Audio drop out - Preview

UnlikelySalsero

Newbie Joined: Apr 24, 2012 12:50 Messages: 45 Offline

Solved by

Apr 24, 2012 15:16

I'm totally new to PD 10, still using the trial version (2 days!)

(Sorry in advance for long message. I'm a tech guy and trying to anticipate the details others need to provide suggestions.)

I'm working on my first tutorial (5 min clip) that will go to YouTube. Overall I'm very impressed with the software. Tutorial is basically a "talking head" with a light music background, title, transitions and around five clips ranging from 30 seconds to a little over a minute. (Additional graphics/captions to be added later.)

I have a few issues. Before I purchase, I'd like to understand and resolve them (or maybe they are just limitations of the preview version?)

ISSUE 1 (Executive Summary):
While creating/previewing, ALL audio tracks drop out (mute) at one point where my Smartsound track starts.

DETAILS:
I have a starting music track that accompanies the titles sequence, then a background track (Smartsound music) behind my video, which also has audio (voice). The two tracks overlap by about 5 seconds and I created a manual cross-fade (used keyframes, faded volume on both clips during overlap.) Once the Smartsound audio starts, zero audio for a couple seconds.

I tried removing the overlap, and then the mute happens later in the visual stream, right where the Smartsound starts. In other words, the dropout happens when the Smartsound track starts, it seems independent on overlap or not with my other audio tracks. In either case the audio in my video track drops out.

Is this normal for Smartsound tracks/multiple audio tracks?

No mp3 files in music tracks, only wma and Smartsound, plus voice audio from camcorder video clips.

ISSUE 2:
After rendering the clip to .WMV format, my title sequence simply doesn't display. (Downloaded from DirectorZone: http://directorzone.cyberlink.com/detail/90956)

The audio track background plays, but no opening title sequence before my first video clip starts. I get the 5 second "... trial version" screen (which I expected), but my opening title sequence is 10 seconds, so I expected my title sequence to be half way through when the "... trial version..." watermark finishes.

I've also figured out while using trial version I can just add a 5 second dark blue screen before my title sequence starts, but even if I do that, the title sequence stays black, and then the video starts when that title section ends.

All suggestions/comments welcomed. And again these issues may be related to trial version, but I'd love to know that's the case before I purchase.

Tech background:
Reasonably experienced with an older version of Vegas 9, extensive technical background (over 15 years on PCs, networking, software development, etc.)

PD 12 - 12.0.2930.0
Windows 8 (64 bit)
16 GB RAM

UnlikelySalsero

Newbie Joined: Apr 24, 2012 12:50 Messages: 45 Offline

Apr 24, 2012 18:14

I realize almost nobody in this community would be using the trial version (da). I just want to be sure this type of thing won't be happening after I purchase. I'm wondering if it's a buffering/caching type of issue, where as it grabs the Smartsound clip, it causes the audio drop out. The box has 6 GB of memory, and while PD is running, the box is showing around 3.96 GB used.

Anyway, I'll see if the tech support will assist even with the trial version. PD 12 - 12.0.2930.0
Windows 8 (64 bit)
16 GB RAM

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Apr 24, 2012 20:09

You have to give the editors time to experiment and maybe make a demo.

I did learn that if you overlap a audio track with Smart Sound you get a silent spot or a Pop. But if you fade the audio track at the overlap, there is no silence or pop.

The timeline. I have a royalty free song for the music and a smart sound that is in the trial version of PD 10.

The full interface

Attached the resultant WMV.


Filename	PD10_Test_SS_Timeline.PNG	Download
Description	Full size Timeline file
Filesize	56 Kbytes
Downloaded:	217 time(s)

Filename	Test PD 10 Trial SS Music.wmv	Download
Description	This is the WMV made from that test.
Filesize	13271 Kbytes
Downloaded:	283 time(s)


Filename	PD10_Test_SS_full.png	Download
Description	The Whole interface full size
Filesize	326 Kbytes
Downloaded:	219 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 24. 2012 20:10

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.

klauzser

Newbie Joined: Apr 22, 2012 23:12 Messages: 12 Offline

Apr 24, 2012 22:53

I would say that this is likely the problem with Cyberlink. Whenever you record or do something that uses the software, you might get different types of errors with the audio. I just don't know why.

UnlikelySalsero

Newbie Joined: Apr 24, 2012 12:50 Messages: 45 Offline

Apr 25, 2012 03:35

Quote: You have to give the editors time to experiment and maybe make a demo.

I did learn that if you overlap a audio track with Smart Sound you get a silent spot or a Pop. But if you fade the audio track at the overlap, there is no silence or pop.

The timeline. I have a royalty free song for the music and a smart sound that is in the trial version of PD 10.
<snip>

Attached the resultant WMV.

THANKS, I wasn't implying the response was slow. I was thinking maybe my issues were related to preview version and most of the users here (who provide answers) tend to be more seasoned users.

I did have a fade out in progress on my first audio wma file (and fade up in progress on the Smartsound clip) but still get the drop-out.

If I understand, you also get the drop-out. I'm assuming this is not a real issue after rendering, it's just an editor issue (I can live with that if that's the issue...)

Thanks again, I appreciate the response and I'll let you know as I progress!!!
PD 12 - 12.0.2930.0
Windows 8 (64 bit)
16 GB RAM

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Apr 25, 2012 08:12

I did have a fade out in progress on my first audio wma file (and fade up in progress on the Smartsound clip) but still get the drop-out.

I had a fade out at the end of the first audio track, but not one at the start of the Smartsound clip. Smartsound does a fade in normally and a fade out at the end of the track.

Smartsound is really a program that changes the parameters of the clip to fit the time.

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.

UnlikelySalsero

Newbie Joined: Apr 24, 2012 12:50 Messages: 45 Offline

Apr 25, 2012 13:12

Carl,

Thanks again, I appreciate the clarification. I do have a fade on my first audio track, I was trying to crossfade the two. I didn't notice the fade up on the Smartsound clip.

I did download your example and I see the title sequence is rendering for you, so either it's my trial copy or something I'm doing. I'm very impressed you took the time to test this!

Side note: My clips are part of my serious hobby, so sometimes I can do something right away, sometimes it waits half a day or so.

PS: This forum is a huge reason to use the product, as a tech guy myself, the value of a community who assists each other is well understood. Thanks again!

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Apr 25. 2012 13:30

PD 12 - 12.0.2930.0
Windows 8 (64 bit)
16 GB RAM

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Apr 25, 2012 13:44

Quote: Carl,

Thanks again, I appreciate the clarification. I do have a fade on my first audio track, I was trying to crossfade the two. I didn't notice the fade up on the Smartsound clip.

I did download your example and I see the title sequence is rendering for you, so either it's my trial copy or something I'm doing. I'm very impressed you took the time to test this!

Side note: My clips are part of my serious hobby, so sometimes I can do something right away, sometimes it waits half a day or so.

PS: This forum is a huge reason to use the product, as a tech guy myself, the value of a community who assists each other is well understood. Thanks again!

As you can see from the 5 second watermark, I did that test using Powerdirector 10 Ultra Trial version.

The computer that I used was a less powerful computer, it is Windows 7 32 bit and a dual core CPU, the Video card is no help at all in rendering, it has 4 GB of Ram, which is the Max for 32 Bit Windows 7.

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.

UnlikelySalsero

Newbie Joined: Apr 24, 2012 12:50 Messages: 45 Offline

Apr 25, 2012 22:28

Quote:
As you can see from the 5 second watermark, I did that test using Powerdirector 10 Ultra Trial version.

The computer that I used was a less powerful computer, it is Windows 7 32 bit and a dual core CPU, the Video card is no help at all in rendering, it has 4 GB of Ram, which is the Max for 32 Bit Windows 7.

FWIW - I updated my video drivers to the latest just in case that was the issue on my end.

Tech support also told me to turn off "preview" while rendering, so I tried that... and they suggested mpg rather than wmv for my output.

Just rendered a version and the title is now working. May have been my video drivers but now I'm up-to-date.

Now I need to work on transitions, titles and stuff, but overall it worked fine. Still getting some one-time, minor dropout during preview, but not after the final output, so that's not a big deal to me.

Still probably something I'm doing, Ill report back and provide a URL (YouTube) after I have a rough with transitions in place.

As I've mentioned before, I greatly appreciate the advice and suggestions are always welcomed.

Don

PS: I have a bunch of questions, but I want to do some more learning, because some of them should become obvious with a little more experience. PD 12 - 12.0.2930.0
Windows 8 (64 bit)
16 GB RAM