Premier Elements 8 Audio Problem

Question

I just got a new Dell laptop last week that came with the Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and Premier Elements 8 bundle pre-installed.   I’ve never worked with Premier Elements before and thought I’d try my luck with it yesterday. I edited several movie clips that were taken with my Sony camera in MP4 format, joined the clips into one movie with transitions between them, and rendered the finished product in .mpg format.
The video plays fine in all programs, but the audio is a different story.  It is silent in Windows Media Player and Real Player, yet plays well in Windows Media Center and Windows Movie Maker.  It also plays on my Dell PC in Windows Media Player (the same program that silences it on my Dell laptop). 
I'm a senior citizen and have worked a little bit with Windows Movie Maker but that is all - nothing more intricate than that program.  I’d like to burn my new movie file to DVD but would first like to know what is causing the audio problem.  I'm hoping it's something simple and that this aged brain can understand the "fix".   Any suggestions?
Thank you for any help you can offer me.
Anne

Answer 1

Hello Hunt, and thank you for helping me.
Yes, you have described the problem correctly.  In PrElements, all was 
well with video and audio - and still is OK in two of the  video players I have
on this new laptop.   However, there  is no audio in the other two programs
- but only on  this Dell laptop in Windows Media Player.  There IS audio in
Windows Media Player on my Dell PC.  That's what really confuses me.
Yes, the original file from the camera was mp4 and was exported as mpg 
(MPEG).  I don't remember the settings I used; I think the only thing I 
changed was a quality setting.  Is there a way of going back and looking at  the
original settings to jot down what they were? 
I think that the free version of Real Player has improved over the  years
and has a few more "goodies" now than it did in previous editions.   For one,
I was able to capture an internet video in its entirety last year, and 
very easily.  I wanted this video (a show trailer) for a slideshow I  was
creating and couldn't figure out how to get it with any other  application. 
That's the main reason I installed Real Player last  week on this new laptop  -
"just in case" I want to do this  again.
I will take your advice and look into the two free players...
And, in response to your second post, WMM has given me a good start but, 
unless I'm missing something, it does not have the capability of burning a 
DVD.  I will check out the resources link and the Training  Series that you
describe, and thank you so much for your help!
Cordially,
Anne
In a message dated 7/1/2011 11:23:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
[email protected] writes:
Anne,
Welcome to the forum.
Just to make  sure that I am following you, I will restate what I think you
are  experiencing, and then please correct me. Along the way will be a few 
questions too.
You have created a Project in PrElements, and have  Imported Video (with
Audio) into the PrE Project. The files from your Sony are  in MP4 format.
In PrE you have your Audio,  correct?
You have then Exported/Shared that Project to an AV file  as an MPEG. Do
you recall the settings chosen for that MPEG?
That  Exported/Shared file plays with Audio in some players, but in others
it only  plays the Video, but not the Audio. Is that correct?
Knowing the  settings used to create that MPEG file might explain why some
player software  does a good job, where other players have an issue.
This is an  aside comment - I find that WMP, especially the later versions,
is not a good  choice for a player. It seems that MicroSooft has done as
much as possible to  strip it of most capabilities. Instead, I recommend two
free players, 
http://gofree.com/download/Video/Media-Players/vlcmediaplayer.php?gclid=CLW6soS44KkCFQoBbA odO3L2Xg  and
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/. Both are excellent, and will play files,  that some other players struggle
with. Again, both are free. Because all  players are not created equal, I
just go with what works. If you were  distributing these files to a client,
that was locked into WMP, especially the  newer versions, then addressing the
issue would be worth the detective work.  If that was the case, then I
would explore Exporting/Sharing to WMV format,  rather than the MPEG.
I have not used RealPlayer in about a  decade. I found it to be nearly
useless then, and rather ill-behaved. I will  not let it near my computers,
though it has possibly been improved over the  years. If you have any RealMedia,
MediaPlayer Classic HC, can be modified with  a free plug-in, to allow
that. If you do not have RealMedia files (usually  designated by .RM), then I
would not worry about taht. Only install what you  need, when you need it. I
would just ignore RealPlayer, since it is  installed.
Good luck, and hope that this was helpful. Let us know  a bit more about
the MPEG settings,  please.
Hunt