No audio - what exact demux option in MPEG Streamclip?

I have a bunch of MPEG1 Muxed video files from my brother-in-law's still camera. Imported into FCE, video is fine, no audio. Read many message boards and determined that the files are muxed (audio and video together) so then downloaded MPEG Streamclip. I've tried varioius Demux, Export, and Convert options, but still no audio in either FCE or even QuickTime Player. As an experiment, I sent a file to my Dell. Both video and audio played in Windows Media Player. So the audio is there, but why can't I get it on my Mac and import it into FCE? What exact Demux, Export, or Convert option should I be using in MPEG Streamclip? Or is there an FCE setting I'm missing? I also tried bbDemux with no luck. If you have an idea, please be specific!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Dec 3, 2010 11:50 AM

11 replies

Dec 3, 2010 1:27 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

The only option that mentions QuickTime is Export to QuickTime. I could not find a DV codec option so chose Apple DVCPRO50-NTSC. No audio. Then tried DVCPRO50-PAL, no audio. I then tried Export to Other Format and chose QuickTime movie. Didn't see any codec options. There are so very many options. Here's file info for the one I've been playing with:

Stream Files: MOV03426.MPG (63.35 MB)
Video Tracks: 224 MPEG-1, 640 × 480, 30 fps, 104.86 Mbps
Audio Tracks: 192 MP2 mono, 32 kHz, 64 kbps

As I said, they play fine in WMV as originally transferred off the camera's card.

Dec 3, 2010 3:09 PM in response to Community User

Export to QuickTme is correct Help us out here. Is this media in a PAL frame rate or an NTSC frame rate?

DV50 is wrong. Right near there is an Apple DV NTSC and PAL not 50.

How are you monitoring the audio? It would really help if you gave us complete specs for the original media. MPEG-1 is not always muxed. Have you tried opening the file in the VLC player?

Sorry I missed the frame rate. You want NTSC not PAL.

Message was edited by: Tom Wolsky

Dec 4, 2010 2:49 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Trying to get more info on the media files. Meantime, I think I'm getting somewhere but it's weird. I again tried Demux > Demux to Unscaled M2V and AIFF, which the MPEG Streamclip user's guide seems to be saying is for Final Cut. Imported both files into FCE (also imported .dv file only, which automatically links to the .aiff file), dragged them to the video and audio tracks, rendered, and played, but still no sound. How am I monitoring sound? That may be the key. The demuxed files are mute through external speakers, but when I unplug them and get sound through the internal speakers, the imported, rendered .dv clips have audio. Go figure. Is that really what's happening? The original files still have no sound regardless of speakers.

Dec 5, 2010 9:03 AM in response to Meg The Dog

Thank you, Meg The Dog. That worked just fine. You didn't specify which Export/Convert/Demux menu item to use so I used simply Export to QuickTime. The other method (Demux to Unscaled M2V and AIFF) produced audible files but your method was more straightforward for importing into FCE and may be better quality.

For the record, here is what the MPEG Streamclip user's guide says:
Demux to Unscaled M2V and AIFF...
demuxes the stream and creates an "unscaled" M2V video file and an AIFF audio file; you can import these two files in Final Cut Pro 4 or HD (and also in Final Cut Express if you have the MPEG-2 component); usual rendering time is required. Please DO NOT use drag & drop to import the files (Final Cut may crash due to an internal bug), but open the M2V file using the File menu and the AIFF file will be automatically linked (if you used the same name for the two files).
The "unscaled" M2V file is a demuxed file which tells QuickTime and Final Cut to not prescale it, e.g. to 720 x 540; it preserves its original size e.g. 720 x 576 or 720 x 480 so you won't lose quality when you render it. This is a special feature of MPEG Streamclip.

That, however, produces two files. Only need to import the .dv file, which is why I say your Export to QuickTime method is more straightforward.

Thanks for all the help. I still do not understand why the audio plays through my internal but not external speakers (any ideas?), but I will mark my question answered. I also wonder why muxed video files from a primarily still camera creates such a problem. Isn't this commonplace? How do people edit footage like this without jumping through all these hoops?

Dec 5, 2010 9:05 AM in response to Community User

Thanks for all the help. I still do not understand why the audio plays through my internal but not external speakers and am surprised that footage like this from a primarily still camera was so difficult to get into an editable format.

Dec 5, 2010 9:19 AM in response to Community User

The Streamclip manual is misinformed and the section you quoted is not correct in its application to Final Cut. FCE does not support MPEG-2 media, which should always be converted to QuickTime to either DV or the Apple Intermediate Codec, which are the only codecs used in that application. FCP supports only HDV MPEG-2 used as a codec in the QuickTime framework. m2v files are never used in FCP. The .dv format, which is DV Stream, is not used in Final Cut, only in iMovie.

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No audio - what exact demux option in MPEG Streamclip?

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