No Sound From One Speaker on SOME of Video From Digital-8 Tx

[Zeek]

Just wondered if I could get some input on which solution anyone thinks would be best for an audio problem I am having.

Got married recently, and we had a friend do the videotaping of our wedding. He did a great job as far as the shots go, but the quality of the video itself leaves a bit to be desired. One of the problems I am having is that, for whatever reason, for about 20 minutes in the middle of the tape, the audio cuts out completely in one speaker only. Up to this point and after, the sound is fine, but that 20 minutes is just not something I can live with for a video we expect to be keeping for gazillions of years.

FWIW, the file in question is an avi file that was acquired from my friend's Digital 8 tape. I used UVS 7, my usual weapon of choice, to "capture" the video and all seemed well...at first. I did not notice the problem until some time after returning the camera to my friend and, with it gone and him living way the hell away from here, re-transferring the data from the original tape is not an option - at least not for a while. Also, just prior to the point on the tape where the sound conks out on one side, there is a very audible clicking sound (almost as if a switch were being hit or something). From that point on, it's crappy one-channel sound until 20 mintues later, at which point, as if by magic, stereo sound suddenly re-appears.

I've tried looking at the file in a number of wave editors (Goldwave, Audacity, etc.) and all indicate for sure that I am dealing with stereo sound here *throughout* the duration of the entire file. However, on the graphs, it's plain to see that there is no sound whatsoever coming from the one channel for that 20 minute period. That, the switch sound described above, and the fact that, except for my friend's camera, nothing else is different in terms of hardware or software from my usual procedure with my own Mini DV equipment, leads me to believe that the problem is most likely the original tape.

Lastly, I obviously read up a little bit on this before posting and did find a couple of threads, most notably this one here and also this one here . Judging from what I've read there, the preferred solution seems to be to copy the data from the good channel into the empty space on the bad one - which would make it mono X 2 (apparently not bad sound...just not true stereo).
Seems simple enough, but since the rest of the file is fairly good quality, true stereo sound, I would really prefer to keep it that way.

And so, I am wondering about a couple of things:

1. Can I make a DVD compliant audio file that has both mono and stereo sound? (it would be stereo, then mono, and then back to true stereo again in my case.)

2. If I can do so, would that be my better option, or should I simply make the entire file a mono file, and deal with it that way?

3. Any other suggestions, or ideas on anything I might be missing here?

Seems to me that since I have the benefit of a source that is true stereo, I should try to preserve it to the best extent possible. But then, I'm not 100% on this, and this is why I am here.

Thanks...

Zeek

[edDV]

Just wondered if I could get some input on which solution anyone thinks would be best for an audio problem I am having.

Got married recently, and we had a friend do the videotaping of our wedding. He did a great job as far as the shots go, but the quality of the video itself leaves a bit to be desired. One of the problems I am having is that, for whatever reason, for about 20 minutes in the middle of the tape, the audio cuts out completely in one speaker only. Up to this point and after, the sound is fine, but that 20 minutes is just not something I can live with for a video we expect to be keeping for gazillions of years.

Are you sure the audio is missing from the original tape?

FWIW, the file in question is an avi file that was acquired from my friend's Digital 8 tape. I used UVS 7, my usual weapon of choice, to "capture" the video and all seemed well...at first. I did not notice the problem until some time after returning the camera to my friend and, with it gone and him living way the hell away from here, re-transferring the data from the original tape is not an option - at least not for a while.

Have him dub the D8 tape to MiniDV or send you a stereo audio only dub on CD.

Also, just prior to the point on the tape where the sound conks out on one side, there is a very audible clicking sound (almost as if a switch were being hit or something). From that point on, it's crappy one-channel sound until 20 mintues later, at which point, as if by magic, stereo sound suddenly re-appears.

I've tried looking at the file in a number of wave editors (Goldwave, Audacity, etc.) and all indicate for sure that I am dealing with stereo sound here *throughout* the duration of the entire file. However, on the graphs, it's plain to see that there is no sound whatsoever coming from the one channel for that 20 minute period. That, the switch sound described above, and the fact that, except for my friend's camera, nothing else is different in terms of hardware or software from my usual procedure with my own Mini DV equipment, leads me to believe that the problem is most likely the original tape.

Your friend can listen to the original tape carefully with headphones.

Lastly, I obviously read up a little bit on this before posting and did find a couple of threads, most notably this one here and also this one here . Judging from what I've read there, the preferred solution seems to be to copy the data from the good channel into the empty space on the bad one - which would make it mono X 2 (apparently not bad sound...just not true stereo).
Seems simple enough, but since the rest of the file is fairly good quality, true stereo sound, I would really prefer to keep it that way.

And so, I am wondering about a couple of things:

1. Can I make a DVD compliant audio file that has both mono and stereo sound? (it would be stereo, then mono, and then back to true stereo again in my case.)

Sure. But if you duplicate tracks for the bad part you will only need one stereo track.

2. If I can do so, would that be my better option, or should I simply make the entire file a mono file, and deal with it that way?

Assuming the original tape is bad, just dupe channels on the bad part and leave the rest stereo. Nobody is going to be switching audio tracks.

[Zeek]

Thank you, edDV. Unfortunately, the tape is in my possession and the camera is 3000 miles away and belongs to him. I also don't know anyone else that has a Digital-8 camcorder so, for the short term, I'm stuck on that one unless I buy another camcorder. Spose I could invade a Circuit City or something and try it there, maybe, but:

I am pretty sure that the problem is with the original tape. He messed around with the camera a little bit during the recording and this audio problem is preceded by a very audible switching sound on the tape. I'm thinking maybe he hit a switch by accident or something. (At another point on the tape, the color goes bad and this was definitely because of manual adjustments he made while recording...already fixed that one with V-Dub, and so this heightens my suspicions there a little bit.)

In any case, good to know I'm not sunk on mixing the two types of audio. I think I will take your advice, dupe over the sound from the good channel, and leave the rest as-is. Looks like I'll be having a fun time cutting and pasting over the exact spots I'm supposed to, but what the hell. I'll figure it out.

Thanks very much for your reply...