I just dowloaded the trial version of Movie Edit Pro 15. I loaded a file and it sounds like we are talking through garbage cans connected by wires. At first I thought the playback speed had been slowed, but it says 1.0. I don't know why or how, this is

natcolley wrote on 8/18/2009, 6:32 PM
I just dowloaded the trial version of Movie Edit Pro 15. I loaded a file and it sounds like we are talking through garbage cans connected by wires.  I have already listened to this clip on other players so the sound is fine.  At first I thought the playback speed had been slowed, but it says 1.0.  I don't know why or how, this is apparently the default setting and I don't see how to fix it. Any advice welciome. Thx.

Comments

ralftaro wrote on 8/19/2009, 3:57 AM
Hi there,

We definitely need more information on the file you're importing. Where does it come from and how did you get it into the computer? What file format is it? What video and audio codecs are involved? If it comes down to it, you could upload and post a sample file here, so I could check the necessary details and test the import here on my end. Thanks.

ralftaro wrote on 8/20/2009, 4:12 AM
Hi again,

Thanks for the detailed update. I'm sure there's enough information here that I can work with.  :-)

Basically, there are different aspects to this issue. Let's start with the sound problem: I understand this occurs when you import the AVI files you have converted via Windows Movie Maker. AVI is a container format and can contain many different video and audio codecs. Not sure how you want about this conversion process and what format you created here, but chances are this is a DV AVI file, in which case I think I know where the sound problem comes from. Try using the following free software (DVdate) to convert these AVI files from DV AVI type 1 to DV AVI type 2:

http://paul.glagla.free.fr/dvdate_en.htm

It doesn't take long. It's basically just a change in the files' header information. When you're done, try importing the new DV AVI type 2 files into Movie Edit Pro. Chances are your sound will be back to normal.

If the files created during the conversion by Windows Movie Maker are not DV AVI, the situation is completely different though. In this case, it might just be some random audio codec that needs an update or doesn't work properly in Movie Edit Pro. This would require its own investigation, but will probably not be necessary (see below).


Ultimately, this whole conversion rigmarole shouldn't be required for the TOD files created by your JVC camera. You're correct in your statement that this is MPEG-2 material. An external AC3 filter won't be necessary since Movie Edit Pro comes with its own Dolby decoder in version 15. So, what we have here is full-HD MPEG-2 material, which is basically supported by the program, albeit you might want to make sure to use the "Plus" version of MEP 15 for HD editing. The files should just show up in the mediapool without any renaming, too. If not, I guess you could try renaming the extension to MPG after all. Not sure about the MPEG-2 activation status on your system. Can you import other MPEG-2 materials or burn DVDs currently? This would mean the codec is already active.

A few more tips: After successfully importing the files (i.e. the original, unconverted TOD source files), right-click on the video mode in timeline view and pick the first option to recreate the frame table. Do this for every imported file. Also, make sure your system meets the requirements for HD editing in the program and has a dedicated graphics card with ideally at least 512 MB video RAM. Go into the program settings to "Display options" and make sure you're in the hardware acceleration video mode. Acceleration for hi-res MPEG material should be enabled as well. Make sure you got the current patch for Movie Edit Pro 15 installed. These things should also take care of any editing performance and sync problems you might be experiencing.

I hope this helps.

natcolley wrote on 8/21/2009, 8:58 PM
Ralftaro,
You are generous, a genius, and a gentleman (or woman). Everything now looks and flows as I expected it to. Thank you.