Thanks Mike, but that doesn't work. I can load the file as a collection into Movie Maker and it will play as a collection, but when I drop it onto the timeline it no longer plays. I can successfully pull the audio out to Vegas using Avidemux, but so far can't figure out how to put the "fixed" audio back in. I can put it in as a second track, but I can't get it to play, and haven't been able yet, to figure out how to remux it all back together again.

Jim

Microsoft used to distribute free sofware called "Windows Media Encoder" that would demux and remux wmv, but they took them offline several months ago. Now they want you to use their "expression" authoring software. Maybe you can find the old version online somewhere.

I actually use the free version of Expression for wmv files rather than directly rendering them in Vegas because lower bitrate wmv files look better (to my eyes anyway) than ones rendered from Vegas. I use wmv done this way instead of Handbrake whenever I know that the end user has a Windows system rather than a Mac, and when I'm not sure how powerful it is. I've had a couple instances where client's PCs were older and simply not up to playing the CPU intensive (but otherwise great looking) .mp4 clips without losing audio sync.

If your sound card supports "What You Hear," you should be able to record anything that you can hear on your speakers. I use this feature all the time.

Open Vegas, add an audio track, and arm Vegas to record.

Put your WMV file into VLC or whatever media player you use for sound files.

Open the mixing controls for your sound card, and select "What U Hear" as the recording source.

Start Vegas recording the audio, and then play the audio file.

You could also use VLC to demux the audio. There are also other conversion utilities that can convert various strange formats to WAV.

I would then re-encode the whole thing because that 12 fps WMV is probably (I'm guessing) pretty lousy video to being with. Any degradation from re-encoding will hardly be noticed, and you can then end up with a much more modern format that can be played on a wider variety of equipment.

Thanks John,

I have already been able to get the audio demuxed so I can work on it. The problem is getting it reattached to the video. Seems to me I should be able to do that in Avidemux, but haven't figured it out yet.

Yes the video is horrible quality, but it has to play in the DA and Courthouse systems. Unfortunately, the people who use these are experts in something other than AV, and can't tell me how much leeway I have to work with. And, this is just one of fiveish files on the DVD covering several hours of interviews.

So, right now I'm trying to figure out a strategy that will let me put the new audio track with the original video (with or without the original audio track, it is so quiet it really won't matter) in the original format so I can assure the client it will work in their systems.

Jim

Thanks for the pointer Laurence,

I was able to find Windows Media Encoder, and was able to install it on my W7 system. Now, I have to figure out how it works, and see if it can help me get this project accomplished.

Jim

Jim, can you point me to where to download the older Windows Media Encoder software? I had it on my old computer but hadn't been able to find it for the new one. I like the new Microsoft Expression encoder, but it doesn't do muxing/demuxing like the old version did, and as you can see, that is sometimes an important thing to be able to do.