Captured video has echo effect

erisajd wrote on 1/24/2006, 11:06 AM
I have a new Panasonic PV-GS250 3ccd camcorder and am using Vegas Movie Studio 6 (Platinum edition). I capture with IEEE firewire.

When I capture video the sound contains a noticable and wholly unacceptable echo. Sound a bit like a PA system in an empty gymnasium. I do NOT get this effect when I play back the tape through the camcorder directly to TV. Just after capture. And, understanding that this may constitute heresy, I also sometimes use Pinnacle Studio 10 and got the same effect after capturing the same movie clips with that software.

Any suggestions? Does this sound like a hardware or a software problem?

thanks
erisajd

Comments

ScottW wrote on 1/24/2006, 11:53 AM
Are you perchance listening to the audio playback on the camcorder and via your PC speakers while you capture? If so, the echo is normal and expected and should not appear in the actual movie clip when you listen to it playback in VMS (after capture).

--Scott
erisajd wrote on 1/24/2006, 1:03 PM
I wish it were that simple.

I do not hear the echo when capturing. Only when editing (playing what I have edited to see how it looks/sounds) and when I play the captured AVI file. The camera, at that point is disconnected from the IEEE firewire and turned off. Just to test it, I played the captured AVI file in Windows Media Player and it had the same echo effect.

I have not, to be fair, rendered the file to MPEG and listened to hear if the echo occurs then.

I do not get the echo when I just replay the video tape from the camcorder.

erisajd
ADinelt wrote on 1/24/2006, 1:39 PM
This is just a stab in the dark, but try panning the audio on the timeline to one channel only. It doesn't matter if it is left or right, just so long as it only one channel and see if you still have the echo. This will let you know if your audio is slightly out of sync between the left and right channels.

Al
erisajd wrote on 1/24/2006, 2:46 PM
Good suggestion. I will try it.

And, if I find that to be the case, then what?????
RevJonG wrote on 1/25/2006, 7:18 AM
I have the same camcorder and software. I have never noticed an "echo". This maybe a wild shot in the dark but have you defraged your Hard drive? I had a couple "sync" problems capturing to my laptop until I added an external HD, bigger and faster than the internal one. This plus using firewire I have not had a problem...

RevJonG
erisajd wrote on 1/25/2006, 8:41 AM
This is embarassing.

I found that my new computer (acquired about the same time as the new camcorder) has a funky sound card with "equalizer" that can produce a variety of sound effects. Somehow, it was set to "cave" and that explains the whole echo effect. Turned that off and everything worked fine. Thanks for all your suggestions.
IanG wrote on 1/25/2006, 8:41 AM
What happens if you play audio that's unrelated to video e.g. a CD? Is it possible you've switched on some effects on your soundcard?

<edit>
Been there, done that! It's nice to get it right once in a while :-)
</edit>

Ian G.