Sony HDR CX430V - audio recovery

[jpeterka@hotmail.com]

We plugged the external speaker into the wrong port (the headphone port). Is there any way to recover the original audio? The video is fine. https://forum.videohelp.com/images/smilies/sad.gif

[Cornucopia]

Speaker? Headphones ARE speakers, so plugging in an external speaker would only likely just provide a weak sound output.

Or,
Are you meaning you plugged an external MICROPHONE into the headphone port? If so, you are screwed. There is NO audio recorded to recover.

Scott

<edit>Actually, if you meant to use an external mike and plugged into headphones, you should still have original on-cam mike audio recorded</edit>

[jpeterka@hotmail.com]

Scott,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately we plugged the external microphone in the headphone jack. I thought, as you stated, that we could still retrieve the original audio. I imported the file into Adobe Audition and Adobe Premiere; however, I could not find a way to get to the internal, original, on-cam mike audio. When I tried Sony chat, the support people said there was nothing I could do.

John

[Noahtuck]

<edit>Actually, if you meant to use an external mike and plugged into headphones, you should still have original on-cam mike audio recorded</edit>

That was the first thing I thought also, if you did not have anything plugged into the mic jack if it has an onboard mic it should have still recorded audio regardless if something was plugged into the headphone jack, no matter what it was.

But if it does not have a built in mic, then yeah, your out of luck.
And I don't know if your camera has a built in mic.

[jpeterka@hotmail.com]

The camera has a built in microphone.

[Cornucopia]

There are a number of operational & settings info that I don't yet know that will determine whether or not you have audio to recover:

1. Was ANYTHING (else?) plugged into the external mike jack (even if intermittently)?
2. Did you have Auto record levels or Manual? If manual, was the level set to minimum?
3. Did you test the audio AND have audio levels display turned on, seeing a signal? Was this showing a signal during recording?
4. Did you have the "built-in zoom mic" turned on or off?
5. Did you have the "auto-wind NR" feature turned on or off?
6. Which audio mode did you have it set to? 5.1ch or 2ch?
7. Did you have the "closer voice" feature turned on or off?
8. Did you record in MP4 format? or AVCHD format?
9. What software are you using that is telling/showing you that you don't have audio? Just Audition & Premiere? Which versions? Have those been known to accept AC3 audio before?

Please run a clip (from your bad batch of clips) through MediaInfo and post what it says (text format) in detail.

Scott

[jpeterka@hotmail.com]

Was ANYTHING (else?) plugged into the external mike jack (even if intermittently)? - No, there was nothing else plugged in to the camera
[/B]2. Did you have Auto record levels or Manual? If manual, was the level set to minimum? Auto
3. Did you test the audio AND have audio levels display turned on, seeing a signal? Was this showing a signal during recording?The audio display was on and showing a strong signal. I do not recall anything that suggested we hadf the external speaker plugged in the wrong port. In fact, we filmed the day before and at the reception with no issues at all
4. Did you have the "built-in zoom mic" turned on or off? I do not know if Sony's external mike overrides the built-in or not. I never turned it off.
5. Did you have the "auto-wind NR" feature turned on or off?Auto-wind NR was on
6. Which audio mode did you have it set to? 5.1ch or 2ch?Honestly, I do not recall. It would have likely been the default setting.
7. Did you have the "closer voice" feature turned on or off?Closer voice would have been off
8. Did you record in MP4 format? or AVCHD format?AVCHD
9. What software are you using that is telling/showing you that you don't have audio? Just Audition & Premiere? Which versions? Have those been known to accept AC3 audio before? I used the current software from Adobe. I need to check which versions were downloaded yesterday

[jpeterka@hotmail.com]

General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : I:\Christopher - Renee\STREAM\00007.MTS
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 1.98 GiB
Duration : 30mn 14s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 9 368 Kbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 18.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=15
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 30mn 14s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 8 731 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 16.0 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.187
Stream size : 1.84 GiB (93%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 30mn 14s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -578ms
Stream size : 55.4 MiB (3%)

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 30mn 13s
Delay relative to video : -67ms

[Cornucopia]

Good signs: Nothing plugged in. Auto level on. Audio meters visible & strong.
Bad signs: 5.1 is the default but your recording shows 2.0 (not so bad, but why NOT defaulting?)

2 more Qs:
1. When opened in Adobe apps, did the clip show A) Audio tracks missing B) 2 ch Audio tracks with NO visible levels C) 2 ch Audio tracks with material on it not intended ?
2. Can you (allowed?) post a short clip here for us to look at?

Scott

[jpeterka@hotmail.com]

There were no missing audio tracks in Adobe. I simply assumed that the audio tracks seen in Audition were from the left and right speakers on the external microphone. Attached is a short clip.

[smrpix]

Was the clip you posted modified or trimmed? You may have somehow mishandled your 5.1 encoded sound incorrectly into stereo. (As Scott suggested.) If you still have the originals, there may still be a way to correctly decode it.

[Cornucopia]

What you have there (assuming it wasn't modified) is corrupted audio, not NO audio. Sounds like either a 5.1 stream that got mis-labeled as a 2.0 stream and so all the bits are in the wrong place, or (more likely) something making the mike contacts stuck so that it is receiving digital noise/interference, or POSSIBLY, it is LTC (sounds similar).

Assuming it MIGHT be LTC, I reconverted & remuxed it to ProRes.MOV with LPCM audio, and loaded it into DSLRsync. No dice: not recognized as LTC under any circumstances.

I sure HOPE these were modified clips now, otherwise, your audio is NG and lost as far as I can tell.

Scott