Hi Jerry,
RE: I'm interested in what happens when you install two codecs for the same encoding. Can you throw some light on what you're referring to please? Dual pass or audio and video codecs etc.

Dafydd

Dafydd
He is referring to codecs from two different sources residing side by side and which one PD uses in particular codec and why ? PC specs :
OS Windows 10.0 Pro
MB - AS rock Z77 extreme 11
Intel 3770K @ 4.0 Ghz OC
Gskill 32 GB RAM 1800 Mhz
6 TB HDD, SSD bootable
nVidia ASUS GTX 660 Ti
BenQ 22" LCD monitor 1920x1080

Quote: Dafydd
He is referring to codecs from two different sources residing side by side and which one PD uses in particular codec and why ?

I see no reference to that in the post by Jerry.
Dafydd

First a Warning from Microsoft:

"Warning

Use caution when installing codecs that you find on the Internet, particularly some of the free codec packs that claim to include codecs from a wide variety of companies or organizations. Incompatibilities are known to exist with some of the components in these codec packs that can cause serious playback issues in the Player and other players, lead to system corruption, and make it difficult for Microsoft Support to diagnose and troubleshoot playback issues. For these reasons, we strongly discourage you from installing these codec packs, and recommend that you remove them if you have installed them and you are having problems with the Player. Install only codecs, filters, or plug-ins from trusted, authorized sources, such as the website of the official supplier. Even then, use caution: some codec suppliers offer minimal customer support. Before installing any digital media components, set a system restore point. The restore point enables you to return to your original system configuration, if necessary."

Now some non-empirical comments

It depends on the program. Sometimes the new duplicate codec will go to the top of the list when the program looks to see what codec should be used for the file. If that duplicate is different in content or even in version, it could cause the program to malfunction. If the codec is the same as what the program expects, there is no issue.

That is why it is important to use only trusted sources for codecs and, if you can, download only the codec you need.

Does that answer your question? Are you concerned about PD using the wrong codec?



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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

[Sorry -- I should have included some diagnostic files.]

My question is more general than just PD. It seems like whenever people have trouble with a particular format (WMV, MPEG-4, etc.) someone will recommend installing this or that codec pack. At this point I've lost track of how many codec packs I've installed, although I know that some of the packs do overlap; but it always seems that there's something that doesn't work.

What sent me down this path is that when I use PD to capture from my composite -> digital adaptor (dubbing from a VCR), the audio is significantly behind the video.

When I tried using the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks software that came with the adaptor, the synchronization problem disappeared; but it will only work right if I capture to AVI, WMV, and MPEG-4. Although this software has options for half a dozen other formats, each with various resolution and bit rate options, it will not put the audio into the resulting file. The video is fine.

The program does "get" the audio stream, because I can monitor it while recording; but when I open the saved file it is gone. None of the players I've tried, including PD, find any audio stream; or, perhaps, the audio stream is there but empty.

I called the manufacturer about this problem, and their suggestion was guess what? Install the K-Lite codec pack. That didn't accomplish anything. Both of my problems persist, so I have no solution.

That's why I want to understand how programs cope with this grab-bag of codecs.
Jerry Schwartz

Quote: Hi Jerry,
RE: I'm interested in what happens when you install two codecs for the same encoding. Can you throw some light on what you're referring to please? Dual pass or audio and video codecs etc.

Dafydd

If I knew what I was referring to, I wouldn't have asked the question. Jerry Schwartz

Have you tried using either or both VLC player and/or GSpot to determine codecs used or needed? .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Quote: Have you tried using either or both VLC player and/or GSpot to determine codecs used or needed?

No, I've never heard of them. These are players? What would they tell me?

In PD, I can see the lag between the video and the audio while previewing the capture, so a player wouldn't tell me anything about that.

As for the "silent" videos captured by GrabBee (the software that came with the hardware), I can run MediaInfo against them.

Jerry Schwartz

GSpot is a codec appliance that will tell you what codecs are/were used for the video.

You can get it here. http://www.headbands.com/gspot/ .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Quote: GSpot is a codec appliance that will tell you what codecs are/were used for the video.

You can get it here. http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Thanks.

It tells me that the codecs I need for playback are installed, but I can't see where it tells me which specific codec my system used to record the file.

It appears that playback is working fine. Somehow the sound isn't being recorded. If my problem is a missing or defective codec, I can't spot it.

I didn't mean to take up a lot of bandwidth on this, and I apologize to the group. I will begin a new thread focusing on the part of my problem that centers around PD. Jerry Schwartz

Hal, did you say (in the other thread) that 628213937.mpeg has sound?

Nothing on my system will get it to make any noise.

This is getting more and more troubling. Jerry Schwartz

Quote: Hal, did you say (in the other thread) that 628213937.mpeg has sound?

Nothing on my system will get it to make any noise.

This is getting more and more troubling.

I uninstalled the K-Lite codec pack, and everything seems to be working now. This is very odd, because I installed it precisely to fix these problems. I don't know what to think.

I'm still looking for a pointer to a first steps for little feet description of how programs select codecs, and how codecs interact, if there is such. Jerry Schwartz

I tried your 628213937.mpeg Video it has sound and video in just about every player (Windows Media Player and VLC) and Powerdirector 9 Ultra 64.

VLC reported a strange thing, VLC says the frame rate is 59.97 fps.
MediaInfo reports 29.97 fps.

It has a Green screen as the first few frames which is disturbing when I bring it into PD 9, but plays fine once I click the play button.

Jerrys, If I was in your situation, I would remove all third party Codec packs you have installed and start over.

Most can be removed in Windows Add/Remove programs (XP) or in Windows 7 Control Panel > Programs and features.

Some Codec Packs have a uninstall item in the Start Menu. K-Lite does.

I am curious, what is your source for the video, as it is 320x240, I would expect a Capture from VHS would be 720x480.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Hi,
This is just a guess..but I run the K-lite Codec pack, I downloaded two version (I am on W7 Premium 64Bit system) but I downloaded the k Lite for both 64Bit installer and the 32Bit installer and I haven't had any problems (yet). I believe that some of the modules within Power Director are still 32Bit process' that are references through Power Director and it launches the relevant drivers.
I do have a hearing impairment and utilize an amplified headset system to access sound tho' in video editing.
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

Visit GranPapa64's channel for your YouTube experience of the day!

Quote: I am curious, what is your source for the video, as it is 320x240, I would expect a Capture from VHS would be 720x480.

The capture program I used has different resolutions available for different formats. In this case, I dropped the resolution just in case that helped. (It didn't.)

With certain combinations I was getting an error message saying "ffmpeg.dll" was missing. Since that file is supposed to be part of the K-Lite pack, I uninstalled that. Uninstalling K-Lite allowed all of my captured files to sing.

That probably isn't the end of the story. The lack of sound was the reason that I installed K-Lite in the first place. Evidently the codecs were all tripping over one another.

I'm going to take your suggestion and uninstall any codec packs I can find. Jerry Schwartz

I'm still looking for a pointer to a first steps for little feet description of how programs select codecs, and how codecs interact, if there is such.

I saw one explanation that said the order of selection is left to right. I take that to mean that it you have a list of the codecs installed, the player searches for the first matching codec in the list.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote:

I'm still looking for a pointer to a first steps for little feet description of how programs select codecs, and how codecs interact, if there is such.

I saw one explanation that said the order of selection is left to right. I take that to mean that it you have a list of the codecs installed, the player searches for the first matching codec in the list.

Thanks, I guess.

The only three codec packs I see in Control Panel are "Windows Media Encoder 9 Series", "Xvid", and "DivX".

I bought DivX. I could uninstall and re-install it.

I don't know where Xvid came from. I know that something is using it, because its icon pops up from time to time. I can uninstall that, too, since it is readily available for download.

As for the Windows Media Encoder 9, again I don't know where that came from but I presume it's part of Windows. I probably don't want to get too aggressive with it.

I suspect that the order in which the codecs are installed determines their position in the hierarchy, so it might make a difference how I re-install them. Jerry Schwartz

Hi Jerry,
Keep Windows Media Encoder 9 if you want to manipulate the wmv prx templates.
Dafydd

Jerry -

I don't know how useful this is to you, but...

1. with no lack of audio, the clip you attached (628213937.mpeg) played fine in VLC Player, DivX Plus Player, MPC, WMP
2. with no lack of audio or sync issues, it played in the media library & timelines of PD9 & PD10

Some players install their own set of codecs built in (VLC, for example).

You mentioned that you uninstalled K-Lite & it fixed the problem. My PC is running K-LIte (Full), & it played your captured clip as described above.

I guess all that tells you is that the capture is actually being done correctly.

Cheers - Tony
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