Sony Cybershot MPEG output not reading in imovie

[Excido]

Hi i have a Sony Cibershot that out puts the movie format in MPEG. the movies play on quicktime no problem but when i import them into imovie for editing there is no sound. i have tried to convert it using quicktime pro into every other format possible and for some reason every conversion results in the the loss of the audio. I have an older cannon that outputs video in AVI format and that works just fine with the imovie. Any Ideas?

 

[After G]

If I remember correctly, you can have more than one audio track in iMovie. It might be that you have one of the audio tracks muted, and the video you are importing likes to place its soundtrack there.

 

[Excido]

Ya, the odd thing is that i can adjust the soundtrack level of the track. i can delete it ect. also when i ask imovie to extract the soundtrack it just crashes. i have checked to see if my camera can output in a different format but of course not!. its just so frustrating because quicktime can read the original just fine sound and all, but when i us it to convert it the sound is lost.

 

[rjphoto]

What version of iMovie & QuickTime are you using?

 

[Excido]

I have imovie 6.0.1 and quicktime pro 7.0.4. think these are the latest and greatest, hence my disappointment! you'd think that either of these programs could handle such common file type. i have also tried converting on both my ibook G4 and my 1.8GHz G5 Imac, same outcome for both.

 

[m-dogg]

It is becasue the Sony cameras record multiplexed, or 'muxed' recordings, where the audio track is part of the video track instead of a separate audio track.

There are some programs out there to 'demux' the track into separate video & audio tracks. Then you should be able to work with them. I think there are some freeware aps out there that will let you do this.

Others that understand this better than I can probably explain it better (I know just enough to be dangerous). Or google 'demux.'

 

[Excido]

Thanks, i had a bit of a read about demux and it just sounds like a pain in the butt. i wish Imovie could handle it, all i want to do is edit some video for crud sakes, the simplest thing of all!

 

[LethalWolfe]

Thanks, i had a bit of a read about demux and it just sounds like a pain in the butt. i wish Imovie could handle it, all i want to do is edit some video for crud sakes, the simplest thing of all!

If only the sony camera didn't output such a PITA format...

I've found Sony tends to not overly concern themselves w/making their products very end user friendly. MicroMV and Sony's blue memory sticks are two other examples of said company attempting to make the end user's life a PITA for no legit reason.


Lethal

 

[After G]

If you have QT Pro, you can extract the audio and video separately, and then put them into iMovie separately.

 

[johan_tanying]

You can also do simple editing (copying, pasting, cropping etc) directly in QT Pro. There are a lot of "hidden" functions and features in QT - google around for tuturials and books!

The finished product (muxed or not) should be fine to convert and burn with Toast into VCD, SVCD or DVD format.

My guess, anyway. Good luck!

 

[big_scot_nanny]

Fear not, there is a simple answer. I too suffered the same problem and was extremely hacked off that movies from my Sony 828 could not be editied as you described in iMovie.

Solution is to use the program mpeg streamclip to convert them into something usable. Works really well. Just drag the movie onto the window and off it goes.

http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Excido]

HEy thanks, that sounds like the ticket. One last stupid question, What format did you convert to so imovie could read it?

Thanks heaps