Audio issues, both capturing DV and converting AVI to DVD

[plemo]

I am using WinDV to capture video from my Canon Optura200MC digital camcorder. I have it setup to capture as type-2 AVI (vids+auds).
I have the Discontinuity threshold at 1sec so it captures each video separately.

My 1st problem is that, on one 60minute tape, out of 38 AVI videos I captured, 2 of them have no sound. On another 60minute tape, out of 58 AVI videos, 8 of them have no sound. The videos that have audio as avi files, convert to DVD perfectly.(important-see next problem below).
The problem videos do have audio on my video camera. I have tried capturing multiple times and I believe it’s always the same videos that do not have audio. I was going to try and capture the tape as ONE avi file, but on both the tapes the first video has no audio so I’m thinking if I capture the entire tape as one file it will have no audio at all. I am going to try this next when I can.

My 2nd problem (I found this while trying to resolve my 1st problem). If I capture using WinDV as Type-1 AVI (iavs), there IS audio on EVERY video, however when I try to convert any of these avi’s to mpeg or DVD, the sound is then VERY slow. I then tried to capture with every other program I could think of (dvdsanta, pinnacle 8, windows movie maker), all capture good, but when converted to mpeg-2 or dvd, the audio is still slow. I tried using TMPGEnc to convert the avi's to mpeg's and the audio is still slow. I tried capturing and converting directly to dvd using dvdsanta and audio is still slow.

Resolving either of these problems, will help me get through this and get my DV’s converted to DVD.

Thank You for your help!!!

[J. Baker]

I'm having the same problems with WinDV, no audio. I have a Canon Optura 10.

[bugster]

1st thing to do is check the audio settings on your camcorder. Make sure it is set to record audio at 16 bit/48khz/high quality. The lower quality setting on DV cameras can cause problems later in conversion. However, this won't help with tapes you already have.

Don't know if this will fix things but something you could try. Capture a short section of video with WinDv or DVIO as type 2. Say five minutes. Make sure it plays and has audio ok. Install the Panansonic DV codec and open the avi in virtualdub. Save out the audio as an uncompressed wav file (PCM) ensuring it is sampled at 48Khz. You may need to use full processing mode to ensure this and set it to convert the sample rate. Check the wav file plays correctly.

Having done this, open the avi in tmpgenc and select your newly saved wav file as the audio source. Encode and check the results.

If this works then you have a method that should work for all.

BTW, are the non working (no sound) videos the shorter ones by any chance?

[J. Baker]

Well, I figured it out for my Canon Optura 10. I have to press play on the cam before pressing the capture button in WinDV (kinda weird) in order for it to work. Hope this helps you as well.

[plemo]

Hey bugster,

Thanks for the suggestions!!! I will try them out asap.

The clips that don't have audio as type-2 are not the shorter clips. The range is any where from 36sec to over 5min.
The only thing in common so far is that the 1st clip on each video has no audio, then the other clips w/no audio happen later on the tape.
I still need to confirm, but I have a feeling it's going to be the same clips over again if I re-capture one of the tapes.

The fact that when I capture as type 1 and the sound works on all of the clips makes it seem like a non-camera/tape issue? I can't imagine what could be different about those clips on the actual tape.
I'm using the firewire port on my audio soundblaster card, think this may be contributing to either of my issues? I have a separate card I can install and use if it may help.

Any other ideas are welcome. Just looking for relatively easy way to get my DV's backed up to DVD at this point. I figure if I can get that far I can start doing some authoring, etc somewhere in there. Maybe I just need to explore some more programs that may be more compatible w/my setup?

Thanks Again

[bugster]

Hey bugster,

Thanks for the suggestions!!! I will try them out asap.

I'm using the firewire port on my audio soundblaster card, think this may be contributing to either of my issues?
Thanks Again

I have heard or read somewhere that those ports are not quite 100% firewire standards compliant. Not sure if this is tru but of you have another standalone card available it could be worth trying.