In the documentation of QT4 Pro, it says that this software is compatible with mpegs. I imported an .mpg video clip with some nice audio. QT4 Pro ripped the audio out when saving to the DV format so I could edit this in iMovie. Further, QT4 pro rips the audio out when exporting mpeg video to ANY other format, like .avi. It won't see the audio stream separate from the video stream like it will with an .avi file. I tested, the problem is inherent to QT4 Pro, not iMovie. What is the solution? Is it just QT4 Pro, has anyone successfully retained audio when converting an mpeg clip to another file format? Thanks, this one is making me crazy.

Apple says QT4 is MPEG compatible, but that only means that it can PLAY Mpegs. It can't create MPEGs from QTs, or vice-versa. Media CLeaner Pro can create MPEGs from QTs, but not the other way around. MCP's website offers a complicated workaround, involving stripping the audio and re-syncing the video and audio manually. Look around at terran.com.

Supposedly QT5 will be fully compatible with MPEG and MPEG-2, but who knows when that will be available. I was hoping to hear something from the QT-Live event, but nothing has shown up yet.

Sorry...

[penginkun]

Welcome to the wonderful world of MPEGs.

This is not QuickTime's fault. It's the MPEG codec.

The only way I know of to do what you want is to split the MPEG into two files. Sparkle-an OLD MPEG player-has a utility included with it which will do this; find it at http://www.macorchard.com under helpers.

At this point you'll be left with the video stream in one file and the audio stream in the other. Decode the audio stream with any MP3 decoder. Export the video stream with quicktime as usual.

Import them into iMovie. Here's where the fun begins. Put them back together. Alas, there's no automatic way to sync the two tracks together. You have to eyeball it.

It's not easy, but with some patience you can do it.

Perhaps someone else knows of a more elegant solution and can share it here?

Since QuickTime can *play* MPEGs, it's obvious that it is parsing the audio and video data correctly (it plays the audio data through the speaker, and the video data to the window). Since it parses the data correctly, you'd think it could separate and save it correctly. Someone who KNOWS, please give me an explanation why this isn't possible.

Also, isn't it odd that in QT Player, when you delete any amount of frames from an MPEG, even all but one frame, and then save the file, it is still the same size? In fact, if you select one frame, copy it, paste it into a NEW movie document and save, it is the same file size as the entire original! Weird. Hopefully this will be fixed when 5 is released too.

Penginkun's solution worked. I used SoundApp to grab the stream (audio) and savedit as an .aif file. That went direct to iMovie where I reassembled the compnents. But here's weird part. The audio was longer by a few frames than the video that I saved to DV using QT4Pro. I lost a bit of audio quality as well doing it this way. I will try the mp3 decoder solution too and see if this solves the quality issue. THANKS!! Yes, I am ready for the MPEG issue to bee addressed and I just got the software.

Also there is an mpeg export tool I didn't spend $99 to investigate by Heuris. Don't know if it works with QT4 Pro, but worth a look if you need an mpeg out of QT for some reason. No import plug-in to solve the audio thing though. And I didn't use the product, so I can't say if it is good or not.

Hey Beth (any others):

I've been having the same problem with MPEG-1 videos taken on my SONY camera... I can't get to the audio (QuickTime allows playback but no extracting/export). You said you had luck with Sparkle and SoundApp?... any more details or tips? Sparkly gives me an error when I try to split the video/audio components saying that it doesn't like the new file system (presumably HFS+) and SoundApp cannot recognize the file, period. Granted that the audio stream in MPEGs *IS* an MP2 audio file, I would hope SoundApp could work with it... but no luck yet. =\

Any advice?

scott@mezic.com

I am not sure what format my mpeg was, but SoundApp handled it. I pulled out the audio, saved as an .aif file and reassembled it in iMovie (all I have at the moment). It worked. You may need a newer mpeg decoder. I'd look at the MacOrchard address or tucows.com for a utility to do this. They are out there. Then reassemble the two in your movie editing package. Let me know if you find a good utility. I'd be interested. Thanks.

I had this same problem. I took a chance and opened the MPEG movie in Sound Edit 16 and saved it as a Quicktime movie. Cool! It saved both the video AND the audio without hitch.