VS X4 - Problems with mp4

[waiting4]

Hi everyone!
I have some footage from a Sony pmw-ex1 video camera.
This camera saves files as mp4 (HD 1920x1080).
When i tried to load the files in VS I got this error:

Unable to open file ..... File format mismatch

Then I changed the file extension from MP4 to MPG and some how VS manage to load the file, but...
If i select the file from the timeline (clip selected)and play it, I can hear the sound, when I switch to project and play it, there's NO sound.
Also, I tried to create a video file to see if the video is saved correctly, but no, still no sound.

If you know what I need to do, please help me.

PS: Already tried the solution poseted here: http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42345
Doesn't work for me.

[Ron P.]

I looked up your camcorder and found that it uses a Sony codec XDCAM HD. The mp4 is one of the container formats used, the other is MPEG. I'm not sure why you're not getting any audio since it uses PCM which is a Raw uncompressed audio, and VS generally has no issues with PCM. Right-click on one of the clips in the timeline or library, select properties and post them here.

Even though this camcorder has been around for quite sometime, it is a professional device, using what seems to be a proprietary codec. Corel probably has not supported it. I would think that the problem would be with the video and not audio.

When you rendered your video, what did you choose for an output format?

[waiting4]

Thanks Ron P.
(changed the extension to MPG the only way VS loads it)
I clicked as you said on properties (in VS timeline) and i get this:

VIDEO:
MPEG-2 Video, Upper field first
24 bits, 1920 x 1080 16:9
25 frames/sec
Variable bit rate: Max 35000 kbps

AUDIO:
None

So there's the problem.
The weird thing is that if I load the original video in windows media player (or gom player) I have perfect sound and image.

About the file created.. I chose wmv same resolution as the original file.

[Ron P.]

Apparently when you changed the file extension from mp4 to mpg, VS is not seeing or getting the audio stream. The audio may be an entirely separate stream, like DV Type-2. Since VS will not accept the original source file, it's hard to see what those properties are. It should show the audio as being PCM 48.000Ghz. I guess most videographers using such a camera, use Final Cut Pro to edit with.

You might have a look at a free conversion program called Super by erightsoft.com. I'm not sure it will be able to convert this proprietary codec created by Sony. If by chance it can, try converting to HDV or AVCHD. I think the bitrate used may also be a problem, as it is the higher end of the newer AVCHD/Blue Ray spectrum.

[Ken Berry]

I suspect it is another example of the tags used in the Sony codec not being recognised properly by VS. The thing that mystifies me is that VS sees an mp4 file -- albeit with an mpg extension -- as being mpeg-2! And that maximum bitrate is more akin to Blu-Ray than AVCHD. The max bitrate for AVCHD according to the very latest change in the international AVCHD standard is still only 27 Mbps...

Did Sony provide any software with the camera to output the video in some other format? Or did you use any Sony installation disc which came with the camcorder which would have installed the correct codec?

[teknisyan]

The steps that I posted on the link are for mp4 that came from GoPro camera, anyway.. here's an article with similar issue but it's for VS X3 though it's worth a try.

http://corel.force.com/index/articles/e ... dio-Pro-X3

[Ron P.]

Abiel, maybe that will work, but in this case I really doubt it. Waiting4 is using a Sony professional camcorder, you know one that costs between $5k-10k. It uses a special codec developed by Sony. It wraps it in either an mp4 or mpg container. The mov or mp4 that VS uses, is different, not to mention it records using the newer blue-ray bitrates. VS is just not in the class of NLE commonly used for this type of video.