Sound misaligned from video on disc creation

Richb33025

Newbie Joined: Oct 20, 2008 01:10 Messages: 12 Offline

Solved by

Jul 05, 2009 02:17

I'm creating a surprise "this-is-your-life" type video for my in-laws' 50th anniversary, complete with head-shot interviews of everyone in the family, pans of old family photos and a great soundtrack. It has really turned out well.

It's also two hours and seventeen minutes long.

Two months ago, when I started production, I posted a question to the members of this forum, who helped me figure out a few other issues. As two members named Cranston and Tony suggested, I built this documentary in small pieces -- each section anywhere from three to ten minutes long. Each section came out great.

But here's the problem: when I try to create the disc, in some of the tracks (not all), the sound is a second or two off. Really annoying when you're watching a head-shot interview, right?

I've gone back and checked the original mpeg2 files, and they're fine. It's somewhere in the encoding process of "Create Disc" that the problem arises.

FYI, so that I could fit the entire film onto one DVD, I selected "DVD SP" in the preferences box, instead of "DVD HQ." (When we surprise them with this, we're going to be watching on a 64" plasma TV. I'm really impressed with the quality of the DVD SP setting... for a secondary setting, it's much crisper than I thought it would be.)

By the way, PowerDirector, while it has its quirks, is a GREAT program. As you experts know, this can be a love-hate relationship.

I have more than 500 hours into this project. (My in-laws are two of the most amazing people I've ever met... totally worth it.) I've REALLY enjoyed doing it.

But now I'm at the final step of this long journey, and I can't get the audio to come out right. And my deadline is approaching. Any suggestions, O Great PowerDirector Wizards?

Thanks in advance.

-- Rich

ynotfish

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

Jul 05, 2009 03:16

Rich!

You're going to need intermission at the tea-party premiere... maybe a couple! Two hours & 17 minutes. I guess it's in distinct parts, so that won't be too hard to organise. You don't want them nodding off in the middle of viewing all your hard work (and a labour of love, at that)!

Now - onto your immediate problem. I've produced similar little flicks for family members who've reached various milestones (including the final one), but none of them has ever broken the 12 minute barrier. I can't say I've ever had problems with sound sync - so I've never had to solve that for myself. I don't have a definitive answer.

Rich - am I correct in assuming that the sound for each clip is distinct from each of the other clips... or is there a soundtrack (music, for example) that runs through the whole thing?

You say each of the original mpegs play fine, with no sync issues - the problem only occurs when you burn the final project to disc. The first thing I would try is burning the project to a DVD folder - then using dedicated burn software to make the disc. This has been suggested in many threads, though not as a solution to your particular problem.

The two most often recommended are Nero & imgburn. The latter is free at http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

Rich - try that and see whether it corrects the problem.

Cheers -

Tony

Edit: Rich - I was just thinking - are you just going to show the video at the function or distribute copies to family members? There are different alternatives to disc burning (which always results in loss of quality).

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Jul 05. 2009 03:24

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James W

Senior Contributor Location: Lakeland, FL USA Joined: Aug 18, 2008 10:36 Messages: 911 Offline

Jul 05, 2009 09:48

Here's a few questions? What format is the original video (MPEG2, AVI, AVCHD, ect.)? What profile did you use to render the individual parts? After how long does it take for the sound to get out of sync? What format is the sound?

Maybe you can combine the clips and render in a higher quality format first (MPEG2 BD) and then render that to DVD SP.

Another option is to render each mini project file in DVD SP profile and then combine all of those together and use SVRT to combine those.

I'm not sure if any of this is helpful, but basically you should try to isolate the sections which give you problems if possible. This would be easier if the problem always occurs after some set amount of time (30 minutes for example). You could try combining them one at a time until the problem starts.

As Tony suggested, imgburn is good burning software and often works better than PD. You may want to use DVD-RWs if possible to save on burning coasters until you get this resolved.

Good luck.
-----------------
Edit,

Tony asked about sound tracks. If the problem occurs when a sound track starts you can try rendering first without the soundtrack and then add that at the end.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at Jul 05. 2009 09:54

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Compaq__

Newbie Joined: Jul 21, 2009 16:39 Messages: 7 Offline

Aug 04, 2009 16:41

Did you ever get this fixed? I've got the same problem.