Problem with audio when converting AVI to MOV

[emmajane]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me.

I have been pulling my hair out for the past 2 days because I dont know how to figure this out!

I downloaded 4 AVI files .. I have been told they are DivX codec (or something?) from a friend, but I dont know how I would find that out myself...?

Anyway, I need to chop and edit them in either Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro CS5 and have been told by a reliable source that it is best to convert them to MOV files as I would have to spend ages rendering them if they were left as AVI's (correct me if im wrong!)

I used Adobe Media Encoder to convert all 4 files. When the first one was completed, I opened in in FCP with no problems what so ever. I was able to edit it and save the clips as I wanted to.
When the second was completed, I opened in it FCP and although the video is OK, the sound/audio has turned out terrible! It is like it is in slow motion, like some sort of alien is talking back to me! It is extremely distorted This happens when I try to play them in either Quicktime or VLC as well.

I have tried converting them by opening them in Quicktime and saving as an MOV, but this hasnt helped.

I dont know what else to do This is for one of my projects at university and getting these clips together was supposed to be the easy bit! However it is turning out a lot harder than I expect.

I have tried searching online, and what I gather is that I am missing some codecs? I havent got a clue what this means, or how to find out which ones are missing.
And I dont know if there is something I can change in either Premiere or FCP to make it work?

If someone could help me I would be eternally grateful.

By the way I am using iMac version 10.6.6

Thanks
Emma

[Cornucopia]

First, each clip could be slightly different.

Open each one in MediaInfo and post the results here. My guess is that while Some clip(s) have simple-to-decode/convert audio (like LPCM/WAV), others do not.
There are other apps that might do a better job of conversion than AME. Once we know which audio codec was used, it'll be much easier to suggest the best app.

Scott

BTW, "Codecs" are the compression/decompression algorithms & engines for utilising that type of material. Nearly all video, and most audio, is compressed in one way or another - it would be too much to handle otherwise. The "MOV" or "AVI" or "MPG" is a container file that houses & synchronises the compressed A+V streams.

[emmajane]

Hello!

Thanks for all your help and info so far, I really appreciate it.

I downloaded the link that you gave me and I have typed out all of the info that each of the avi's gave me, (as i didnt know which was useful and which wasnt!)

AVI: 683 MiB, 1h 27mm
1 video stream: MPEG-4 Visual (XviD)
1 audio stream: MPEG Audio (MP3)
Video: 890 kbps, 720x576 (5:4) 25fps, MPEG-4 Visual (XviD) (PAL) (Advanced Simple@L5) (BVOP)
Audio: 192kbps, 44.1KHz, 2 channels, MPEG Audio (MP3)

AVI 701MiB
1 video stream: MPEG-4 Visual (DivX 5)
1 audio stream: MPEG Audio (mp3)
video: 1 134kbps, 72 x 274 (2.628) at 23.976fps, MPEG-4 Visual (DivX 5) Advanced Simple@L5) (BVOP2)
audio: 170kbps, 48.0khz, 2 channels, MPEG audio (mp3)

Forgot to mention: This avi (below) doesn’t even show the video when I convert it to MOV, there is just a blank screen.

General: avi 680 mib.
1 video stream: MPEG-4 Visual (DivX 3 Low)
1 audio stream: MPEG audio (mp3)
video: 1 013kbps, 608 x 368 (1.652) at 23,976 fps, MPEG-4 Visual (DivX 3 low)
audio: 128kbps, 48.0khz, 2 channels, MPEG Audio (mp3)

One that worked:
AVI: 700MiB
1 video stream: MPEG-4 Visual (XviD)
1 audio stream: MPEG Audio (MP3)
Video: 1 190 kbps, 672 x 512 (4:3) 23.976 fps, MPEG-4 Visual (XviD)(advanced simple@L5) (BVOP/Custom Matrix)
Audio: English 111kbps (128kbps) 48.0KHz, 2 channels, MPEG Audio (MP3) (Version 1) (Layer 3) (joint stereo/ms stereo)


Is this ok?

Thanks
Emma

[Cornucopia]

Not sure why the audio is described slightly differently in the last one - maybe could be CBR (good) as opposed to VBR (bad - for editing apps), or MPEG1Layer3 vs. MPEG2Layer3 (though I don't think so).

The Divx3 is probably gonna give you trouble no matter what you do unless you've got a PC with that old codec available.

Do you have Perian installed? It greatly helps ease the PC <--> Mac codec mismatch.

Then, with that installed, try using MPEGStreamclip and see if they'll convert to a MOV that FCP likes.

Hopefully, something will work out there. Get back to us, maybe others will have some suggestions by that time (my Mac is in the attic right now, so!!!???)...

Scott

[emmajane]

Hiya,

I would just like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I installed Perian as you suggested and then converted the clips using MPEGStreamclip and all the MOV's are now working PERFECTLY!

I dont know if they wouldve worked without Perian, but I'm never using Adobe Media Encoder again! With it, it was taking nearly 2 hours to encode each one, and after all that they werent working! But with MPEGStreamclip, it took around 20minutes to encode, and it works brilliantly.

I dont know how I can thank you enough.

Thanks again (youve saved my life!)

Emma

[Cornucopia]

AME is OK, it's just more "generic" than lots of custom freeware that's available - it's got constraints. Don't knock it too badly, just use it when appropriate.

Very glad to help! Enjoy.

Scott