• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  WMV issue

  Posted by Dave Fraser on June 16, 2008 at 10:21 am

  Hi guys,

  I have been given a couple of wmvs of 2 different conference calls, filmed on a web cam to work with and edit down.

  The wmvs work absolutely fine on a pc but when I view them on a mac the audio slips out of sync with video.
  I have viewed them in both quicktime pro and mpeg stream clip and the same happens. I re-encoded them into dv pal format to work with in fcp but the audio is still way out.

  The wmvs are about an hour long.
  On the first wmv the audio only goes out of sync by about 25 seconds across the whole thing, but the 2nd goes out by 2:32, and this is coursing me real issues trying to edit, as the audio is drifting massively across each answer.

  I was just wondering if anyone had come across this problem before or knows how to sort it.

  I would edit them on a pc if i could, but i don’t have any software to do this, as i only use my pc (sony vaio) to check emails and word docs etc.
  And sadly there is no way of getting the original source files, i’ve just got the wmvs to work with. grr

  Any suggestions?

  Thanks in advance!

  Dave Fraser
  Motion Graphics Artist
  Big Button Media LTD
  http://www.bigbutton.tv

  Paul Dickin replied 17 years, 11 months ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
• 7 Replies

• 

  Tom Brooks

  June 16, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  Could you report the “properties” of the wmv files for us as reported on the PC? It may make a difference as to the exact WM codec that was used and what version of Flip4Mac you have. I would guess that the best shot at an answer on this issue would be the Flip4Mac knowlege base and discussion forums. If you could play these in MPEGStreamclip correctly, the best bet would be to do as you have tried and immediately get them into a standard FCP codec. I have also seen mysterious oddities in bringing ripped DVD files from MPEGStreamclip to FCP in which a restart fixed sync issues with the converted files.
• 

  Dave Fraser

  June 16, 2008 at 2:45 pm

  Hi Tom,

  thanks for getting back to me.
  err i’m using flip4mac version 2.1.3.10
  and the properties of the wmv are as follows:

  file size 108mb
  dur: 56.00
  frame wid: 480
  frame hi: 360
  data rate : 423kbps
  bit rate: 423kbps
  frame rate: 15 f/sec

  i don’t really know what you’d want to know.
  i’m now thinking that the frame rate could be the source of the problem, but i still can’t figure out why that would effect how it plays in qt and mpeg stream clip.
  it doesn’t play correctly in either of those programs.

  it works on my mac when i use a program call vlc, but unfortunately i can’t export using that program.

  Dave Fraser
  Motion Graphics Artist
  Big Button Media LTD
  http://www.bigbutton.tv
• 

  David Bogie

  June 16, 2008 at 3:34 pm

  I see you’ve posted other places.

  In FCP, unlink the video from the audio. Trim it to the last frame of audio. Get properties for the video clip, write down the exact length.
  Scrub the audio till you get the last frame. Modify>speed>enter the exact time for the video clip. The slight speed change will not be audible.
  Or you could speed change the video.

  bogiesan

  This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
• 

  Tom Brooks

  June 16, 2008 at 3:45 pm

  I may not have answers for you, but if you play in WM Player on a PC, and choose File/Properties, you get the actual codec in use by the file. For example:

  Windows Media Video V9
  960 x 540, 29.96 fps, Q=20 (VBR)

  or…

  Windows Media Video 9
  Professional

  It’s just good to know info to get started. I’m not sure if Flip4Mac’s player will play WM Professional properly on a Mac in that version, for instance. Current version is 2.2.0.49 but current isn’t always better with that plug-in. If you have a PC to use, perhaps the Windows version of MPEG Streamclip could help you. At least it would not rely on the Flip4Mac plug-in to play the Win Media.
• 

  Dave Fraser

  June 16, 2008 at 4:42 pm

  yeah alright again guys,

  thanks again.

  i have already done what you said to do david. it’s not perfect but i can persevere with it.

  downloaded mpeg streamclip for the pc, and it says that it is an unrecognisable file and unable to open.

  i’m just gonna crack on with it guys, quite a tight deadline!

  cheers for the help anyway

  have a good week.

  Dave Fraser
  Motion Graphics Artist
  Big Button Media LTD
  http://www.bigbutton.tv
• 

  David Bogie

  June 16, 2008 at 11:00 pm

  Tight deadline? We see that often around here.

  You want Streamclip for the Mac, probably.

  WMV is just a problem on the Mac. You could probably find any number of freebie conversion tools for the PC that will give a decent output that will prot directly. You might even be able to use Microsoft’s free WMV Encoder tool to output a PC version of DV. That shoudl open directly on the Macintosh.

  bogiesan

  This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
• 

  Paul Dickin

  June 17, 2008 at 8:54 am

  Hi
  When using MPEG Streamclip to Export to QuickTime to get a FCP-friendly file transcode make sure you set the Frame Rate box with your timeline frame rate (this is not set by default).
  Set the Frame Rate options to Best as well.

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