Voiceover/Narration help please

ReneH wrote on 4/18/2013, 2:49 PM

Hello! All,

I need some feedback and advice for render settings for some projects that will be made available on the web.

I am working with Powerpoint and doing the voiceovers but I needed some advice as to what audio format to render to.

Since these projects are slated for the web, perhaps the vdeo will be rendered to Windows media player format, I don't know what would be the best format to render the audio tracks.

Any help will be appreciated.

Comments

rraud wrote on 4/18/2013, 5:52 PM

I would record and edit in the mono Wave file format. A 48khz sample rate is normal for video, and 16 bit depth is adequate. Once you determine the final online format, the 'final' audio can be re-rendered to .wma, .mp3, .aac or whatever with no quality loss beforehand.

[r]Evolution wrote on 4/18/2013, 6:33 PM

Won't the Audio will be rendered with the Video as a .wmv?
- Are you also just uploading Audio files (without video)?

If I were delivering Audio files as well as Video w/ Audio files, I would render them to the same format. In your case, sounds like .wma & .wmv.

The answer is already in front of you.

1. Search these forums
2. Read a little: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=509900[/link

ReneH wrote on 4/18/2013, 8:39 PM

Thanks for your input fellas.

Yes, I will be uploading video with audio. I am not sure but is it alright to combine the channels as part of the workflow?

Also, thanks for the link to the post. Greatly appreciated.

Laurence wrote on 4/18/2013, 10:58 PM

The trouble with wmv is that without special effort, only Windows PCs will play it. Yes you can install special extensions on a Mac that will allow them to play wmv, and yes you can buy a specific application for a smartphone or tablet that will play wmv, but usually people with Macs and smartphones or tablets have not done this.

I use wmv format for one specific situation only. That is when I know that a file is only going to be played back in Windows, and when I know that the particular Windows PC that will be used is old and under powered. Wmv plays back way more smoothly on old Windows PCs than the mp4 format.

In all other cases I use the mp4 format with H264 compression (as done by Handbrake). These will play back on PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets (both Android and IOS). These will usually play back just fine on everything but the old PCs that your parents, grandparents, or public libraries still have.

musicvid10 wrote on 4/19/2013, 12:18 AM

MP4/h264 is as close to a universal format as we have today. Will play on Win, Mac, Linux, and every Flash version since 10.

AVI, WMV, and non-h264 MOV are OS-specific.

ReneH wrote on 5/1/2013, 10:15 PM

I fully appreciate the replies to my questions. It settles which format I have to render and output to reach all systems. Thanks fellas!