A $50 bounty to fix my MP4 sound problem

[fly37]

Life is too short for me to spend any more time on the problem described below and I would love to outsource it to the learned and reasonably good looking experts on this forum. So $50 by paypal to the first person to turn it around for me.

I am sure many of you will say I do not need to pay, I can download this or that tool and do it free, but having spent all of my Sunday doing exactly that, I really want to outsource this to someone who knows that they are doing. Such a person is welcome to $50 of my money so I can chill out and get on with my life.

Here is the brief:

I have 3 MP4 video files where there is no sound on playback. The end user swears there used to be sound on these files (I even vaguely remember hearing them myself). My hope is the sound is in there somewhere, but corrupt in some way so as not to play back (gspot complained about some codec issue).

I have uploaded one of the files is here:

http://www.filedropper.com/timberhead

for you to download and test.

What do you say? Are you man enough to try?

Surprise and delight me, you know you want to.

Fly.

[Baldrick]

I'm trying....or at least trying to download the file...filedropper is incredible slow here.

[gadgetguy]

Sorry, I'm not willing to wait for over an hour to download it. Filedropper must be seriously limiting the bandwidth. Too bad, too, although I don't do Paypal, I was going to ask you to send the $50 as a donation to VideoHelp.

[Soopafresh]

I was unable to find any sound in the audio track. There's an AAC audio track in the file, but it's silent. Converted it to WAV and opened it up in an editor - no sound at all - an empty vessel.

So I've got nothing (hangs head in shame)

[Brainiac]

I tried as well. Did everything Soopafresh did. Soopafresh, you are not alone in hanging your head in shame.

Brainiac

[jagabo]

All MP4 tools show two tracks, audio and video. The AAC audio track is silent. On the off chance one of the other tracks has audio make sure you have an AAC decoder installed. Or use a player like MPCHC that can play MP4 files and has built in decoders.

[mad.bastard]

yup. flatlined audio. call the t.o.d.

[tmw]

Yeah, I demuxed with DVBPortal MP4 Multiplexer/Demultiplexer, which yields an MPEG-2 LC Profile 48kHz 6kb/s stereo file that has absolutely nothing, even with my volume turned up to the max. I'd say you got the wrong version of the file.

[fly37]

Guys, thanks for trying. Sounds like you really know what you talking about.

I would have loved to have handed over the cash and presented the result to the end user, but looks like it was not to be.

Still, next time I have a problem like this, I know where to head with my paypal account at the ready. Maybe this will start a trend, I am sure lots of folks would be happy to outsource the trickier parts of their video conversation and you boys could get paid for skills, seems fair to me.

[Supreme2k]

You actually should pay up, to either soopafresh or VH itself, since your sound problem has been "fixed" (in a sense). You've been shown that there is no sound.

Granted, people usually get advice for free around here, but you actually offered to pay.

A friend of mine had trouble with his sub-woofers in his car stereo one time. He had to pay $20 for the guys at the car audio place to tell him that his sub box had been stolen (they also removed the chunk of metal from his trunk's keyhole).

[fly37]

You have a fair point, but it is a bounty and bounty hunters get paid when they come home with the scumbag.

The good folks who took on this challenge did so in the knowledge that it was a bounty for getting some sound. Truly, I would be happy to pay and will certainly post other bounties when I hit problems like this in the future.

I encourage others to do the same.

[Nelson37]

My interpretation of the contract offered would be different.

There was no exclusive link between the $50.00 and "getting sound". The specific request was to "turn it around", to enable you to "chill out". You even indicated the possibility of no sound being present by stating that you "hope the sound is in there somewhere".

The problem has been definitively solved, the requested conditions fulfilled. Your current statements would lead me to believe that any future offers would not constitute a valid offer to render payment.

To use my favorite Scrabble non-word, Videohelp has been "swifted".

[fly37]

"A $50 bounty to fix my MP4 sound problem"

how clear does it have to be for you?

[zoobie]

just drop it and move on
in the future, maybe ask for help without offering $ first and see if the prob can be remedied freely
$ makes people nervous
these guys are hilarious and talented...but sometimes take posts literally

[Supreme2k]

My concern was at least to donate and help the site that helped you.

$50 for that job is chump change. It's no real "bounty".

Your problem was fixed. You simply weaseled out of your offer.

It's like someone asking for help keeping nails in a piece of wood, then being told they can't because the wood is termite damaged. It may not be the answer that the person (or you) wants/hopes for, but it's the solution that keeps you from spending any more time on that particular problem.

[Soopafresh]

Or just make a donation of anything to videohelp.com

[Stiiv]

Kinda-semi-quasi-on-topic: I've found that Goldwave can open/edit the audio from mp4s (all I've encountered, anyway) if you temporarily change the mp4 file's extension to 'mpg'. Do I win the fifty bucks? Or at least the home version of the game?

[jagabo]

"A $50 bounty to fix my MP4 sound problem"

how clear does it have to be for you?

Your sound problem was fixed. It was verified there is an audio track, the nature of it (codec bitrate, etc), and how to play it.

[fly37]

"A $50 bounty to fix my MP4 sound problem"

To fix my sound problem, not to try and fix it, to fix it. I have no sound, it is not fixed.

I am not going to get an x-prize for trying to get into orbit, I have to really get into orbit.

Would any of the people who actually worked on this file like to say they were unclear on the basis they were making their efforts? Or is it just third parties who where not involved who would like to troll about it?

By kicking up a fuss you are discouraging anyone else from ever offering a bounty and therefore depriving the experts of making some beer money.

[NoBuddy]

" have 3 MP4 video files where there is no sound on playback. The end user swears there used to be sound on these files (I even vaguely remember hearing them myself). "

In which files did you hear the sound? Maybe files got changed - and client still has "original" ones.

Don´t put me in the 50 bucks discussion...

[jagabo]

To fix my sound problem, not to try and fix it, to fix it. I have no sound, it is not fixed.

You do have sound (ask John Cage, hint: 4 minutes, 33 seconds), it's just not to your liking.

Would any of the people who actually worked on this file like to say they were unclear on the basis they were making their efforts? Or is it just third parties who where not involved who would like to troll about it?

I downloaded your file, worked on it, and posted what I found. I don't care about your $50, I just did it as a courtesy. You can now "chill out and get on with... life" knowing that the audio that's there is silent.

By kicking up a fuss you are discouraging anyone else from ever offering a bounty and therefore depriving the experts of making some beer money.

No, you are discouraging the experts from addressing future problems because people like you will renege after they put in their efforts.

[Supreme2k]

Life is too short for me to spend any more time on the problem described below...

Or any time at all participating in this site, which would have helped you "fix" your problem yourself.

I noticed that you've posted 3 times in 5 years (not counting the five posts in this very thread), so I would count that among the reasons that you cannot do this simple task on your own and are offering a fake "bounty" for someone else to do it. You seem to be a foul-weather friend.

MP4 is a (usually) converted format anyway. Your *ahem* friend should have the source content, so it's as simple as re-encoding to MP4. My experience with people who are working so hard to fix a converted format is that it is questionably obtained material, so they end up spending much more in time and resources than the $20 it would take to buy the material. Again, in my experience, so I'm not going to cast any unfounded (but most likely dead-on accurate) accusations here.

[fly37]

>Again, in my experience, so I'm not going to cast any unfounded (but most likely dead-on accurate) accusations here.

The martial is legitimate. It is home movies converted to run on an Apple TV. The client has about 250 of them that work just fine and 3 with no sound.

[fly37]

jagabo: I downloaded your file, worked on it, and posted what I found. I jagabo: I downloaded your file, worked on it, and posted what I found. I don't care about your $50, I just did it as a courtesy.

Thank you, your efforts are appreciated.

As I said, no one who actually worked on this has said they were unclear on the basis they were making their efforts.

[fly37]

Stiiv: Do I win the fifty bucks?

Dude, you find my sound and its yours.

[Nelson37]

You got your sound evaluated, it is the sound of silence. All the sound available in the file has been revealed for you, if you wanted original compositions, you should have said so.

Your character and word have also been evaluated, and are similarly empty.

Don't bother offering any further bogus "bounties", they are not needed and are obviously worthless, anyway. I will be certain to point that out for your next project, hopefully for something you need.

To all - Note there is a "client" involved with 250 files to be converted, the OP is most likely being paid for this project. Those who worked on this have been legitimately defrauded.

[misterbill]

Looks like somebody might have to come up with a new identity if they ever want help around here again.

[FulciLives]

I farted

[misterbill]

That's alright. Just don't offer $50 to have someone pull your finger and then tell them they didn't pull the correct one.

[tmw]

I want to know who will be the first to create an audio track of fart noises, and then post that as the audio track they "found" for the file.

This is entertaining, if nothing else.