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  1. Member
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    Hi all,

    I did some movies of the children on an old Canon PowerShot A200 camera years ago which was the cheaper model with no sound.

    I must have done something very simple as I have only moved, pasted, copied or whatever over the years and have never used any editing software but three files in one folder now have the sound!

    Canon must have just blocked the sound somehow and I would really like to get it back on the other movie files and hear the children when they were young.

    When I play back either (with or without sound) files with VLC the "Current Media Information" Codec tab shows:-

    Stream 1
    Type:Audio
    Codec: PCM U8 (araw)
    Channels: mono
    Sample rate: 11024 Hz
    Bits per sample: 8

    Also, under the "Statistics" tab when I play back either (with or without sound) files you can see under "Audio" the number of decoded (and played) blocks increasing as the movies play.

    I have googled various ways to see if this has come up in old forums at the time but I cannot find anything.

    I would be very grateful if anyone might know how Canon could have blocked the audio and could tell me what to try to unblock it for the other movie files.

    Many thanks for any replies.
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  2. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Can you upload a short sample? I have a feeling it might be easier than you think. LPCM 8bit, mono, 11kHz is basic to any PC or Mac made since 1990. The "U" probably means UNSIGNED. If they're AVI files, they ought to be Little-Endian.

    Scott
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    Hi Scott,

    I have not used any hosting websites where you can link for uploading, so I am not sure if I can?

    It must be something very simple as I have no editing software and have just moved/copied them about over the years. Is there anything I could try on copies of them to see if it works?

    Many thanks

    stephen
    Last edited by stephens; 26th May 2014 at 04:50.
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  4. Member
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    Sorry Scott,

    Was not using the full posting tools, will try to upload from computer.

    Thanks

    stephen
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  5. Member
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    This is one with the sound blocked.

    Not a good example for sound but it is short, and you will hear the sound when it is unblocked.

    Thanks.
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  6. Member
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    This is one (with the kids being naughty!) where the sound is not blocked.

    Might be useful as a comparison.

    The circuit board must have had a microphone on it and Canon just blocked the sound somehow for the A200 model !

    Will have to go out for a few hours soon but will reply to any posts when I get back.

    Many thanks for any replies.

    stephen
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    Last edited by stephens; 26th May 2014 at 04:51.
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  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Don't know what you mean by the term "blocked" or "unblocked". MUTED?

    ***********************************

    I checked it with MediaInfo, and the file is as I was expecting: LPCM, 8bit unsigned, little-endian, 11kHz, mono. ID code#1=Standard LPCM wav-type file (inside the AVI).

    I was able to open up the audio from BOTH samples in Adobe Audition. Unfortunately, I have bad news for you - the "blocked" file is SILENT throughout. Literally. All the samples are there, they are just all = 0. AKA, there was no signal recorded. Once it was recorded that way, you cannot undo it. It's like taking video with the lens cap still on.

    The other file does have normal samples.

    This is not some "blocking mechanism" or encryption, etc. at work here which can be lifted to hear the sound. It was either recorded with sound, or not. The first sample file was without, the second was WITH sound.

    Sorry, but at least you know for sure now.

    BTW, for future reference, one gets a much more accurate, detailed and thorough report of the contents of a media file by using MediaInfo instead of VLC, or Gspot, or anything else.

    Also BTW, if you don't have Audition, you can also check on the sound in avi files using Audacity (when the ffmpeg plugin is installed).

    Scott
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  8. Member
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    Thanks very much Scott.

    Strange though, we only had this one digital camera at the time (and nobody was visiting to have borrowed theirs) so both movie files definitely came from it. I could not imagine how the sound was on three movie files in a folder and not on all the rest.

    It must have had a microphone fitted as somehow on that day (16th June 2004) the three movies recorded sound !

    I think I can remember them being silent at one time before something happened to them, but not 100% sure as it was a long time ago that I noticed the sound.

    Like you say, at least I know now.

    Many thanks for your help.

    Kind regards

    stephen
    Last edited by stephens; 26th May 2014 at 06:07.
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  9. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Sounds like what happened to me: a mike cable was iffy (plug? jack?) and what should have been fine turned out silent + an occasional "crackle".

    Thing about those files is that the audio & the video are interleaved (hence the A-V-I), combined like a zipper, so it would not have been possible, externally and post-recording, to mess with the audio portion without the video portion also having been messed up.

    Good luck.

    Scott
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