Virtualdub jammed audio codec

[paros]

First I will state what I'm trying to do. Then I will tell you what I have done so far that did not work. Ok so lets do this.

1. I am trying join several AVIs togethor that were all created with the same application. (my webcam quickcapture).

2. This is what I have done so far that has not succeeded.

I followed this freely available tut

1. Start VirtualDub and load in your first AVI file (from the "File" menu).

2. From the "Video" menu, select "Direct Stream Copy".

3. From the "Audio" menu, select "Direct Stream Copy".

4. From the "File" menu, select "Append AVI Segment" and load in your second file. Keep on doing this until all of your files are loaded (please make sure you load them in the right order, from the first file, to the last).

5. From the "File" menu, select "Save as AVI" and save the AVI as a new file.

Virtualdub complained that the bitrates are different on the audio of each, and then therefore cancelled the append.
So I followed this freely available tut.

"For EACH of the two files, do the following:

1) Load file into VirtualDub
2) Set "Video" to "Direct Stream Copying"
3) Set "Audio" to "Full Processing Mode"
4) From the "Audio" dropdown menu, select "Compression"
5) Select, for example, 44,100Hz
6) From the "Audio" dropdown menu, select "Conversion"
7) If necessary, put a checkmark next to "Display all formats"
8) Select your preferred sampling rate from amongst the, for example, 44,100Hz .MP3 rates listed
9) Click on "OK"
10) Save with a new filename"

I did not see anything about 44,100Hz. MP3 anywhere in my menus.
So I checked the box [x] Display all formats
And still, not a sign of 44,100Hz MP3 anywhere.
So I went ahead and tried other available codecs on the list.
95% of these returned with the error "This conversion is not possible."
Luckily I eventually found one that did work. It was a Windows ADPCM 22.050Khz 4bit mono
But the resulting video after saving sounded like a rotary telephone under water.

Then I tried 16 kbps, 16 kHz, mono for Video. This worked.
But the resulting video sounded like smurfs on crack speaking Chinese through a rotary telephone under water.

SO, I went ahead and tried some other fancy , really high bitrates contained under DIVX DMA Audio V1 and DivX DMA Audio V2.
Well, then things got really interesting. I started getting this bizarre error.

The operation cannot continue as the target audio codec has jammed and is not compressing data.
Codec state for driver "DivX WMA Audtio Compressor":
source buffer size: 16384 bytes
destination buffer size: 8920 bytes
source format: tag 0001, 22050Hz/1ch/8-bit, 22050 bytes/sec
destination format: tag 0161, 44100Hz/2ch/16-bit, 6002 bytes/sec

Any suggestions on what I should do next?[/quote]

[guns1inger]

Windows MP3 encoding support is very poor out of the box. Install the LAME MP3 ACM codec and you should see a much wider range of MP3 options open up for you.

[redwudz]

What format was the audio and video to start with? If you are using Divx or Xvid, you probably want a MP3 codec. The one that comes with VD is fairly limited. You can DL Lame MP3 ACM and that should give you a full selection of settings. I use 44100Hz, 128 kbps CBR, Stereo 16KB/s most of the time.

I've never 'jammed' up a audio codec. But I think you found some codecs I have never used.

VirtualDub is very picky about audio/video rates when joining. Even down to several decimal points.

You might try AviDemux, it's a little more flexible.

[jagabo]

"For EACH of the two files, do the following:

1) Load file into VirtualDub
2) Set "Video" to "Direct Stream Copying"
3) Set "Audio" to "Full Processing Mode"
4) From the "Audio" dropdown menu, select "Compression"
5) Select, for example, 44,100Hz
6) From the "Audio" dropdown menu, select "Conversion"
7) If necessary, put a checkmark next to "Display all formats"
8) Select your preferred sampling rate from amongst the, for example, 44,100Hz .MP3 rates listed
9) Click on "OK"
10) Save with a new filename"

This list is missing a few steps and has things out of order. It should read:

"For EACH of the two files, do the following:

1) Load file into VirtualDub
2) Set "Video" to "Direct Stream Copying"
3) Set "Audio" to "Full Processing Mode"
4) From the "Audio" dropdown menu, select "Conversion"
5) Select parameters you want, say, 44,100Hz, 16 bit, stereo, high quality
6) Press OK
7) From the "Audio" dropdown menu, select "Compression"
8) Hilite the audio codec you want to use, eg Lame MP3
9) If necessary, put a checkmark next to "Display all formats"
10) Select your preferred settings, for example 44,100Hz, 192 kbps CBR Stereo
11) Click on "OK"
12) Save with a new filename"

By the way, if you want to use Lame with VirtualDub you will need Lame ACM, not the directshow version.

[paros]

Thank you for all your replies.
But I'm good for go now.

I fixed all my audio codec issues by downloading Ace Mega Codecs pack. (I recommend this if you don't have it).
My problem was not audio bitrates at all, but FRAME RATES. One video was 14.990 fps and another was 14.991 fps.
This is very easy to fix, as you all know.

[redwudz]

Generally we recommend against installing codec packs. Used indiscriminately, as they usually are, they can overwrite your existing codecs, damaging the new one and the old one, or conflict with other installed codecs, install outdated, corrupted and the wrong codecs, sometimes to the point that a OS reinstall is the easiest way to fix the problems.

It's not worth the risk and it's a whole lot harder to clean up the mess than it was to install them. Do a forum search for 'codec packs' and you will see quite a few problems from their installation. Best is to only install the codecs you need. You can easily have too many codecs.

But I'm glad you got your problem fixed.

[paros]

Generally we recommend against installing codec packs.


Best is to only install the codecs you need. You can easily have too many codecs.

I think just getting the LAME mp3 codec by itself would have solved my audio problem. However, I had basically nothing in my list of available compression options. Now I have a large list of all sorts of formats.