Audio stuttering

[bobham]

Hi:
I never did figure out why the sound was totally messed up when trying to use VS in Windows 7 (from this thread: http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39753 ) but I have been able to get it to work in WinXP. There is still a rather annoying problem, though.

The audio of my video files seems to have a stutter effect, similar to the old "Max Headroom" stuff on TV. This happens even while only viewing the clip in Videostudio. The stutter carries over to the edited and saved file. The original file from the camera (JVC Everio HDD 60 gb) plays fine without any audio problems in the Everio software that came with the camera and in VLC. It is only when the file is imported to the timeline in VS that the audio effects appear. I have both VSX2 and VSX3 installed and the problem occurs in both.

For an example of the problem you can look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SQcx2Z2t0g
It crops up at about 1:15 to 1:30 in the video but repeats throughout.

I never had any problems when I was using VSX2 on my old computer to do the same things I am trying to do now. Does the Smartsound that installs with VSX3 mess around with VSX2 at all? Can Smartsound be uninstalled separately to see if that will help?

Thanks for any suggestions
Bob

[Ken Berry]

To the best of my knowledge, SmartSound in X3 does not mess around with previous versions. A number of us here have at least two or three versions of VS installed on the same computer, with no problems at all, either with SmartSound or otherwise. Also to the best of my remembrance -- getting shaky these days, I admit -- yours is the first such problem that I can recall with any version of VS, though others may have better recall than me...

[Ron P.]

You're not using any SmartSound audio, so I doubt it is having anything to do with this stuttering. SmartSound can be uninstalled, just like any other program. VS X3 uses SmartSound Quicktracks 5. Locate it in the Settings> Control Panel>Programs and Features, and you can uninstall it. However the only way to get it back is by reinstalling VS X3.

I think that the stutter is a problem with the FLV compression. When you render your project are you just using one of the FLV templates, (Create Video File>FLV) ? If so try opening the Custom options, Share>Create Video File>Custom, then in the next dialog (Create Video FIle), for the Save as type, select the Flash files (*.flv) option. Next press the Options button to open the Video Save Options dialog window. Go to the Compression tab, and for Quality level select Lev 2. The Audio Settings should be defaulted to MPEG Layer 3 audio, Stereo, 22050 Hz. You can play with the audio freq settings to see if that gets rid of Max-headroom. Also on the General tab, try matching the Frame size, and Frame Rate, to that of your original video clip's. My theory has been, the less we give some of these codecs to mess with the better off our finished product will be. If that doesn't work..

VS X3 uses the FLV4 codec, which actually is an older, albeit stable and good quality codec. FLV4, which is VP6 developed by On2 technologies (now owned by Google), was adopted several years ago by Adobe for use with Flashplayer 8 and later. There's now some other's that work better with Flashplayer 10, which is one of the more current flashplayers.

Have you tried rendering your project to another format, like WMV?

[bobham]

Hi, and thanks for the replies.

I will try saving to a different format, but I really can't see where that will help since the problem shows up before I render the files. I open VSX2 or 3 and then insert a video file (.mod from the camera, saved on to my computer) into the timeline. I click the play button under the video window and as it plays I get the stuttering. When I save the file the stuttering that I heard in the preview is in the saved file. The same source video file plays fine without stuttering in VLC or in the Everio software that came with the camera.

Take care
Bob

[bobham]

Well, that is weird. I loaded a file into the time line in VSX3 and made a few snips and then saved it as "Same as first clip", which came out as .mpg. There was stuttering while I was viewing and editing it inside VS. I played back the saved file in VLC and there was no stuttering. The rendering time was also WAY shorter than it is when saving as .flv. The saved file seemed huge, being over 900 mb for a 13 min. clip, but at least the video quality seemed very good and there was no stuttering. I do have a program called Any Video Converter Professional that I have noticed converts my .mod files directly to .flv files considerably faster than VS renders a project to .flv, so it may actually be faster to save the VS projects as .mpg files and then use AVC to batch convert the output files after editing.

Thanks for suggesting that. It doesn't make any sense to me, but if it works I will go with it.

Take care
Bob

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Bob

900mb for 13 minutes seems about correct for high quality mpeg 2.
A standard DVD holds approximately 4.3 GB, 60 Minutes of Mpeg2

Stuttering
If the stuttering is only apparent during editing then it may be Smart Proxy, is this option turned on. Of course the frame size is the trigger for generating Smart Proxy files. Right click an original clip and select properties what are they?
Project playback is not always a good representation of the final output.

Creating a flash file of the project may cause some problems, titles for instance may not end up where you wanted them, unwanted black borders etc..

As you have found……
It best to create a single file “Same as first clip”, then render/convert this file to flash.

[bobham]

The original files from the camera are 720x480 in 16:9 aspect ratio. I am not sure about Smartproxy. I am running in Win7 right now and would have to re-boot into XP to check it, which I don't have time for since I need to leave for work soon. If it is on by default then it is probably still on, since I have no idea what it is for so wouldn't have messed with it.


Thanks
Bob

[Ken Berry]

In fact it *is* on by default in X3. Essentially, it is for high definition video. It creates a low quality SD mpeg-2 of the original video which you edit, and then when finished the edits are applied to the HD originals. It is designed to assist people particularly with AVCHD which is very demanding on computer resources. Definitely not needed for SD video.

[avv78]

I too am encountering the same problem of audio stuttering and this was something that didn't occur in Windows XP but seems to be occuring in Windows 7.

I have tried all different file types to save the result to but as previously mentioned here, the problem even occurs from within the project.

I have run all the updates available yet the problem persists. Have reinstalled the program and still no change. Very frustrating.

Anyone have any further thoughts. Until I can get around this I view this program as a dud in Windows 7.

[Ken Berry]

Is your computer processor by any chance an i7?

[softbrn]

I am having the same issues.. I am running windows7.. I did not have this problem with VS2.. and I too have tried all that avv78 tried to no avail.. I was running windows 7 with VS2 with no problems.. Please help.. I even went back to VS2 after installing VS3 to see if it was VS3.. but now VS2 does the same thing.. I think this thing has corrupted my computer.. Please help..

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Relating to Mov Audio

There was an issue posted by cdoughertycd (Candy) regarding Mov Audio and sounding like a “Heart Beat”

I also experienced the same problem, re-installing X3 without the update patch3 seemed to cure the problem, although I have not defiantly proven this. Also affected X2

At the moment I am running Video Studio without patches, audio is ok. By the way it affected all types of mov files I could find.

I am intending to install the patch, unfortunately not for another 21 days or so. (holidays)

Do a search on the forum for Heart Beat to find related posts to see if the issue is the same.

I believe Candy passed the info on to Abiel, I don’t know the outcome?

Quick update
I have installed Video Studio Pro X3 Service Pack 2 TSK3073

The problem Mov audio is back
Intermittent sound, pulsating, just like a heart beat.
Only when playing in Project Playback
Clip playback ok
Renders to a new video as ok, but still plays bad in project mode

Video Studio X2 is not affected, although it did have problems the last time I ran the install tests.
Sorry but definitely run out of time.

[mrbobbell]

I too have been experiencing the same agonizing stutter using VS Pro X3 (v 13.6.2.69) when editing with my Core i7 processor and Win 7 64-bit OS for about the past 60 days. I believe that the problem arose after I installed VSPro_Patch3 in late November.

Upon the first instance of a stutter, the sound always loses sync with picture (by a frame or two or three), only to re-sync itself at the very next stutter. The cycle repeats itself at a seemingly random frequency.

When I'm done editing, I usually create one MPEG-4 iPhone H.264 (640x480) file for uploading to Vimeo and one NTSC MPEG-2 (720x480 29.97 fps) file for later conversion to DVD. The stutters that are observed during editing remain in the final rendered file.

Thanks for providing guidance about possible work-arounds.

Best,
Bob

[LarryF]

Hi everyone,
I too am getting stuttering audio. On an MPEG2 file I captured via USB adapter to VS X3. All I did to the file was snip a few seconds from the beginning and end of the file, then shared it to a file so I could burn it to DVD using DVD MovieFactory7 SE. The burned DVD has many places where the audio seems to catch, then carries on fine for several minutes, then catches again. I have the Patch3(Service Pack 2) installed. I would prefer not to have to do a complete uninstall/reinstall. Abiel from Corel Tech Support posted to another thread some time in late November that Corel was aware of this issue and were working on a fix. I can no longer find that thread. But, if Abiel is looking at this thread, maybe he could give us an update on the status of that fix. I hope it is not something they are going to leave for the new Release and leave us hanging with a bug that was introduced by a patch from Corel.
I hope to hear something good soon.

Larry

[Black Lab]

Please see the following similar thread. Apparently a hot fix is available from Corel.
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40484