MEP 17 Plus: Audio Will Not Play In The Middle of My Imported .vob

jajedare wrote on 5/20/2012, 6:27 PM

I have successfully used MEP 15 for years.  Now I am using MEP 17 Plus on a new Sony Vaio, Windows 7, dedicated video cards, etc. It has much more power and RAM than my old computer.  The problem is that I have been struggling for a week trying to get this program to work.  I am trying to import and edit digital video.  It will play fine outside of the MEP 17 program, so I know my video is not corrupt.  I have also re-imported it several times and re-copied it to my hard drive several times.  Also copying several different files just in case one file really was bad.  Same problem happens everytime.

Problem:  If I play the video on the timeline from the beginning it plays fine and the audio is perfect.  If I try play it from any other place in the clip on the timeline it either has no audio at all, or audio is playing from some other point in the video, but not mathcing the video at all.  It makes editing impossible.

I've unistalled/reinstalled MEP.  I've deleted video files/ re-imported files.  Re-updated the software.  I'm really getting aggrivated because I can't get the thing to work.  Also, it prompted me to unlock codec for Dolby, which I did.   I used MEP 15 successfully, but I can't get even one small project done on this newer software/computer.

Any advice would be appreciated.  I'm ready to go back to my old computer and MEP 15.

Comments

gandjcarr wrote on 5/24/2012, 12:03 PM

Hello,  I have to ask this question because it was part of the original post.  Why do you need to edit a .vob file directly?  The .vob files are actually DVD files which are huge by comparison to other file types and as such consume a huge amount of computer resource to either edit, or play back in any video editor.  Why not convert that file to something more friendly like .avi and edit it from there?

I will use and example of a 40 minute .vob file.  The file size of this .vob file is 2,390 mega bites.  When converted to a .avi format, the file size is 258 mega bites, because the conversion process has removed all of the data needed for a DVD and provided just the video and audio content.  So the file size is almost 10 times smaller which means much less computer resource to deal with the file, editing, and playback and rendering time.  (which is why you either see a delay or no audio when you try to play back the video).

Even though the "P" in MEP stands for professional, you need to understand that the term "professional" in this case is relative and relates to a consumer product, not a professional product as in a high end video work station.  I use MEP MX Pro on my home computer to edit and create personal and client videos created on home or personal cameras.  To me this is the best home editing software on the market today.  If you want to edit at the real professional level, then you need a computer system that will cost about 20 or 30 times what you already have and software that will cost at least 10 times the price of MEP.

A lot of what some call techno babble, but bottom line is convert your .vob file to .avi or some other format that is more consumer friendly and you will be much happier with the results you get.

I welcome comments, additional clarification or to simply tell me I have missed the mark with my answer.  

I hope this helps!

jajedare wrote on 5/24/2012, 12:21 PM

What you say makes perfect sense.  I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but in my old version on my old computer I do recall always editing .avi files.  This time I just wasn't thinking and just did a straight import.  I don't really recall making the extra step to convert the files to .avi in the past though. Seems like they just showed up that way.  User error this time I'm sure.  I am very excited to give this a try.  Thank you so very much!