What program to sync audio and video?

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:47 pm

Hi, I am working with a JVC hard disk camcorder. It has no mic in jack and I want better audio quality than the onboard mic. So, I can transfer the video file from the camcorder to a pc and then transfer the audio. What program can I use to line the two up. Will it recognize the jvc file?I'm not looking for more than that. Also, if it will let me save the av mix into multiple formats or one of high quality. How do you send large files like this electronically if it is too large for e-mail?

Thanks

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:28 pm

many of the video editors (FCP and AVID etc) can deal with video and audio seperately and so therefore in theory the audio can be RE-aligned

the trouble you will have is continuous lip sync
the video and the audio recorders will not be LOCKED in sync so drift will occure

the length of scene will influence how far the drift and the your work load to put things back together again

do some test shoots before you start a big project

you didn't tell us what your audio recorder might be
if it is digital set it for 48k ... the camera is sure to be 48 ... and perhasp 16bit
just mirror that and things will probably be easier

two digital units like the camera and a wave recorder will stay together on short scenes and can be managable

I'm not saying the edit is easy and these things can develop into a nightmare

for a very, very simple Mpeg2 software for stream corrections ... VideoReDo is a nice package
some of the HD camera's are Mpeg2
BUT some are Mpeg4

VideoReDo is also useful for ADD removal of Digital TV recordings

but it sounds like you want a real video editor
and
most of us would also use a real audio editor as well

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:54 pm

thanks for the response...I will probably be using a marantz recorder and I believe I can set it to be 16 or 24 bit at 48k

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:37 am

The reason you want to use a separate recorder is to take advantage of the higher sample rates, so why limit yourself to the sample rate of the camera? In my experience the drift is unnoticeable in takes under five minutes.

In the absence of timecode sync you go back to basics. A clap from a slate along with a verbal announcement (scene 17b, take 4 - CLAP!!!) will make sure that the audio and picture from each take start together. Record at the highest sample rate your recorder (or budget) will allow and use the audio from the camera as a guide/sync track. It's worked beautifully for me in the past.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:02 pm

I've done this in Vegas - checked timing every 30 seconds or so and dragged points around to keep stuff matched up. Worked pretty well, if I recall.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:46 pm

UncleBob58 wrote:

The reason you want to use a separate recorder is to take advantage of the higher sample rates, ...

I don't think that's the reason

Trick wrote:

It has no mic in jack and I want better audio quality than the onboard mic. ...

the external unit will give access to different and better mics

even though the Clapper/Slate is a fine idea and will help
it is not
absolutely necessary as there will be the IN-board audio still there to align too

leave the external audio at the same rate as the camera and the editor will have less things to cope with
depending on editor, the audio of different formats get handled in different ways
some will import and render and some may try to resample on the fly ... taxing the computer and lead to risks of different outcomes on each play clip

keep things simple until you know what the consequences are and do try some test shoots before the big project

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:29 am

We shoot a lot of not for profit concerts by local orchestras and choirs and we do this with audio that we record on a DAT synced up with the pictures we capture on our HD cameras. These concerts can be over 1 hour long and the loss of lip sync is very minor even at the end of the concert. We may have to adjust a couple of frames at most but no problems. We use both VEGAS and Final Cut Pro and they are both easy to work with.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:06 am

thanks for all the responses...this project is for someone I will be assisting...so, I don't have access to the camera and I'm trying to avoid problems that I may encounter...the other thing that I wonder is if the camera seperates the audio and video into seperate files, if not, can I shut off the audio for that track in final cut pro? The manual for the JVC doesn't talk about transferring files or what type they are, it looks like they have a couple supplement manuals online, so hopefully something is there.

thanks again

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:00 pm

the files transferred to the computer will be embedded audio
a DV file or an mpeg2 ...
if it is very new and HD it will be mpeg4

FCP can seperate audio and you can do what you like with it

I've not put an mpeg4 into FCP yet

if you both hit record and leave it
things might be easier

if you both hit record and stop at different times the files you produced could get hard handle
they will be different sizes and apart from the time of day data
there will be nothing to help you

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