Corel Video Studio Pro X4 No Audio on .avi files 4/30/14

[EdwardERS]

This is an old post about the same topic. Corel Video Studio Pro X4 No Audio on .avi files I got a free copy of X4 pro when I bought my Sandy Bridge i5 over 2 years ago. I just now decided to redeem and install it to use with Dxtory for video game capture. This problem has nothing to do with Dxtory or the .avi files I get from recording with it, it has to do with older .avi files I've accumulated over the years. I'm just trying to fill you in on how I've come to activate x4 so late.

The problem is when I add these avi videos -- mind you they seem to have the same basic properties -- to a project they are playable with audio & video as clips, but on the project line they're silent. I didn't mute them or do anything to kill their sound. The videos play like normal outside of Corel X4 in VLC and WMP. I don't want to sound too redundant; most of this post is one I attempted to post in that dead thread.



FACT: All the avi files that have this problem, when examining the properties, for video compression it's listed as Xvid MPEG-4 Codec
FACT: For audio compression they all say MPEG Layer-3. 48000 Hz Stereo looks common at least.

So what I'm saying is that all the avi files have the same Xvid MPEG-4 Codec listed for video compression as well as MPEG Layer-3 for audio.

Something I've noticed is that when I add a solo MP3 to a project its property is listed as MPEG Audio Layer 3 Files. Meanwhile, the AVI videos are listed as MPEG Layer-3. I've made projects with the solo MP3s just fine, but if I split audio from these .avi files they're just as silent as the project. A nuance I've found is that when I play the avi project or any separate avi video added to the project from the very start it plays like normal, but if you pause or skip ahead it goes silent. I'm talking a solo or series of completely separate avi clips added from the imported media section in the top right corner of Corel X4. If the part of the clip from the project is started from the beginning it will play on the project line, but after a pause or FF it goes silent.

On top of that, while messing around with VLC I figured out that I can convert these .avi video files to MPEG Audio Layer 3 Files (The good MP3 name in Corel). If I try to do this to get a video + audio file it's a dud.

After reading that these old .avi files where using Xvid from their properties inside corel, I decided to download the latest codec for it. When I try to render a custom video with Xvid I still get the same problem because the videos are silent in the project BEFORE I render with a template.

Xvid sounds irrelevant and obsolete, but I'd like to know if there's anything I can do with these old video files with Corel Videostudio.... I acknowledge my version is out of date. Please, someone's has to know what is causing this. I read in an old forum post from somewhere that if you have too many codecs on your PC there can be conflicts. In the old post someone suggested a number of codecs to get, including Xvid, but if we're talking about dead audio before rendering... isn't that before the codecs come into the picture.

[skier-hughes]

but if we're talking about dead audio before rendering... isn't that before the codecs come into the picture

No, CODEC is Compression DECompression, the same codec is needed to make the file and to use the file.

Not all codecs work with all programmes, it appears yours may just be incompatible with the version you have.

I see two options, well three really, but I wouldn't bother with number 3!

1. Convert your xvid avi files to another file type, such as wmv or a different mp4 and use these. There are many free convertors such as freemake which do a grand job
http://www.myvideoproblems.com/WebPages ... rammes.htm

2. Download the latest trial version of videostudio and/or other editing programmes and see if they work with your file type and then purchase that one or, if you only want to do this once you could complete the task in the 30 day trial period

3. Continue to search for an answer to using X4 and your xvid files. Which may or may not be there.

I'm not sure what you mean by adding a solo MP3? Do you mean an audio mp3 file? MP3 is a video file, it's just that the audio version is by far the most popular and known world wide. MPeg 2 comes in video and audio, as does mpeg1 and 4!

[EdwardERS]

Not all codecs work with all programmes, it appears yours may just be incompatible with the version you have.

I'm wondering if there is some sort of compatibility table or list about codec compatibility with Corel Video Studio releases. It's strange how after installing the xvid codec it appears to have no effect on how Corel reads these old .avi files.

I'm not sure what you mean by adding a solo MP3? Do you mean an audio mp3 file? MP3 is a video file, it's just that the audio version is by far the most popular and known world wide. MPeg 2 comes in video and audio, as does mpeg1 and 4!

When I say solo MP3 I mean the small music format that's been the bane of the industry since Napster. I can just drop a regular MP3 audio file to my projects without any problem, but what I was mentioned in my post was that split audio from the AVI video files where a similarly labeled, but not exactly the same. When I add a MP3 music file to a project its property is listed as MPEG Audio Layer 3 Files. Meanwhile, the AVI videos and split audio are listed as MPEG Layer-3.

They both look like abbreviations to MP3, but they are different labels that are read differently in Corel.

I'm gonna look into converting with freemake. I could convert an avi video file into a gigantic podcast length MP3 music file with VLC, but couldn't get video and sound together.

[EdwardERS]

I used Freemake Video Converter on an avi file. The total size of the data shrunk from by about 15% converted to mp4. There was a watermark added to the end of the new mp4 video, an extra 2 seconds to listed time. Just to see if I could edit that out I loaded in onto Corel X4. Since it's no longer an avi, I had no problem hearing the project. I cut that watermark out, but now I see another problem I've come across before.

When I try to make custom templates for MP4 videos, the custom resolution option is always greyed out. Why is it that Freemake can optimally convert avi -> mp4 with near matching quality including resolution, but with Corel it's greyed out? If I choose to render in a higher resolution than the original video, the file size will be larger, but will the quality picture be altered negatively? Isn't it just needlessly being stretched at the cost of bigger files?

It's like if my mp4 project with 1 video has an odd resolution like 576x432, when I go to create video file I can't get that resolution again.

There's another problem I just saw. If I try to save as first video clip, which in the details before I save saying MP4 and 576x432, after I hit save nothing happens at all. It's like I did nothing.


So I'm looking at greyed out MP4 custom resolutions and "save as first video clip" not doing what I believe it's supposed to do. How can I cut out that 1-2 second watermark or for that matter trim a video off a little while keeping the same properties of the video in Corel X4?

Thanks

[skier-hughes]

In answer to your first of the two posts, mp3's can be made with lots of different codecs and using one codec in lots of different ways.
MP3 has always been a problem to ALL editing apps.

On to your second,
There are only certain sizes that corel can work with, so some odd sizes will not work with Corel. I would suggest getting Freemake to adjust the size to something more common, say 640x480, which Corel may then use.

I've never had a watermark on any of my freemake converted videos though??????

[EdwardERS]

There are only certain sizes that corel can work with, so some odd sizes will not work with Corel. I would suggest getting Freemake to adjust the size to something more common, say 640x480, which Corel may then use.

I've never had a watermark on any of my freemake converted videos though??????

Just to clarify, is there a way to cut or split a video clip with Corel without having to render an entire project? Is that what you mean by "only certain sizes will work with Corel", in that I could split a 640x480 video, but not an odd one? Corel shouldn't have to render anything if I just want a project sectioned into different videos.

Anymore details about greyed out resolutions would be nice, most notably custom MP4s.

I read that some more recent versions of Freemake add the watermark frames at the end of videos for promotional reasons. They can be removed with a premium add-on that looks cheap.

[canuck]

from Wikipedia:
"Starting with version 4.0.4, released on 27 August 2013, the program adds a promotional watermark at the end of every video longer than 5 minutes unless Gold Pack is activated"

I am running version 4.1.3.4 (or something similar) and it does not create a watermark. Perhaps it has been"removed" from later updates after 4.0.4.

I converted 2 videos: one about 7 minutes and the other 50 minutes. Both are the same length as the original and neither have a watermark.

If you split or cut a video then Corel will not re-render unless perhaps if you use oddball, non-standard properties assuming you have/can select "same as original"

[Troy at TheGTAMblog]

Hello Edward,

If I may pop in on this, the problem with the compressed audio not importing is common to most NLE's, and fighting with Vegas early on [sorry to name a competitor] in my game recordings I have learned to record everything in PCM ("Uncompressed") Audio. This way, you will have no trouble importing your audio then, regardless of what codecs you have installed on your system. It does take up more space, but is still quite a lot less than the video data. You can reduce how much space it takes up, if you need to, by lowering the Frequency (try to stay above 22kHz if you can, for fidelity).

For your 'older' Dxtory clips, you can also use something like Avidemux (a simple freeware editor) to convert only the audio to PCM, while leaving the video intact, saving it all out to a shiny new AVI that will be importable then. When you open your video in Avidemux [if you choose to use that, VirtualDub is another similar, freeware program], simply change the audio format to PCM and leave the video as COPY, then save it to a new file. That file will then have no problem importing and not having its audio read

[EdwardERS]

from Wikipedia:
"Starting with version 4.0.4, released on 27 August 2013, the program adds a promotional watermark at the end of every video longer than 5 minutes unless Gold Pack is activated"

I am running version 4.1.3.4 (or something similar) and it does not create a watermark. Perhaps it has been"removed" from later updates after 4.0.4."

I'm using 4.1.3.13 and I get the watermark unless I activate the goldpack.


To answer someone else, I didn't record the ancient Xvid compressed avi videos with Dxtory. I record using the Lagarith Lossless codec and sometimes a variation of the x264.

[Troy at TheGTAMblog]

Just to clarify, is there a way to cut or split a video clip with Corel without having to render an entire project? Is that what you mean by "only certain sizes will work with Corel", in that I could split a 640x480 video, but not an odd one? Corel shouldn't have to render anything if I just want a project sectioned into different videos.

Anymore details about greyed out resolutions would be nice, most notably custom MP4s.

I found that if you turn on the "Show message when inserting first video clip into the Timeline" (which for the Trial for me was not enabled at first(?)), it should ask you if you want to match the rest of the Project to the first inserted clips' media properties/attributes. Then when you go to Render, select the Same as Project Settings checkbox and enable the Smart Render checkbox, it should (in theory, I haven't tested it yet) render without transcoding, resulting in your cut/joined MP4s.
Edit:
I see that you are using X4, I'm sorry I was utilizing the Trial for x7. Still, see if you can set the above options, hopefully they will be the same and will help you out with the splitting of the clips. I apologize if they aren't there, but you can still use an application like Avidemux/Virtualdub/etc to import your clips and split them up (remember to start cuts on the keyframes) and you can also still convert your audio to PCM for importing into NLEs, regardless.

I put in a Suggestion myself about letting us state what Bitrates we would like to use, instead of the conservatively restrictive Render settings they have now... Apparently they restrict it for compatibility with players/devices/etc - not sure if that helps you with the Resolutions though

[lata]

Hi
A couple of quick comments.
Show Messages when inserting first video file is available for all versions of Video Studio, it would make sense if the option selected by default.
I doubt if this option would match a 576 x 432 video frame?

Edward

Your video frame is using 576 x 432, now that is 4:3 aspect ratio, so rendering to any format provided you use 4:3 ratio would be ok, yes the frame size will be increased but should not cause a problem.

Rendering clips.
There is an option to Save Trimmed Video, select the clip in the timeline and go to File – Save trimmed video , this should render the selected clip to a new version using the clips properties.

You can also set the Project Preview range, an orange line will show at the top of the timeline. X7 Share – shows the option to “Create Preview Range Only”
For earlier versions its within the Options button of the save window.

Hope that helps a little
sorry but cannot respond again for 7 days vacation

[EdwardERS]

Rendering clips.
There is an option to Save Trimmed Video, select the clip in the timeline and go to File – Save trimmed video , this should render the selected clip to a new version using the clips properties.

When I save trimmed video is saves it automatically into a default user Video Studio folder on the local disc. I see no option to change the save directory or for the individual save, is there something I'm missing? I don't like having to save stuff to my small SSD, even temporarily, when I have a 1TB and 3 TB HD.



Another thing I'd like to bring up is that there is no elapsed time clock keeping track of how long it's taken to render a video. There's only a % complete progress bar. With VS x4 I'm not able to minimize the window once rendering is started until it's complete unless I kill the program in task manager. I can ignore not being able to minimize the window while working, but no elapsed time seems like a major oversight for the sake of testing speed. Please tell me I'm not seeing something while I'm rendering?

[lata]

Hi
Video studio automatically saves the trimmed video to the “working folder”
Taking a “Snapshot” also saves to the working folder.

Other options from Share may allow you to select a “save location”

The Working folder is also known as the Capture folder.
The Working folders location can be changed to any folder on the hard drive via F6 Preferences.
I usually allocate a working folder for each of my projects, that way all clips used in a particular project are saved to the same folder.

Time elapsed clock….well no there is no clock, it may be useful whether the program can calculate that accurately given the complexity of project is difficult to say.
Add your comments to the VideoStudio Wishlist for Version X8

During rendering if you click the windows toolbar button to show desktop that should allow you to access other programs, however doing so will slow the render times.

You say “Please tell me I'm not seeing something while I'm rendering?

Certainly you should not use Task Manager to close the program, the progress bar shows (Press ESC to abort)

[EdwardERS]

Hi

Time elapsed clock….well no there is no clock, it may be useful whether the program can calculate that accurately given the complexity of project is difficult to say.
Add your comments to the VideoStudio Wishlist for Version X8

Estimated time/clock would be a timer of how long the program thinks it's gonna take to finish completing the project. It fluctuates as it counts down.
Elapsed time/clock is how much time has passed since the program started processing the project. This is non-bias, factual and devoid of processing estimates.
The difference is that elapsed time would work like a running stopwatch I could use to benchmark different codecs, templates and different computers trying to render the same video.

VS x4 just has a % progress bar, but there's no record of running time during the rendering or after. Estimated time isn't important, just an extra feature, while elapsed time seems fairly essential. Pretty much, a % progress bar and elapsed time clock complement each other. Elapsed time clocks are good for determining efficiency of the program or computer handling as task. It get's competitive.

So there's no clock keeping track of how long it took to render the project during or after it's complete?

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Thanks for the head up on the working folder. I can't believe I missed that.