Subject:Sync Problem

Posted by: TheGatekeeper

Date:1/19/2004 6:07:54 AM

I really love the idea of encoding my project to 5.1. I went through the manuals the other day and took a video I have captured to my PC and saved the AC-3 file and the video. When I used DVD Architect and did a preview the audio and video were out of sync part way through the film. I was just wondering if this is a common problem? I am pretty sure that I did everything right, but this was my 1st attempt and I just picked up these programs so it's new to me. Is there a good help site out there or could someone walk me through it? Thanks.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: SonyEPM

Date:1/19/2004 8:53:42 AM

There's probably no issue, but, be warned: software playback should not be used for checking sync (or colors or interlacing etc). Burn a DVD and watch it on a set-top player on a real TV.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: TheGatekeeper

Date:1/21/2004 3:45:37 PM

Thanks for the reply. I thought the same thing, maybe it was just because it was in preview mode. I tried to burn it on a DVD-RW but it wouldn't let me for some reason. So I burned it and tried it on my set-top player. The sound is amazing but I still have the sync problem. It's fine at the beginning but as it moves on it gets worse. I checked the original file just to make sure and it's fine. So I'm assuming that I did something wrong along the way. Just to bw sure, I have to create the AC-3 file and the video file seperately and then combine them later for burning? Thanks again.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: SonyEPM

Date:1/22/2004 2:48:38 PM

what format was the original video source you captured? Something other than DV perhaps?

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: thier

Date:2/9/2004 12:44:36 PM

If your original capture was to MPEG2, I've got some bad news for you. I've reported this same set of symptoms to Sony Support, and all I have gotten back from them after a month of emails is a repeated insistence that "We always recommend using DV AVI files as your source material".
Well, all I wanted to do was capture a video and burn a DVD after adding some chapter marks in DVDA. No fancy editing or filtering, just the most basic stuff. I captured to MPEG2 since my ATI card produces great looking MPEG2s in real time, and I didn't need to use 25GB for the capture. Sony's response has been painfully poor, "this may not be something that can be fixed on our end and I cannot guarantee that anything is going to change."
Sony's failure to fix this basic bug is a clear violation of their product's specs. As long as your MPEG2 files are complaint according to Sony's own definition (as mine are), there is no reason why you should not be able to do what you started out to do.
I'm very disappointed in this supposedly "high-end" product. I guess I should have followed my instinct and avoided buying a "1.0" release.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: TheGatekeeper

Date:2/15/2004 6:16:49 AM

Well it's taken me a while to get back to this forum. I have been busy with work and other things that I haven't had time to get back. I'm glad to see that someone else has had the same problem. For a while I thought I was doing something wrong. That being said I am disapointed that there seems to be no solution to it.

My source file I was working on is indeed MPEG. I have a bunch of MPEG clips I wanted to transfer to DVD, same as thier, nothing fancy, just the clips and a basic menu system with AC-3 sound. It just sounds so much better with 5.1. I tried rendering to AVI, MPEG2 and other settings but if it is the source file then I guess we are out of luck.

I imported a DV file of my wedding last year that I captured with Pinnacle Studio 8 and tried the same thing. I found a lot of audio drop outs and distortion but wonder if that's due to the fact that I used another program to capture? The main reason I got this high end software was to use the 5.1 feature. The rest of the package is great though, I just wish I could do what I really wanted with it. I'm just wondering if there is other 5.1 encoders that we could use or is this DVD Architect not able to sync the two files together properly? Thanks again for the help.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: SonyEPM

Date:2/15/2004 7:52:51 AM

This is not a Sony bug. We handle the MPEG-2 files we generate (render) just fine, in Vegas or in DVDA. Load ATI/AIW MPEG files, all bets are off- nothing we can do about it since we don't make the ATI devices. Look around other forums on the cow or wherever- ATI capture cards are troublesome for everyone. (I do like ATI video display cards- I have 2)

The solution is, sorry to say, to completely eliminate the "ATI capture as MPEG-2" scenario from your production chain. Capture DV from your analog source using a DV camera or a/d converter like the Canopus ADVC100 and there will be ZERO sync problems. You can get a decent DV camera real cheap these days, so the camera passthrough route is what I'd advise- you get an a/d converter AND a camera out of the deal, it'll last you a long time, it'll work great with any of our DV-capable apps.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: thier

Date:2/15/2004 11:44:41 AM

re: "...the MPEG-2 files we generate (render)..."

There is nothing in the Sony product specs for DVDA (or Vegas, for that matter) that excludes MPEG-2's from other sources as long as your MPEG-2's are compliant with Sony's own specs (see the Sony Knowledgebase Answer ID 84 for their "precise" settings, where the Answer clearly states "You can import MPEG-2...from other apps...").

Sony's brags about DVDA's ability to accept many formats, and then to reencode only those formats as needed; they certainly don't say anything about their reencoding process creating unusable output (the result that I got, audio out of sync with video by 1 second, fits my definition of "unusable"!)

When a program fails to conform to its specifications, that is the industry's legal definition of a bug; like it or not, Sony must either change their published product specifications or, preferably, fix this defect in their software.

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: SonyEPM

Date:2/16/2004 7:24:09 AM

DVDA can accept, without issue, compliant MPEG-2 files from any Sony (ex-sofo) app, as well as those created by Adobe, Main Concept, Canopus, Heuris, Matrox, TMPEG and many more. No sync problems.

MPEG-2 files captured with ATI AIW, even though they have they same parameters and may appear compliant, are often problematic with regard to sync. We do not write these files and there is little we can do to solve this problem. Sorry-

Subject:RE: Sync Problem

Reply by: Juke

Date:2/26/2004 6:12:35 AM

I have MPEG-2 files captured with ATI AIW. If I play this file in Computer, It plays fine. No audio video synchronization problem. I author this MPEG2 file with Tmpgenc and burn DVD, it plays fine in computer and on most of DVD Player. But If I import this file in Vegas and render it to .m2v and 5.1 ac3 and then author it, audio-video is out of synchronization. That means there is nothing wrong with MPEG2 file captured with ATI AIW.
Mr. SonyEPM, what do you think about it? I render many files with Vegas and all the time rendered m2v file and original MPEG2 file have diffenrent Timeout. Usually it differs 4 seconds for 4.3 GB file

My email address : crist_2000_2000@yahoo.com
Thanks