VirtualDub audio problem

[wcdeich4]

Hi. Everytime I use Virtual Dub to edit an avi file (like open it, crop it & delete commercials, then save as avi), I get really bad audio output. Any ideas??????

[redwudz]

Bad in what way? Are you using full audio processing? I assume MP3 audio? I would install Lame MP3 for MP3 re-incoding instead of the default MP3 encoder. If you are using Direct stream copy, it shouldn't change the audio, just cut out the parts same as the video.

And welcome to our forums.

[wcdeich4]

Thanks for getting back. I already have LAME MP3 for Audacity installed. I tried switching to "full processing" audio mode, but no change. Any other audio settings I'm missing?

(The Audio sounds like it's turning on and off about 2X per second.)

God bless,
William

[leghorn]

I haven't used VDub for quite some time,, so correct me if I'm wrong...
Natively VDub has some problems working with videos containing mp3 audio. Instead, you could try VDubMod. This has built-in support for mp* audio. When asked to correct audio header (in case the audio is VBR) select "no" and you can easily cut out parts, crop them, twist them, screw them up whatever you might want....

[sambat]

I get a similar effect if I leave the video at full processing and forget to set a compressor - of course, the output files are huge.

[jagabo]

If your audio is out of sync by a constant amount through the entire video just use VirtualDub's audio skew option to fix it.

If it starts out in sync and slowly gets out of sync you can use VirtualDub's advanced audio filter to stretch or squish it.

[JimmyS]

As redwuz mentioned, you should have Lame MP3 installed. The Lame encoder in Audacity is not accessed by other programs.

Download the Lame 3.98.2 ACM codec from here:

http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-dshow-acm.php#lame-current-acm

Un-zip the download file. Right-click the .inf file, select Install.

Lame MP3 should now show in the Select Audio Compression window. If so, VirtualDub should be able to properly Direct Stream Copy or Re-encode to MP3 audio. If there are any sync issues, you would still need to deal with them as jagabo suggested.

[redwudz]

wcdeich4, do you get the same effect with any other audio codec? I'm thinking you may have a corrupted audio codec. And, as mentioned, Lame for Audacity is a different codec, not used for VD. But 'Lame MP3' should show up in the VD audio codec selections if it's installed properly.

You might try using PCM for a audio codec for a test and see if it has the same problem. If so, it may be a hardware problem or something is wrong with VD itself.

Last thought, I assume you are playing back the edited file in a regular software player? VD is an editor, not a player, and may struggle with playback.

[wcdeich4]

Thanks guys!!!!!!!!!! LAME ACM 3.98.2 was the solution. I'm really new at this, so I'm still learning. I didn't even know to set a codec for compression!!!!!! I tried one of the XVid codecs & it's pretty good.

Any recommendations for a video codec for good quality & (reasonably) small size

God bless,
William

[jagabo]

x264 is your best bet. But a lot will depend on what your intended playback device is. For example, set-top Divx/DVD players don't play h.264 encoded video so Xvid is a better choice for that.