audio sync drift over time

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basshole
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audio sync drift over time

Post by basshole »

So I'm exporting (from v6) low res movies with audio to check how the timing looks in real time, and what I've noticed is that at certain point in my minute-ish length file, the audio is no longer where it's supposed to be. It's right in the project, wrong upon export. It's not like I'm going to use this audio for final output, but I will use it to line up my audio files in my NLE, and it's also hard to see timing when audio doesn't line up with video.

I'm exporting QT movies at 854x480, rending at half dimensions, leaving out antialiased edges. . .I just need a passable quality movie to see what I'm doing, and still I get this drift. Is this normal? Again, this scene's only about a minute.
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rylleman
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Post by rylleman »

What player are you using?
Try another one.
basshole
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Post by basshole »

I was using the QT player. Same issue in Divx player. Doesn't work at all in VLC.
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Could be the codec. Maybe in the codec you're specifying a different framerate to what you have in the project settings.

I'd try with a different codec, like Apple Intermediate Codec, or Sorenson 3 or something and see if that works.

If your FPS is different then it may go out of synch over time.
basshole
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Post by basshole »

I'll try it. . .I didn't realize ASP's codecs let you specify framerate. . .I think I just have it on "Animation"
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akgarner
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Post by akgarner »

I have an issue where the sync falls out for about 10 seconds, works again, falls out.

Did you ever get this working?

I lose sync after :40 and it picks up a bit at :60, then totally off by about a second again.

Really frustrating!
basshole
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Post by basshole »

I actually realized the sync was slightly off from the start of the file, but simply watching it it's really hard to tell. Right from the begin, though, it's off by a few frames and only gets worse over time.

Perhaps it's different for you guys, but when I do "export animation", First I get the window with all the checkable boxes, where you also specify how to export (QT movie, BMP, etc.), when you click "ok" you get another box that asks about codecs, how often to keyframe, etc. None of the codecs I can choose specify framerates (something someone mentioned above). I tried animation (the first one with the problem) codec, then h.264 which did something weird and my whole file was only a frame long, and then prores 422. I only rerendered a segment of the file, and as you know, if your render doesn't start at frame 1 you get no audio, so I didn't have a chance to check. I'll be doing another scene soon and I can try the prores and see if it works.
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akgarner
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Post by akgarner »

I do get all the check boxes. I've only been exporting as QT "animation" codec to make use of the alpha channel.

The project is 24 fps, and I'm exporting as such. The result is out of sync.

It appears as though AS isn't picking up the timing on certain keyframes on the mouth switch layer. It's like 3 or 4 lines that are totally off. Then, others will be fine. It's totally weird.

I'm tempted to start from scratch on the mouth .dat file. Seems like it may be corrupted but still working... uhg.
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

That is totally bizarre. Is it only the switch layer that's affected? I mean, is everything else in synch? Are you exporting the switch layers from Papayago? akgamer, are you also using version 6?

That is totally weird and I can imagine a ridiculously frustrating problem. Doh.

If its any consolation, if you have version 5 lying around, I never had that problem with synching problems.
basshole
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Post by basshole »

Mine is totally audio related. Picture is fine, audio off.
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Blue
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Post by Blue »

If you use a codec or anything other than uncompressed make sure the "Key frame every" option is unchecked (deactivated). I have had nothing but problems if I use that feature. I also do not use the "Limit data rate" option. This advice could be a road block for those uploading for web use but at least try it.

I suggest rendering some uncompressed movies and see if you have a difference in performance. Also try different movie players, QT is very slow...
Last edited by Blue on Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
joelstoryboards.com - (WinXP SP3, ASP 6.1)
basshole
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Post by basshole »

ah. Thanks. I have decided to just go with making low res proxy movies and do all the heavy duty rerendering at the end when everything is finalized, so I don't need anything like uncompressed. But I will trying turning off that key frame option.
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Blue
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Post by Blue »

You mentioned using "proxy movies," if you are trying to playback HD files EXPECT audio/video losing sync and other playback anomalies.

Try rending uncompressed small proxy files and see what happens.
joelstoryboards.com - (WinXP SP3, ASP 6.1)
basshole
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Post by basshole »

That's what I meant. . .rather than dealing with HD right now, I'm working with 426x240 movies.
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akgarner
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Post by akgarner »

For my project I want to point out the following: When I play it in the AS timeline it falls out of sync at :40. Then it resync's ok a little later. Then by the end (around :60) it falls out of sync again. In a way it looks like some of the phrasing I've done in papagayo is offset by about 1s. It's only some phrases, and only towards the end.

It's important to note that the keyframes are right on. I've scrubbed and inspected and it's good. If I start playing the timeline at :40 it's ok. Then at :51 it falls out. But if I play from :50 it doesn't fall out. It's like there's a faulty keyframe someplace in there that de-rails the whole timeline.. then later on it fixes itself.

The same thing happens on the render out. I'd really like to try another .dat file about a minute and a half long and see if it causes the same behavior.

I don't think the format really matters here. I've exported to a number of formats and they all end up out of sync like the AS timelline does. It seems to me that something under the hood needs a look...
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