Hi Matt,
I have the same problem and after a day of struggle I think I have some
explanation for it.
First of all you may have a look to the PapaJohn's Movie Maker 2 web page:
http://www.eicsoftware.com/pictures/PapaJohn/Website-MM2/MM2.html .
It is a summary of the problems reported on this news group.
In the "Problem Solving -> Audio Issues" you will find some explanation
about 12bit versus 16bit audio encoding.
Although the workaround is perfectly correct, I found the explanation of the
issue not complete.
After I did my investigation I discovered that the poor sound that MM2
produces when processing DV-AVI (from Sony DV camcorders where default
settings for audio encoding is 12 bit, 32 kHz) is not caused by the
conversion from 12 bit to 16 bit, but by the UP-SAMPLING of the audio stream
from 32kHz to 48kHz. This is a normal phenomenon and needs a filter to cut
the extra noise added by the up-sampling. Unfortunately the DV codec from MS
does not implement such a filter and the Movie Maker 2 does not allow you to
specify the sampling frequency for audio (and selects always 48 kHz).
While the workaround provided in the above mentioned web page is good for
future recordings it does not apply for existing ones.
Here is how I solve the problem for my existing video recordings:
I use PowerDirector PRO 2.55 from Cyberlink to do the video editing.
When I produce the AVI file I select either SVRT (Smart Video Rendering
Technology) or DV- AVI with audio quality set to medium.
The SVRT leaves the video and audio stream intact whenever it is possible
(no effects, transition, ...).
If you choose DV-AVI do not miss to set the audio quality to medium (which
means 32 kHz 16 bit) in order to avoid the up-sampling, otherwise you will
get the same result like the Movie Maker 2.
If you do not have PowerDirector S/W then use any video editing software
that allows you to select the audio parameters (sampling frequency).
Good luck,
Iulian.
