(The thread title is deliberately cryptic!)

but I wanted to seek the wisdom of fellow-users of this software about a very strange problem!

I recently needed to digitise, for a client, a VHS tape. Following the demise of my computer which included a Canopus ACEDVio PCI card and the fact that the new computer has no PCI slots, I decided to test the Magix, (Black) USB Video Convertor. After several tests using some of the different output options offered by the convertor (initially I tried the .avi user defined option, it produced files recorded at 124mbps(!) but these did not export very well at all to DVD [the intended final output]; I then tried "MPG-DVD" option, c.4kbps, but the quality was rather low, to say the least.) The other options seemed to offer no real "improvement" over this MPG output.

So, being the owner of Topaz Labs Video AI (which I find one of the best softwares for video upscaling) I opened the "MPG-DVD" file in Video AI, chose to have it apply a little enhancement (increasing the bit rate to about 6kbps) and the file successfully exported! The Audio was simply set to "Copy", with no enhancement or changes made to it, officially!

I then opened this "enhanced" version in VPX16, and there was no audio. I opened the same file in my normal "file player", PowerDVD 17, and it played perfectly, video and audio!

I then looked at the Audio data from MediaInfo for both the original and processed files; here is that data:

The "original":

ID                                       : 192 (0xC0)
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 2
Duration                                 : 55 min 36 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 224 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 41.667 FPS (1152 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 89.1 MiB (5%)

The "processed":

ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 2
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-6B
Duration                                 : 55 min 36 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 224 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 89.1 MiB (4%)
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1

Obviously, I can see some "different" lines of data; but surely that cannot explain why the file has no audio (and no visible waveform) when opened in VPX16?

I have asked Topaz Labs support about this and they can offer no reason for the behaviour. Before I ask Magix Support I wanted to see whether the collective mind of users in this forum had any ideas to offer?

In the longer term, because I am quite often asked by clients to transcribe VHS video to DVD, I am going to take the plunge and buy an external PCI Expansion Enclosure so I can use my old, but still excellent quality, PCI card for digitising video.

All thoughts very gratefully received!

Jeff