5.1 layback to video file

[reichman]

I know this has been discussed before, but I want to update the conversation for 2017. Client wants me to send the feature-length mix back to them as a 5.1 screener. Here are the options I have for doing this (spoiler alert, all of them are bad):

1.) Bounce to Quicktime movie in PT12. Works fine, is really fast, but channel order is messed up. I have to fix channel order in QT Pro afterwards which is a kludge.

2.) Marry the audio and video in Adobe Premiere. Very time consuming, hard to get Premiere not to remux the video file. Handles 5.1 fine.

3.) Marry the audio and video in QT Pro. Works, but not for a feature, because QT Pro can't open WAV files larger than 4GB.

Are there better options? Pro Tools Expert Blog is as frustrated as I am.

[papalou]

4.) Free Resolve light. No rewrap AFAIK, need to re-encode the video file. The forthcoming v14 will add some pretty good things with audio.
5.) Assimilate Scratch. 650$ per year. Same issue : need to re-encode video, but very fast with Prores encoding.
6.) use ffmpeg to rewrap. Need to know command line, very handy when you're used to. There's some GUI add-ons on the web but usually they're crappy and don't let you adjust settings to just rewrap and not transcode. Coding a small window GUI above it with python, Applescript or Xcode/Swift to just do what you need should be quite simple.
7.) Media Composer 8.xx is quite a good horse too, 50$ per month. Not sure you can just rewrap and not transcode too.

[joachim]

Originally Posted by reichman

3.) Marry the audio and video in QT Pro. Works, but not for a feature, because QT Pro can't open WAV files larger than 4GB.

Is a 5.1-AAC an option (384kbps), quality wise ? 10% of the original file size.

Muxing the h264.mov with the 5.1AAC.m4a with ffmpeg to an MP4 can be played by QT, Windows Media Player and VLC.

[philper]

+1 Resolve.

[MatzeHD]

Whats your Videocodec and which audiocodec or 6channel wav?
You can use Virtualdub for remuxing with and without re-encoding video, it works fast and optimal!

Pegasys
http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/de/pr...uct/tvmw5.html
works perfect too!!
You can load and import your videomaster and your 6 channel audiofile, then you can export this in all other videoformats with 6channel wav too or in Dolby Digital or whatever ou want!

[EarHole]

Can you go into detail about the channel order being messed up? Is this something that can be fixed by pulling the video and audio into a fresh session that has modified channel assignments?

[Pete Gates]

As per my comment on that article I did some digging into this and found the following:

... you piqued my interest with the QuickTime bounce problem so I've been having a look at that too (this post is a copy of something I've just posted on the DUC to do with a distantly related issue).

(This is on PT 12.5.2HD on OSX 10.10.5) When you do an offline bounce to QuickTime it doesn't render to an intermediate WAV first, AAE streams audio out to the "Pro Tools QuickTime Server" directly to the file (.mov or whatever) you are generating. When it has done this is passes the file over to the AVE that generates an intermediate temp video file (via the QuickTime_OPServer) that then gets merged into the already generated (currently audio only) file. This file is flagged as having a 5.1 audio track in SMPTE order.

I suspect what's happening (indirectly sort of what what you suspected was happening) is that since this is a recent addition to Pro Tools the programmers neglected to correct for the fact that all the internal bussing in Pro Tools is in film order, only the interleaved file output system turns that into SMPTE order - it's stuff that probably dates back longer than any of the current programmers have been around.

In short the bounced 5.1 MOV has audio flagged as SMPTE order but it's actually in film order.

Pete

[reichman]

Thanks guys. A lot to explore here.

-Pete's got it. Pro Tools makes a 5.1 file in film order and says it's in ITU/SMPTE order. You can tell right away because the center channel is playing out the right front speaker. I use QT Pro to change the assignments to actual ITU/SMPTE, and it's a quick save, sound fine, but sending it to clients makes me nervous.

-MatzeHD, I'm not against using Windows, but it would mean setting up a workstation for this one operation. Would love to stay in macOS.

-Joachim: I wish PT would let me export to AAC! I can do it in Audition, but it's an extra step.

I've been experimenting with Telestream's Switch. It's very cool. It might do what I need. Will report back soon after I figure it out. Love ffmpeg, thanks for reminding me of that. And I'll check Resolve too.

This stuff shouldn't be this hard!

[michaelfbates]

I'm interested in using Resolve for this, what's the workflow that people are using to do this in Resolve?

[MatzeHD]

I know Resolve only a little bit!
You can import your video and in the timeline may be insert your 6 channel wave and after this you can export this.
I don't know if its possible without re-compression video again?
Important, not all functions are available in the free version, but I dont know which functions!