Hi,
I am just taking a wild guess here as I am suffering from hearing loss. But maybe with the exernal mike attached the 'audio' is kept in an auxiliary folder (in the camera/storage) and has to be imported as a separate file?
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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And if I play the video file using Windows Media player, the external microphone audio does not play either. But as noted above, the same file plays all the audio just fine when viewed on the video camera or in Apple iMovie.

If I can't figure this out, I will not be able to use or buy Power Director, yet I love using the program otherwise.

Sincerely,

Tom

Looking at the specs for the Canon Vixia HF S30 Video camera:

The Audio says:
Dolby Digital 2 channel (AC-3), 5.1-channel (with optional Canon SM-V1 5.1-Channel Surround Microphone)

It says the external microphone is 5.1 channel Surround sound.

What happens if you switch your Powerdirector sound to 5.1 sound?

Preferences > General. Audio Channels (top right) 5.1.

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.

Can you post a small sample clip to test? I suspect that the external mic may trigger Dolby 5.1 audio. If so, in PD12 preferences > general > audio channels, try the Dolby 5.1 setting.

Jeff

Gentlemen,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try these out tonight or tomorrow and get back to you. These ideas sound promising.

The Cannon surround sound microphone uses the active hot shoe. I plug my my microphone in the "mic" jack on the side of the camera. But I think you could be onto something here. I will let you know.

Regards,

Tom

Hi,

So here are the results of exploring the options you suggested.

James--I took out all memory cards and formatted the internal memory. I recorded a short clip and looked at the files on the internal memory. Outside of the three musical recordings that Cannon seems to have archived on the internal memory, there was no audio file of any type to be found.

Carl and Jeff—When I switch the Power Director sound option to 5.1, no sound plays at all. No internal mic sounds and no external mic sounds.

I have tried every last audio option on the Canon HF S30 video camera.

So this last experiment provided the same results I have been getting for 1.5 years--I made a recording switching between the internal mic and external mic.

• When I listen with headphones on the camera, I hear audio from both the internal and external mics.

• When I download the file into Power Director 12, I only hear audio from the internal mic.

• When I launch Windows Media Player to play the .MTS file right from the camera memory, I only hear the audio from the internal mic.

• When I download the file into Apple iMovie, I hear audio from both the internal and external mic.

The evidence is beginning to point to my PC. Could I be missing a codec?

Yet when I place the .MTS file on the Power Director 12 timeline, the audio waveform is missing in those segments where the external mic was used.

It seems that Power Director and Windows Media Player are either not receiving, or are not recognizing the wave form from the external mic.

I will try to send along the latest clip for analysis.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,

Tom

Hi Guys,

I have good new and bad news. The good news is that Windows Media Player on my Windows 7 Laptop plays the external mic audio just fine.

The bad news is that there is some sort of incompatibility in the audio software/hardware/firmware system on my Windows 7 desktop, which is the computer I prefer to use for long editing sessions.

I am going to download the trial version of Power Director 12 onto my laptop and I suspect it will work fine.

It may take me a couple of days to do so, but I will keep you posted.

Maybe I need to update codecs on my desktop?

Regards,

Tom

Post a clip would be the easiest way to help debug. The audio track is obviously there as the MAC iMovie plays it. My second guess is for some reason the audio is a secondary audio program (SAP) in the MTS file from the camera. PD does not understand this, neither does WMP, they only play the first audio channel. I'm unsure about iMovie. There are some utilities to remux if that's the issue so you have a single audio channel which would be compliant with PD.

Jeff

Hi,

Audio works fine using Windows Movie Maker on my laptop.

More and more it appears to be a system problem with my desktop machine.

Regards,

Tom

Thanks Jeff. I will have to learn more about SAPs.

The file is about 18 megs I think. Is there an easy way to upload to this forum or do I need to post it somewhere and provide a link?

Regards,

Tom

Hi Jeff,

I would be happy to email the file to you if you can accept an 18 meg file, or I could post it on Box.com and share the folder if you have an email address you can share with me.

Regards,

Tom

Use "Post Reply" lower left under message and then you can add attachments in your response.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

You could be onto something there with the SAP. I notice that although I can hear the external mic audio using Windows Live/Photo Gallery/Movie maker, the wave form does not show up in the audio editing window.

Tom

Hi Jeff,

Here is the file uploaded right from the camera.

Thanks.

Regards,

Tom

Hi,
I downloaded the file and ran it through my system and the audio was fine ( now remember I have hearing problem and I use an attached hearing device) the audio from internal mike was louder, but I could still hear the external mike, I brought it into the audio editor and raised the volume on the external mike and it was fine, in both stereo and 5.1 surround but the external mike had a barrel effect slightly.
Jim
p.s. Have you setup computers 'sound" on your system?
Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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I also downloaded your sample.
My System is Windows 7 64 bit.

It plays OK, I have sound on both the internal and the external Mikes in Windows Media Player.

It plays OK, I have sound on both the internal and the external Mikes in PowerDirector 12 Ultra using Stereo Sound in Preferences.

Sound in the media library and on the timeline on both mikes.

Have you updated your Sound drivers on your computer?

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.

Tom,

Well, you got me, plays fine for me on 6 different computers. I can't even think of a possible scenario at the present that's got even a chance of being correct. The file has basic AC3 audio, stereo, L, R, typical bitrate, typical sample rate. Should need nothing special to play, basic WIN7. How the internal mic recording can play on your platform and not the external mic is baffling to me. Your file has one basic audio stream, nothing different when you change mics other than levels.

Since WMP and PD have playback issues, maybe playback settings on PC. Right click speaker icon in windows taskbar and walk through playback devices and make sure things are correct for your audio configuration. I assume the basic test feature under configure plays back correctly.

Hard to believe PD does not have the audio waveform display in timeline as you indicated for the external mic sections. Look careful, very difficult to see at times as it's small and poor contrast. Only time I know that this occurs is when PD can't read audio. However, you say it plays internal mic section fine which is the same basic audio stream. As a check, with the 0000.MTS in the media library, can you right click and "Extract Audio". Can PD do that and does the wav file play correctly?

I don't think the issue is your camera, external mic, or recorded file or really even PD. I think it's something unique with your PC.

Jeff

Hey Fellows,

Thanks so much for your help. Yes, clearly it is a PC issue and an unusual one at that. The audio on the PC work fine in every other respect.

I already checked, and I have the latest drivers for my audio software. I will check my PC audio settings again.

I will try the "extract audio" and let you know what the results were, and just for kick, I will send along a screen capture of the timeline showing the missing audio wave form.

Again, thanks so much for helping uncover the issue.;

Regards,

Tom

Hi Jeff,

So I tried extracting the audio and playing the resulting .WAV file. The audio from the external mic did not play.

Attached is a screen capture that shows the audio timeline and the missing wave forms.

You guys have been great. At least I know the problem is not my camera or Power Director. It will be safe to purchase PD for my laptop. I really like using that software.

I also know where to look to resolve the issue on my desktop. If I can't solve the audio issue through troubleshooting or software updates, maybe I will install an audio card and new audio software.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Tom