Audio codec problems after installing K-Lite and ffdshow

[iggie]

I've been transferring some 8 mm video tapes from my digital 8 Sony camcorder to my PC and creating DVDs from them. Unrelated to that, a few days ago I was trying to watch some videos online and audio wasn't working. After looking around, I saw recommendations to install K-Lite and ffdshow. I installed both of them and got audio working. Last night I transfered another 8 mm tape to my PC and when I used VirtualDub to trim it, the resulting AVI file had no audio in it. The original AVI played audio fine, the trimmed version didn't (I used direct stream copy for both video and audio in VirtualDub). I opened the original AVI in GSpot and under audio codec it said "Codec installed", but there was no other audio codec information - all fields were blank. I opened an AVI in GSpot that I transfered from my camcorder last week (before installing ffdshow and K-Lite) and for audio codec it had PCM Audio. So, somehow installing K-Lite and ffdshow messed things up. I uninstalled ffdshow and K-Lite and tried capturing from the camcorder again and the resulting AVI still had the same problem. How do I get my audio codecs working again?

[jagabo]

K-Lite = bad news

Sounds like a type 1 vs type 2 DV AVI.

Try Start -> Run and typing:

regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\quartz.dll

Press OK.

[gadgetguy]

I saw recommendations to install K-Lite...

Not around here, you didn't. On this forum, K-lite is not well thought of. On the rare occasion that someone suggests it, a flamefest usually follows.
It's not well thought of because of circumstances like yours. The uninstall process is not clean and leaves a lot of garbage behind. You need to use something like CodecSniper to remove broken and conflicting codecs, or if you don't understand what you're doing there it might be easier to re-install Windows and start from a clean slate. ffdShow is often recommended and generally works as installed, but in many cases should be configured for individual use. The good news is that it uninstalls clean, so if you encounter a problem using it, you can uninstall it and the problem goes away.

Having said all of that, you may still encounter problems with your Hi8/D8 transfer. What software are you using to capsfer? I recommend WinDV, but make sure you capsfer manually and avoid using the camera control feature. There is a known bug in WindDV using camera control that, if I remember correctly, affects the audio.

[pepegot1]

Try a system restore and see if that helps. If you had a disc image backup-that would not be problem. Without a backup you can spend many hours restoring the software. This way you can experiment without fear.

[iggie]

I ran "regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\quartz.dll" (once I figured out how to do it as Administrator in Vista), but it didn't make any difference.
I was going to do a restore, but when I went to System Restore it told me I had no restore points. It looks like it's set up to do automatic restore points on my C drive, but it hasn't been doing it. I don't know what's going on with that. Got to love Vista!
Jagabo, you might be on to something when you said that it might be a type 1 vs. type 2 problem. I used GSpot to take a look at files I captured before codec changes and they are Type 2. The ones I am capturing now are Type 1. How can I force it to capture Type 2?

[jagabo]

I don't know about VMC but some programs like, like WinDV, allow you to select type 1 or type 2.

[iggie]

I tried using WinDV and it looks like it's capturing it correctly. Thank you all for your help.