No audio on import - VMS 9 - worked in VMS 8

WyldKyle wrote on 8/25/2008, 8:59 PM

Let me add to my inquiry just a bit more. :)

When I drag a video onto the timeline, it doesn't create the audio/voice track along with it, whereas the previous version of VMS did. I remember VMS 8 used to create corresponding sf? files in the same directory as the video files, but in VMS 9 I don't see them anymore.

Also, just to check, I can play the imported .mpg files in Media Player and the audio is fine.

Thanks again for everyone's guidance.

Kyle (WyldKyle)

ForumAdmin wrote on 8/26/2008, 4:34 AM

Please contact SCS support via email. Please tell them what version of VMS you have (9.0, 9.0a), and they should be able to help you out.

WyldKyle wrote on 8/26/2008, 10:39 AM

Thanks, will do.

I was just thinking about this more last night, wondering if I have to upgrade to VMS 9 Platinum or Platinum Pro to get the same features I had in good ol' regular VMS 8. I'll contact support to find out more.

Kyle (WK)

WyldKyle wrote on 8/27/2008, 10:57 AM

Customer supported provided the following fix/info, I'll test it out today...

Thank you for contacting Sony Creative Software. Please take a look at the following article from our Knowledgebase, that deals with this issue:

Answer Title: Some MPEG2 files don't open in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9
Answer Link: http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=4287&p_created=1219784728

Darylmtb wrote on 8/29/2008, 4:41 PM

I feel your pain. I also have been fighting this problem for the past week. I had platinum 8.0 trial and had no problem with my DCR-DVD408 mpeg2 videos having audio. That was my first use of vegas and I liked it so I bought 9.0 studio (not platinum).

I'm still going back and forth w/ support. First suggestion was to import directly from HDD based camcorder, which I don't have. Second was the same KB article you referred to. That got me an exception, but I did see the audio "empty frame box" when dragging the file onto the timeline. I didn't get that before adding mcdddec.dll to the plug-ins. The next response from support was to reinstall everything, clearing out the registry and shutting down processes to make it clean. That didn't work, still getting exception. I never had any problems w/ 8.0 so yea, this is very frustrating.

Is anyone else seeing an exception in mcdddec.dll when trying out the KB fix?

Daryl

GerryLeacock wrote on 8/30/2008, 3:23 PM

Went through the same thing with the audio problem.

With VMS 9, audio existed. Upgraded to 9a - no audio. Even when I uploaded the same video files from my HDR-SR11's HD. Prior to the upgrade, all was well. Now with the upgrade, no audio track.

Did the fix listed above with the mcdddec.dll and mcplug.dll files. The mcdddec.dll wasn't even in the directory, so I couldn't replace it. Downloaded the 2 new files, put them into the directory as suggested, (replacing the mcplug.dll file) and re-opened VMS9a. No longer a problem with audio!

Darylmtb wrote on 8/31/2008, 2:45 PM

This fix seems to work for others and not me. I'm curious if it's my video files, system config, or something else. Can someone help me out? I've shared my short video (which does have audio) here -

http://www.box.net/shared/nokvcg79rc

This is just one of many files from my DCR-DVD 408. All of the files play in WMP and worked in VMS 8.0 trial. I've got xp w/ sp3 and the only other Sony app installed is Picture Motion Browser. Which is what I used to extract all the mpgs from the DVD. I've also tried importing them directly using vegas with no luck.

Thanks,
Daryl

Darylmtb wrote on 9/2/2008, 6:02 PM

If anybody tries this, please let me know. in the meantime, I'll update this thread with a workaround I've been able to come up with in case anyone else sees this. Here's the response I sent back to tech support w/ the details:
________________________________________________________________

Hi,

It's not my installation. I've tried it twice already with the same results. And I never had these problems on version 8.0. As for the audio setting, all I see in project properties for audio is: Sample rate, bit depth and Resample and stretch quality. There's no setting for 5.1.

Here's what I have been successful in doing. I took the mpg file (already attached previously: 20080212163817.mpg) and transcoded the audio using VideoLAN (attached file: test2_mpga.mpg). I transcoded the audio to mpga (mpeg layer 2). The file is now imported by vegas studio 9.0a. When selecting the old and new files in the explorer tab in vegas, the following file info shows up:

20080212163817
Video: 720x480x342, 29.970 fps interlaced, 00:00:02;15, MPEG-2
Audio: 48,000 Hz, Stereo, 00:00:02;15, MPEG

test2_mpga.mpg
Video: <same as above>
Audio: Same as above except: MPEG layer 2

Also - after pulling in this new file, I can import the original file without the exception happening. However, if I restart vegas it crashes with the same exception. This appears to be related to the order it imports the videos. Upon startup, if it processes the transcoded file first (test2_mpga.mpg) it's ok. If it does the original file first, it crashes. I can change the order by swapping the videos on the timeline. I've attached the new file. There's something going on with the dll's.
________________________________________________________________

Daryl

joe r wrote on 9/7/2008, 7:54 PM

I tried this . Deleted the 2 old files in mplug and added the 2 new ones. Still no audio with mpeg files. Any other suggestions. Sony has not responded yet.

drl wrote on 9/13/2008, 3:40 AM

Hi
Also have a problem importing Audio from DVD. Below is a copy of the letter I have just sent to Sony:

"Objective is to import movie previously burnt to DVD.
I prepared a movie in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0a and on completion of edit choose ‘Make Movie’, ‘Burn it to DVD’, ‘Next’, ‘DVD’, etc and rendering commences and completes. I then send to Sony DVD Architect Studio Ver 4.5d and choose ‘Make DVD’, ‘Burn’, ‘Next’ and ‘Finish’. No problems up to now and DVD plays fine in DVD player/TV and on the PC. The problem I have arises when I wish to import this movie from the DVD back into the Vegas Studio 9.0 program. It first appears as though the movie is imported ok as an .mpg file but on dragging the file into the edit area I notice there is no sound, only video.
I also have the movie editing program Pinnacle Studio 9 and have produced many movies with this program and burnt to DVD and have tried importing these into Vegas Studio 9 and there is no problem at all, both the video and sound track are imported fine.
As an exercise, I created a movie in Vegas and burnt to DVD. Imported it back from DVD in to Vegas and noted there was no sound track.
I then imported the same movie from the DVD in to Pinnacle Studio 9 and the sound track was there! I then made a movie with this import (in Pinnacle Studio 9) and burnt back to DVD and then tried to import back in to Vegas and this time the imported movie had the sound track! So, very confusing to me. I have searched through ‘Help’ but can’t seem to find a solution so I hope you can enlighten me as to where I may be doing something wrong."
Will post the reply here when I receive it, but in the meantime, if anyone has any ideas on this I would appreciate your comments.
Thanks

caseyh wrote on 9/28/2008, 6:56 PM

I HAD the same problem. I started with Vegas 8 on a xp computer. Everything from my hard drive Sony camera worked, video and sound. Bought a Vista Dell and went to buy Vegas to find out I could only get 9.0 now. Could not get any sound to apear in the program. Went to the link posted by WyldKyle and in minutes problem gone!!! the page had a link for 9.0 nonplatinum at the bottom wich is what I used. It simply replaces a few files in there soft ware. They also say this change will be in Vegas 9.0b. Hope this helps you all and thank you WldKyle for the post!

drl wrote on 9/29/2008, 1:36 AM

I didn’t get a reply from Sony but have discovered that if I burn a DVD after editing in VMS Platinum Ver 9.0a and use 5.1 surround sound I am able to import back from the produced DVD into VMS and the sound tracks are there. If I edit the project using ‘Stereo’ as the setting in the ‘Audio’ tab in ‘Project Properties’ and then burn to DVD, when I try to import this DVD back into VMS there is no sound track, and yet the sound is on the DVD and plays fine in any DVD player.
I have been using Pinnacle Studio 9 for many years and have hundreds of videos on DVD which have been produced by importing all sorts of media. I have just tried importing some of these old DVD’s –which all have just one audio track – into VMS and no problem at all, the audio is track is there. So, it appears that if you produce a movie in VMS and burn to DVD you will need to have the setting as 5.1 Surround sound and this will then allow you to import this movie back into VMS with the sound track intact. I would mention I don’t need 5.1 surround sound and I mute the additional tracks of Centre, Left & Rear in the timeline before I edit and this seems to do the trick.
Hope I’ve explained this ok, if not then let me know and I will follow up.

drl wrote on 9/30/2008, 12:31 PM

Have been experimenting with VMS further regarding the difficulty importing audio tracks when importing DVD content. I decided to create 3 DVD’s with identical content, one was produced using ‘Pinnacle Studio 9 Plus’ and the other two were produced using two different audio setting in ‘VMS 9.0a Platinum’.
In Pinnacle Studio 9 the settings used where – for video ‘Best video quality’ and for audio ‘MPA(MPEG-1 Layer 2)’ & burnt the DVD. Played the DVD in player and worked fine with both video and audio. Then imported from this DVD into VMS and the import included both video and audio channels, so no problem.
In VMS I created a movie using exactly the same content and had the settings for audio as ‘Stereo’ and burnt the DVD. Played the DVD in the player and worked fine with both audio and video. Tried to import the completed DVD back into a new project in VMS and only the video was imported. Tried to import this DVD back in to Pinnacle Studio and it contained both video and audio.
In VMS I created another movie using exactly the same content again and had the settings for audio as ‘5.1 surround sound’ and burnt the DVD. Played the DVD in the player and worked fine with both audio and video. Imported the completed DVD back into a new project in VMS and both the video and audio was imported. Could also import the DVD back into Pinnacle Studio with both video and audio
So, it appears that Pinnacle will import DVD video and audio no matter what the settings and VMS will only import both video and audio if the movie was produced in VMS using ‘5.1 surround sound’ or produced using Pinnacle Studio 9.
So, I have found a solution to my problem i.e I just use ‘5.1 surround sound’ in VMS projects, but have posted this in case it may be of use to others experiencing similar problems. If any experts out there have any ideas as to why this is happening I would be very interested to hear from them?
Thanks

MSK wrote on 10/1/2008, 3:00 PM

These fixes should help:

Vegas Movie Studio 9 (non-platinum users):
http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=4306

Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9:
http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=4287

drl wrote on 10/1/2008, 3:39 PM

Your'e a Star MSK! Many thanks for that info, have just followed the instructions on http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=4287 and it works a treat. Very much appreciated.