Final Cut Export Introducing Lip Sync Problem

When exporting a 7 minute sequence using Quicktime Conversion in Final Cut 5, my resulting .mov file has a lip sync problem. The Final Cut sequence is all sync'ed up, so I can't figure out how to remedy the problem. Any sage advice?
Thanks,
Stephanie

Stephanie, what codecs (video and audio) are you converting to in QuickTime Conversion,
and in what play-back hardware does this lip-sync problem appear?
Have you done an audio mix-down before export, and is your media on a separate drive?

Cheers
Alexander

Here were my compression settings:
video codec - none
sound - linear pcm

i'm getting the lip sync problem when i view in my quicktime player and i'm playing the export back from the external drive where all of my media is stored.

Thanks,
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

I think Alexander has hit the nail on the head.

The None codec doesn't actually compress. As such, it is lossless and produces huge files. It is often used as a storage format for files that need to be archived with perfect quality, as well as an intermediate format for files that need to have effects applied to them multiple times. Because of its high bitrate you can't play video in the None codec smoothly in QT player unless you have a powerful Mac and a fast RAID system. This may be the explanation as to why your audio appears to be out of sync.

If you have no real reason for exporting an Uncompressed version of your timeline, just export your FCP project as a self-contained QT movie using Current Settings.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny and Alexander,

I just did another export using H.264 and am experiencing the same problem with the resulting 280 MB file. After looking more closely, the lip sync is not off during the entire video. At various places in the export, it looks as though the video replays a 2 or 3 second portion of the existing video, but the audio continues as normal, and the sync goes off. Later, the audio and video sync up
again, and then go out of sync in a minute or two in the same manner, with a quick replay of a 2 or 3 second chunk of video.

I've done lots of exports with other projects and have never faced this problem, and I'm positive that the sequence is in sync.

Hmmmm....

Thanks,
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

What are your sequence settings ?
How many audio tracks do you have ?
What version of QT are you running ?

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,
Sequence preset: DV NTSC 48 kHz
Audio Tracks: 8
Version of QT: 7.5
Thanks,
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

Thank you for the information. This setup shouldn't give you any problems.

First thing we must find is where exactly the problem occurs. So try this for me: export a self-contained QT movie using Current Settings from your sequence (NOT using QT conversion) . The resulting video will be exactly as your sequence preset. Play this video in QT player and check if you still have the sync problem.

Best wishes,

Ronny

Hi Ronny,

When I export the self-contained QT movie w/ current settings, there is no lip sync problem.

This is such a mystery...the whole reason that I was trying exports with codec: "None" is because my goal is to generate the highest quality flash video file with Visual Hub. And with shorter projects (under 2 minutes) I had great success with exporting from final cut with Quick time converstion, codec: none, then running the resulting .mov file through Visual Hub for a .flv file.

And in trying to use that formula with my current project (7 minutes), the lip sync problem has introduced itself.

So the lip sync issue is really a secondary problem. Ultimately, I'm trying to figure out how to export from Final Cut and get a high quality .flv file out of Visual Hub. I've tried exporting a self-contained QT movie (not using QT conversion) and the resulting flv file has all sorts of problems. Same with H.264...

Any recommendations?

Thanks again,
Stephanie