Lost audio

[MaryAnne]

Hey friends, need advice. Finished the project (yeah) saved the file to run on pc or burn to disc. Everything smooth, successful. Playback - no audio??? Returned to PE8 - I can see the tracks, no sound. Say what, it is right there and was running before I did the save. Went into menus and clicked on audio mixer - did not change anything - suddenly sound. I had to do this for each track. So now my master file in PE8 is fine. I still can not get PE8 to burn a disk from the program itself and I read Steve's tips about save first, then burn with roxio. Got it - but what happened to the audio tracks - the stills, the video work just fine.
Thanks for direction
Mary Anne

[Steve Grisetti]

Where is your original audio coming from, MaryAnne? Is it from a camcorder or from some other source? And what audio format is this audio in?

What project settings did you use for your Premiere Elements project?

You say you used Roxio to output your disc? What file format (including audio settings) did you output from Premiere Elements?

My initial thought is that the audio you output from Premiere Elements isn't compatible with the format Roxio uses.

[MaryAnne]

Steve thanks for reply - how do I know what is compatible in my audio file (with Roxio or others). All music and video runs fine in PE8, so I assumed it was ok. Most of the music is from ripping my own CDs, some from Muvipix that I have on my hard drive. The video is from iphone/canon camera again on my hard drive.

I used standard settings in PE8 and when I went to save the file in PE8 I saved as "file to run on your computer or dvd" - yes, no?

Ok - I need an "atta girl" - I have worked so hard on this video and on my computer it is really cool - however, I can't carry it everywhere (desktop) and no one can see it. Ok, I've got it out of my system. Thanks

One thing I will say after so many hours - I'm getting better with the program - that counts for something! But I just can't get it out of my computer.....
Mary Anne

[Steve Grisetti]

You're a lot closer to a solution than you think, MaryAnne. So attagirl for that!

But you still need to get more specific with me about the type of file and the settings you used (especially for the audio) you used to output the Premiere Elements file for Roxio.

[MaryAnne]

Dear Steve,

How about I tell you what I did and see if this helps answer some questions ..This is a movie of our trip to Egypt in Nov. (good timing, eh?)

I created slide show of stills in PSE8 (yes, I did size them down to 1000x750 - Steve said so!)
Over to PE8 - broke apart - added some fun transitions.
Added 13 short video clips (less than 3sec) from both iphones and my canon camera
lastly added professionally recorded audio.
So that was my process in stages

Now audio:
the professional tracks are mp4
muvipix track is mp3
On six videos I deleted the sound as there was too much wind in the background.
The sound on the six videos with pictures shows .mov
On one clip I separated the picture and audio and slightly askewed them for effect, that audio clip shows as a .wav file
I didn't think any of these were out of the normal range?

Video:
The other problem I noticed is that none of my video clips (with or without audio) will really play well - they hesitate, choppy action. Is there something I was supposed to do to them (resize??)
I just bought a brand new Dell XPS 8300 with a 1 gig Radeon card and lots of space and power thinking this would alleviate the problem but it is just as choppy as on my old machine.

I do have both your books so you can refer me to them as a starting point for the next step.


OH let's try again -- the professional tracks are m4a (not mp4).
Thanks for your time and expertise.
Mary Anne

[MaryAnne]

PS - oops forgot the settings -

"Share" to mpeg for computer and dvd. I used the generic settings cause I was not certain what to do.
Presets: NTSC DVD Standard and I didn't go to advanced buttons, so however they are set I left them alone. The file would save but no audio.

When I did "Share" to dvd (directly) the program would get close to the end and not only stop the program but would take windows down with it and I had to restart the whole machine. Hum, at least on my old machine it would only abort the program not the whole system.
Presets: NTSC - DolbyDVD

So either way I could not get my project to completion.

Ok - I hope I answered your questions.
Mary Anne

[Steve Grisetti]

You seem to be doing the right things for the most part, Mary Anne. I don't know about the video from your Canon camera, since I don't know specifically what model of camera or camcorder it is and what type of video it produces. But video from iPhones often plays funny in Premiere Elements. And it may be part of the reason the program crashes when you try to burn your DVD in Premiere Elements.

But that's a separate issue. Right now you're concentrating on the audio, right?

Since your audio is coming from a variety of sources and none of it is producing sound on your DVD, it's pretty likely that the problem is in the format of audio that you're exporting from Premiere Elements.

Try using Share/Computer/MPEG with the DV-NTSC settings but, rather than using the default audio, click on the Advanced button and go to the Audio tab and change the Audio Format from Dolby Digital to PCM. (When you click OK, you'll be prompted to save these settings as a new preset for future use.) Use this new MPEG as your source file for your Roxio DVD project and it should resolve your audio problem.

[Dave McElderry]

But video from iPhones often plays funny in Premiere Elements. And it may be part of the reason the program crashes when you try to burn your DVD in Premiere Elements.

A note on this...

The particular flavor of H.264 from my iPhone works fine in PRE 9. This may not be true of other smartphones or other devices that produce H.264. I was pleasantly surprised to find that i could easily work with my iPhone's video files. Maybe this isn't true in previous versions. I haven't tried it in PRE 7. It might be one advantage that PRE 9 has over other versions.

[MaryAnne]

Dear Steve,

I think this is like learning to cha-cha - one step forward, one step back ... cha-cha-cha.

Ok - got the file to save and the audio works when I play it on my computer. However when I took the disk to my dvd player I get error message. So, I re-did it, made sure to format the dvd, I'm using a TDK dvd-r, 1-16x speed, 4.7GB. But the same error message. I'm getting closer ....

A QUESTION - when you "save to computer" do you lose the DVD menus because mine didn't show when I ran the mpeg file on my computer.

BTW - my camera is a canon sx10si, prosumer still camera which shoots video in h.264

Next step?
Mary Anne

[Steve Grisetti]

When you output an MPEG from Premiere Elements, you are saving the video only. No menus or chapter markers.

The menu and chapters are created in Roxio.

What happens when you play the DVD on your computer, using your computer's DVD player software (the software that launches when you put a commercial DVD in your computer's drive)?

[MaryAnne]

Dear Steve,

U DA MAN!!!!!

Finally I got the file to save using the pcm setting - good, good. But only error messages on my tv/dvd. And just before I read your last post I said to myself - I wonder if Roxio isn't the problem and then I read from you that it too could be causing issues. My new Dell has Roxio as the dvd default so I had to sort of hunt around. Don't you love a new computer??

Found WM Movie/dvd player and voila! When I watched it for the first time on the tv I just cried. It was awesome. And now I see I still have some of that subtle tweaking to do but at least I can say - here's a copy you can watch it! Oh yeah!!!!!

I'm hoping to "graduate" to Cool Tricks in my next video.

Thanks for your knowledge and help
Mary Anne

[Steve Grisetti]

Love the success stories, Mary Anne! Glad we could help get you up and running!