MOV files won't play audio - RAM problem?

[MJW01]

Hi,
I have some MOV files shot on a Nikon Coolpix which do not play correctly on certain machines. On my video editing machine,
When I play the movie files in Quick Time, the video and audio is jerky, in that it will play for about 2 seconds and then jump.

When I import the files to Avid Express, there is no audio apart from occasionally it will make a load crack or static type sound. I have seen the issue with the jumpy footage on my laptop (which only has 1.75GB of RAM).

My video editing machine has 2GB of RAM. My own work machine plays the files well and it has 4GB of RAM. I think I've answered my own question here - but is it just a question of RAM?

Thanks,
Martin

[jman98]

We need more information here, specifically what CPUs your various PCs have and what version of Windows they are running. My experience has been that for XP 2 GB of RAM really should be enough for everything. I do not use Avid Express but I've never been able to max out the memory on any XP machine I've got. Vista and Win 7 are completely different and their memory requirements are higher than those for XP. I suppose there is some possibility that Avid Express is just a memory hog but someone with more experience will have to comment on that. The real problem might be your CPUs. If the Nikon is fairly recent it will record video in high definition and if your video editing machine is pretty old and only has a 1 core CPU, it simply may not be powerful enough to handle high def video. If that's the case then you won't be able to fix it in RAM. I do not work with MOV format video so I am sorry but other than the advice above I really don't have any other suggestions.