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HD210 - No audio from mpeg movie

Rjunke

March 05, 2010 23:49

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Hello Testing an HD210. I created a PowerPoint movie with MP3 audio. I then used PowerVideoMaker to convert the PPT to an mpeg movie. The movie plays as expected, with audio, in Windows Media Player. I incorporated this movie into a sign display using BA version 2.0.018. I used simple networking and copied the files to my AWS server, loaded a SD card with the setup files. I started the HD210 and it download from the server as expected then started up the sign. Problem is, the movie plays but there is no audio. In BA I checked the configuration as follows:   Preferences > Video      View Mode: Letter box and Centered      Volume: 100      LiveVideo > Volume: 100   In Playlist, right clicked the movie and clicked 'Edit'. Volume is set to 100 In the 'autoplay-xxxxxxxx.xml' file are these tags and settings:   <zones>      <zone>         <type>VideoOrImages</type>         <zoneSpecificParameters>         <audioOutput>Analog Audio with Raw AC3 on SPDIF</audioOutput>         <audioMode>No Audio</audioMode>         <audioMapping>Audio-3</audioMapping>         There is no place in BA to change these setting.         Are these settings the reason I have no audio? If so, what do they need to be to get audio?         Do I have to manually edit this file or is there supposed to be some configuration in BA to make         these changes? I cannot locate anywhere in BA to do so. Can someone tell me what I need to do?

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6 comments

• 0
  
  Rjunke March 05, 2010 23:58

  
  
  Followup:
  
  I see this in the HDCompact_UserGuide.pdf:
  Chapter 9 Product Specifications > Brightsign Features > Video Compression Standards
     The HD210 uses "MPEG-2 transport streams with MP3 audio (TS)".
     It could be that I encoded the movie as MPEG-1.
     If so, would it even play let alone no play the audio?
  
  I'll recheck my settings but would still like to hear some feedback.
  
• 0
  
  Rjunke March 06, 2010 00:01

  
  
  OK.  Checked my settings.  The movie was encoded as follows:
     MPEG2, 8000kpbs, 29.97fps, Audio: 224 kpps
  
• 0
  
  RokuLyndon March 06, 2010 00:11

  
  
  We support mpeg1 system streams as well. The audio in the mpeg1 or 2 can be mpeg1 layer II(mp2) or mpeg1 layer III(mp3).
  
  The audio settings you see what you can't change set the unit to output audio both on the analog out and on HDMI output. If the audio is ac3, then it's just passed through over HDMI, so no, those settings won't cause audio problems.
  
  Most likely, there's something about the audio encoding the unit is having a problem with. Is it possible to choose mp2 audio or mpeg1, layer II in your software? Not all programs that encode mpegs with mp3 audio do so consistently.
  
  You can also upload the video to our ftp site, if that's ok, and I'l have our lead developer take a look at it. He has lots of audio and video tools to figure out why a file isn't playing as expected.
  
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  Rjunke March 08, 2010 23:05

  
  
  Just to update you on my testing.  I re-saved the ppt using an MP2 audio file and created the movie from that as MPEG1.  So trying an MPEG2 with MP3 audio and an MPEG1 with MP2 audio, neither of them worked.  I suspect it may be due to the process of creating the PowerPoint and adding the audio to that then converting to MPEG using PowerVideoMaker.  Its just odd that in either case the audio decodes just fine on my PC, not with the Brightsign.  I know the Brightsign does decode audio because we did our first test with one of Brightsign's own movie files (Attract.mpg).
  
  Lyndon, any idea when your developer may have something to report on my video file?
  
  Anyone else reading this.  Please let me know your experience with creating MPEG movies from PowerPoint files that include audio.
  
  --
  SeaDog  <!-- s:?: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_question.gif" alt=":?:" title="Question" /><!-- s:?: -->
  
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  RokuLyndon March 09, 2010 03:24

  
  
  I think the problem is with the software itself not properly encoding the audio.
  
  I opened your videos in womble's mpeg2vcr utility, and it didn't recognize that there was any mpeg audio present. And, when I looked at the shell output on the unit, it said that no audio format was found. My unit was set to verbose serial output.
  
  
  
  
  And here's the same file after I clicked the MPEG button and saved...
  
  
  
• 0
  
  Rjunke March 09, 2010 22:58

  
  
  Got an additional answer to my dilemma.  It seems somewhere in the process my MP2 audio which is part of the PowerPoint is being converted to AC3 as part of the conversion process.  So now I know where to dig.  I'll post a new question specific to converting PowerPoints with audio to a format that these signs can use.
  
  Thanks to the folks at Brightsign ( <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> ) for all their effort in helping isolate the issue.
  
  SeaDog