Audio/Video SYNC problem

[Dale]

I opened a New Project in Prem El 4, imported a videofile I had captured from my Sony HC7 with Prem El 4 (mpeg), dragged it to the timeline (one continuous clip, about 45 minutes long), and during playback, realized the audio was out of sync, but of varying degrees throughout the clip.

When I double click on the original videofile, it starts playing with Windows Media Player, and everything is fine. Why does it get messed up when imported? It is one a a few out of 11 tapes that does this. Why only them?

Any help would be appreciated.

Dale

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Dale,
Rather than trying to figure out why it is usually easiest to just convert he offending files.
MPEGStreamclip (free), VideoRedo (not free), both work well to convert to mpeg files that Premiere Elements can handle correctly.

I'm sure that others will have helpful comments as well

[Steve Grisetti]

That happens sometimes with certain MPEGs.

The best solution is to use a program like MPEG Streamclip to convert the file into a DV-AVI before you bring it into Premiere Elements.

The alternative is to separate the audio and video and try to tweak and timestretch them until they match. And that can get pretty messy.

[Dale]

Steve and Chuck, thanks for the info. I will check it out. And you are right, Steve. I tried unlinking the video and audio and did some tweaking, only to find that part of the audio started to repeat itself toward the end! What a pain! Being the novice that I am, I certainly do not need these kinds of glitches.

I guess when I go to MPEGStreamclip, it will explain things, but while you are "here", do I go to the file where I have the MPEG clip and convert it there, or do I change how I do the actual capture? Can I capture as AVI at the outset, or does Prem El 4 always use MPEGs?

My questions may not even make sense, but eventually I might ask the right ones!!

Thanks, Dale

[Chuck Engels]

Here are some instructions Paul wrote up in another thread
viewtopic.php?p=23118#p23118

[Dale]

OK! One bright spot in today's grind! I did get the MPEG Streamclip installed and running. I am now doing the "conversion" to AVI and we will see if that has any sync problems.

I guess I just don't understand why there IS a problem if Windows Media Player plays just fine. Maybe someone can explain it to me (in very simple terms!)

So for now, it is grinding away... Thanks again,

Dale

[Chuck Engels]

Dale, It is probably a codec issue. Which codec is used to play the file can vary by application. Also how a particular application uses a codec or not can vary. There are tools to make changes to what codecs are used by default. You can download Gspot and check the files in question, it will give you lots of information. Problem is, working with codecs is not easy or simple, that is why I don't usually go there myself.

Here is the link to Gspot
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Might be fun to have a look at what it tells you about the files.

[Dale]

I was sidetracked here for a bit this week...but just now getting back. I DID successfully convert my MPEG video file to AVI, BUT I made the mistake of doing it in the wrong aspect ratio. SO, I am now redoing it with the regular 16:9. I thought I should do it in the option (don't remember right now the exact terms and it is running) that looked like HD widescreen, but obviously I was wrong. Hopefully this time it will be correct. At least the sound track seemed OK.

My big question to you, Chuck, is that if it is a codec problem, why does it appear to NOT have messed up all 11 tapes and why does it play correctly with Windows Media Player. Or is it more than I really WANT to know?!

Dale

PS It will be hours for this to finish converting, so ttyl.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Dale, Glad to hear it sounds like you are on your way to resolving the issues.

I'm not really sure why it didn't mess up all the tapes, that would be hard for me to say not knowing all the details.
Different programs can use different codecs to decode video and audio, Premiere Elements is most likely using a different codec and therefore the problem. Other than that it might be more than you really want to get involved with as long as you have a way to fix the problem.

If you have more tapes to capture maybe we can discuss that before you get started. Maybe avoid these problems in the process.

Let us know how the conversion comes out