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VMS 10 and MP4 AVC/AAC files
Hi everyone!
I did some quick import and rendering tests with Vegas Movie Studio 9, using the trial version. The goal was to find an editor that works well with the MP4 AVC/AAC files that my Samsung HMX-H105 camcorder produces.
The tests went fine, I had no problem importing my files and could render as Sony AVC m2ts and H.264 AVC MP4 with good quality. My only major problem was that the preview playback was stuttering more than I would like, but that understandable because I was using my laptop for these tests, also I found that preview playback was better on Vegas Pro so I knew that improved playback was at least possible. I was considering a purchase of VMS when rumors about the version 10 release appeared in the SCS forum.
Yesterday I downloaded the trial of VMS 10 only to discover that it does not properly import my files! The framerate is wrong, the aspect is wrong and audio is sort of pulsating with short quiet sections throughout the clip even though it imports and playbacks without any error messages.
I reported the problem to Sony. They quickly responded with a request for a sample file, which I think is positive and promising.
Do you have any thoughts on this? Why would v 10 fail with a file that v 9 handles? Can it be anything in my setup that has changed after I did the v 10 tests (my trial period for 9 ended some time ago and I have installed and tried out some other software in between)?
/jonas
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5 Replies
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Do you have any thoughts on this? Why would v 10 fail with a file that v 9 handles?
I would imagine that quite a lot of rewriting went into making VMS10 GPU enabled. I’m not surprised by this at all. It’s probably a whole new code base. You did the right thing by letting Sony know so that they can address it.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
I have been struggling to find a proper solution for my MP4 AVC files and VMS 10 without success. Nothing from Sony yet. A user who purchased VMS 10 have reported similar problems on the forum at Sony, the answer he got from Sony doesn’t look promising.
https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=715698
I was not able to register my trial version and can therefore not post at the sony forum.
Is anyone here using MP4 files with AVC/H.264 and AAC? I suspect that my Samsung camcorder is using some ‘odd’ parts of the MP4 specification because after re-encoding the file (also to MP4) I get files that VMS 10 imports properly. Of course, I wold like to avoid re-encoding so it would be good to know what it is about my files that VMS 10 does not like.
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I suspect that my Samsung camcorder is using some ‘odd’ parts of the MP4 specification because after re-encoding the file (also to MP4) I get files that VMS 10 imports properly.
You suspect correctly and unfortunately this is the norm for small format AVC camcorders and is not unique to yours. For a lot of them, what the camera records simply can be edited and needs to be re-encoded. Camera manufacturers don’t seem to care and keep cranking out odd formats.
I realize this is too late for you but for others, you need to do your homework BEFORE you buy a small format AVC camera. Make sure it is compatible with the software you want to use to edit with or be prepared to convert all of your recordings to a more edit-friendly format.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
I realize this is too late for you but for others, you need to do your homework BEFORE you buy a small format AVC camera. Make sure it is compatible with the software you want to use to edit with or be prepared to convert all of your recordings to a more edit-friendly format.
I agree. You really need to decide on a camera/software combination, it will save you a lot of headaches. In this case though, I thought that I had found a nice match for my camera in Vegas – everything worked fine in version 9. And that is hurting.
Luckily I have not spent my editing money yet. I just have to choose…
1) VMS 9.
2) VMS 10 and live with the extra conversion step.
3) Some other editor, Power Director is supposed to handle my files fine.I have to say that apart from the shaky MP4 support, I really like what I have seen so far of VMS 10.
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An update on this…
I’ve been trying to find a solution for my problematic Samsung MP4 files and maybe I have found a way to make them VMS 10 compatible without re-encoding.
My files are 1080/50i clips. Straight from the camera they get the wrong frame rate (12.5) and aspect ratio, the audio is all choppy and the frame order looks mixed up. Others have reported only the audio problem for their 720p clips, so if you use progressive it is possible that you just have to fix the audio and can simplify the process.
Anyway, what I did was to extract the raw H.264 video and AAC audio streams from the MP4 file. Create a new MP4 file for each stream. Combine the audio and video MP4 files into one MP4 file. As far as I can see, the new MP4 file imports OK into VMS 10 and renders also seem OK. A slight problem is that the vertical resolution is listed as 1088 (not 1080) in the header data, but in VMS the clip still has 1920×1080 as resolution.
The programs I have been using are free, mp4box version 0.4.6-DEV and mp4creator version 1.6.1d.
> mp4box -raw 1 HDV_0110.MP4 (gives you the file HDV_0110_track1.h264)
> mp4box -raw 2 HDV_0110.MP4 (gives you the file HDV_0110_track2.aac)> mp4creator -create=HDV_0110_track2.aac HDV_0110_a.mp4
> mp4creator -create=HDV_0110_track1.h264 -r 50 HDV_0110_v.mp4> mp4box -add HDV_0110_v.mp4:fps=50:delay=0 -add HDV_0110_a.mp4:delay=0 -new HDV_0110_av.mp4
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