audio/video out of sync after export

Thanks for question. We downloaded the source footage from a Vimeo site, where a client who shot the original footage posted it. The footage is an interview of me, by that client. I don’t know what camera they used, but it was professional equipment.

What we downloaded was not the actual original raw footage; it was an HD mp4, 1280 x 720, about 560 MB, 43 minutes long.

Any help appreciated. Thank you.

Kevin: I replied to your email and got a bounce back 'non-delivery' notice. Should i assume we should just correspond via this Forum?

in looking at the FAQ on info you want when submitting a question, let me add that the codec shown in 'Get Info' for the source footage is H.264, AAC. Also, I have CS5.5.2 on my Mac; not sure if my son has that same version but i think so.

I still would appreciate some additional contact by you, including when you think you could continue the discussion, as it's been about 50 minutes. Thank you.

I don't understand how this Forum Support is supposed to work. I was glad to see that you replied within a few minutes of my posting a Discussion. I replied to you multiple times, trying to answer your questions the best i could, and then asking for some basic acknowledgement. About 4 hours has passed, with nothing further from you. If you have follow up questions or need more from me, please let me know. Thank you.

Great to hear from you. I understand that you're busy and handling other issues. I just didn't know what to expect, so thanks for the reply, and I apologize if you felt I was being unreasonable.

Regarding email, I only tried once to reply to you by email, because i had gotten an email from you. I will only use the Forum as you request.

I have to ask my son to get the Frame rate and then i'll get back to you here.

Thank you.

Kevin: The frame rate of the source file (and the session file) is 29.97.

Kevin: In addition, I would add that we’re editing from (the source is) an mp4 H.264, AAC (1280x720) which is presumably compressed from the original raw footage; some comments we’ve read imply that this state of the source file makes it likely we would have problems; does that sound right?

I am trying to contact the people who own the source file to learn if they might be able to give us the uncompressed version; should I pursue that? I don't know if they'll be willing, or how big the file will be etc., but if you think getting that uncompressed version would significantly help, I'll pursue it.

Kevin: working on the screen shot of settings, will have in 10 mins.

My son uses the old Mac, I have played the same files on my Mac, which is a mid 2014 MBP Retina 15 inch 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB Ram, 1 TB SSD, with NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB, running OSX 10.10 Yosemite.

Kevin: Also, I've been viewing the exported videos on VLC. Please also bear in mind that we seem to find that when my son uploads the exported files to Vimeo or Youtube, the sync gets worse, somewhat more so on YT. (Of course, I need people to be able to view the video, from my website, on YT or Vimeo.) My son has been uploading the files (ie to YT or Vimeo). I assume it doesn't matter that he's done that with his less powerful Mac.

Kevin: Sorry for the delay; Charley's working on it. I've passed on your latest comment as well and will get his input asap. Thanks.

Kevin: Sorry to keep you waiting. Charley's working on it, and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for patience.

He did not export in H.264 because sync was off. He exported in flv.

Below are shots of PP export settings:

Does that give you what you need? Thanks.

OK Kevin. Thanks for your help. When you get a chance tomorrow, could you comment on an issue I raised earlier - we've read and heard that since the source file we're using is itself compressed (mp4, ie not the raw footage) that this is asking for trouble with syncing, in PP (and other apps I suppose). We also have seen worse sync after uploading the exported files, eg to YT, and saw that YT seems to indicate a preference for 30 FPS whereas we're uploading 29.97. Do you have an opinion on whether I should try to get raw footage from my client who shot the original? And should we try to match what YT indicates as specs in the settings, or ignore that?

Many thanks. Safe travels.

Kevin: OK, that's helpful. Charley is at work until 3:15 Eastern; in the meanwhile, I'm trying below to reply to your inputs; sorry if some of my questions are illogical, just reflecting my confusion.

You say to match source settings, including audio sample rate, and (I think) that we should do that by creating a new sequence at which time we select the clip and drag it to New Item button. Perhaps doing that would make some of the following questions irrelevant, I'm not sure, but here they are:

• We did not check the box "Match Sequence Settings" (just under 'Export Settings'); should we have done so?

• On Presets, and using FLV vs H.264:
  • Do we need to leave the 'Match Sequence Settings' box Unchecked if we want to use a YT or Vimeo Preset?
  • FLV does not seem to have a pre-set for YT or Vimeo, but does have one for 'Web.' H.264 does have YT and Vimeo pre-sets. As I've mentioned, we have been trying to make this work with FLV, as Charley found that H.264 was giving us (worse) sync problems. Maybe we should go back to H.264.
  • You say that "if these things don't work, "...try an similar H.264 preset to upload to" YT. Do you mean to suggest that we try exporting in H.264 instead of FLV? (If that's not what you mean, and if we still work with FLV, then I don't know what "an similar H.264 preset" would be; do you mean like the 'Web' preset?

• Whether FLV or H.264, I'm unclear how ensure audio sample rate matches source.
  • Codecs listed on source file are H.264, AAC; does that imply that under 'Basic Audio Settings' on Audio settings tab, we should use an AAC codec rather than the MP3 now indicated?
  • Should we be determining the bitrate settings of the source (ie, right click the file within PP to find the properties, including bitrate?) and then using that bitrate?
  • Or do we resolve all this about audio sample rate simply by creating a new sequence as discussed above?

I hope these questions make sense. Thanks again for your help.

Kevin: Charley is looking into the audio sample rate. The source file showed an audio codec of AAC; that's not very good quality, and thus Charley had selected MP3, but he will look at using AAC instead. Also I probably  have not made clear enough one particular aspect of this case - when Charley has exported FLV files, they look very good (very close to perfect sync, maybe slightly off though hard to tell for sure), but then when he uploads them (either to Google Drive, from which I then download them, or to YT or to Vimeo) they only then seem to be significantly out of sync. So it seems to us that the sync problem is hard to understand as wrong settings, otherwise they should be out of sync in the exported file, not just after uploading them. So this has us confused. But Charley is going to try a series of H.264 presets and try to find something that works. Any further advice appreciated.