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Old November 18th, 2009, 01:06 PM   #1
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Trouble importing video. No audio

I am very new to the process of video editing and am struggling through learning to use my tools. I use WAX2.0. I have a rather old camcorder, the Sony DCR-TRV720 NTSC. In the past I have used Movie Maker to pull the video off my camcorder and then to do my editing. It seemed to work well, but I am also trying to do chroma key work and I find that Movie Maker does not offer a lot of control for that process. I see that WAX2.0 seems to have a fair amount of control for Chroma Key so I loaded it up. Unfortunately it looks as though WAX does not have the ability to interface with my camcorder and allow me to pull the video off. I used Movie Maker to pull the video off then opened the file into WAX, but it seems that I only get the video into WAX and no audio. If I play the same clip using Movie Maker I get the audio, so I know the clip contains audio, and I know my PC is working properly.

Now, when I import using Movie Maker, I choose the AVI NTSC format. It's the only AVI format I see as an option in Movie Maker. Then I tried to import into the WMV format. WAX cannot accept that format so I found a WMV to AVI converter. I used it to convert to AVI (this time it does not seem to say anything about NTSC) and when I import that file into WAX, it comes along with the audio track. If this worked right I would be happy, but then I found that when I render the clip after editing, the audio is out of synch with the video. Am I in too deep for my level of experience, or am I missing something simple? Are there multiple types of AVI? Is the type of AVI that I am using not seperating the audi from the video so that WAX can properly import it? Is WAX not that great of a tool? Is there something else I should be using? I know, lots of questions. Any help for this newb would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
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Old November 18th, 2009, 02:33 PM   #2
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Are you capturing from the Firewire connection of your camera into a Firewire port on your computer? Or are you trying to capture by USB?
You could try the free trial version of ScenalyzerLive capturing software if you are using the Firewire ports. Scenalyzer has always worked very well for me when importing DV AVI footage from Sony Digital8 and DVCAM camcorders with a Firewire connection. If the trial works, it's not very expensive software to buy and it has many other uses for logging and playback too.
There are many types of AVI files, since AVI is a "wrapper" and what's contained inside can vary considerably.
You might also consider investing in a better consumer editing software. For example the lowest levels of Sony Vegas range from $50 to $100 and are very good for both capturing and editing within the maximum track number limitations of 4 video and 4 stereo audio.
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Old November 18th, 2009, 03:26 PM   #3
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Thanks for the guidance. OK, so it could be then that the type of AVI file that I am making is not compatible with WAX. I did not realize that Vegas was so reasonable. I will see if I can play around with ScenalyzerLive. Yes, my camcorder has the Firewire port. Perhaps it's time to get a more up to date camcorder. I got this one 10 years ago just before my first child was born. I guess 10 years on a camcorder is all I can ask. Maybe I get a new one and pass this off to the kids. Then I could avoid the whole issue of tape and I would assume file transfer would be pretty easy.
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Old November 18th, 2009, 08:57 PM   #4
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John, when you have audio and no video -- or vice-versa --- it is usually a codec problem, whatever codec made the original is not available on the software you are playing it with. You can get any of several freeware programs which will analyze your video and tell you what codecs are used -- GSpot, mpegStreamclip, and Quicktime (possibly only the pro version, which is not free) can do this. / Battle Vaughan
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Old November 23rd, 2009, 10:16 AM   #5
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Thanks for the help. the issue is solved. Yes, you are correct, it looks like this is a codec issue. I decided that if I am going to take this hobby seriously, it is time to spend a few bucks and get a real editing application. I picked up a copy of Cyberlink Powerdirector 8. Once I installed it my problems went away, and it seems as though I have a good solid application for doing the work. I started playing with it this weekend and WOW! it's amazing how much more enjoyable the process becomes when you have a tool that works the way you expect. I now get audio, and video, and a very user friendly tool that allows me to do the editing that I want. There is so much power there and I am definitely looking forward to exploring the possibilities.
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Old November 23rd, 2009, 02:50 PM   #6
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Congratulations! I'm glad to hear you're having better results now.
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Old December 8th, 2009, 08:47 PM   #7
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Carefull with HD editing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Fisk View Post
Thanks for the help. the issue is solved. Yes, you are correct, it looks like this is a codec issue. I decided that if I am going to take this hobby seriously, it is time to spend a few bucks and get a real editing application. I picked up a copy of Cyberlink Powerdirector 8. Once I installed it my problems went away, and it seems as though I have a good solid application for doing the work. I started playing with it this weekend and WOW! it's amazing how much more enjoyable the process becomes when you have a tool that works the way you expect. I now get audio, and video, and a very user friendly tool that allows me to do the editing that I want. There is so much power there and I am definitely looking forward to exploring the possibilities.


Jon,

I've been using PD8 for over 4 months on nothing but HD video projects. Be careful before you enter this territory with PD8 - it can be extremely frustrating to use and predict the results.
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Old December 10th, 2009, 05:17 PM   #8
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Thanks for the warning. At this time though I don't have a HD camcorder. I am presently working in SD and so far it's been pretty nice. I started reading some info on HD, and I hope to get a HD camcorder in a couple years. Have to save up for that becuase when it comes time to buy one, I want to go for very good quality so I am going to be spending some bucks!
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