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Hey Alan,
Great news. Thanks so much for this info. It's indeed interesting ffmpeg's codec can manage such a compressed output bit rate with good results.
I am going to try one simple video editing project with Edius to see how the workflow feels. Because we produce a lot of educational videos, such as the one I had so much trouble with (https://youtu.be/onuVjhZ_MWs), and we work with a local training institute, we are able to purchase with the educational discount. That is certainly well worth the cost for the audio quality alone, but also for the caliber of editing I have experienced so far.
I do like PD, and hope they get their act together with this issue, and also the audio sync while editing problem... another serious shortcoming that makes OF a no-go for my kind of work.
Matthew
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Quick update: I've found that I can use ffmpeg which appears to do a good job.
I output audio only from PD14 as a WAV and used ffmpeg to substitute it for the distorted audio in the MP4 file, using the following command which I found on another forum using Google:
ffmpeg.exe -i input_video.mp4 -i replacement_audio.wav -vcodec copy -map 0:0 -map 1:0 output.mp4
Many thanks for your help.
Alan
Interesting. Does ffmep compress the replaced audio also? If so, at what bit rate? Or does it somehow embed an uncompressed wav file?
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After a month's use, you may find the cost is well worth it. Not having to struggle with audio synch (!!!), faster editing and applying of effects, no worries with mysteriously reversed cross-fades, better audio and output options and so on, might sway you.
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I was pleased to find this thread because I've had exactly the same problem with PD14. In my case it seems to be particularly solo wind instruments that suffer the most distortion. Producing the video as WMV seems to cure it but I would prefer to use MP4 if I can.
Is there any software that will allow me to substitute the audio later without losing video quality - i.e. without having to re-encode the video?
Alan
I downloaded the trial version of Edius and it created a perfect sounding MP4, using the MP4 video file from PD15, and an uncompressed WAV file I created in post. But the trial only works for a month.
I don't know if Edius re-encodes the video... It did take a long time, but it still looks fine. So I think it does not re-encode anything that's unchanged.
I did find some freeware which allows you to change the audio track in an MP4, file but never tried it. You can Google as I did, and please let us know if anything works.
Hopefully Cyberlink will improve their audio output in a future update.
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Have you heard anything more from Cyberlink?
BTW, awesome video. I can see (and hear) why the audio quality is so important to your productions!
Peace
Yes, they did reply and confirmed the audio was degraded significantly upon output. They have refunded my upgrade purchase, and they say they plan to look into it. Hopefully things will improve in the future.
I'm glad you liked the video. Indeed, any significant degradation not only results in less pleasing audio, but also skews the binaural imaging.
Fingers crossed for better audio in a future patch.
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The problem has been addressed. They are aware that audio is degraded in this version of PowerDirector, and the problem has been sent up the chain for attention. If and when it is resolved remains in question. Meanwhile, I finished the editing in PowerDirector, but the used the 30-day trial version of Edius to marry the video and audio together in an mp4 file. I just uploaded that to YouTube.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=onuVjhZ_MWs&feature=youtu.be
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Hello mlien,
CyberLink is now aware of your issue and have requested a sample of your video for testing, via the customer support system. Please help to provide if you can.
Cheers
PowerDirector Modeator
Thanks for the response. I'll be uploading soon. HOpe it's helpful.
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.postTitle {margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;} .postBody {margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; }
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Just curious ... have you tested Edius? It took a look at their website and
it seems pretty pricey in comparison. Plus, PD has some other nice tools to go
along with it.
But I could be swayed ...
Edius is available as a free download, with a 30 day trial. I've heard it
runs well even on slower notebooks. I'll be testing that out.
As for the cost comparison, since I work with an instructional institute,
the educational download for Edius Pro is very reasonably priced. But I feel the
list price is reasonable if it works as advertised.
The video department of the agency I work with in Taipei, which is also the
largest marketing firm in Taiwan, uses Edius exclusively. They do very pro work
on that. I used Premiere Pro often in the past, and while it outputs great, I am
not a fan of Adobe's clinical, unfriendly interface. Edius seems much more
friendly (maybe along the lines of PD).
Besides the poor audio output in PD, there are many other things that
irritate me:
- It runs very slow on my i7 notebook
- The audio often does not synch with the video when editing (extremely
frustrating, since version 13 no change)
- A constant nag when opening the program about recovering a past
project
- The creation of custom output profiles (even though no changes were made)
after inspecting output settings, simply because I pressed "OK" instead of
"cancel" (I now have 8 custom profiles with nothing customized at all)
- The nag about merging media every time I open a new project...
But the deal breaker is the poor audio output which has worsened in version
15 (compared to 13), and also the audio synch problems when editing. Customer
Support has just replied, saying audio has actually improved since version 13. I
can't understand how they can say that. But I'll send them a packed project and
see what comes of that.
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This is a great forum.
Thanks to you all for confirming this issue. I was last at version 13, and expected a nice healthy leap to better quality and UI with 15. It's a shame that audio took a step backwards in 14 and 15.
I produce videos which demonstrate binaural sound, and so to have audio take a hit like this is a serious problem.
I could indeed use 13 for final rendering, especially since I do a final audio post in Nuendo. But my version 13 seems to have been uninstalled when 15 installed, and I am not sure where to get that original 13 install file from.
But ya know what's equally as saddening, is that Customer Service never replied to my message about this. I am feeling compelled to request a refund and head to Edius.
Thanks again to you all. You would be one BIG reason to stay on board.
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I just upgraded from a previous version of PowerDirector. In that earlier version (13), there were more options for audio output settings and output file types (MOV, for example).
In this version, the best video output file types (e.g. H264 and H265) offer a best-scenario audio setting of 384 bit rate AAC compression. That is POOR audio quality! There is no longer any option for uncompressed WAV audio, or even for a better compression setting.
It seems PD15 uses cheap codecs that yield poor results with audio. The soundtrack for this video I am working on includes a flute solo. This always distorts after the video is rendered. It is not distorted in the original soundtrack.
Will you upgrade PowerDirector15 for better audio? If not, I want my money back.
In this era of video and audio advancements, it is foolish not to allow high quality audio. You don't even meet YouTube's recommendation for audio. Very disappointed.
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