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I looked more closely at the output from ffmpeg. The original audio as output by PD is 384k AAC. The replacement file is 1536k WAV. But ffmpeg saves the output as 128k AAC. So I started investigating ffmpeg's options. I found that changing the audio codec from libvo_aacenc to aac (which is describes as 'experimental') did the trick and the output now no longer has distortion, artefacts or AGC effects. It still encodes at 128k and although there are options to change the bitrate I got a "sample rate not supported" error for everyting I tried.

However, the fact that ffmpeg can produce a good result at 128k that PD can't manage at 384k suggests that there is something very seriously wrong with PD's audio output algorithms.

The command I'm now using is:

ffmpeg.exe -i input_video.mp4 -i replacement_audio.wav -vcodec copy -acodec aac -strict -2 -map 0:0 -map 1:0 output.mp4

Alan

Dear Alan,

thank you so much for sharing your workaround. I had the same audio problems and was already thinking of throwing PD15 away but I was lucky to find your solution with works for me as well.

I even managed to get better audio bitrate by using the -b:a 384k option. Hope this helps.

Thank you one more time for this!

Mikhail

Quote I even managed to get better audio bitrate by using the -b:a 384k option. Hope this helps.

Gosh, yes it does. I thought I had tried this but obviously I hadn't. Many thanks Mikhail



Alan

Quote

Quote I even managed to get better audio bitrate by using the -b:a 384k option. Hope this helps.

Gosh, yes it does. I thought I had tried this but obviously I hadn't. Many thanks Mikhail



Alan

EDIT - I found the hotfix thread and this does seem to help. Will have to test out some different scenarios.

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/51067.page


I'm glad I found this thread. I purchased PD15 today and was confused by the poor audio quality for mp4 files. So I decided to create MKV using LPMC, which sound fine in VLC, but after uploading to YouTube the sound was all distored. So I took the MKV file converted to MP4 using Handbrake. That's a lot of work to get a file up into YouTube with quality sound.

The videos being created are those from a Sony FDR-AX33 with sound from a digital piano being feed into it. I sometimes replace that sound from what Pianoteq recorded while playing. Either way, original sound, or replaced sound, creating an MP4 from PD15 sounds horrible.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong

Quote

Quote

Quote I even managed to get better audio bitrate by using the -b:a 384k option. Hope this helps.

Gosh, yes it does. I thought I had tried this but obviously I hadn't. Many thanks Mikhail



Alan

EDIT - I found the hotfix thread and this does seem to help. Will have to test out some different scenarios.

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/51067.page


I'm glad I found this thread. I purchased PD15 today and was confused by the poor audio quality for mp4 files. So I decided to create MKV using LPMC, which sound fine in VLC, but after uploading to YouTube the sound was all distored. So I took the MKV file converted to MP4 using Handbrake. That's a lot of work to get a file up into YouTube with quality sound.

The videos being created are those from a Sony FDR-AX33 with sound from a digital piano being feed into it. I sometimes replace that sound from what Pianoteq recorded while playing. Either way, original sound, or replaced sound, creating an MP4 from PD15 sounds horrible.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong

Very glad I found this thread too and especially the link you posted in your edited reply. I've also been recording music but the sound has been sourced from some pro sample libraries. The original AAC encoding by PD15 had me in shock - awful dynamics, lost transients and mud everywhere. Thanks to your link, much of the destructive compression has been eliminated and now I can focus on creating music again!

So big thanks from Sydney, Aust - Dave

PS. I'm a cycling muso too unless I'm reading too much into "bSharpCyclist"!

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I even managed to get better audio bitrate by using the -b:a 384k option. Hope this helps.

I realize this is a rather old thread, but for those who are searching for answers, I'll add my advice. There are serious weaknesses/problems in how PD handles audio. If you are getting an audible level of distortion, make sure you are producing a clean audio file OUTSIDE of PowerDirector at 48 kHz. If you supply a compressed audio or an uncompressed WAV at CD standard (44.1 kHz), PD will have toe convert it and that's a big problem.

Also make sure it is mastered with a hard limiter and stay below -14 integrated LUFS.

Even with a pristine audio mastered as described above, the audio out of PD (at least H.264 and H.265) is substandard. You might have to take the volume down to -20 LUFS to get it to an acceptable level. Even then, it may be a problem.

Quote


I realize this is a rather old thread, but for those who are searching for answers, I'll add my advice. There are serious weaknesses/problems in how PD handles audio. If you are getting an audible level of distortion, make sure you are producing a clean audio file OUTSIDE of PowerDirector at 48 kHz. If you supply a compressed audio or an uncompressed WAV at CD standard (44.1 kHz), PD will have toe convert it and that's a big problem.

Also make sure it is mastered with a hard limiter and stay below -14 integrated LUFS.

Even with a pristine audio mastered as described above, the audio out of PD (at least H.264 and H.265) is substandard. You might have to take the volume down to -20 LUFS to get it to an acceptable level. Even then, it may be a problem.

Good advice and thanks for sharing. I usually do my audio work in Cubase Pro and clean it using the latest Izotope RX. After forking out so much for those products I always expect the final result to be worth it so your advice is much appreciated!

Cheers and thank you from Aust,
David