Newbie help = How to edit .RM file audio

[michaelsimpson7]

Hi, I apologise I am not sure which forum this question was most suitable for but I am in desperate need of help.

I have a .RM video file of an old TV show episode which is 2 hours long and 200 MB. The problem is the audio is a good 20 seconds off from the video which is obviously making it unwatchable.

Firstly, I am using Windows 7 and Windows Media Player and Windows Live Movie Maker don't even recognise the file type. I would really appreciate some help on a software which will recognise the file, and allow me to edit it and "slide" the audio to the correct place and save the video without losing any quality (as the quality is already pretty poor). I hope there is a free software out there than can do this (and not leave a watermark) as I cannot afford to buy any software at the moment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and I do ask that all advice is explained in the most basic, simple, easy-to-understand way possible as I know everyone here will be a tech genuis and I am very much a tech noob/dummy.

Thanks

[Hoser Rob]

Searched "edit .RM video file", got zero hits for editing but some for converting. Converting & then editing may be the way to go.

[El Heggunte]

@michaelsimpson7:

assuming your .RM file is not b0rked, you should give a try to MKVtoolnix, which can add or remove audio delays without re-encoding.
NOTICE, the result will be an MKV file, not a RealMedia one

Another possibility: ffmpeg supports RM remuxing, with or without the help from a proper and up-to-date GUI.

[jagabo]

In the short term you can use a media player that lets you delay/advance the audio relative to the video. Pretty much all the third party players support that. MPCHC, VLC, PotPlayer, etc.

I don't have any RM file but I do have an RMVB file. VirtualDub2 was able to open the video. But you will probably have to reencode the audio and video to create a new file with the audio delay/advance.

[michaelsimpson7]

@michaelsimpson7:

assuming your .RM file is not b0rked, you should give a try to MKVtoolnix, which can add or remove audio delays without re-encoding.
NOTICE, the result will be an MKV file, not a RealMedia one

Another possibility: ffmpeg supports RM remuxing, with or without the help from a proper and up-to-date GUI.

In the short term you can use a media player that lets you delay/advance the audio relative to the video. Pretty much all the third party players support that. MPCHC, VLC, PotPlayer, etc.

I don't have any RM file but I do have an RMVB file. VirtualDub2 was able to open the video. But you will probably have to reencode the audio and video to create a new file with the audio delay/advance.

It's not just for playback I need an actual new file where the audio is in sync as I need to send it to someone who will be uploading it to a streaming site.

Like I say, I am a tech noob - I don't know what b0rked, GUI or reencode means.

[El Heggunte]

^ Then you'd better upload a copy of the file to this topic (or to a file sharing service), so that other members can (try to) fix it for you.

I have a .RM video file of an old TV show episode which is 2 hours long and 200 MB. The problem is the audio is a good 20 seconds off from the video which is obviously making it unwatchable.

[Ai Haibara]

As I recall, RealMedia files (video and/or audio) were a highly-compressed format generally not meant for editing. Supposedly, you could do some editing with Real's tools, but even then what you could do with them was rather limited. (And I'm not sure if Real's tools are still available, or work.)

If you can separate the audio from the video/remux it, you might try converting it to a better-editable format and see if you don't mind whatever loss you might have by re-encoding the audio.

[jagabo]

MkvToolNix can probably remux the video into an MKV container with a new audio delay/advance.

[lingyi]

As I recall, RealMedia files (video and/or audio) were a highly-compressed format generally not meant for editing. Supposedly, you could do some editing with Real's tools, but even then what you could do with them was rather limited. (And I'm not sure if Real's tools are still available, or work.)

If you can separate the audio from the video/remux it, you might try converting it to a better-editable format and see if you don't mind whatever loss you might have by re-encoding the audio.

I was going to post about this.

All versions of RM are designed for streaming (there were also streaming only versions) and it's been through multiple revisions (It's up to Version 11/RealMedia HD), with some revisions incompatible with older versions. It's always been possible to convert TO RM, but editing the converted video has always been extremely difficult without conversion to another format.

As for any Real related software, be very careful as they've been known to contain adware and spyware. I just downloaded the latest RealMedia player as I read that some older versions allowed exporting of the audio only, and I had to opt out of installing WinRAR and sending my info to Real. Come to find out, it didn't have an export option. Though that may be available in the paid version.

[michaelsimpson7]

^ Then you'd better upload a copy of the file to this topic (or to a file sharing service), so that other members can (try to) fix it for you.

I have a .RM video file of an old TV show episode which is 2 hours long and 200 MB. The problem is the audio is a good 20 seconds off from the video which is obviously making it unwatchable.

Sure here: ****

My guess is the audio is a good 15/20 seconds off from the video

[jagabo]

The audio and video are in sync when I play that rm file (MPCHC and VLC). But the video is black for the first 8 seconds. And the players can't seek. And the they seem to think the video is 220+ hours long.

[michaelsimpson7]

The audio and video are in sync when I play that rm file (MPCHC and VLC). But the video is black for the first 8 seconds. And the players can't seek. And the they seem to think the video is 220+ hours long.

*****

[El Heggunte]

Yeah, the original file was terribly /horribly multiplexed
It is VERY variable-frame rate, according to ffmpeg and ffprobe...
just like the ancient streaming WMVs (read: ASFs), the old RealVideo software loved to drop frames when the bitrate was not sufficient.
I didn't get the "black frames" during the first 8 seconds, I got 1 static frame during those 8 seconds... tested with MPC-BE, MPC-HC and MPV

FWIW: I remuxed the video stream to an AVI file and the decoded audio to a WAV file... the AVI reports its duration as 01:59:07, whereas the WAV says 1:58:00

[jagabo]

Yes, VFR video is hard to convert properly. This AviSynth script keeps A/V sync:

a = ffAudioSource("bb.rm") 
v = ffVideoSource("bb.rm", fpsnum=25, fpsden=1) 
AudioDub(v,a)

You could encode that with the kind of settings used by the videobrother.net site and send it to them.

[michaelsimpson7]

Yes, VFR video is hard to convert properly. This AviSynth script keeps A/V sync:

a = ffAudioSource("bb.rm") 
v = ffVideoSource("bb.rm", fpsnum=25, fpsden=1) 
AudioDub(v,a)

You could encode that with the kind of settings used by the videobrother.net site and send it to them.

Ok thanks but if possible could you please explain exactly what I need to download and what I need to do? Like I say I am completely tech illiterate.

[jagabo]

Here's the rm video re-encoded to mp4 with properties similar to the videobrother.net site, except the audio is in sync with the video:

https://mega.nz/file/481khJKR#NWjvo1_5bUsYIzjhX0BGxaK0nFtZjEZ08vs4Vr8hkOU

[michaelsimpson7]

Here's the rm video re-encoded to mp4 with properties similar to the videobrother.net site, except the audio is in sync with the video:

https://mega.nz/file/481khJKR#NWjvo1_5bUsYIzjhX0BGxaK0nFtZjEZ08vs4Vr8hkOU

thank you so much! I didn’t think it was gonna be possible.

[jagabo]

For the sake of completeness you can reproduce what I did with:

1) Install AviSynth+ 64 bit.

2) Download the ffmpeg source filter: http://avisynth.nl/index.php/FFmpegSource . Put a copy of the x64 ffms2.dll in AviSynth+'s plugins64+ folder.

3) Download/install a static 64 bit version of ffmpeg.

4) Create a plain text file with NotePad:

a = ffAudioSource("bb.rm") 
v = ffVideoSource("bb.rm", fpsnum=25, fpsden=1) 
AudioDub(v,a)

ResampleAudio(44100)
MergeChannels(last, last)

Save it to the same folder as the RM file -- with the extension .AVS rather than .TXT. Change the name of the RM file to match the script (bb.rm), or change the script to match the name of the RM file.

5) Open the AVS script with a 64 bit editor or media player that supports AviSynth scripts as input. I recommend 64 bit VirtualDub2. Preview the script to verify everything is working.

6) Use NotePad to create a batch file to run ffmpeg:

Start /b /low "ffmpeg" "G:\program files\ffmpeg64\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -y -benchmark -init_hw_device qsv=hw -filter_hw_device hw -v verbose ^
    -i %1 ^
    -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 19.5 -g 50 -movflags faststart ^
    -profile:v high -level:v 3.1 -adaptive_b 1 -rdo 1 -g 50 -colorspace smpte170m -color_range tv ^
    -acodec aac ^
    "%~dpn1.avc.mp4"

Change the path to ffmpeg.exe to wherever you installed ffmpeg.exe on your computer. Save the file with the extension .BAT, not .TXT.

7) Drag the AVS script onto the batch file. An MP4 file will be created in the same folder as the RM video and the AVS script. Depending on the speed of your computer it may take from 5 minutes to an hour or more.