Audio out of sync with video

[J9]

Hey, I would be grateful for any help. I have downloaded several movies and converted them to DVD using iDVD. Most are fine but with a couple the audio is out of sync with the video. They play fine on the MAC but not when made into DVD. I have been told I need a codec but not knowing how to go about this, thought I'd look here for ideas.
Thanks

[terryj]

First, take the movies into Quicktime and try to play them usuing
the Quicktime player. With the movie open and playing perform
a cmd ( apple) -i, and this will give you the ability to see the movie's
properties, including the codecs necessary to play the file.

Once you have found that out, it will be simple to get the codecs
you need to transcode the file.

[tomlee59]

Hmmm...I've never heard of a codec problem causing a sync error. The more typical behavior is simply a total absence of sound if you don't have the right codec. That said, there's no harm in doing as terryj suggests, and posting the results of what you find.

FYI, to save you from burning coasters, it's a good idea to try playing the file with something that is as picky as a typical standalone player. Some software players, such as VLC, can play just about anything, including files that standalone DVD players choke on, so using them isn't much of a test. Apple's own DVD player is just such a picky animal, so you might want to give that a go (you may have to create an image file first; I don't remember).

[J9]

Thanks for your help, I'll try what has been suggested. I tried to burn it via TOAST but got the same result, and yes I have a nice set of coasters now. I just assumed it was a CODEC problem but now you have me thinking. I am fairly new to MAC being a regular PC user and find iDVD a complete pain. Any other suggestions welcome

[rumplestiltskin]

See if adding the Perian codec resolves this. If not, you may have to transcode the movie (probably an AVI, right?) into something else. If you keep the bitrate, etc. at high enough levels, you shouldn't lose any quality. ffmpegX or MPEG Streamclip might be good starting points for the transcoding process.

[Herve]

Most are fine but with a couple the audio is out of sync with the video. They play fine on the MAC but not when made into DVD.

the out of synch during play back often occurs with bad media (DVD-R).
I only use Tyco, Verbatim, RitekF1 (and I don't have this problem anymore)
bye

[albloom]

I've had the out-of-sync problem in a few files. Looking at the
Movie Properties pane in QuickTime showed a slightly different
length for the audio and video tracks.

Export the audio as a quicktime file and use Amadeus to adjust
its length. Often just lopping a few seconds off the end will do it.
Then copy the audio back into the movie. Works for me.