Consistent Voice Over Time Out

[dpack4]

Hello,

I've been able to make voice over narration on my videos since I installed CVS without any issue. I use X8 Pro 18.5.0.23 64bit. Suddenly, starting earlier this week, as I am doing my narration it will automatically stop after the exact time of four minutes and one second. The software used to allow me to use the voice over feature until I tapped the space bar to tell it to stop recording. Now, it automatically cuts me off at the four minute mark and I am not doing anything different than what I've done before.

I have searched all over the software and the Internet and cannot find where you can set a time limit to record voice over. Is that a setting I am overlooking? If not, what can I do to get it to record at an indefinite length again until I tap the space bar to end the recording?

Thanks

[aljimenez]

I have never done voice overs that long, so can't help making them longer for you. I have a suggestion, make the voice overs shorter and add them to the timeline at the appropriate place. Perhaps someone else will post their experience.

[Ken Berry]

I realize it is a feature of VS and so should work correctly. However, I have never used the voiceover function except to try it out. My preferred workflow with voiceovers is to make a series of separate voice clips using the freeware Audacity audio editing program (or indeed any other audio editor). I find this gives me better control and features -- ability to vary volume, add filters etc, as well as then being able to simply place the voice files at their appropriate places in the timeline, and adjust the music background accordingly using the rubber band feature.

[Davidk]

I use voiceovers regularly - by direct recording using the VS feature. Several points to make:
1. I make it a point - immediately on installation when setting the working folder - of (since X8) setting the audio preferences so the voice files go to a disk folder separate from any VS program folders, and also separate from video data folders. That helps a lot with editing and recoveries, and even upgrades. I cleaned up after an upgrade a few years back and that wiped a lot of voiceover files because the working folder was a version of "temp", which subsequently bombed out a project I was working on. After that, a separate store for them all. Until X8, the meant a lot of moving and re-linking, now fortunately not needed.
2. before recording, write out your voiceover script in small pieces. eg, 1 minute or less. Even that is really too long. Make specific break points in the script so the narration can be recorded in short periods. I tend to use phrases etc that last not much longer than 15-20 sec per file. Even with a script, recording the voice narration in long bursts is just difficult to do without errors or stumble. And those mean a re-recording effort. Small voice files allow editing or re-doing mistakes without a lot of pain. A further advantage of this is that with small voice files, you can sync them with changes in the timeline clips, which will mask the change from one file to the next to some degree.

Lastly, 4 minutes may well be a bug. Are you using the same version of VS as previously? The circumstances you outline (it used to work and now it doesn't) suggest a newer version now being used. And maybe you are still within the warranty period.

Davidk

[asik1]

I just run a test for you,
I set for VO and let it run..... came back after more than 5min and stopped it. So I guess it's not a bug.
But.... I think there is a bug with that feature as it do not show audio meter while working. Why the setup meter do not stay on???

[lata]

Hi

I also ran a test same as Asik, no problems with a 4 minute limit, I had to terminate the voice over.

[dpack4]

Thanks for the feedback!

To address a few points mentioned, I am not running a newer copy of CVS. I've been using the same 8.5 version the whole time and have been able to narrate any length of video on the timeline. My normal videos range from 20-30 minutes a piece. I would narrate over them and have one WAV to edit afterwards. I take the WAV and import into Audacity to remove noise and any clicks or pops. I need to do direct narration within CVS so my narration is precisely in sync with what is happening in the video. Using a third party app to record (Audacity/Windows Sound Recorder) means I would have to manually line up the imported voice track to the video. This is a real pain especially if I am trimming out parts of the video and would have several WAV files to line up.

I do have my settings configured to place the WAV files in a separate folder location on the hard drive from where the video file and proxy file resides. This makes it easy for me to grab and pull them into Audacity for editing and none of the files are on top of one another in the same location. Everything has their own folder.

With having 20-30 minute clips to narration almost on a daily basis, and only having the ability to talk in four minute spurts, is not acceptable. I know the software can do what I need so later tonight I will completely uninstall the application, delete any leftover folders under Program Files and my profile, and then install clean. I just hope I will be able to install since the main EXE I downloaded from CVS will not fully extract all the setup files. (It crashes on extraction) But, it seems to export enough for the app to install the first time I did it and then patch it with the Service Pack. I am well past the time frame to re-download the main installer from Corel without having to pay again.

I will post a follow up to this after I've reinstalled and tested.

Thanks!

[lata]

Hi

Ok so it may be the installation of the program that is causing the problem, or are you saying that CVSX8 worked ok at one time?
Corel updated the original X8 files, as far as I know to include X8.5

Do you know if your version was one of the originals.

My file is called “VideoStudioUltimateX8_64bit_1Main.exe” at 1,385,566kb

I cannot say what size the newer version is, I assume using 8.5_64Bit maybe others with that version can confirm the size.

If your file is the same size then the extract process may be at fault.

You can of course run the program to extract the files again, just change the default save location, deselect the auto run option. Does it extract the files without error?

[dpack4]

Hi lata,

I'll be able to review and answer later tonight once I'm home.

Thanks!

[dpack4]

I uninstalled CVSX8, cleaned up the hard drive, and then reinstalled. The voice over still stops at four minutes automatically. So, to prove it was not my install, I uninstalled CVSX8 again, cleaned up the hard drive, and then installed my previous version CVSX7. This is what I purchased and was running for a while before changing up to CVSX8. My installer does not crash with it. Once installed, I used the 30 day trial to test so I didn't use another activation. Sure enough, the narration stops after four minutes and it never did that to me in that version.

So, It is not my X8 install. Drat! There must be some underlying corruption. Joy. I checked the dates of my installed Microsoft patches, and I last installed Windows updates on Nov 21. I didn't start having my issue until Nov 30. Narration worked fine after the 21st patching. I have no idea what to do at this point to resolve the issue in my current setup. The next course of action I can think of is to dissolve my RAID 0 array to make two separate drives. Then, I can perform a clean install of Windows 10 to one and Ubuntu LTS to the other. I currently solely use Windows 8.1 and it bugs me daily to jump to Win10. Plus, this will give me the opportunity to play with Kdenlive in Linux.

I doubt anyone will have another suggestion to try for this narration four minute limit since I am able to duplicate the issue in CVSX7.

[lata]

Hi

Have you used any other software to record voice-over or screen capture where you may have set a recording duration?
That may affect the PC's recording devices?

[dpack4]

Hi

Have you used any other software to record voice-over or screen capture where you may have set a recording duration?
That may affect the PC's recording devices?

Unfortunately, no. I exclusively used CVS to perform screen capture and voice over. Only when I record my computer screen with CVS will I use Windows Sound Recorder. There are no options with it; just record and stop.

I've got a clean install of Windows 10 (typing this post from it right now). Once I get everything else running, I will test the voice over again to see what the result is. I'm saving the Ubuntu install for later if I end up redoing Windows again. I'll post with my results once I have them.

Thanks

[dpack4]

I'm happy to report that CVSX8 is now not stopping the narration after four minutes. I manually stopped it after getting up to five and a half minutes. There must have been some underlying corruption of who knows what. I will do my full narration soon on several videos and see how things go. I've just tested past the four minute mark a few times so far. I guess it was the perfect time to get the new Windows 10 and I even have Audacity working in it with the audio drivers Windows installed. I did not need to install the motherboard manufacturer's audio drivers. I just hate the issue resulted in a full system rebuild.

BTW - I did not do a Win8.1 to Win10 in-place upgrade. I wanted to make sure there were no files or settings carried over to Win10. So, I wiped my disks with PDWipe, changed my RAID setup to AHCI to have two separate SSDs, downloaded Windows 10 directly from Microsoft and installed to a bootable USB thumb drive, and then installed Win10 clean to one SSD. Lastly, patched Windows and installed all my apps. My second SSD is now available for Ubuntu LTS, which I'll install later and use Grub to select the OS to boot to.

[1oldtymer]

I use voice over narration quite a bit, in x7 64 bit, and I get random cut offs (various times, usually after 2.5 minutes). I just work around it as others mentioned. It would be nice not to have the irritation, but the workarounds are particularly painful.

[dpack4]

I use voice over narration quite a bit, in x7 64 bit, and I get random cut offs (various times, usually after 2.5 minutes). I just work around it as others mentioned. It would be nice not to have the irritation, but the workarounds are particularly painful.

I can now attest to the same issue. In my original post for this thread, narration would cut me off in four minutes. For some time now, it is doing to me what you are experiencing: random cutoffs. I have a clean Windows 10 build with a clean CVS 19.2.0.4 64bit Ultimate install. Sometimes, I can get my full 20-30 minute file in, and other times, the narration auto-stops up to three or four times. I have no idea when it will occur; very frustrating when I am in the middle of talking. It completely messes up my commentary.

This leads me to believe CVS has a bug since I have seen this in x7, x8, and now x9 using Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Since others must not use this feature as heavily as I do, the issue is not enough for Corel to address. No matter what I do, there always seems to be something I have to deal with. Things just can't work like they are supposed to.