[CJSIMPSON]

This might be a strange question but I really need to ask it to avoid wasting loads of time.

I have got a copy of premiere cs4 and vegas pro 8.1 to try out so need advice relating to these really. I have a Panasonic SD20 camcorder which records audio in 5.1 and have a TV and surround sound set up at home with 5.1 the trouble is my pc is 2.1. I want to know the best way to edit this and check all my sound channels, I want to be able to check there is nothing really loud or un-needed on the surround channels. Can i play all channels through my 2 speakers or does it just play the front channels? . Im really confused by this as I have only just got this camcorder and it is something I have never needed to worry about so any advice would be great.

[CJSIMPSON]

Bump

Somebody must be in this situation, please can you offer any advice?

[CJSIMPSON]

Can anyone help me on this one?

I just need to know how my sound will turn out if I edit 5.1 audio and my 2.1 system.

Is there an option to make it all play through the 2 channel whilst editing but export all 5 when exporting?

Please help.

[rogs]

You can extract the 6 audio channels from the video, with a bit of fiddling around, but i'm not sure how easy it is to edit, and more importantly re encode the 5.1 audio from your edited file.

With Premiere CS4 I believe you can get Encore to output the original 5.1 audio, but only if you don't give it any reason to re-encode the audio -- do that, and it will produce a stereo output.

I've extracted the six audio channels from Panasonic AVCHD footage, but only using Canopus HQ as an intermediate format. The AVCHD2HQ converter application is a freebie from Canopus, but you need the Canopus HQ codec for it to work. Although it's not difficult to find freeware versions of that codec, I don't think it's supposed to be freeware!
You can get a 'legit' version of the codec by downloading the trial version of Edius Neo - which is pretty well regarded as an editing package, but not that well known.

Once you have that, you can set the converter to output your audio as either 5.1, or down mixed to stereo. It outputs in the easy to edit .wav format.

If you really want to find out what is actually on all 6 tracks, you can import the Canopus HQ file into the free program Virtualdub, select the audio only output, save as wav, and import that 6 channel audio waveform into the free audio editor Audacity.

It will then be presented as six ready to edit waveforms.

How you re encode that to Blu ray compliant 5.1 AC3, I have no idea I'm afraid!

As I say, a lot of fidding about doing it this way, and probably not worth the effort . 5.1 audio recorded from a cluster of mics, all together on the top of the camera, is only really going to give you hint of what surround audio can be like, and is really no more than a gimmic. Get your audio downmixed as stereo, and then edit.

There may be easier ways to 'get at' the 5.1 audio in detail - perhaps someone else can suggest a simpler alternative, although the responses to your query haven't been that numerous so far!

[CJSIMPSON]

Thanks Rogs, sound slike a lot of messing about.
Essentially if it is a gimmkick, if there is something in the rear channels I would hear it in the front as well. If this is the case I will probably just plough on regardless. I dont do too much with the audio anyway just trims, fades and levels for peak parts. If I only do these will I be ableto export the 5.1 audio? I dont want to export to blu ray I just want them in a file that will play on my ps3. This plays avchd natively so is there an option to export this and only render the parts that have been edited and leave the rest alone? I like the idea of having a surround track whether it is that effective or not I like the sound of it.

[rogs]

To keep your 5.1 audio, and output to play on a PS3, you might like to have a look at Sony Creative Software - Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Edition - Introduction

I don't think you can deal with 5.1 audio using the Pro 8.1 version you mentioned earlier.

[CJSIMPSON]

ThanksRogs, what about Premiere CS4 will this do it? All the audio formats are new to me, I have gone from a stereo DV cam which was easy, import, edit then wait ages to convert to mpeg2 and burn to dvd.

Now I will want to output probably to avchd again to save encoding again, the less changes thew better.