I'm saying it is highly unlikely that pinnacle will DELIBERATELY output an MP3 file (or any other file for that matter) to be incompatible with a SPECIFIC NLE as uhfgood was theorizing.

I did not suggest that it was done deliberately.

I know you didn't. The OP did.

Uhfgood · Post by **Uhfgood** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:52 am

Thanks for the replies. I tried to take the original MOV file (i'm assuming it was the original as I think the the mp4 files on the internet archive are just conversions of the base format, which was the mov) and tried to convert it to a divx avi, however the sound started okay for a few seconds then cut out. I suspect that the audio is the problem of the original file.

In any case i'm not bothering with it anymore. I'm starting to think maybe I shouldn't use MSP anyways. (It is 7 after all and not 8, and now even 8 isn't being actively developed)

Thanks though

Sorry I was such a pain earlier.

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:06 am

Hi, I'm having the same problem.

I just recently found a place to get free videos that are perfect for the announcement videos I make for church each week, and one I got yesterday was an MOV file. I can play it in VS9 just fine as a clip, but when I put it in the project, it has sound but no video. When I play it in MSP8.0, I have no video or sound.

None of my conversion programs would even touch it. It wouldn't even play in NERO Showtime, but when I put it in NERO 7.0 to make a DVD, it let me convert it to an MPG, but when I put the outputted MPG in MSP 8.0, there was still no video or sound.

I have received my download link for the free VS11.5+, but haven't installed it yet. Is there a possiblity that it might like MOV files?

Also, I found a place where I ordered some moving seamless background files that are in MOV format and they don't work at all in MSP8.0. But I can convert them to avi files and they work, but it's a pain to have to convert them before using them.

Thanks
Mathis...

Uhfgood wrote:Thanks for the replies. I tried to take the original MOV file (i'm assuming it was the original as I think the the mp4 files on the internet archive are just conversions of the base format, which was the mov) and tried to convert it to a divx avi, however the sound started okay for a few seconds then cut out. I suspect that the audio is the problem of the original file.

In any case i'm not bothering with it anymore. I'm starting to think maybe I shouldn't use MSP anyways. (It is 7 after all and not 8, and now even 8 isn't being actively developed)

Thanks though Sorry I was such a pain earlier.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:14 am

Try converting them with Super.

This piece of software converts almost any video format into almost any other video format. Very useful if you've downloaded DivX Xvid or MPEG4 files off the internet and then find you are having difficulty editing them due to their highly compressed nature.
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

mathis · Post by **mathis** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:48 am

Thanks, Steve.

It took a while, but I figured out to convert them to mpg, mpeg-1, with mp2 for sound and leave everything else as default and the conversion works perfectly in MSP 8.0.

Thanks again.
Mathis...

sjj1805 wrote:Try converting them with Super.

This piece of software converts almost any video format into almost any other video format. Very useful if you've downloaded DivX Xvid or MPEG4 files off the internet and then find you are having difficulty editing them due to their highly compressed nature.
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

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Another little interesting problem

Another little interesting problem

Re: MSP doesn't like MOV files