[CONFIRMED ISSUE]: MultiCam Designer doesn't recognize LPCM audio

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Solved by

May 01, 2014 02:27

[b]Fellow Forum Dwellers - I need your assitance!

I recorded my son's high school concert this evening and used 2 cameras. My stationary camera can only record in Dolby Digital (and 30p) while my main camera was set to record in LPCM (at 60p).

Each clip plays fine in the media library and on the timeline, but once I've imported the clips into the MultiCam Designer the LPCM clips have no sound and the cameras can't be synched using audio. In fact, MCD ends up staggering the clips! (see attached screenshots)

I haven't used the MultiCam Designer very often, and the last time I used it all the clips had DD audio. Is this a new issue that somehow appeared in one of the recent patches, or have LPCM clips never worked in the MultiCam room?

I'd hate to have to re-encode the 2+ hours of LPCM clips to substitute DD audio, but I'm worried that it'll be a nightmare to keep the two tracks synchronized while I'm editing if I keep them separate. Any other thoughts or ideas? VLC doesn't play the audio on the LPCM clips on my system either...

I have two test clips attached in a ZIP file to make it easy to test on other systems. Thanks!

Filename	DCM test clips.zip	Download
Description	DD and LPCM test clips (.mts)
Filesize	16738 Kbytes
Downloaded:	559 time(s)


Filename	MCD sync order.png	Download
Description	"sync'd" order!
Filesize	121 Kbytes
Downloaded:	168 time(s)


Filename	MCD start order.png	Download
Description	starting order
Filesize	146 Kbytes
Downloaded:	166 time(s)

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at May 06. 2014 15:31

Carl312

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

May 01, 2014 09:37

After Extracting your LPCM test.MTS it does not play sound on any of my players.

However it has sound in Cyberlink MediaEspresso and in Powerdirector 12 Ultra.

I have not tried in MultiCam Designer.

I would recommend you do a file conversion Change the audio to something else.
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.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

May 01, 2014 12:48

Hi optodata -

Since you've invested so much time to testing various aspects of PD, I thought you deserved a bit back!

Here, your "LPCM test.MTS" plays correctly (with audio) in SplashPro & MPC-HC, but no audio in VLC or WMP. It also plays properly in PD, as you know.

A funny thing happened in MCD! With "LCPM test" as Camera 2 - no audio. When I removed "DD test" & moved "LPCM test" to Camera 1 it played the audio correctly!

I also found the same thing you did - after audio analysis, MCD staggered the two clips just as in your screenshot. That's about as useful as an ashtray on a motor bike!

Screen capture attached, if you're interested.

Cheers - Tony

Filename	OptoTest.wmv	Download
Description
Filesize	1553 Kbytes
Downloaded:	565 time(s)

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

1Nina

Senior Contributor Location: Norway, 50km southwest of Oslo Joined: Oct 08, 2008 04:12 Messages: 1070 Offline

May 01, 2014 13:06

I’m far from an expert on audio, heaven knows I’ve spent a whole lot of time trying to get an acceptable grip on it.

Both your clips played inside PD (timeline) and in MultiCam Designer
(right from download).
The LPCM had the best sound.

Neither WMP or VLC would play the LPCM.

Tony, it's a ditto :

A funny thing happened in MCD! With "LCPM test" as Camera 2 - no audio. When I removed "DD test" & moved "LPCM test" to Camera 1 it played the audio correctly!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at May 01. 2014 13:12

Just something.
https://www.petitpoisvideo.com

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

May 01, 2014 13:35

Quote: A funny thing happened in MCD! With "LCPM test" as Camera 2 - no audio. When I removed "DD test" & moved "LPCM test" to Camera 1 it played the audio correctly!

Tony, you're on to something here! If I import both clips to the Camera 1 track, one after the other, I can hear the audio from each clip. However, If I move EITHER clip to Camera 2, 3 or 4, that clip has no audio! Essentially, only clips in the Cam 1 track have payable audio!

How can this be?

Well, I did some experimenting and found that the audio in MCD only comes from the track listed in the "Audio source:" box. If I change that to Camera 2, then only the camera 2 audio plays. That at least explains why we could hear the audio when the LPCM clip was in Camera 1.

It doesn't explain why we're not able to sync the tracks, which is my original problem. As Carl suggested, I produced the 2 hours of LPCM video into a single 22GB .m2ts file. Using SVRT I was able to do that in about 7 minutes, so that was a relief

When I put that clip (which now has DD audio) in Camera 1 and the 15 DD clips from the other camcorder in the Camera 2 track, I can sync them, so we know that MCD works as expected if all the clips have DD audio.

I then put a copy of DD test in the Camera 1 and another copy in the Camera 2 track, and the Audio Analysis worked even if I staggered the clips out on the timeline. It worked with the audio source set to Camera 1 and Camera 2. In other words, everything worked perfectly.

When I tried to repeat that with two copies of LPCM test, nothing worked and the clips ALWAYS ended up with the 2nd clip starting where the first ended. It didn't matter which audio source I used, and even though I could hear the audio from the selected track, MCD couldn't sync the clips so it appears that MCD is not able to sync LPCM clips

I will submit a bug report as this seems to be a clear issue. Thanks to Carl312, ynotfish and 1Nina for your feedback

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

May 06, 2014 15:30

Here's an update: Cyberlink tech support has confirmed the issue and has referred it to R&D. Thanks everyone for helping me track down what was going on.

BrodieJones14

Newbie Joined: Jul 30, 2013 06:23 Messages: 2 Offline

Jun 21, 2014 02:04

Hi. Not sure if I have followed and understood all your problems. But I had a similar issue. You can only sync LPCM audio files if they are the same Frequency. e.g. if one camera or audio device is recording at 48Khz and another at 44Khz they wont sync. You have to convert one of them. The bit depth is not important. Just the frequency. Spent ages on it. Drove me nuts! It's still not easy if you have to convert one or more though...

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jun 21, 2014 02:16

Hi Brodie

Have you downloaded the latest patch from the "Support" link above? V2930 has fixed the issue I had and it may help with yours.

If you like, you can attach a couple of short clips from your two cameras with the different LPCM settings and I can test them on my system.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 21. 2014 02:31