Lip Sync in V2

jim6918 · Post by **jim6918** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 7:44 pm

In the past couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of "cutting" of video taped interviews for later courtroom presentation. The original file is a large MPEG. What I need to do is cut smaller "sound/video bites" from the larger file, and Share as a another much smaller file, in this case as AVI's, but I could use WMV, MPEG, etc. I have noticed that after I have worked on the larger file several times, the video no longer syncs the audio. The lips of the interview subjects can be off by several seconds. Since these smaller clips are for use in court, this is pretty much unacceptable. I am making no changes in the original, and in fact open the original each time before I start cutting.

Is there a way of skewing the audio track to make it more closely match the video?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:20 pm

Using the Split Audio function will mute the audio of the video clip and put a copy of the audio in the Audio Track, whereby you can adjust to match the video.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:35 pm

Hi

First view your original video, check that it is in audio sync, especially towards the end.
As you are having sync problems It may be best to post the video files properties?
At least we will know what we are dealing with.

Creating a smaller video file.

Rather than cutting the video clip you could use the Preview Range option.

Navigate to the start of your new video section, in project playback click the Mark-In (F3) or square bracket.
Navigate to the end of your section and select the Mark Out (F4) or square bracket.

The red line showing at the top of the timeline represents the Preview Range.You can create a video of this section.
Share Create Video File ¡V same as First Video Clip will use your original video properties.

From the save window select Options¡XNow select Preview Range.
Give the new video file a name and Save.

If you still have sync problems you could try rendering the whole original video to Dv-Avi.
Check for audio sync.
Then use the new to create the smaller video clips.

Again knowing the properties of the original would help.

Video Studio X2

Have you applied all patches provided by Corel
Have you manually updated Direct X from the link at the top of this forum?

Also Updating your profile to include your pc system spec would be useful.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:48 am

Some further hints here:
Audio / Video synchronization issues

jim6918 · Post by **jim6918** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:50 pm

Thank you everybody. I am not being rude and not replying to posts. In court the rest of the day. I am digesting the suggestions and will try some tests. I hate it when these things pop up in an emergency situation. Would love to have time just to experiment.

Part of the problem I already know is that we receive the original video files in a variety of proprietary DVR formats, like surveilanace video cameras, interview rooms, etc.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 6:15 pm

Hi Jim

Right click one of the original video files and select ¡¥Properties¡¦, What are they?

jim6918 · Post by **jim6918** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 6:03 pm

I have updated profile. Also for Trevor, I assume you are more looking for the Details in Properties:

Video
Frame width 352
Frame Height 240
Data rate 1150 kbps
Total bitrate 1374
Frame rate 29 frames/second

Audio
Bit rate 224kbps
Channels 2 (stereo)
Audio sample rate 44kHz

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:49 pm

Hi

I assume your video file to be Mpeg 2 (it may be Mpeg 1) but is not standard a DVD size, its what I think is called Half D1. Its half the size of a normal video file.
NTSC can use 704 x 480, so half is 352 x 240.

I have not worked with this type of video file, I doubt if many have, but I am sure you will get a response from anyone who has experience with these files.

I think you need to render your cut video¡¦s using these settings.
The best way would be to use Make Movie Manager-Add function to create a template of your original video.

When you Share Create Video File, your template will show at the bottom of the list.
This will create the video using the original properties.
Does this approach cure your audio problem.

Audio sync¡¦

Please re-check the original video file to make sure it is in sync¡¦ prior to editing.

jim6918 · Post by **jim6918** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:40 pm

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of choosing the original media. It usually comes from a number of different local law enforcement agencies who use some type of proprietary DVR software. I am lucky if they are willing to export to either AVI or MPEG, other wise I am faced with the problem of trying to convert myself. I am reasonably sure that the lipsync problem stems from the frame rate that the original video was recorded in and by the time I have edited it and Shared it, possibly in a slightly different frame rate.

Has anybody here used one of the audio/video syncing software packages?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:53 pm

I could be wrong, but I think what Tevor means by "original video file" is the clip before you have done any editing to it. Is it in sync from start to finish?

jim6918 · Post by **jim6918** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:15 pm

Black Lab wrote:I could be wrong, but I think what Tevor means by "original video file" is the clip before you have done any editing to it. Is it in sync from start to finish?

I just played one of the "originals" back. This would be the "exported" MPEG from the agencies DVR program. The video/audio is off by about a second or so. However, if you look at the finished short clips that I cut from that "original", the short clips are off by several seconds. Someplace along the line, I am making it worse during the cutting and sharing.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:09 pm

Hi Jim
When you have cut/edited your clip, have you tried rendering it using the original clips properties, the same frame rates etc¡K¡K¡K¡K..?
¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K.
If the original video is out of sync¡¦ then you will have to use the Split Audio option

Right click a clip in the timeline and select ¡¥Split Audio¡¦
This mutes the video track and creates an audio file in the Voice track

Now you can move the Audio clip to realign with the video.
Then create a video file, again I would use the original properties.

If your sync is progressive, that is it gets further out as the video plays, it will be difficult to align.

jim6918 · Post by **jim6918** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:30 pm

trevor andrew wrote:Hi Jim
When you have cut/edited your clip, have you tried rendering it using the original clips properties, the same frame rates etc¡K¡K¡K¡K..?
¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K¡K.
If the original video is out of sync¡¦ then you will have to use the Split Audio option

Right click a clip in the timeline and select ¡¥Split Audio¡¦
This mutes the video track and creates an audio file in the Voice track

Now you can move the Audio clip to realign with the video.
Then create a video file, again I would use the original properties.

If your sync is progressive, that is it gets further out as the video plays, it will be difficult to align.

Thanks for your interest in this topic, it really helps me.

I believe that several of the recent videos have been "progressive" in the sense that they indeed get worse as the video runs. An hour long video can get very bad by the end.

I am going to tinker with trying to sync before editing, and mabey tweaking again when they are in the smaller clip size.