4 Replies Latest reply: Feb 11, 2011 8:16 AM by Bill Hunt RSS

    DV sequence - 32khz or 48khz?

    BJBBJB1 Community Member

      I really try to research things before posting, but I have seen conflicting advice on this.

       

      I have some SD DV tapes I am capturing and editing in CS4.  I believe most of them are 12 bit audio so that translates into 48khz.  If the destination format is an SD DVD, does it matter if I set the sequence as 48khz?  One posting states that since eventually it has to be converted, it does not matter.

       

      Or is it better to determine the source bitrate, and then match to the sequence? So if it is 12 bit audio choose 32bit and if 16 bit audio make it 48khz?

       

      Since I am not certain all the tapes are 12 bit, if I am not losing quality by just using a 48khz sequence I guess that is my preference.

       

      Thanks,

      BJBBJB1

        • 1. Re: DV sequence - 32khz or 48khz?
          Bill Hunt CommunityMVP
          I believe most of them are 12 bit audio so that translates into 48khz

           

          Here, you are confusing the Bit-Depth, and the Sample-Rate Usually, 12-bit is used by cameras that allow one to ADD narration to the tape. A choice of 16-bit Audio is the best choice for editing, as one can easily add that narration in the NLE program.

           

          Now, PrPro can handle quite a few Sample-Rates, but given the choice of 48KHz (the Sample-Rate of DVD), it will never get better than that.

           

          Regardless of what has been shot, PrPro will need to Conform the Auido stream(s) to 32-bit, floating point, for internal editing. This will be regardless of what the settings are. It will take a bit less time to work with 48KHz, but 44.1 (the Sample-Rate of CD), or 32KHz should work fine, and only take few moments longer.

           

          If you are going to DVD-Video, and the footage has not been shot yet, choose 48KHz 16-bit Audio, and you will not get better than that.

           

          Hope that this helps, and good luck,

           

          Hunt

          • 2. Re: DV sequence - 32khz or 48khz?
            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

            This ARTICLE might be useful for some background on Conforming.

             

            Good luck,

             

            Hunt

            • 3. Re: DV sequence - 32khz or 48khz?
              BJBBJB1 Community Member

              Bill,

              Thanks.  I understand that for new footage I would choose 16 bit for my source and I do.  I also now understand that regardless of what I do, P Pro will confrom it to 32 bit floating point for editing.

               

              But for the recordings I already have, that might be a mix, and after reading your post and the linked post, am I correct in that since my final product is an SD-DVD, I should just choose 48Khz for my project/sequence and I would be okay regardless of whether my source audio is 12 or 16 bit?   And that way I would not be losing any quality during the editing process?

               

               

               

              BJBBJB1

              • 4. Re: DV sequence - 32khz or 48khz?
                Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                Yes. In this case I would choose a 48KHz 16-bit Project, and let PrPro handle things from there. In most cases, it can ingest quite a few different standard aspect Audio files, and Conform them. If you run into any problems, just rip the Audio and in SoundBooth, Audition, or the free Audacity, do a Save_As PCM/WAV 48KHz 16-bit and Import that.

                 

                Good luck,

                 

                Hunt