Basic Help ? No Audio playing in Media Player

[RichSpicko]

I'm using Video Studio Pro X4. I'm just trying to make a simple, first movie and failing. I have a Sony HD Handycam that produces .m2ts files. I just want to be able to create HD movies that I can play on generic software on my tv. So I assumed I could create an MPG file and play it using Windows Media Player 11. After rendering an MPG file, I get no audio output.

- I imported the .m2ts files into VS
- Put two short clips in the timesline.
- Basic transition.
- Share -> Create Video File -> HDV (tried all options)
- I create the MPG file and I get no sound on playback using Media Player

I would think this is the most basic thing I could possibly be doing and it doesn't work. I am using an underpowered XP laptop, but I would think that would just be a speed issue. I'll get a better desktop for editing, but if I can't perform tha most basic of tasks now I'm thinknig it's a software issue.

Any ideas?

[Ken Berry]

Well, if it were simply a software issue, lots of other people would be having the same problem, but they're not. You say your laptop is "underpowered" but we have no idea at all what that means in practice since you never gave us any details when you registered. This is one good example of why we ask for those details. So can you tell use some more about it? It is important since you are using .m2ts video which is AVCHD; and AVCHD is the most demanding of all consumer video formats on computer resources. At the very least, you need a decent Core 2 Duo to be able to play and edit AVCHD successfully -- although you could use VS's SmartProxy feature to at least edit it.

I was also interested in the fact that you were converting the AVCHD to HDV as your output. Any special reason for that? Mind you, that should have been no problem since I deal in HDV all the time and the format certainly plays both video and audio in WMP and other players. But it is high definition mpeg-2 (and using the .m2t extension), while AVCHD is high def mpeg-4 and uses either the .mts or .m2ts extension. But either way, WMP should play the audio if your computer is powerful enough. Certainly it should play HDV without any problem since that format is far less demanding than AVCHD.

Does the audio play in any other software player e.g. the freeware VLC player? Have you actually tried playing it on your TV? Can we assume your TV is a HDTV? Do you have a Blu-Ray player or PlayStation 3 connected to it? Otherwise, how have you got the TV connected to your computer system? (I play my HDV and AVCHD videos via my PS3 using either a USB stick drive or external hard drive connected to the PS3, with the PS3 in turn connected to the HDTV via HDMI. I also have the PS3 hard-wired into my home computer network and use a specific PS3 server to play back my multimedia -- though other media servers, including WMP 11, also work.)

[RichSpicko]

ok - Let me take a step back. Let me start with what I want to accomplish. My camcorder produces .m2ts files. I want to be able to do some simple editing and splicing together of my clips, store them on a computer with my older .mpg home movies and watch them on my tv. I will connect my current or future PC to my TV via HDMI. I guess I really don't care what software I PLAY my movies with but I just figured I'd use WMP because I have it. I also have J River Media Center but it is quirky. Media Center DOES play the audio but the video is not smooth for some reason.

Again, I know I need a beefier PC for editing, but I am just trying to put together a "proof of concept". I've been frustrated ever since getting my Sony camcorder because once the movies are off the camera I have no way to view them!

The laptop I'm using is:

Dell Latitude D630
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.9 GHz
2 GB RAM
Onboard Graphics
Win XP SP3

So I guess bottom line:
- What type of file SHOULD I be creating to keep the full quality HD? I assumed the HDV MPG 1080i but maybe I'm wrong there.
- What player would you recommend?

Like I said - really not trying to do anything fancy (yet). Just want to create a usable library of my home vids. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Rich

[RichSpicko]

Anybody?

[canuck]

Maybe your PC is just not up to playing HiDef video. Do the mts files direct from your camcorder play ok?
Have you tried creating a standard video and playing it?

[Ken Berry]

Thank you for the details of your laptop. The CPU is really at the bottom end of what can be expected to even play AVCHD video smoothly, and the on-board graphics don't help. Usually a separate graphics card with more oomph is required for AVCHD. But it could conceivably play AVCHD, and as I said above, should have no trouble with HDV format.

Ideally, since your original video is AVCHD, it would be best if you edited it and then produced a new video from your project using the AVCHD format and with properties similar to the original -- though you would probably need to use Video Studio's SmartProxy feature to do this. (This involves creation of standard def copies ["proxies"] of the original AVCHD which are easy to edit and play. When the editing is complete, the edits are then applied back to the original AVCHD.)

If you still prefer to produce HDV, that will involve a conversion from high def 1920 x 1080 mpeg-4 to high def 1440 x 1080 mpeg-2. Such a conversion will, by the very nature of all mpeg formats, involve some loss in quality, though how much the human eye can detect is another matter entirely. Whatever, the end result should still be very good.

Both AVCHD and HDV should play back on your HDTV with no problem.

Can I also recommend you try the freeware VLC Player. It seems to be able to play just about any format which you care to throw at it...

[RichSpicko]

Thanks! I was confused by the different HD formats... still in the HD learning curve. I appreciate the clarification. I will stick to the AVCHD for consistency. I guess I was just surprised that I was having any trouble with my mpg files on WMP. Not that I'm wedded to either MPG or WMP, I just get tired of needing to have so many apps that do similar but different functions. I'm still waiting from my "dream app" that handles all my audio and video the way I would like it to. JRiver Media Center comes close, but still has issues.

I downloaded VLC and did my same simple test with AVCHD and it looked pretty good (and yes, using smart proxy). I will certainly build / buy a better PC to do further editing/playback. I've started researching graphics and sound cards and will at least quadruple my RAM and get a quad core CPU.

Thanks again! Looking forward to getting back into movie making!

Rich