SmartSound Issues (Revisited)

ynotfish

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

Solved by

Apr 06, 2011 04:59

Got fed up with trying to find the other discussions... they were under subject headers like "Newbie Questions"... so - new topic, but same discussion.

Previously reported SmartSound issues... Phil had trouble with "Pavane". Huntley had trouble with "Feature Presentation". The problem was no audio in produced file. I tested their issue here and it was replicated.

Those two tracks are part of the "Core Foundations" update, which includes:
Clear Vision
Feature Presentation
Future Progress
Global Vibes
Introspective
Julie's Place
Pavane
Run Down
Super Logo
Wild Chase

I've just:
1. Completely uninstalled PD9 & all its little friends (including SmartSound QuickTracks)
2. Re-installed PD9 (and associates)... PD9.0.0.2316
3. Updated QuickTracks to version 5.1.8.0
4. Re-run the production tests with samples of every Core Foundations track
5. Re-installed some of my purchased albums & rebuilt SmartSound database
6. Updated PD9 to build 9.0.9.2702
7. Re-run the production tests with samples of every Core Foundations track
8. Sworn a lot!

Results of tests Core Foundations tracks with PD9.0.0.2316 & PD9.0.0.2702 are the same:
NO AUDIO IN PRODUCED FILES
- there were occasional exceptions to this, but I'm way too bored to list them here!

All tracks from Full Spectrum (part of PD's basic installation) & all purchased tracks behave as expected. Audio is present in produced files.

Yet Bubba & Dafydd have produced files with audio present from the same Core Foundations tracks. Very odd!

I'm off to delete a pile of files with no audio!

Cheers - Tony
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BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 07:12

I have files in BOLD, and migrated, that I do not own, and files NOT in BOLD, not migrated, that I DO own. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

garioch7

Senior Contributor Location: Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada Joined: Feb 07, 2011 06:45 Messages: 852 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 08:50

Tony: As I indicated in a post yesterday, I am having intermittent success in getting Pavane (Vow, Wow, whatever) to play as background for a 20 second intro clip, with only a title on the Title track and an image on the V1 track. I pre-produce that to .mpg2, and MOST of the time, there will be audio on the .mpg2 produced file. Some days, no. It seems related to how you hold your nose and which day of the week it is.

I then put the pre-produced .mpg2 in my timeline, add my movie, closing credits and a .wav audio file, plus image, and things are good to go.

All of my purchased SS tracks work fine. Frank at SS Tech Support is investigating and since I haven't heard from him in almost two weeks, I am assuming that they are still scratching their heads because this is some kind of elusive and intermittent bug (worst kind). SS Tech Support is very good, so I am confident that the issue is not forgotten, but some bugs take a long time to track down, identify, and terminate.

I don't know why Barry has a scrambled SS Sound clip list. I have not encountered that problem ... yet.

Have a great day, and thanks Tony, for ALL of your efforts. We shall overcome ...

Regards,
-Phil

donbroadband

Member Location: Caldy, Wirral UK Joined: Aug 06, 2009 06:04 Messages: 119 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 10:36

Hi, As I had no trouble making this work - it is obvious I am doing something wrong (or at least different!)
I simply put a JPG in the timeline then added the Smartsound for Pavane and Clearsound - no problems. I am using the following versions of PD9 contents and Powerdirector:

PDR9_Ultra64_2701_VDE110120-01
PDR9_ContentPack_1519_VDE100917-03

DXdiag is as follows

Regards,

Don

PS I actually played the produced file with Splash Pro

Filename	DxDiagdon.txt	Download
Description
Filesize	36 Kbytes
Downloaded:	491 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 06. 2011 10:37

Gigabyte I7/4940 O/C 4.3, Noctua Cooler 10GB DDR3, 4 x 1TB, 1TB SSD, Geoforce GTX660 TI 8500W PSU, Windows 10 Pro 64bit.

Bubba in TX

Senior Contributor Location: Central Texas Joined: Dec 12, 2009 21:32 Messages: 1332 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 10:52

Tony,

Just to make sure I was not completely goofier than normal, I made another one with two of the Pavane sound tracks in it.

Here is the result....

I will do the same for the other files you listed but I will only respond if I get the same results you got....

Filename	Smart Sound Test.wmv	Download
Description
Filesize	1661 Kbytes
Downloaded:	1614 time(s)

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Apr 06. 2011 10:53

__________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Tutorials
PDtoots PowerDirector Tutorials

**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

donbroadband

Member Location: Caldy, Wirral UK Joined: Aug 06, 2009 06:04 Messages: 119 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 11:53

Hi Bubba - truly beautiful, I produced an MPG file but my video was only A JPG of a 1940 Flying standard - still like you I had full sound.

Don Gigabyte I7/4940 O/C 4.3, Noctua Cooler 10GB DDR3, 4 x 1TB, 1TB SSD, Geoforce GTX660 TI 8500W PSU, Windows 10 Pro 64bit.

ynotfish

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

Apr 06, 2011 12:42

Phil, Bubba & Don -

Thank you for checking it out & reporting your findings. It's an odd one!

I actually believed that - after all the uninstalling & re-installing - it would have put itself right on my PC. Not to be. I'm just going to leave it in my "too hard basket" for now.

Cheers - Tony

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garioch7

Senior Contributor Location: Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada Joined: Feb 07, 2011 06:45 Messages: 852 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 12:59

Tony: I think you are right to put this one aside. Thanks, Bubba and Don for your testing. I think that the elusive and inconsistent bug must only manifest itself with certain hardware/software configurations. What is really baffling me is why it works most of the time on my computer, and then other days, not!

I am going to wait for a reply from SS Tech Support. There is no point in worrying about it, since I can't figure it out and can't do anything about it.

Nice video, Bubba. Have a great day, all, and thank you for your help.

Regards,
-Phil

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 13:11

I did many clean installs of SS, from PD7 thru 9 to see if my computer, or my installation, or SS module was a t fault.
My conclusion is, if SS is not working as it should, you have properly installed it.
Oh, and I just did the test on Pavane and Feature Presentation, to MPEG2. They did not end up in the production.
I put 1 in the mic track, and the other in the music track.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 06. 2011 13:26

HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

garioch7

Senior Contributor Location: Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada Joined: Feb 07, 2011 06:45 Messages: 852 Offline

Apr 06, 2011 13:17

Barry & Tony: Not sure what isn't working, but something isn't. I just started my next movie, stuck in my image on V1, title on the T track, and 20 sec. of Pavane Vow. Produced to .mpeg2. Tried to play it - no sound.

Went back to the project, deleted Pavane, stretched it to 20 minutes, realized my mistake, and shortened it back down from the usual default duration of 00:01:00:02 to 00:00:20:00. Then I went back and produced, but before I did, I changed the default produced filename from "produce.mpg" to "pacintro.mpg." The resulting produced 20 second file had sound.

We're grasping at straws here. This crittter is elusive and temperamental. Any ways, I can get on with my next one hour of converted camcorder tape and produce DVDs for the family.

Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Apr 07, 2011 11:19

item 188 - SS track issue.

Barry's 178 - reported as a eBug for R&D to resolve.

Thanks
Dafydd.

donbroadband

Member Location: Caldy, Wirral UK Joined: Aug 06, 2009 06:04 Messages: 119 Offline

Apr 09, 2011 05:53

Dafydd,
Is it possible to obtain/access a list ot these items/suspected bugs - including when they have been or are forecast to be cleared please.

Regards

Don Gigabyte I7/4940 O/C 4.3, Noctua Cooler 10GB DDR3, 4 x 1TB, 1TB SSD, Geoforce GTX660 TI 8500W PSU, Windows 10 Pro 64bit.

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Apr 09, 2011 10:01

No Don, not possible.
Thanks
Dafydd

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Jun 21, 2011 07:53

Item 188.
Please can a repeat test on this be made with build v2930.

I have a report that R&D are working on the issue but no mention of a 2930 fix. Barry's SS issue has been fixed.

Diolch
Dafydd

garioch7

Senior Contributor Location: Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada Joined: Feb 07, 2011 06:45 Messages: 852 Offline

Jun 21, 2011 08:07

Dafydd:

I just finished a two-hour DVD-SP video. I had four SS clips in it. Using Build 2930. The first three, including Pavane, Blue Danube, and Peer Gynt played fine. The video was composed of just a music track with SS clips and .wav/.wma files, plus the Video 1 track with .mpeg2 files converted from VHS (home movies). At 1:51 of the video, I inserted an SS clip (Pachelbel Canon) of a duration of 1:05:03. I noticed that PD9 seemed to stutter on it when played from the timeline, but if paused, it would "catch up" and play alright.

Produced the film to DVD-SP (.mpeg2). Lots of transitions and Fix/Enhance tools (1970s vintage 8mm film converted to VHS back in the mid-90s), plus subtitles (about 45) and three chapters. Everything else played fine, but no sound for the Pachelbel Canon. I will go into Sonicfire Pro 5 later today, and export a .wav track of the required duration and produce again. I am sure that will work fine - don't have time right now to do it - have an appointment. It certainly has worked flawlessly for me in the past (thanks, Frank).

So it would appear that 2930 has not cured all of the problems with incorporating SoundSound tracks in PD9. Still it seems that PD9 2930 is behaving better than previous builds with SS. CL is heading in the right direction ... now if they could only get it entirely right!

Have a great day, Dafydd. Sorry to bear bad news ... for all of us.

Regards,
-Phil Windows 10 Pro x64
Dell XPS 8930
Intel CoreT i7 (4.6 GHz)
32 GB DDR4-2666 RAM
1 TB PCIe -x4 SSD
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
PD14 Ultimate x64, 4207
CD4 Ultra and AD6 Ultra
Bleeping Computer Malware Response Instructor

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Jun 21, 2011 08:27

Thanks Phil, I have written up your report
You have a great day too, wet and overcast here.

garioch7

Senior Contributor Location: Port Hood, Nova Scotia, Canada Joined: Feb 07, 2011 06:45 Messages: 852 Offline

Jun 21, 2011 14:41

Dafydd: Thanks for taking note of my observations and passing them on. I did not try just producing a music (.wav) file within PD9 as I had intermittent problems even doing that with 2701. SF Pro eliminates the uncertainty. I used SF this afternoon to export the Pachelbel Canon 1:05 .wav file and re-produced my video with just that on the music track in the correct position and the previously produced video. The result was perfect as always.

On my next DVD, I will try to see if PD9 will work consistently to produce just an SS sound file. I will report back. Give me a few days though, for I have to make a special edition of the DVD I just produced for family friends who just want clips of themselves back in the early 70s.

Lots of rain, drizzle, and wind here too, and it is supposed to be the first day of summer. Worst spring I have ever seen in these parts for rain and cold. I am soon going to have to get an amphibious lawn tractor for the lower parts of the estate - it has become a bog down there.

Off topic - sorry!

Have a great day, Dafydd.

Regards,
-Phil Windows 10 Pro x64
Dell XPS 8930
Intel CoreT i7 (4.6 GHz)
32 GB DDR4-2666 RAM
1 TB PCIe -x4 SSD
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
PD14 Ultimate x64, 4207
CD4 Ultra and AD6 Ultra
Bleeping Computer Malware Response Instructor

ynotfish

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

Jun 21, 2011 15:53

Quote: ... now if they could only get it entirely right!

Hear! Hear!

Dafydd - though a few initial tests with 2930 were successful, the latest ones weren't. Completely inconsistent results.

I carried out a series of tests with the Core Foundations tracks where I had 4 x 30 second samples lined up together

Some tracks showed up in produced files with audio. Some didn't.
The same tracks the didn't seem to "work" (eg. Clear Vision) would sometimes produce audio if rendered as a single track or the track order was reshuffled.

I carried out similar tests with purchased tracks & had no issues.

Cheers - Tony

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Bubba in TX

Senior Contributor Location: Central Texas Joined: Dec 12, 2009 21:32 Messages: 1332 Offline

Jun 21, 2011 18:32

Tony.... your 64 bit right? I tried your sample several times and I did not get the skipped audio files..... and the clips I rendered to m2ts also played the audio with no issues in the clips.

I am 32 bit.....


Filename	Clipboard01.jpg	Download
Description
Filesize	18 Kbytes
Downloaded:	528 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 21. 2011 18:32

__________________________________________
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Tutorials
PDtoots PowerDirector Tutorials

**NOTICE**
When you are asked to provide a DXDIAG you go the following link and do part "B". Your posted specs are NOT what we are looking for as they tell us nothing. The specs on the box of your computer mean nothing. The DXDIAG shows us how your computer is configured as it runs.

DXDIAG Link

ynotfish

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

Jun 21, 2011 18:48

Yep Bubba - 64-bit

One test I did with 4 Core Foundations tracks produced an 18MB colour board with no sound at all!

The mystery here is that - by re-ordering the tracks - the output changes. Tracks that didn't "play" do, & vice versa. Like I said - inconsistent. If my car behaves inconsistently, I say it doesn't work.

Still - I'm really pleased to hear that it's still working on your set up.

Cheers - Tony
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