Video And Audio Out Of Sync

[wolff39@comcast.net]

I just bought a new HP media center pc running XP media center 5.1 build 2600 service pack 2. System info : AMD Athlos 46x2 sual core 4200+ 1 Gig memory and 250 hard drive. MyDVD 6 SE came bundle on the system. I tried it and it worked, but in my wisdom I thought if 6 in good 8 would be better (ha ha), so I upgraded. I do the same process in ver. 8 as I did with ver 6. I open the dvr-ms file ( a recored tv movie) the program converts it to a mpeg, I edit as needed and burn it to a dvd. But with ver 8 when I play the dvd the audio and video and big time out of sync. I searched the knownledge base and found this issue

 

When using DVR-MS files in a VideoWave or MyDVD, it is possible that the finished project is out of sync.

That means the audio may be slightly ahead or behind the video that is shown.

Cause

Resolution

Please close any running instances of VideoWave or MyDVD and then download and install the following hotfix:

http://tools.roxio.com/support/c8/dvrms_hotfix.exe

Once the installation is complete you should be able to open your saved project and produce (VideoWave) or burn to disc (MyDVD) without experiencing this problem

I download and install the hot fix, but it did not fix the problem. I'm at the point where if I don't find an answer I'm going ask for a refund. Any idea on how to solve the problem?

Nancy

[abfleishman]

In the capture file, the playback is normal, but in videowave 8 window, the out of sync problem shows up. It happens even before your editing. I re-installed the entire suite but the problem still appears.

 

Did anyone ever figure out an easy fix for this? I have the same problem. Captures fine, but the Videowave window lags big time.

 

Al Flash

[BlueFX]

Did anyone ever figure out an easy fix for this? I have the same problem. Captures fine, but the Videowave window lags big time.

 

Al Flash

 

 

I haven't found a fix and am experiencing the same problem. I could fix this if I could manipulate the audio track independently of the video track within the videowave timeline. Unfortunately I'm probably going to call for a refund this monday.

[blue48@ameritech.net]

I still don't know why the sync problem started after about 20 successes, but...I found a program called VideoReDo (at videoredo.com) that has a feature called fastfix. Having run the four mpeg movie files that would result in audio lagging dvds after authoring in MyDvd thru this, I was able to successful create a synced version to a file folder using MyDvd and burn it to dvd using Copy DVD. The only caveat, oddly enough, was that I had to be sure that MyDvd was actually reencoding to avoid the sync problem. When I had a tivo file that was recorded at 352x480 (medium), I could not select 'good' quality (which meant a fast encoding rather than rerendering for a couple of hours). Instead, I had to 'fit to disc' or select a better quality to ensure the longer encoding.

 

My procedure now is to attempt to author a tivo file that has been converted to an mpg using Direct Show Dump in MyDvd...electing to go with writing to a folder. I let it render at least 10-15%, then cancel. I can then check the sync by running the portion created in wmp or windvd. If it looks good, I just go back and do the whole thing in MyDVD (I have had two recent ones fit this category). If, however, the resulting clip has lagging audio, I use VideoReDo to repair. Please note that in every case I've had, the original mpg file runs fine (in sync) from start to finish before authoring. My husband (a software engineer) surmises that there are so many potential ways for the time stamps to get out of kilter, that there is no one way to fix the software. The most likely culprit is a dropped or damaged video frame (or several hundred nmore likely). These may not be visible to the eye, but appear to doom authoring. However, having a process that seems to work is a relief to me.

 

Also note, VideoReDo is not authoring software. You still need EMC8 (or something like it) to create the proper vob and header files. My research on my problem leads me to believe no authoring software can promise to have no sync problems.--is this faint praise for EMC8? Well I've liked it very well when it works. Hope this helps someone else.

[Beerman]

Seems like a lot of extra work but if it does work.....

I too like VideoReDo which is fast and effective. Your husband's guesses also make sense to be as I don't know why some have much fewer problems with sync than others. Tivo files are especially sensitive to this but as I am not a Tivo user, I can offer nothing helpful on it.

Thanks for sharing what works for you.

[ggrussell]

My research on my problem leads me to believe no authoring software can promise to have no sync problems.

I have found the samething. Even the more expensive applications 'can' have out of sync issues. The problem is with editing files that are already compressed and as you pointed out, your husband is probably correct. There are too many ways that video/audio can go out of whack. This is why we normally recommend using DV AVI, but that doesn't help those with dvr-ms and tivo files.

[Jay]

I have found the samething. Even the more expensive applications 'can' have out of sync issues. The problem is with editing files that are already compressed and as you pointed out, your husband is probably correct. There are too many ways that video/audio can go out of whack. This is why we normally recommend using DV AVI, but that doesn't help those with dvr-ms and tivo files.

I'm convinced the problem is with EMC 8.0, but I can't get any response from Roxio. Try capturing a mpg file instead of the default Divx capture. I was able to successfully capture and edit using the mpg format in EMC 8.0. The same capture using the default Divx format left me with a six-second video lag behind the audio. The downside is that the mpg file is much larger than the original disk file and the completed projdec, which is shorter than the original,won't fit back onto a single disk.

[rmeibach]

I have been using EMC7 for more than a year every once in a while the video is out of sync in the prodcution window. If I delete it and drag it from the capture (in which it is fine) I still get the problem. So I too do not know how to fix it. The fix file given at the beginning of this thread also did nothing.

[bimicher]

I'm convinced the problem is with EMC 8.0, but I can't get any response from Roxio. Try capturing a mpg file instead of the default Divx capture. I was able to successfully capture and edit using the mpg format in EMC 8.0. The same capture using the default Divx format left me with a six-second video lag behind the audio. The downside is that the mpg file is much larger than the original disk file and the completed projdec, which is shorter than the original,won't fit back onto a single disk.

The problem is not unique to EMC 8. It also occurs with 7, 7.5, Nero, Ulead etc. Just do a google search on the subject and you will get hundreds of hits not related to EMC 8. I am not surprised that you are getting problems with DivX since that is a highly compressed format. BTW file size means nothing when you are creating DVDs, its the time length that is what counts. A standard DVD at best quality will only hold 60 minutes of video.

[JayNOLA]

I also have this problem with videowave 8. All of my video files play normally in other programs, but there is an audio-video sync problem when I play or convert with VW8.

 

I don't have a solution to fix VW8, but I have a workaround. It involves extracting the audio from the mpeg file to a wav file using a 3rd party program. I use goldwave to extract the audio, but I'm sure that there are other programs out there. It's easy in goldwave. Once goldwave is open, hit "file" - "open", then select the file. It should recognize all popular video files since they also contain audio tracks. After it's deflashed and displayed the tracks on a graph, hit "file" - "save as", and save as a wav file. It should take 5 minutes for a 90 minute movie on a fairly robust computer.

 

Once in VW8, add the video as usual and use the timeline view at the bottom. Right click the video bar to bring up a pop-up menu, hover over edit, and select "native audio...". In the audio editor, slide the "overall volume" bar all the way to the left to effectively mute the audio, then hit OK. Now that the audio is muted, you can add in the uncompressed audio that you extracted earlier to a wav file. Click the video track to highlight it, then click "add background audio" in the "add content" window. A dialogue box will appear and ask where to add the audio. Select "add to sound effect track" it it should be embedded in the video track, not below the video track into the music track. If it adds to the music track below, then you made a different selection in the box. It may still be okay, but if you edit or clip the video, it may not stay in sync.

 

It's important to extract the audio as a wav file. It's been mentioned before that compressed files like mpeg can sometimes have sync issues in certain players/programs. Since a wav file is uncompressed, you don't run into this problem. It took some trial & error, but now I can convert mpegs to divx using WV8 without any sync problems.

 

I know that it's a bit combersome, but it works - Hope this helps

JayNOLA

[jdrex]

Hey Nancy,

 

I am experiencing the same problem.

I also have installed the dvr-ms hotfix, but the audio and video are still out of sync in the finished project.

 

Is anyone else out there having this same problem, or are Nancy and I the only ones?

[blue48@ameritech.net]

I have very similar story to Nancy ... an HP a1310n purchased in Jan. Had things working, upgraded to emc8 and actually had some successes, until 1 particular video had the audio lag problem. What bothers me is that the mpeg file plays fine, it's only the burned version that is out of sync. My husband, an engineer and computer geek, suggested it might be a caching problem...that one needed to set the cache to ensure that it wouldn't be swapping in and out of memory...he said at 10 gig. But I don't see any way to set this kind of parameter in mydvd8. Some of the things I tried include defragging the disc, deleting this mpeg and starting from scratch...rerecording on tivo, transferring to my pc, converting from tivo to mpeg and then burning==and using a different tivo setting (medium so it was in a dvd format 352x480). It was a real shock when once again the resulting dvd was out of sync. I'm sure I have some terminology wrong in this post, but SOMEONE must know what's happening...you think??

[bighornsheep04]

In the capture file, the playback is normal, but in videowave 8 window, the out of sync problem shows up. It happens even before your editing. I re-installed the entire suite but the problem still appears.