Syncing Audio to Video in REAPER
I’ve been moving my audio processing to REAPER over the last year or so. It’s a powerful and reliable program in a fast moving package, with a very active and helpful user community. All these factors make it a real pleasure to use.
Now for the icing on the cake – the development team has linked in the FFmpeg video libraries and given REAPER the ability to do simple video editing. I’m totally happy with my video editing system since I moved to Edius Neo 2.5, but when I played around with video in REAPER I realized that this is a tool many musicians want and need.
Many of us like to post simple performance videos on YouTube – not big production numbers but simple clips showing off our latest tune or instrument or technique. And we want to do this on a budget. We use inexpensive pocket video cameras, and they have at best mediocre sound quality. Many of us also have a fairly high quality recording system of some kind. Now with REAPER we can create our videos just like they do it in the movies – recording the sound on a high quality audio system positioned for the best audio quality while capturing the video at the distance needed for framing and perspective.
Using video in REAPER is a snap. First, go to the CockosWiki Video Support page for instructions on adding the FFmpeg libraries to the REAPER program directory.
Once the FFmpeg libraries are in place, just open the video file like any audio file, or drag and drop from your file browser into the REAPER track window. I’ve tried clips from three camcorders so far, the Kodak Zi8, the Flip Ultra HD, and the Sanyo Xacti HD2000. REAPER handled all of them with ease. Only the .mts files from my Panasonic Lumix TS2 failed to open, and I was able to convert them to an AVI that REAPER liked.
If I’m shooting video around my studio, I’m all ready to record audio into REAPER, so there’s another step out of the way. If I’m shooting on location it’s a snap to bring the recordings back to the PC and drop them into REAPER. The whole process is so easy that instead of writing detailed instructions I decided to simply shoot a video of shooting a video and demonstrate the syncing process.
So that’s how easy it is. Drag and drop, drag and drop, trim, drag and drop, trim, and render. When I think of the hours I’ve spent calculating frames in Avidemux, or waiting for Premiere Elements to redraw, or being told by Windows Movie Maker that it can’t deal with my file …
Here’s the video that I created in REAPER in the process of the tutorial. The Flip would have been happier with more light, for sure, but the quality you see in this video is right there with the original from the Flip. And the audio is in a whole different, and better, league. Naturally, since I was working within REAPER I could have easily added effects, applied EQ, worked over the audio to improve the result.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 5:42 pm and is filed under Audio, Tutorials, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
EddyKilowatt said in post # 1,
on September 8th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I’m not working at your level, but I’ve had reasonable luck assembling videos for YouTube (and DVDs for the grandparents) using my Zoom H2 for audio, Canon superzoom for VGA video, Audacity for sound editing, and Windows Movie Maker to pull it all together, sync it, add titles, and publish it.
WMM is pretty brain-dead, but it doesn’t seem to mind the MJPEGs in an AVI container from the camera, or the MP3s from the Zoom. *I* sort of mind that WMM can only output WMV files, but YouTube doesn’t… and for now these extremely basic capabilities are all I want.
Thanks for the blog, I just stumbled on it and am looking forward to upping my game once I’ve had a chance to do some reading.
charles said in post # 2,
on September 17th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Thanks for that tutorial. Am trying to put together a system for multichannel recording using as soundcard Tascam us800. Audi editing Reaper /Audacity on Zi8mov files . So far love the Zi8 and Tascam us-800 can input and edit recorded audio files into both Reaper and Audacity. Reaper is a great DAW for the Tascam us800
As reccommended have added FFmpeg libraries to Reaper. Now I can open a recorded and view the video file but the vide pics freeze after a few secs whilst audio continues. Monotoring CPU usage shows me hitting 85-100%so am assumming CeleronM390 3GB mem is totally inadequate unless there’s a canny trick available. Can also use mon out on Tascam to ext
mic in on Zi8. Cant wait to get Zoom H1 mic for simple live recordingl. Charles
Charles said in post # 3,
on September 18th, 2010 at 6:16 am
Correction: CeleronM390 1.5GB! (It’s been a heavy week)
Fran Guidry said in post # 4,
on September 18th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Charles, have you checked the latest version of REAPER? They’ve made some changes to video processing that reduce memory usage on startup. Perhaps that will help.
Fran
Dennis said in post # 5,
on October 7th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Thanks for taking the time to make a tutorial. I am at the stage of trying to decide how to do the whole youtube thing, and any shortcuts in the learning curve/wallet would be GREATLY appreciated.
Fran Guidry said in post # 6,
on October 7th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Dennis, I’ve told my story in the posts of this blog. A low cost HD cam with a simple field recorder, clap for sync and marry the two in REAPER. Then render out in one of the formats recommended by YouTube.
Part of dealing with YouTube is the constant change, they adjust their compression schemes, accept new file types, and deliver at ever higher resolution, so there’s always something new to learn and try.
Fran
Dennis said in post # 7,
on October 9th, 2010 at 6:14 am
Fran, I was wondering what combination would be the shortest route to a decent audio to use with the flip (or other) video. A good condenser mic recorded into a tascam with memory card, or similar gear? What would you recommend for someone to do for good, rather than top shelf youtube video. I am thinking about borrowing a friend Canon Vixia camera but do not know what quality audio it will have. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your opinion. 🙂
Fran Guidry said in post # 8,
on October 9th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Dennis, so far I’ve found parallel recording (using a separate recorder and syncing in post production) to give better sound than any video camera I’ve used. But of course, I’ve only tried a few cameras and there may be some out there that sound great!!
Doug Young (http://www.dougyoungguitar.com) does a lot of video, uses a recent Canon Vixia of some kind, and he records his audio on an H4n.
As always, there’s just no substitute for trying things. Talking about it for days is less useful than using it for a few minutes.
Fran
Dennis said in post # 9,
on October 10th, 2010 at 4:30 am
Thanks again Fran! You are kind to share this info. I will check this out! It is exciting but a bit daunting. Dennis
bulti said in post # 10,
on October 11th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
hello fran , ive been trying to combine an audio and a video file in reaper
but when i render the file i end up with a whirling sound in the background
i have turned the video sound completely down same as you did , so it should not even be in there .
the original wav i have recorded don’t have it in the background so i know its
something in the render process
any suggestions ?
Fran Guidry said in post # 11,
on October 11th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
The first thing I think of is heavy audio compression. What were your render settings? As I recall, the default is very heavily compressed.
Fran
bulti said in post # 12,
on October 11th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
i used same format as you QT/MOV/MP4 1280 / 720 / 24 fps < this is my vid details under right click properties.
vid codec h.264 bitrate set to what you set 6000 didn't know what else to put
AAC bit same as you 128 my wav file is recorded 16bit if that matters
Fran Guidry said in post # 13,
on October 11th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I’m afraid I don’t have any other ideas. Can you create very short versions of the files involved and email them to me?
Fran
bulti said in post # 14,
on October 12th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
well i tried somthing different, all same setting’s except for the AAC i tried mp3 the compression sound was replaced with occasional vol drops better but still annoying .
Be said in post # 15,
on December 1st, 2010 at 1:43 am
I’m normally really nice, but I just had to vent somewhere. I’ve been trying to get the simplest shit ass video done in Edius Neo and I can’t even begin to see how it could be compared to REAPER. The latter is brilliant, “it just works”. The first time I launched REAPER, having never ever in my life used a DAW before, I was able to accomplish every thing I wanted in no time.
Edius Neo is a sorry piece of shit that takes figuring out for every damn simple command. And fucking slow. Seriously, every step is a nightmare, I’ve been trying every way to render the whole thing now (the last step to be done with this and never look back) and I can’t believe I’ll have to get into advanced features or the manual to render a ridiculous 10sec work of video + audio.
Steve OBoyle said in post # 16,
on December 27th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
This looks awesome, thanks so much for the tutorial, I used to have cyberlink
power director, which is not bad, I purchased the Q3 from zoom audio is good
but the video is dark, even then you are stuck with the X/Y mics,
This makes me think more about doing it the right way.
I had been pouring over miles of clips trying to get a decent editor
and started getting some results with command line ffmpeg,
and I had the idea what if they wrapped a nice GUI around the FFMPEG libraries?
that would be the shizzle! gotta love the Internet, if you can think of it
someone already may have done the work for you.
Thanks
Steve
Fran Guidry said in post # 17,
on December 27th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Be, I’m sorry I missed your comment. I can definitely relate to your frustration, but I had the same experience with every audio and video editor I’ve ever tried to use – if it was powerful enough to do anything useful it took a bit of effort to understand and use the basic concepts.
When I tried the Edius Neo demo I didn’t click with it at all, but I found some tutorial videos on the Grass Valley site and on YouTube and I was up and running. Once I started visiting the forum http://ediusforum.grassvalley.com/forum/index.php and searching there I’ve been able to deal with anything that came up.
Good luck,
Fran
Fran Guidry said in post # 18,
on December 27th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Steve, I was kind of in the same place you describe, although I gave up trying to hack things together with FFMPEG and Avidemux and other free tools and resorted to buying Edius Neo. But I still use REAPER to look through long clips and identify the stuff I want to keep.
Fran
Paul Briscoe said in post # 19,
on January 22nd, 2011 at 1:31 am
Fran,
Thanks for this. It has all but convinced me to get Reaper.
Just one question………. will Reaper import most video formats? Like you, I now have the Zoom Q3HD, which uses the MOV format. I also have a Panasonic Lumix camera which uses the AVCHD format. Will Reaper import both of these formats?
Thanks,
Paul (aka paulchevin)
Fran Guidry said in post # 20,
on January 22nd, 2011 at 11:00 am
Hi, Paul,
REAPER handles the Q3HD MOV files well. The MTS files from my Panasonic Lumix ZS3 not so well. REAPER says “Could not import” the MTS file.
Sometimes I can transcode the MTS using FFMPEG in standalone mode. I set the audio and video codecs to “copy” (no transcoding) and use an MP4 container. This works sometimes, sometimes I get lock ups.
What Panny are you shooting? I’ve had a lot of fun with my ZS3 (wide angle) and TS1/2 (waterproof) and I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new GH2!!!
Fran
Paul Briscoe said in post # 21,
on January 22nd, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Hi Fran,
Sorry! I missed the bit in your article about the MTS files!
My Panasonic is the Lumix Zoom FZ38 (I think it’s sold as the FZ35 in North America). It’s really more of a camera (and a very good one), but it does HD video too. The built in mics are stereo and not too bad for general use, but they certainly don’t match say a Rode NT4! Sadly, there’s also no means of plugging in an external mic.
You can convert the MTS files to WMV HD using Kyotesoft Free HD Converter, but I think you lose a little bit of the fidelity………. although maybe not enough to matter.
I think I’ll take the plunge and get Reaper – at least that way I won’t keep getting tempted to pay for upgrades to Sonar!!
All the best,
Paul
Paul Briscoe said in post # 22,
on February 4th, 2011 at 9:59 am
Fran,
Just a brief update…..
I’ve now tried using Reaper to edit videos from my Zoom Q3HD and can confirm that it works extremely well.
Initially, I rendered using exactly the same settings you used in your video. However, I found I ended up with some artefacts on the audio. So I switched the audio output to PCM and rendered at full CD quality. This obviously slightly increased the overall file size, but dramatically improved the audio quality.
So Reaper does indeed seem to be the way to go for simple video editing on a budget.
Thanks for the tip!
Paul
Fran Guidry said in post # 23,
on February 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Paul, thanks for updating us with your experiences. I’ve been using PCM audio for my YouTube uploads as well, since I discovered that they would be accepted by YT.
I have to admit, I don’t understand the concern many people express over file size. Hard discs are cheap, the upload takes place in the background, and with the advanced YouTube uploader there’s no limit on file size and the upload can be restarted if it hits a snag. So I go for the highest resolution (largest) files I can produce these days – 1080i with PCM audio.
Fran
John Copley said in post # 24,
on March 24th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Hey there. I’m from the UK and I’ve been amazed by the time you put in to this site for people like me. After reading most of your content I think I have decided on the Kodak zi8 for video using a zoom h4n for audio. Just a couple of questions or advice I was hoping you could give me. I am guessing the best way to get audio with Kodak is by not running the zoom through it and having the Kodak sensitivity on low? but by doing it all separate? also can I use the file from the zoom and the file from the Kodak in Reaper?. For me it seemed the Zoom and Kodak would work better than the Zoom Q3hd with a preamp then using a good mic just for the fact of the Zoom h4n being more useful for other things like recording demo’s and writing songs where as the Q3hd with an external mic (through a preamp) would have one use…..video. Last question I have is do you have any opinions on what mics to use through the Zoom h4n? I was thinking maybe internal mics on guitar and then a good condenser mic for the voice?. If you could give me any better, cheaper ways of having great audio, good video and also having a little zoom unit that can do other things I would love to hear about it. I’m guessing a good shotgun mic through the Kodak just wont cut it?. If only the Zoom Q3hd had a mic in and not a line in.
John
Fran Guidry said in post # 25,
on March 25th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Hi, John. I’m gratified that you find the info useful. I’m a retired guy, so I have time, and I benefited a lot from other people’s advice when I was trying to learn about recording, so I’m just paying back a little.
I think your analysis makes a lot of sense. The Kodak seems to have comparable video quality among these cams, at least when it’s working well. And the H4n as you say fills a lot of roles.
The big thing I’ve learned about mics is that most of them are a lot more similar than I had expected. If you have a mic you use for live performance, you might be very happy with the results for recording. If you’re like many of us and just want to play with mics, then I might suggest a Rode NT2a as a starter. I like switchable mics because the different patterns make the mic more flexible. The NT2a is well built, reasonable priced, and sounds fine to me.
In my four mic comparison, may people really liked the CAD M179, which is also multi-pattern. I have read in a couple of places concerns about the phantom powering schene of the CAD M179 and the impact that might have on some recorders. This is one reason I don’t automatically recommend this mic. Another is that in the comparisons, the more experienced recordists generally identified the CAD as sounding “cheap.” I’m not sure what they’re hearing and reacting to, but there was some consistency in this judgement.
As far as having a mic preamp on the Q3HD, I certainly agree that the feature would be a big win.
Fran
Cat said in post # 26,
on March 25th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Hi Fran,I recently bought a Kodak Zi8 and a Zoom H2 recorder. I have recorded me singing and playing guitar on the Zoom H2 and the Kodak Zi8 at the same time (Pushing the record button on both devices then clapping as you instructed in your tutorial video). I can hear the track just fine on the Zoom H2,even when I put it into REAPER. I can also hear the and see the video just fine on my Kodak Zi8 and my Windows Media Player,but when I drag and drop the file into REAPER I am only getting video and no audio. The audio soundwave is just straight all the way through,instead of spikes,like the Zoom H2 recording. Can you tell me how to fix this problem please? It would help me sync it in with the clap alot easier if I could find that spike as I don’t just want to rely on what I see.
Many Thanks,
Cat
xxx
Fran Guidry said in post # 27,
on March 25th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Hi, Cat,
Did you install the ffmpeg libraries as discussed in the blog post?
Hey, I just tried the Zi8 into REAPER and with Microsoft Security Essentials active REAPER locked up. I had to turn off real-time protection to be able to load the Zi8 file into REAPER. So perhaps try turning off your virus protection just to see if that helps? Turn it back on, of course, before you go net-surfing.
Fran
Cat said in post # 28,
on March 25th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Thank you for your reply. I have downloaded the ffmpeg files as seen in the link on this page http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=55712 but I must admit I am a complete novice with these things. I don’t even know what to use them for. I have downloaded them for win32 and win64 bit,I have also extracted all the files,but I’m not sure what to do from here. Do I somehow copy the extracted files into REAPER? If so how would I go about that? Sorry,I’m a complete novice when it comes to all computer work. If you could tell me what to do step by step I would be much obliged to you. You’ll have to forgive my poor navigation I have with computers. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Cat
xxx
Fran Guidry said in post # 29,
on March 26th, 2011 at 8:22 am
The CockosWiki entry tells the story:
You’ll need to install the library files in the following folder:
Windows: REAPER’s program file folder (usually C:\Program Files\REAPER). The needed files are:
avcodec-52.dll
avformat-52.dll
avutil-50.dll
swscale-0.dll
Fran
Martin said in post # 30,
on May 15th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Great tutorial, been looking for something like this for a while.
As soon as I saw the blurb about double-blind testing I knew this was the right place. I’m curious, I’ve never thought piezo pickups were acceptable as a substitute for micing, but I also know I can’t expect the sound guy at an open mic to deal with feedback issues all night. I notice even guys like Paul Simon eventually gave up and just plug in now.
I’d be interested to know your views, have you done any blind tests with various types of pickups?
Thanks,
Martin.
Fran Guidry said in post # 31,
on May 15th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Martin, that’s an interesting idea, but not one I’ve pursued. One problem is that a pickup system is tightly bound to the guitar, they’re interacting pretty heavily. It’s tricky enough doing good double blind testing on simple standalone electronics, it would be a massive undertaking to do something meaningful in the way of blinding a group of installed pickups.
The closes thing I’ve seen is Doug Young’s pickup samples, which compare the pickup to a miked version of the same guitar: http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptests/
I must admit I’m satisfied with a pretty low level of fidelity from my pickup systems. I’m happy if they sound somewhat guitar-like, don’t feed back, and don’t wreck the dynamics of playing the instrument. And even with those low expectations I’m generally barely satisfied.
Fran
John said in post # 32,
on June 26th, 2011 at 4:11 am
Hi Fran,
Q3HD’s HandyShare has too many rough edges. I’m going to try the Reaper path. Wanted to ask you: when you want to output Reaper rendering for youtube uploading, what format and bitrates do you use?
John
Fran Guidry said in post # 33,
on June 26th, 2011 at 8:43 am
John, I’ve never loaded Handyshare so I’ll take your word for it. When I first started fooling with HD video I loaded the software that came with my cameras, and found that they programs were usually garbage.
I output the same resolution I shot, same frame rate, H264 codec, PCM audio, and 6000 Kbits bitrate. The result is a .MOV file.
Fran
John said in post # 34,
on June 26th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Thanks, Fran! Your tutorials and vids have been extremely useful!
p.s. I play drum. I have to say the only complaint I have with Q3HD is the low-end. The bass drum volume is relatively low. I suspect the tiny mics have inherent limitations in picking up low-end sounds. But you are definitely right. The distance makes a big difference.
John said in post # 35,
on July 4th, 2011 at 3:19 am
I’ve been toying with video rendering in Reaper. Here is one result I got using the settings similar to yours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caazZe46Chk
I came across a few things: AAC didn’t work for me. The audio produced had a lot of clicking/artifacts in the peaks. I don’t understand why. From the rendering progress display, I could see that the peaks didn’t go over -3db. So it shouldn’t be clipping. Will it be because my 3-year-old dual core PC doesn’t have enough juice to encode it? But the CPU load never hit 100%. Any idea?
Besides, there seems to be some intriuging relationship between video bitrates and resolutions. Since the rendered file was pretty big, I tried to reduce the file. Originally I thought only the bitrate affected the file size. But it appeared altering the resolution would also change the file size. I read conflicting information on the web. So i still don’t know what’s the true. One useful thing I found is, there is a paper written by Adobe which describes a rule of thumb called “Kush Gauge” for judging required bitrate:
Required bitrate in kbps= resolutions x frame rate x 0.07 x (action factor) / 1000
where action factor: 1 = slow moving; 2 = medium; 4 = lots of fast actions
e.g. For a 720p clip at 30 frame per sec with medium actions: required bitrate = 1280 x 720 x 30 x 0.07 x 2 / 1000 = 3870 kbps
Fran Guidry said in post # 36,
on July 5th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Howdy, John, thanks for stopping by.
AAC is an Apple proprietary codec, as I understand it, so perhaps the ffmpeg implementation has problems. I’ve used it in the past but stopped once I learned that I could create .mov files using h.264 video and PCM audio. This is a format that the Q3HD can produce, REAPER can edit, and YouTube will accept. My PC is also a few years old and a dual core system, and I’ve had issues with AAC audio, I think I could improve things by reloading my system from scratch but I’ve just moved on with regard to AAC. I keep planning to do a new computer so I put up with issues in the old one.
Bitrate and resolution – yes there’s a definite relationship. At its simplest, video is a series of still images. The resolution defines the size of those images, and the size of the uncompressed stream = (horizontal res) x (vertical res) x (bit depth) x (frame rate) x (time). Compressions schemes work in various ways to reduce the final size by trading off quality and processing time, so increasing any one of these parameters must increase the file size or result in a quality loss or take longer to encode and/or decode. The “action factor” you mention is an estimate of the amount of change from frame to frame, because modern codecs use similarity between frames as part of their compression strategy.
I don’t worry about file size anymore. I just buy bigger flash cards and hard disks. My internet speed is good enough that I can upload .5 Gbyte clips in an hour or so, and it happens in the background, so I accept that.
Once I stopped worrying about file size, it’s just a matter of what resolution I want to edit in and what I want to upload. I like starting with 1080p files because I can crop crop them to 720p without losing sharpness. But if I’m working on the laptop I will usually go with 720p source files because they’re easier to edit on a lower powered computer. I usually upload 720p h.264 PCM .mov files, with 30 FPS frame rate and 6 mbit bitrate in my REAPER parameters.
Thanks a lot for stopping by and adding to the discussion.
Fran
Carl said in post # 37,
on July 14th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Hello,
Great site, I have found it really useful as well as all of your videos on youtube.
I just bought a Kodak Playtouch and planned to use it with my Zoom H1. Unfortuantely the background noise and the horrible pumping compression mean that it is still best to sync audio and video later as most other folk have found out also.
I just did my first test record and imported the mp4 (1080p) into Reaper (with updated FFMPEG libraries) and managed to sync everything but I seem to be struggling to retain the smoothness of the video. I cannot find how to render as an MP4, only .mov files, AVI and WMV files. I have tried quite a few settings including 6000Kbps .mov 16bit pcm and when I compare my original with the rendered version the rendered version is always a little jerky and not as smooth.
Any suggestions would be great! Many thanks!!!
Fran Guidry said in post # 38,
on July 14th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
My first thought would be frame rate. I believe REAPER defaults to 25 fps while your cam is shooting 30 (actually 29.970xxx) so I would try 30 fps. As I recall there’s a bug with the fractional frame rate.
I’d also push the bps up to 8000 or even 10000 and see if that gives any improvement.
Fran
Carl said in post # 39,
on July 14th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Hi there Fran,
Thank for the super quick reply and the advice! I checked the Reaper rendering settings and you can specify FPS and I have had it set to 30, I haven’t yet tried bumping up the video bit rate further though. I keep checking the original straight fom the Playtouch and it is smoother than what I am getting from Reaper. Is Reaper capable of rendering MP4’s? I can’t seem to select MP4 only .mov?
Are there any free programs that I can try to simply sync my zoom audio with the MP4 file from the Kodak to see if they render any better?
I haven’t tried 720p 60FPS on the Kodak yet but I guess that will look smoother but I take it Youtube takes everything down to 29.907FPS?
Many thanks!
Fran Guidry said in post # 40,
on July 14th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
The relationship between REAPER and ffmpeg is a bit mysterious to me. ffmpeg is capable of producing mp4 but I’ve never figured out how to do that in REAPER. I just use the .mov container. I don’t find container types to make much difference in output quality.
I’m surprised that you had success with 1080 video, glad to hear it worked in REAPER. I’ve only done 720p using the program and that’s what my 6000 kbit recommendation was aimed at. So I would definitely run the bit rate up significantly for your 1080 files.
I have some info about syncing using Avidemux here on the blog. This prog can do syncing and even some trimming without transcoding (converting) your video. If it accepts your clips and gives useful output it’s a very cool way to go, but it can be a challenge to get it working.
I would also try 720/30 and see how you like the quality of that before and after syncing with REAPER.
Fran
Carl said in post # 41,
on July 15th, 2011 at 2:05 am
Thanks again Fran, some great suggestions for me to go on with there, what a fantastic source of information, exactly what I was looking for being new to video capture.
The one thing that isn’t working in Reaper is the video playback, is plays for a few seconds then pauses and only the sound continues. No big problem because I am using the sound files to line up the tracks and then mute the original. Perhaps this is because it is 1080p? One thing I have noticed is that the file size of the rendered file is always smaller than the original so some compression must be happening but I can’t figure out where or why. I just want the same quality as the original but with the new audio file.
I shall try rendering down to 720p, or did you mean capture it on the Kodak in 720p? I have had the bit rate up to 10000 as the highest without any luck. The video just looks a little slow and a bit jerky compared to the original.
I just downloaded Avidemux and a couple of other shareware programs. Avidemux didn’t open my original MP4 from the Kodak though?
I may get a trial version of Sony Vegas (not sure which version?) and see how that fairs.
Many thanks again!!
Fran Guidry said in post # 42,
on July 15th, 2011 at 7:23 am
I meant capture in 720.
Fran
William said in post # 43,
on August 29th, 2011 at 5:50 am
Hi Fran,
I saw you did some settings on the frame rate and bit rate before you render the file. I’m wondering, if I want to shot a video with Kodak Zi8, capture audio with Roland R-09HR, and then sync them with REAPER, do I need to concern the frame rate and the bit rate before I start? Let say, if I choose 720p 60fps in the Zi8, what kHz/bit should I choose in the R-09HR? Will this choices affect the sync process or the rendering?
Thanks.
William
Fran Guidry said in post # 44,
on August 29th, 2011 at 11:11 am
I do usually choose 720/30 because the file seems easier to process. REAPER video has continued to improve, though, so your 720/60 should work. I do my audio at 44.1/16, normal CD spec, and REAPER has no trouble syncing or rendering.
Fran
Wendell said in post # 45,
on September 21st, 2012 at 11:46 am
I needed to thank you for this excellent read!! I absolutely loved every little bit of it.
I have got you book marked to check out new things you postÂ…
John Noremac said in post # 46,
on December 19th, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Hi Fran, and thanks for superb instruction. I’m new with a Kodak PlaySport. Takes excellent video, sound is noisy. Have a Zoom H2N, and it is good.
Your sync in Reaper info was very helpful. I noticed that you haven’t put anything in the blog since August of 2011. Hope your health is not the reason. I really identify with your philosophy, and the focus on solo acoustic. Only things I add are vocals.
I have a few difficulties, but for now I’ll keep this short. Thanks again, and all the best.
Very nice guitar and playing!
Fran Guidry said in post # 47,
on December 19th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
John, I’m doing fine, and I’m not sure why you’re not seeing later posts. Here’s a link to the latest: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2012/11/27/free-tools-to-tweak-q3hd-audio/
I’m actually working on vocals and vocal duets these days, I even have a blog post in mind on the topic.
Thanks for visiting and for your kind comments.
Fran
Kevin said in post # 48,
on July 4th, 2015 at 4:51 pm
This is still rather confusing. I have read and watched and still don’t get it. I have a mov file that I am trying to get to play in Reaper. I have downloaded FFMPEG and put this into Reaper. Do I have to render in order for it to work? My video freezes after 1 second. Been at this all day and I’m about ready to throw in the towel.
Fran Guidry said in post # 49,
on July 7th, 2015 at 8:10 am
So sorry to hear this is a hassle for you. If the clip doesn’t play when you load it I would give up on using REAPER and move on to another solution.
.MOV files are not decoded by FFmpeg as a rule. Pull the file into REAPER then right-click Source Properties (or Ctrl-F2). This will tell you how the video is being decoded. .MOV files are usually decoded by QuickTime rather than FFmpeg.
Fran