Syncronizing audio - How?

[prankstare]

Here's the thing:

I don't have HDTV, just a regular 29" pretty much standard TV with a Philips DVP5990K which will play 480p compressed files just fine. So I have downloaded thousands of 720p videos and I'm now converting them to 480p using Format Factory. Problem is that by doing so the resulting .AVI file comes with the audio slightly lagged. Is there a way to fix this?

Thanks in advance.

[prankstare]

PS: and oh, just one more thing. I wish not having to re-encode the file again, if possible. Thanks.

[Cornucopia]

Yes, go back to the 720p files and either encode them correctly in format factory, or use a different app. That anomally doesn't automatically happen - it has to be either something that the app is misinterpreting about the files and you are letting it stay, or you are asking it to do something incorrectly. We don't really know which because you haven't given us enough details.

Scott

[prankstare]

No. It's not like the audio is very very lagged - just slightly (like, milliseconds I guess). And it's something I have noticed since a long time ago, and keeps repeating over and over within every new version release of that software (only happens when using MPEG4 Xvid Codec there).

I don't know much about video encoding and it's annoying.

[hello_hello]

There's lots of reasons why it could happen, although it shouldn't happen every time. Is there an audio delay just when the converted files are played on the DVD player or is it also out of sync when playing them using the PC?

You can change the audio delay by opening the AVIs using VirtualDubMod. Select Streams/Streams List from the top menu. Right click on the audio stream and select "Interleaving". In the window which opens you can enter an audio delay. It can be either a positive or negative value. Close the Streams window and save the AVI as a new file from the File/Save As menu. When the "Save" window opens select "direct stream copy" as the video compression method so VirtualDubMod will just copy the video stream and not try to re-encode it (VirtualDubMod has an option to set direct stream copy as the default video compression method so you don't have to remember to change it each time).

When you open the AVI, if VirtualDubMod complains about the audio being variable bitrate MP3 and asks if it should re-write the MP3 header, select "no".
If you find the same amount of audio delay is required each time then chances are Format Factory is doing something odd. There's a free version of AnyVideoConverter which is very similar to Format Factory. It's also very good at maintaining audio sync. If you set the audio sync method to "default" and go into AnyVideoConverter's options and set the audio sync setting to maximum, you shouldn't have any problems.

[jamescobern60]

First find out what the original video file frame rate is,then when your using format factory,eg (you must have pryor knowledge how format factory works) go to options and scroll down to fps and click on it and it will bring up various frame rates ,choose default if you`re encoding a batch of files, or use the original frame rate you found before and use that. You must use anouther app to find out what the original frame rate is,such as media player classic etc. This method has worked pretty good for me,however there are some files that`ve been damaged in one way or anouther and just refuse to sync up no matter how hard you try.

[prankstare]

Thanks for the help hello_hello. Will give a try with VirtualDubMod.

I have already tried AnyVideoConverter and it works just fine when it comes to audio sync, but the reason I prefer Format Factory is because it seems to offer more encoding options and thus resulting higher quality files for me. Format Factory has always had this bug for as long as I can remember; and yes, the audio delay presents when played both on the DVD Player and/or any video player on the PC.

[prankstare]

@jamescobern60.

No. As I've already said, I know how to use Format Factory. It's pretty simple piece of software, in fact. It's just a minor bug, a very very slight lag, almost imperceptible if you don't pay close attention to, and it only happens when using the internal Xvid codec there - you can try yourself if you want to and you'll see what I mean.

[hello_hello]

prankstare,
maybe give ffcoder a shot. It should give you any encoding options your require, as I'm pretty sure it gives you full access to setting up the Xvid encoder. ffcoder also lets you select an Xvid profile and the appropriate Home Theatre profile should ensure DVD player compatibility, as that's what the Xvid profiles are for. The only thing you need to do after selecting an Xvid Home Theatre profile is over-ride the resolution ffcoder automatically sets, which isn't necessary. I think you just need to choose your desired width and set the height to "auto" and you're good to go. It's been a while since I've used ffcoder myself, but once you've set up the encoder and resolution you prefer etc, I'm pretty sure you can save it as your own preset.
I've got ffcoder installed on the second PC here, so if you have any problems using it I should be able to help if I'm around, although it's not hard to use. If you do give it a shot, please let us know if the audio sync problem goes away.