Audio Video still out of Sync in iMovie '11 (9.0.3)

There are several similar threads about this issue, with the final solution being to upgrade to a later software version. I am using the current latest update of iMovie '11 and am having terrible issues with audio syncing.
All of the affected clips are direct-to-iMovie captures via iSight camera and either an external UBS mic (Snowball) or internal mic. The problem happens either way.
Clips range in length from 45 seconds to 15 minutes. Out of say, 20 clips, 15 will be affected, some will be perfectly fine. There is no consistency as to when the syncing drifts apart, but it gets worse over time. Many of the clips drift out around the beginning (between 10 sec and 2 min in) and back in sync 30 seconds or so before the end. When the clips resync it doesn't seem gradual... nothing seems to change, but all of a sudden they're perfectly matched again.
It seems to be consistent that the audio is ahead of the video, but the audio itself doesn't sound any faster (going by the pitch) and the video doesn't look slow.
This is definitely a problem in iMovie itself, NOT in the import. Every single clip is perfectly synced when I view the raw .mov file in Quicktime. Clips export to web perfect out of Quicktime, but are out of sync when exported to iMovie.
On that note, I had one clip that was initially out of sync all the way through change to being back in sync toward the end after restarting the app. (No other clips changed.) I also had one clip speed up to chipmunk speed after a minute and a half and pop back to normal after 2 minutes. I left iMovie open, didn't close or sleep the machine, just switched to Quicktime to edit there... when I switched back to iMovie that clip played back normally (but no other ones changed.)
- I've tried exporting the Quicktime into a brand new .mov file and reimporting into iMovie as new footage; still no dice.
I've tried detaching audio, this doesn't work. Syncing each clip by hand via cuts is nearly impossible, as there are hundreds of clips, most of them 2 minutes long, and the drifting is so bad that piecing one 45 second clip back together resulted in dozens of audo cuts and nudges, and it still looked bad. (This is an oral history project, so every video is a close-up shot of someone speaking.) I have been working around the bad clips by trimming in Quicktime, but a many of them need internal trimming and audio manipulation that Quicktime can't do... and it shouldn't need to do it, because I have iMovie. This is driving me insane! Is anyone else experiencing this? Any thoughts/ideas?

I too am facing the same issues and trying to look for good alternatives. Ugh.

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Non-controllable device/ audio video still out of sync?

importing dv tape with time code breaks.
i was told that by setting "non-controllable device" that fc would ignore time code and import without sync problems. is this possible ?
thanks to you guys who helped me on my previous post.

"i was told that by setting "non-controllable device" that fc would ignore time code and import without sync problems. is this possible ?"
I don't know about that - what is your device ? A deck - a cam, or ...

ITunes audio/video drifts out-of-sync

I have for a while been having problems with watching videos I have downloaded from the iTunes Store on my PC. I'm running windows 7, all my drivers are up to date, and the videos play fine if I open them up in Quicktime. If I watch them in iTunes, however, the audio and video get out of sync rather rapidly... If I watch a show in iTunes, I need to pause and restart it every 30 seconds or so, otherwise it just becomes too annoying to watch. Clicking pause then play again syncs it back up, but again it doesn't last long. I open the files in Quicktime and they play just fine, and considering iTunes just uses Quicktime for video playback, the problem must be with iTunes. I have gone through several iTunes updates, hoping with each one that the problem gets fixed, but it never does... can anyone help me??

Also been experiencing this for some time now, win7 x64 and same sort of pc specs to all you guys, fixed it just this evening so hopefully it's not just a fluke!
Two things to do, first in quicktime preferences, audio tab, under the sound out field, rate change too 44.1khz, size to 16 bit and make sure channels matches you windows default. Now you need to make sure your audio driver software matches these settings (as that is the software that controls the sample rate and bit depth in shared mode); mine is realtek HD audio manager, so for anyone else who has that, go to the default format tab make sure it is '16bit, 44100hz (CD Quality)'.
I'm not a big expert on this so I can't say why itunes suddenly has a problem with these settings or why it makes a difference, I just hope that this fix works for you as well because I have been looking for a solution online forever and it's driven me insane!
Good luck!

Audio & video are out of sync (help!)

Please help, all of a sudden, my video and audio in my timeline and browser are out of sync. In the timeline, some audio clips match w/ their video, some don't. What's up with that? I've been editing this timeline for weeks, I had no problem until TONIGHT. In the same timeline or sequence, some clips are out of sync w/ their audio. Could it be something to do with dropped frames? I have this window that comes up now (whereas it didn't before) and in red, it reads:
RT Extreme has determed dropped were caused by slow disks. Please try:
-increasing the speed of your disk (huh?)
-decreasing the number of RT layers
-Limiting your RT bandwidth in User Preference.
I'm totally perflexed. Please help.
thank you
kchen

dear Jimmy,
I burned a tested DVD and the audio is fine. I guess the way I view was a bit misleading.
Thanks for your time...but i have another question. When playing my video back from the timeline, I still get this message in RED:
RT Extreme has determed dropped were caused by slow disks. Please try:
-increasing the speed of your disk (huh?)
-decreasing the number of RT layers
-Limiting your RT bandwidth in User Preference.
MY video disk has 150GB left, out of 250gb
my hard drive that has fcp has 120GB out of 300GB
do you know why my timeline keeps stopping and gives me this warning?
thanks Jimmy

Audio / video fall out of sync

I'm working on an interview project which needs better audio than my built-in camera mic provides.
So, I recorded my audio separately during the shoot using Logic. I bounced an AIFF (48KHz - to match the video), and I thought it would line up perfectly with my video file in Final Cut Express.
I lined up the beginning - perfect sync. However, several minutes into the clip, the audio and video start falling out of sync - more and more as it moves down the timeline.
Does anyone know a possible solution for this problem? I searched, but I think I'm asking the wrong questions.
Thanks!

Make sure the sequence settings match the media. If that's not the problem, it sometimes works to modify the speed of either the audio or video if you can figure out by what percentage they're out of sync.

Audio/Video slightly out of sync after exporting media and trying to watch on iPhone

Hey adobe tech heads
So, I recently upgraded to the new Adobe Premiere Pro CC, from Premiere Pro and I have to say that there doesnt seem to be any difference to the normal functionalites. While I am merely a beginner, i suppose there are more complex features that i have yet to discover.
But let me get to the point of this discussion. I have been making a few fun videos for friends of mine of their childrens birthday parties and such. I have a Nikon D3200 which is a 24 megapixel camera for images and have been shooting 1080p for the video, which i think uses 25 frames per second. (Dont quote me on that one as i am still learning all this techno-jargon). I was, in the beginning, having a slight issue with choosing the correct sequence settings in the beginning, but eventually managed to figure out that for my Nikon, i was choosing the DSLR, 1080p, 25fps option. So far, all seemed to work well, everything synced up, rendering the files often, and creating a fun memory for the parents, of their childs birthday party.
Then is comes to exporting. I would just select "Media" and then "Export" which would bring up the Export Settings Menu. I would simply press the Queue button, and then in in the Queue section, i could choose to make a video file typically for Youtube in HD. Before posting this discussion, I did a quick youtube search, so not to waste all your time, and found this link of this guy who not only showed me that i dont need to Queue it up, and can direclty select Youtube HD from the Export Settings menu which i will try, but he also confused the #%^&$(*& out of me with all his bitrate settings talk (this part starts around the 3min and 32secs mark into his youtube tutorial) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2j5dnlDmos (The reason I am showing you this is because now, i am not sure if this is what may cause my slow phone/tablet issue)
So here is my problem - Once i edit and export the file into the youtube 1080 25fps HD option, I open this new exported file on my pc and it works fine, perfectly synced and ready to share. Once i have uploaded it to Vimeo, which is my preferred social media network, it uploads fine, and on any normal pc/laptop, there is no problem and it runs just as smoothly as when it was edited. Although i noticed that the video seems to be playing at about half a second behind the audio when trying to show someone on any iPad/tablet or any mobile phone. I recently made this clip as a tester and to be able to show you awesome braniacs, because its kinda pissing me right off, that the video isnt perfectly syncing into the audio on the phones and tablets, but works just fine on a PC/Mac. I specifically made a point to match the images up to the beats of the songs, and if you watch where the little kid climbs up the indoor rockclimbing wall, this might help you understand my frustration. check the below link on your pc/mac, and then again on your phone and you will see what i mean. I even played them simutaneously together and you can see the delayed video on the phone/tablet than on the PC/Mac.
Any help would be greatly appreciated on how to fix this, as while its doing my head in, i am sure for you guys, a simply change on my lack of tech knowlege, will probably have us all smiling! Here is the clip - https://vimeo.com/7105289
Thank guys. I look forward to your replies

First of all, when you export, you should see the dialog box that has information about the source video as well as the export. If you are shooting 25fps then you are not in the USA. If you are in the USA, look harder at your export settings.
But that isn't the problem you are facing.
Are you using the Vimeo app to play the videos on the iPad or are you just playing it in a browser? Use the app if you aren't now doing so.
I doubt that you are using anything other than AAC for your audio from what you have said about using the presets, but I have to ask. You are using AAC, right? That is what Vimeo prefers.
Have you tried turning the HD off in Vimeo to see if that clears up the problem? That will probably be fine on a smartphone. An iPad might see the difference though.
You are not going to be happy reading this Vimeo.com thread, but here it is anyway.
I don't even know what to make of this one.
In any case, you will read for yourself that you may want to change browsers on the mobile device.

Audio is/goes out of sync

Hi guys,
Brand new user to Premiere Pro CS 5.5
I took some clips off my Galaxy Nexus that I shot the other day and wanted to cut them into a short video so I imported them into Premiere.
When I play them in Premiere the audio appears to be in sync at the very beginning of the video but as it progresses through it seems to be worse and worse out of sync as it goes along. Even in a short 1 minute clip.
When I play these raw video files in something like XBMC or the standard Windows 8 media player, or even just on my phone there don't see to be any problems with the audio/video being out of sync what so ever.
I tested this out with several random clips recorded on my phone and it seems ALL of them are doing this in Premiere no matter the duration of the video.
Why is this happening and how do I prevent/correct it?
Thank you

Cell phone video often uses a variable bit rate, such as from the iphone... these links are about iphone video, but they may help
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/881246
-and http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1011411?tstart=0
-and a fix http://forums.adobe.com/thread/934466
If those links don't help, more information might help
What are you editing, and does your project match your video?
Read Bill Hunt on a file type as WRAPPER http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037
What is a CODEC... a Primer http://forums.adobe.com/thread/546811
What CODEC is INSIDE that file? http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037
Report back with the codec details of your file, use the programs below... a screen shot works well to SHOW people what you are doing
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/592070?tstart=30
For PC http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en or http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
Also, to be sure your video matches your sequence, read on...
For CS5 and later, the easy way to insure that your video and your project match
See 2nd post for picture of NEW ITEM process http://forums.adobe.com/thread/872666
-and a FAQ on sequence setting http://forums.adobe.com/message/3804341

Audio and video is out of sync!

when I record audio and video together with my isight built in camera on my macbook pro with either quicktime pro, photobooth or imovie, when I play the clip back the audio and video is out of sync! like watching a kung foo movie. I've tried everything, I've taken my book into see a "Genius" at thew mac store and he said to me that the isight is made really for video conferencing and is really not supposed to be fully in sync? Uhh thats weird, so mac makes a product and puts it on all their laptops and it only sort of works?? I've been on the phone with apple care, did a bunch of things like disk utility repairs on permisions, then used the startup disk to do another permisions repair. I've uninstalled quicktime pro and re-installed it a couple of times? If anyone could give me some advice that would be great! I'm a little frustrated as you can probably see! thanks
cheers
m

Welcome to Apple Discussions, m
See if any of the suggestions offered here reduce your sync quality problem enough:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7089133&#7089133
If, after making certain that your Mac is running well, has plenty of free space on the correct drive, etc., your sync is still not close enough, you can manually re-sync any parts that are unacceptable to you using either QT Pro or iMovie.
If you check carefully, you will see that not even pro video is always perfectly synced. It is a lot of work to get things "nearly perfect," but, with a bit of practice, it doesn't take long to get things "close enough" for me.
I use the same simple process with either QT Pro or iMovie, so you can use whichever you find easiest. Whichever you use, keep the original AV clip safe and *_work on a copy_* in case something goes wrong.
If you do not already know how, here is my process, but you can adjust for your workflow:
(1) Copy of the audio track.
(2) Add the audio track copy to the AV file.
(3) Silence the original audio and work on audio copy.
(4) Insert small blank audio clips (or split and slide if using iMovie) if needed to make the audio later.
(5) Cut small bits out of quiet parts (or split and shorten in iMovie) if needed to make audio sooner.
(6) Repeat until satisfied and delete any tracks no longer needed.
(7) Save the adjusted AV file.
(8) Enjoy!
EZ Jim
G5 DP 1.8GHz w/Mac OS X (10.5.7) PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11) iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9) External iSight

Audio Out of Sync in iMovie. And yes, I've tried detaching audio.

I created a video of myself on my iMac using iMovie. I used the iMac's internal camera and mic. About a 1/4 through the video (it's about 15 minutes long), the audio starts getting out of sync. I looked up solutions to this problem, and everywhere I read said to detach the audio from the clip(s). I did that, and it was still out of sync. I then tried to split my long 15 minute clip into multiple clips, and then I detatched the audio from each one of them. Also didn't work. I tried uploading to Youtube, and Youtube recognized the issue and gave me a series of steps to fix it. Did it all, and still the audio is out of sync. This is a simple, unedited video that should have taken me no more than 10 to throw together. Instead, I've been screwing around with this for several hours. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

44100 Hz is fine and the audio codec is fine. Most camcorders record at 48000 Hz, but audio CDs are recorded are 44100 Hz, and iMovie handles them well.
However, your video frame rate is an odd number. A camcorder in the US will usually record at 29.97 frames per second. In Europe, the standard is 25 fps. On some cameras, you also have the option of 24 fps (same as a Hollywood movie).
Your camera is recording at 14.89, which is about half of the 29.97 standard. I am guessing that the video is from a webcam or maybe a cell phone or still camera. It is difficult to sync audio over long periods of time if your video is not conforming to the standards. Cameras like this may record at varioable rates, so sometimes you get more than 14.89 and sometimes less. Your best bet would be to make an iMovie project at 29.97 fps, so that it will basically repeat each frame of your video twice to get up to 29.78 fps. Even so, it will drift out of sync over time.
If you had Final Cut Pro X, you could use the tools in FCP to conform your video and audio to a 29.97 timeline and probably keep it synced better. Long term, your best bet is to use a camcorder that can shoot 29.97 (or 30) fps.
Short term, I would suggest keeping your clips in your project short. For your 15 minute clip, drag in the first minute, then the 2nd minute, etc. untill you have it all. Even so, it may drift. Detaching audio is probably not necessary.

DVD encoded video and audio progressively get out of sync

Hi Compressor professionados,
I've been trying to finalise a DVD I’m creating but keep having the same show-stopping problem where I just can't get the timing of the audio and video right after encoding it to MPEG-2/ac3 for DVD Studio Pro. When I lay it into the track in DVDSPro it plays fine at the start of the track but as the clip gets longer the audio and video gets further and further out of sync, by a few seconds (eg. for over 1 hour length footage).
I've seen similar posts online about timing issues with Compressor but nothing I saw has hit the nail on the head for me. I also posted my problem on Creative Cow but didn't get the help I needed to fix my problem.
Here's the specs:
FCPro X 10.1.4
Video project: 1080i (@ 25i)
Audio 44.1 kHz
Render: Apple ProRes 422
Length: 01:13:05:02
Compressor 4.1.3
MPEG-2 Setting (only what I think is important... or I don't know)
Format: Elementary Stream
Stream Usage: DVD
Retiming: Set duration to: 100% (shows 01:13:05:02)
Video Frame Rate: Auto (25fps)
Field Order: Same as Source
GOP: greyed out at 12
ac3:
Sample rate: 48kHz (the only choice)
Data rate: 224 kbps
DVD Studio Pro 4.2.1
PAL DVD-9 project
From FCP I send my project to Compressor and when I drop both a DVD Audio and Video codec onto it they both show as Retiming 100% (and the length looks the same) but the results are still unsynchronised at the end of the clip when they are placed into the Track in DVDSPro. I've also tried changing different settings, like MPEG-2 Retiming duration to "So source frames play at 25 fps", but I'm still having troubles.
At one point I managed to get the A/V timing right for my track and I then ran what I thought was the same settings for all my other tracks in the DVD but they ended up with a similar outa-sync problem so I deleted everything to try again and realised I'd deleted my good files. And I just can't seem to replicate it again. I’m not sure if it was an accidental mistake that worked or I hit on the right settings. Either way, it shouldn’t be this hard to get it right, for heaven's sake!!!
Also, strangely, when I open the MPEG-2 file in QuickTime Player (10.4) it shows 01:10:30 long but if I open the same file in QuickTime Pro 7 it shows as the correct 1:13:05. And DVD Studio Pro shows 01:13:05:02 for both the audio & video assets but their sync is still out at the end.
This problem stopped me from producing the DVD last Christmas and I tried to pick it up again to give it to the family for this Christmas but ended up having to bail yet again - not impressed!!!
I'm hoping it's a simple solution of getting the settings right but it may also be a bug! Apparently, my bro-in-law has had similar problems and has ditched the DVD route altogether. I already have all of my menus etc. set up and I'd hate to have to ditch all that hard work.
Thanks in anticipation,
Brett

Thanks so much Russ & Tom!
It was as easy as changing the sample rate in the FCP project from 44.1 to 48 and sending it to Compressor again. I think it was set to 44.1 because I had the project set to automatically assign the parameters from the first video dropped into it. I haven't checked yet but the audio from my camera is likely 44.1.
It would be nice if Compressor produced a warning message when you set the codec up for DVD audio that the original is set to a different sample rate & may cause timing problems when resampled to 48kHz.
Anyway, again THANKS lads for solving what has been a year long problem for me and now I can complete my Christmas project, albeit late!
Virtual chocolates to you both!!!

Updated FCP 5.1 to 5.1.2 - Audio and video now out of sync

I just noticed in my software update that FCP needed to be updated. So I updated the program.
Now when I open exisiting projects the audio and video are out of sync even though they appear perfectly in sync in the timeline. Has anyone else had this problem? The problem also persists when cutting clips in the timeline. I will use the razor tool to make the cut and I cut the clip on a ceratain frame in the timeline and then in the viewer the clip was really cuts a second or two later. Does anyone know what is going on?
Very furstrating to say the least. Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Clay

I am still wondering why you're recommending that I use an external drive for this project.
Because the internal has more than enough to do running Mac OS X and the applications. It is constantly writing files. While DV video is at the lower end of the scale, it is still asking a lot of the drive's read and write head.
I always used external drives, but we had many problems with delays and processing problems.
At the very least, you should be using FireWire external drives. USB is no good for video as it delivers data in packets, not the sustained stream that video needs. The drives must also be formatted as Mac OS Extended. Windows FAT 16 of FAT 32 formatted drives have file size limits of 2 and 4 GB respectively. Anything larger is segemented and can cause problems on a Mac.

TA25603 Audio and visual out of sync iMovie using built in mac webcam?

On the latest imovie - april 2013, I have made many videos and had no problems, but recently I've been using the macs inbuilt webcam and a couple of times when I re-watch the footage the audio is badly out of sync with the visual, how can I fix this?

Same issue I've seen. I have a Sony DCR-TRV30. Had 40 tapes to transfer to iMovie 10.0.6. Had no issue on first 16 tapes then all the sudden I experienced the audio/video timing issue. Video looks good when it is getting imported, audio/video in sync on camera and in preview window on iMovie while importing. Tape finishes and you start to watch import when beginning of tape is in sync and by end it is several seconds out of sync. Tried deleting and installing iMovie again and that didn't help.

Audio and Video are Out of Sync

Hello,
This seems to be a reoccurring problem for me and I'd love some help getting it resolved once and for all. After capturing footage, the audio and video are out of sync in the clip AND when I drag it to the timeline. When I go through each part, it looks like the video hesitates often, which seems to be causing the misalignment of audio. But, once it is moved into alignment, it goes out of sync again throughout the remainder of the one hour video.
I'm capturing through a Canon Optura 50 Mini DV and editing with FCP 6.0.1. I have checked that the audio mode is set to 16 bit on the camera, and the capture settings have the audio rate for 48 KHz.
This same problem occurred when I was capturing another event last week.
PLEASE advise. It won't get aligned even if I take the hours and hours to move the audio left and right frame by frame.

I am still wondering why you're recommending that I use an external drive for this project.
Because the internal has more than enough to do running Mac OS X and the applications. It is constantly writing files. While DV video is at the lower end of the scale, it is still asking a lot of the drive's read and write head.
I always used external drives, but we had many problems with delays and processing problems.
At the very least, you should be using FireWire external drives. USB is no good for video as it delivers data in packets, not the sustained stream that video needs. The drives must also be formatted as Mac OS Extended. Windows FAT 16 of FAT 32 formatted drives have file size limits of 2 and 4 GB respectively. Anything larger is segemented and can cause problems on a Mac.

When I watch tv shows in Front Row that I've bought off iTunes the audio gradually falls out of sync with the video. It does not happen with other files that I have converted into mp4s. Any ideas for fixing this? It's a huge bummer...

When I watch tv shows in Front Row that I've bought off iTunes the audio gradually falls out of sync with the video. It does not happen with other files that I have converted into mp4s. Any ideas for fixing this? It's a huge bummer...

I too have the same problem. The audio drop out of sync in about 5 sec in not uncommon for the audio to be 30+ sec behind video. Apple needs to fix this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its a joke, my iphone is all messed up after the last update as well. at one time not to long ago apple products and software were top rated, not so much any more, more and more problems are showing up and apple is unwilling or unalbe to fix the many issues. Apple needs to fix the audio sync problem, it not the computer hardware or other software it ITUNES!!!!, there is no workaround other then hitting pause and hitting pause and hitting pause to temp fix the problem.

Photo Booth Audio and Video are out of sync?

Hi. So there is this glitch that when I take videos on Photo Booth the audio and video are out of sync. This started after I upgraded to Mountain Lion, and since I use Photo Booth a lot, I really do care. Is there anyway that I can fix this until Apple fixes this bug? Thanks.
Extra Info: The first video I took was not out of sync, but after that they got more and more out of sync.

I've read all the forums. It's a big problem for most Photobooth users, Apple acknowledges it, but does not yet have a fix.
The best solution I have come up with is to dump Photobooth (I know - it was a great program, wasn't it? But so was Hypercard) and use Quicktime to make videos. You'll have to spend a little more work savings or exporting, but at least Quicktime is free.
Just open Quicktime Player and under the File menu you'll see "Record New Movie."
The downward slide continues...

Audio Video *still* out of Sync in iMovie '11 (9.0.3)

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Audio Video still out of Sync in iMovie '11 (9.0.3)