No audio after conv from .vob -> .avi with Avidemux

[Matt Crowley]

The simplest way to get your DVD footage into Vegas is Vegas’s own disc import feature.

Just click “Import DVD camcorder disc…” on the Project menu and point it to your disc (or folder containing a DVD structure on your hoard drive). Select a destination folder, click OK and you’ll end up with one or more MPG files ready for editing in your project.

If that doesn’t work well for you, try the suggestions in this thread: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/24/897683

[Tim Srader]

Matt,
Thank you for your reply. Maybe I didn’t explain correctly.
I was not having issues with importing the source material into Vegas. I am talking about converting .vob (aka .mpeg) files into a more edit-friendly format (avi). From all the posts read, I understand that mpeg files shouldn’t be used for editing as some unintended outcomes may result (i.e. sync problems, flickering, etc).
I believe that the audio issue was due to my ignorance of the conversion process. I was able to make the VOB -> AVI conversion using the specs John Ranfro has mentioned many times and it seems to be working fine now. Maybe if he reads this he can verify.
I was also wondering about the configure/filter settings–if they automatically defaulted to certain specs when a specific template was chosen. It didn’t appear so.
Thanks,

Tim Srader

[Danny Hays]

Try copying the vob files to your hard drive, change the extention to .mpg, put on the timeline. If there’s audio, render to avi if you feel you need to. If your machine will edit the mpgs, no use stomping on it again with an unnessecary recompresion to make them avi. The quality wont be better than the mpg.

[Tim Srader]

Now I’m confused!
My machine can/does handle changing extension VOB -> MPEG and then editing, but from all the reading here I gathered that (best?) practice is to convert files to AVI (due to ease of Windows using them), edit files, then render as MPEG for DVDA.

Personal preference or accepted practice?

Tim Srader

[Danny Hays]

Yes Vegas is more efficent with DV AVI for instance as every frame is an i frame, where with mpg, it’s not. But the fact that it’s already mpg, the original quality has been compromised and re-rendering it to avi isn’t getting back that quality. Most new cameras don’t capture avi eccept DV cameras. HDV cameras capture .m2t, a form of mpg. I have some cameras that capture .mts 1080 60p AVCHD. my i7s can handle them fine in Vegas until I start adding effects. Then the preview framerate slows down. Alot of people with slower machines that need a high framerate in their preview will convert them to an intermedite lossless format like Cineform. Cineform avi is easy on the CPU and is easier to edit. The fact is any re-compression will cause at least a little quality loss, even if you render them to lossless formats like Cineform. Now the color space of .m2t is 4.2.0 where Cineform is 4.2.2 so chromakeying a Cineform avi will give you better quality than chromakeying an .m2t file, so using effects that use color are an ecception to the rule, but just piecing them together, you would get better results with the MPG files, especcialy if you use no effects. There’s an option in your prefs, Enable long GOP no recompression, so rendering to the exact format of mpg will not re-compress at all. In fact you should see “No recompresson nessecary” I believe in the preview while rendering. When you see that, your loosing no quality at all.

[Matt Crowley]

Standard definition MPEG2 files from DVD are a lot less taxing on your PC during editing than HD files like AVCHD and HDV.

Try using them directly in a project and see how it goes. If you find it still gets a bit sluggish then convert to DV AVI, or MJPEG AVI as suggested in various threads by John Rofrano.