Video & Audio Channel Allocation

[CraigRyan89]

When dragging video clips into the timeline there seems to be no consistency which video, audio, voice or music channels are highlighted. My present project shows various video channels from 1 -6 highlighted and audio channels from 1 - 13, plus voice and music. The video clips are taken straight from my camcorder with no additional audio added. What, if anything, am I dong wrong and what bearing does this have on the finished video?

[Steve Grisetti]

Is this 5.1 audio?

To find out, open your video in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and copy the report and paste it to this forum. Once we have this report we'll better be able to figure out what's up.

[CraigRyan89]

Hi Steve,

I have selected one clip at random from 242 recorded on the day. The sound is 5.1 as far as I am aware. it seems that Adobe Premiere Elements is not treating all clips the same, but I bow to your knowledge. Here is the report from Mediainfo and I am most grateful for your prompt and helpful response:-

General
ID : 1 (0x1)
Complete name : Y:\Pansonic Videos from Sept 2018\Videos for tsMuxer\Bristol Zoo\30-08-2022\00024.m2ts
CompleteName_Last : Y:\Pansonic Videos from Sept 2018\Videos for tsMuxer\Bristol Zoo\30-08-2022\00241.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 5.30 GiB
Duration : 5 s 699 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 7 993 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mb/s
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Recorded date : 2022-08-30 10:26:43 UTC

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 5 s 678 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 7 676 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 16.8 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan type, store method : Separated fields
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 148.078
Stream size : 5.08 GiB (96%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 5 s 790 ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -80 ms
Stream size : 271 KiB (0%)
Service kind : Complete Main

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 5 s 214 ms
Delay relative to video : -80 ms

[sidd finch]

Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)

Based on your display it looks like you are using 5.1 audio.

Sidd

[Steve Grisetti]

Thanks, Sidd. That's the fly in the ointment.

Premiere Elements can't work with 5.1 audio. It should be able to, but it can't. And it's the reason you're getting these weird timelines.

Convert your video to stereo using Handbrake and you should be all set. And, if you plan to continue to edit with Premiere Elements, you may want to change your camcorders setttings also to shoot and record in stereo.

[CraigRyan89]

I've had a look at the settings menus on my camcorder (Panasonic HDC-HS300) but it is not clear to me how to reset it to record in stereo. I have not yet had a chance to look at Handbrake to establish how involved amending existing clips may or may not be. What are the likely results of continuing as things are and creating a project in Premiere Elements and burning to BluRay "as is"?

I previously mentioned about hesitant video. I have a couple of clips of trains passing through stations. The effect is most apparent as the carriages pass, yet the movement of people walking along the platform was smooth. This test project was burnt to BluRay using Burnova software. I tried again using DVDFab and the video ran smoothly. Can the choice of burning software have a bearing on the smoothness of video playback?

[Steve Grisetti]

It would be interesting to hear of your results when you output your project as a BluRay.

[CraigRyan89]

On attempting to export the project I was confronted with the following message:-
"File importer detected an inconsistency in the file structure of Disc 261 FINAL.mp4 (my chosen file name). Reading and writing this files metadata (XMP) has been disabled".
Does this mean that if I burn the file to a BluRay disc it should copy and play ok, but I will be missing date and time data?

[Steve Grisetti]

I guess it's worth a try to find out.