Audio lag during conversion

[luachhabibi]

Hello,

I am trying to convert videos into MP4 format, but no matter what, the video and audio are out of sync after conversion (even when playing with VLC).

- Handbrake does not work for most files (although it has for some)
- MacX HD for windows does not work

I am willing to learn the mechanics of this (I'm a newb) if it will take a few hours and do what needs to be done for the video conversions to work; although I am hoping for a less complex solution.

Can anyone help?

Edit: It seems to be a video lag not an audio lag - the audio finishes before the video.

Edit 2: Windows 7 64 bit (laptop)
Intel Core i3
4GB Ram
500 GB storage

[hech54]

MUCH more info is needed.

[luachhabibi]

MUCH more info is needed.

Edit: Is that better?

[Dougster]

You need to post MediaInfo of your source file and it wouldn't hurt to post one from one of your Handbrake encodes.
It sounds like a VFR (Variable Frame Rate) issue.

[luachhabibi]

You need to post MediaInfo of your source file and it wouldn't hurt to post one from one of your Handbrake encodes.
It sounds like a VFR (Variable Frame Rate) issue.

Okay, please excuse me if I'm doing this wrong.

This is my mediainfo (I think) of the original file

General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 28.3 MiB
Duration : 8mn 2s
Overall bit rate : 493 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:50
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:51
Writing library : Apple QuickTime 7.7.1
com.apple.quicktime.software : Sorenson Squeeze
Media/UUID : 78F0E615-FA46-4309-847F-ECEB2DFACAED
dmpa : prod
Encoded_With : Sorenson Squeeze
com.apple.quicktime.player.movie.audio.g : Sorenson Squeeze
com.apple.quicktime.player.movie.visual. : (Binary)

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 8mn 2s
Source duration : 8mn 8s
Bit rate : 419 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Minimum frame rate : 28.571 fps
Maximum frame rate : 30.000 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.045
Stream size : 24.1 MiB (85%)
Source stream size : 24.4 MiB (86%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-21 17:59:56
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:51
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.601
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 8mn 2s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 3.61 MiB (13%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-21 17:55:57
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:51

Text
ID : 3-CC1
Format : EIA-608
Muxing mode : Final Cut
Codec ID : c608
Duration : 8mn 2s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Stream size : 0.00 Byte (0%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:24
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:51

Other
ID : 4
Type : Time code
Format : QuickTime TC
Duration : 8mn 2s
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00
Time code, striped : Yes
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:24
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-27 15:59:51

And this is the mediainfo of the converted outfile t hat handbrake gave me

General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 79.7 MiB
Duration : 8mn 8s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 369 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2015-08-16 15:39:30
Tagged date : UTC 2015-08-16 15:42:12
Writing application : HandBrake 0.9.9 2013052900

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 8mn 8s
Bit rate : 1 233 Kbps
Width : 632 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 29.839 fps
Minimum frame rate : 14.634 fps
Maximum frame rate : 600.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.136
Stream size : 71.8 MiB (90%)
Writing library : x264 core 130 r2273 b3065e6
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2015-08-16 15:39:30
Tagged date : UTC 2015-08-16 15:42:12
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 8mn 2s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 132 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 180 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 7.63 MiB (10%)
Title : Stereo
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-08-16 15:39:30
Tagged date : UTC 2015-08-16 15:42:11

If I did anything wrong here please let me know. Thank you.

[Dougster]

As I thought, VFR. Problem is that the source is variable frame rate as well as the Handbrake encode. Not much you can do about
the source though.

What you can do is re-encode in Handbrake. Under the Video tab select 'Constant Frame Rate' and instead of 'Same As Source' in
this case select 29.97 fps. See if that helps. Good luck and post back here with your results.

And BTW, welcome to the forum.

[poisondeathray]

Why are you doing this in the first place ? What is the background information ?

You probably don't need to re-encode the video or audio, you probably can just re-wrap the MOV to MP4 . It's much faster and no quality loss

I would use ffmpeg - because it will copy the timecodes over from the original file, it should be in sync. But it's not beginner friendly to use, command line interface

ffmpeg -i INPUT.MOV -c:v copy -c:a copy OUTPUT.MP4

[luachhabibi]

As I thought, VFR. Problem is that the source is variable frame rate as well as the Handbrake encode. Not much you can do about
the source though.

What you can do is re-encode in Handbrake. Under the Video tab select 'Constant Frame Rate' and instead of 'Same As Source' in
this case select 29.97 fps. See if that helps. Good luck and post back here with your results.

I did both of those things. I chose Constant Frame Rate and changed it to 29.97. Same results in terms of lagging.

General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 79.0 MiB
Duration : 8mn 8s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 357 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2015-08-16 17:39:58
Tagged date : UTC 2015-08-16 17:43:03
Writing application : HandBrake 0.9.9 2013052900

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 8mn 8s
Bit rate : 1 222 Kbps
Width : 632 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.134
Stream size : 71.1 MiB (90%)
Writing library : x264 core 130 r2273 b3065e6
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2015-08-16 17:39:58
Tagged date : UTC 2015-08-16 17:43:03
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 8mn 2s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 132 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 180 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 7.63 MiB (10%)
Title : Stereo
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2015-08-16 17:39:58
Tagged date : UTC 2015-08-16 17:43:02

And BTW, welcome to the forum.

Thank you

[luachhabibi]

Why are you doing this in the first place ? What is the background information ?

You probably don't need to re-encode the video or audio, you probably can just re-wrap the MOV to MP4 . It's much faster and no quality loss

I would use ffmpeg - because it will copy the timecodes over from the original file, it should be in sync. But it's not beginner friendly to use, command line interface

ffmpeg -i INPUT.MOV -c:v copy -c:a copy OUTPUT.MP4

Well, I would like my video files to be MP4 format due to compatibility with other devices and formats. I also upload them to a webpage and MP4 works much better with for embedding.

I downloaded ffmpeg, extracted, and I'm left with a bunch of folders. I don't see a file to execute. Is there a tutorial of how to use it?