Real problem with DVD burning....
 

I'm going to pull my hair out!!!!!!!!!!!!

I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 for all my editing. And I use Cyberlink DVD for my DVD authoring.

One time (out of 35+ weddings) I noticed that the Guest Comments on a clients DVD had no audio when I played the DVD. The files were fine but burned to the DVD with no audio.

I started the process over and the audio was present the second time. I thought no more about it.

The current wedding that I'm working on is making me crazy...I cannot get the audio in the Guest Comments section to play on the DVD AT ALL! The avi files work fine but when I render them to an actual DVD there is no audio (just for G Comments again which tells me it must be related to how it's captured?) in playback on TV.

I capture audio with an Azden microphone if that matters

Oh and I did a test where I burned to DVD a previous weddings Guest Comments that gave me no problems at the time and guess what...it burned without audio now as well!

I might cry soon I'm getting so frustrated :(

Hi Kelsey,

One thing I would check is the sample rate on your AVI file's audio track. It should be 48k stereo* before being encoded for the DVD. I don't know about Adobe CS3, but I do know that a DVD encode includes separate files for audio and video for any particular clip/section of a DVD. You might want to look into where the encoded DVD files are stored on your drive - it could be that for some reason the audio file isn't making it into the proper folder for creating the final DVD. Where your DVD software puts those files is probably in the preferences section of your DVD software.

I'm suspecting that somehow the original AVI that you're using (the Guest footage) is somehow different from an audio perspective than the rest of your AVI files - either the sample rate is different, or it's mono when it should be stereo, or something of that nature. You should be able to check the properties of your AVI files in detail when you are in Adobe CS3 - I would check that and compare with working AVI files that have copied correctly to DVD.

Maybe someone familiar with CS3 can chime in as well...


*actually the original AVI sample rate could be *theoretically* any rate, but in most all cases it is normally 48K before DVD encoding...

it is mono as opposed to stereo. Should I be changing that somewhere?

And thanks for your help...I will use some of that info while I'm investigating!

Kelsey....

I wish I knew the answer.... I'm posting to let you know that I've been there. Almost every-time I have to burn a wedding I have a different problem than before. No Sound, DVD stops at certain points, audio's off... It's a mess.
One time my computer just decided that it wasn't going to burn to a type of DVD any more. They were the same DVD's that I've always used.

A few things that made my life easier when I was having issues. Delete the encoded assets (not sure if this is an option for you). If it'll only cost you 10 to 15 min or so, start over from scratch. Maybe try burning a disc image.

This post was more to share with you some of the pains that I've been through. I've been there and most likely will be there again.
If you figure it out make sure you post the "fix" that way others can learn from your thread in the future.
Good luck,
Steve

Hi Kelsey - mono should be perfectly OK. I've use Encore CS3 for a while now without ever running into this issue but my workflow is quite different. For a start I don't use Adobe to do the encode. I use either Procoder or Sorenson Squeeze. I encode my assets as separate m2t and AC3 files. If you are looking for a cheaper solution I think TMPGEnc is pretty good.

Without describing your workflow in a lot more detail it may be hard to isolate the cause of the issue. For example do you export full .avi's and most importantly have you tried playing back the avi to rule out the problem there.

If it is a sample rate issue, check Premiere to make sure all your tracks are captured at 48KHz. If it's a file encoding issue check your assets directory and make sure the .ac3 file for that track exists. Try exporting a separate audio and video track from Premiere and combining them in Encore and see if you still have the same issues (that way you're not trying to strip the audio out of the avi but rather encoding a .wav directly). Audio is very fast to export so shouldn't add too much time to your workflow.

HTH

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the advice and support! I was up until almost 3:00am and I FINALLY got the DVD's burned and out the door. :)

My solution...I never did "fix" the problem...instead I downloaded a 30 day trial of another rendering software and it worked fine for me on that?!?! who knows?

In 28 more days I may find myself getting out the credit card....

Again, thanks for all the input/comments...

K

That's good news - at least you now know the problem is the Adobe encoder (either the encoding engine or the saving of the files). I don't use their encoder but you coudl try encoding directly out of Premiere - the encoder works from there as well. Should give you the same end result.