V9a: MainConcept AVC/AAC (*.mp4) audio only 6kbps?

john-beale wrote on 8/2/2009, 9:59 PM

Using V9a here on WinXP 32 bit. I have been using the Apple Ipod 640x480 preset to make mp4 files for web use. (actually, I modified it to be 640x360 for square pixels at 16:9 aspect ratio).

To my surprise, I cannot get the audio quality any higher than the minimum, 6000 bps (!) You can select higher rates but when going back to the audio tab, it is always reset to 6000 bps. As you might expect, the resulting audio quality is lousy. I'm pretty sure Vegas 8 did not do this. Any one else found this to occur, is there some odd setting I have?

EDIT: Confirmed, my Vegas 8 preset for this used 128 kbps. 6 kbps is just unusable if you want any quality.

Comments

ushere wrote on 8/3/2009, 12:03 AM

and while we're talking about mp4 / mainconcept, i started a thread regarding no 1280 x 720 anymore.

what the hell is going on with mainconcept mp4 working happily in 8 and spitting the dummy in 9a?

leslie

Bob Denny wrote on 8/3/2009, 1:18 AM

I'm getting 128Kbps audio. Select it, save template and 128Kbps shows in the auto-generated template info. It's just that when you go back to the audio tab, the selector doesn't pick up your currently selected rate.

srode wrote on 8/3/2009, 2:42 AM

I saved the template and it went back to 6 and still sounded bad - it's rendering at 6 not 128

farss wrote on 8/3/2009, 5:27 AM

Same here, saved template, opened template, comments say 128K but setting is 6Kbps.

Bob.

eVoke wrote on 8/3/2009, 7:33 AM

Is this problem/bug affecting both versions - 32bit and 64bit [9a]? As well NTSC/PAL ?
I've only installed the 9a update to the 64bit version on my system but I haven't had any time check it out yet.

john-beale wrote on 8/3/2009, 7:54 AM

So, it looks like a definite bug. For now, my workaround is to use the Sony AVC version of MP4. I just tried it and it actually does let you do real audio bitrates, although for Sony AVC the video bitrate seems to be fixed instead of variable (?)

UPDATE: FYI: Here is Sony's response to my bug report on this issue. I'm at work so I haven't tried it yet.
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Thank you for contacting Sony Creative Software. Try resetting your software. To do this:

Close the program. Now press CTRL+SHIFT while double-clicking on the program's icon to launch it. Continue to hold the CTRL & SHIFT keys until the program is fully up and loaded.

In newer programs, you will see a window that asks "Do you want to reset all preferences to default values?" Place a checkmark next to "Delete all cached application data" and then click Yes.

srode wrote on 8/3/2009, 4:42 PM

Tried that - didn't work - still stuck at 6000

john-beale wrote on 8/3/2009, 8:47 PM

I agree, the proposed fix did not help me either. I updated my support request, so hopefully they'll add it to their bug list.

john-beale wrote on 8/6/2009, 7:49 AM

Sony support says they could not reproduce this problem, it works fine for them. Huh.

winrockpost wrote on 8/6/2009, 9:52 AM

i can reproduce it , on three systems at least the other day i could, deleted 9 off all of them

Bob Denny wrote on 8/6/2009, 3:26 PM

I'm not a "highly experienced" Vegas user, but I'm not seeing the problem except as I described. I rendered a file after selecting 128,000/44,100 and saving the template. The file came out with 128,000/44,100 audio as shown in the description for the template:

vegas

Loading it into Vegas and selecting Properties for the clip:

General

    Name:            Introduction HD.mp4

    Folder:          Y:\ACP Videos\Publish HD (server)\YouTube Uploads

    Type:            MainConcept AVC/AAC

    Size:            31.26 MB (32,008,879 bytes)

    Created:         Friday, July 31, 2009, 1:05:52 PM

    Modified:        Friday, July 31, 2009, 1:32:27 PM

    Accessed:        Thursday, August 06, 2009, 3:08:02 PM

    Attributes:      Archive



Streams

    Audio:           00:01:02.206, 44,100 Hz, Stereo, AAC

    Video:           00:01:02.195, 29.970 fps progressive, 1280x720x32, AVC

Finally, I opened it in SoundForge for confirmation and looked at properties there

sf

Also, it sounds fine. So, my experience has been that the Bit Rate (bps) selector starts out at 6,000 any time you view the Audio tab in the template editor, but after selecting 128.000 (at least) and immediately saving the template, the description window shows 128.000 rate and videos rendered with that template definitely do get 128,000 audio.

robwood wrote on 8/6/2009, 7:15 PM

i have the same problem on three systems so far.

2 running Vegas 9a on XP Pro 64-bit
1 running Vegas 9a on VIsta 64-bit.

it seems odd Sony were unable to reproduce this error as i've been unable to find a 64-bit setup where Vegas 9a 64-bit doesn't do this.

anyway, i'll test it on a 4th tonight: 64-bit Vista on HP laptop.

also, i would REALLY like to know what hardware/software they have for testing, since it clearly works much better with Vegas than any 64-bit system i have access to. is there a description somewhere?

john-beale wrote on 8/6/2009, 10:57 PM

I just checked my laptop (WinXP 32bit) which still had Vegas 9.0 (not "a") and it worked fine. The 6 kbps audio problem did NOT appear! Cool. I then uninstalled 9.0 and tried to install 9.0a on my laptop, which appeared to work, but when the program started, it shows the initial logo, progress bar, says "creating file I/O manager" and then:

"vegas90.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please tell microsoft about this problem."

Note: This same laptop (Dell Inspiron 9300) still has Vegas 8b installed, and it works ok.

I tried uninstalling, registry cleaning, and reinstalling both on desktop and laptop. Desktop works but still shows the 6 kbps problem. Laptop still won't run V9a at all. I'm out of time for debugging this now.

srode wrote on 8/7/2009, 2:40 AM

Yep, I dont think it had the problem in 9.0 - it showed up with 9.0a

john-beale wrote on 8/7/2009, 8:02 AM

Can anyone help me out here? Sony Support is asking for a sample project that shows the problem. It happens 100% of the time for me so that's easy for the 32-bit side, but I don't run any 64-bit systems here- can anyone help with a 64-bit example? (Or if you'd like to submit your own support ticket for this, that ought to help also.)

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Thank you for contacting Sony Creative Software. Please submit a project file and related media that exhibits this functionality in both a 32-bit build of Vegas Pro 9 and the 64-bit build of Vegas Pro 9.

ForumAdmin wrote on 8/7/2009, 1:53 PM

I repro the problem in Vegas Pro 9.0a and have added it to our bug database.

It appears that the problem is that the bit rate dropdown does not properly get initialized to the actual template setting when you click on the audio tab. It's always setting it to the first one in the list, which is 6,000 bps (6 Kbps).

Work around: If you do click on the audio tab, make sure you set the bit rate dropdown to the desired bit rate, and also click Save if you are creating/changing a custom template. Be sure to set the dropdown before you leave the audio page by clicking another tab or OK.

The audio rate in the description text in the Render As dialog does seem to always be correct for the template, so if you've been in Custom make sure the audio rate is what you want. With some manipulation you should be able to get your custom template set up the way you want it.

T.