Tag: mpeg

Normalize Audio Volume Levels in your MP4 Videos with MP4Gain

The Webernets18 Comments

MP4Gain – Normalize Audio Volume Levels in your MP4 Videos

MP4Gain-Logo

Mac users please see my Mac specific article HERE.

I have been saving episodes of the Discovery Channel show “How It’s Made” for years. Recently I compiled and organized them into an archive on my WDTV Live Hub, and I found that as I have used several different devices to record the episodes over the years, the audio volume levels range from barely audible to deafening. I needed a way to make the audio volume level of all of my mp4 video files the same. This process is called “Normalizing”.

A Google search returned only one batch MP4 volume normalizer of note, MP4Gain. The author offers a trial version, which I downloaded and installed. This is what the main window looks like.

mp4gain video normalizer main windowThe program is VERY easy to use. For straight out “Normalizing” all you need to do is simply add your video files and press “Normalize”. In my case, I wanted to adjust the bit rates of the audio and do a little re-equalizing.

Equalizer

The program includes a level meter with fall-offs, so you can play your file and have a visual representation of the sound levels. The functionality is bit raw at the moment, but I’m sure in future versions this will be refined, and hopefully you will be able to adjust the fall-off times to make them stay at the peaks a little longer, as they seem to drop off a little to quickly.

MP4Gain Video Normalizer

Once I set my EQ levels and bit rates, I pressed “Normalize” and away it went!

MP4Gain ProgressMP4Gain processes the files very quickly, and once it is complete, all your video files are the same volume! Its VERY cool!

You can download the trial version of MP4Gain HERE. The trial is fully functional and allows you to process about 15-20 files before asking you to buy a license.

In summary, this program is great, and I’m hoping that future versions polish up a few minor issues, like a missing vertical scroll bar (program is difficult to use on a small screen as the Normalize button is right down the bottom, and off the screen), and the jerky level meter. The major killer of this program is the price. At $40, it is pretty expensive (In My Humble Opinion). If it was somewhere in the $15 – $20 range it would definitely be hard to pass up.

It is able to normalize volume levels in the following video file types:

  • mp4, flv, avi
  • mpeg, mpg
  • 3gp, wmv

MP4Gain can also normalize your audio music files. It can also normalize MP3, MP2, AAC, AC3, FLAC, OGG, WAV and M4A files to!

Easily Watch or Fix Aspect Ratio Problems in MPEG Video with MPEG Streamclip on Windows and Mac

The Webernets0 comment

Earlier this week one of my favorite movies “The Scorpion King” was on TV, and as I recently bought a new digital set top box with USB recording capabilities, I thought I would give it a try. I remember when I saw The Scorpion King at the movies it was in a very widescreen aspect ratio, and it looked great! But, as soon as it started on Sunday night, I could tell something was not right. Rock Johnson looked more like a character from Avatar than the WWF! He seemed over 10 feet tall and as skinny as a broom handle, which as we all know, isn’t the case!

My suspicion is that someone at the TV station got lazy, or maybe a setting in my set top box was wrong, but the bottom line is I have a 2+ gigabit video file of one of my favorite movies, and it is virtually unwatchable because the aspect ratio is way off.

Thankfully, there is a nice easy way to straighten things out. Now, If I intended to watch the video file on my computer, I would use VideoLAN’s VLC Player, because it’s free, it plays practically everything, and it has nice built in feature’s that amongst dozens of other tricks, will adjust your movies aspect ratio on the fly, so no re-encoding is required.

VLC Player falls into my “I can’t Believe it’s free” category. No matter what OS your running, they have a player for you that will knock your socks off. But if you want to watch that distorted video file on something like a WDTV, or plug a USB key into your flat screen TV, your gonna have to re-encode it and repair the problems.

Luckily, my set top box records in MP4 format, so my tall and skinny video file will drop straight into a really cool, and again FREE program, called MPEG Streamclip, which is what I am going to use to fix my aspect ratio problem in my video file.

Thankfully, MPEG Stream not only fixes tall and skinny video’s, but short fat ones too 🙂

To get started, if you don’t have it already, get your free copy of MPEG Stream clip right HERE! You can do a bunch of cool stuff with it, it’s free, so there is no reason not to have it in your video tool kit! Once your installed, FIRE IT UP!

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureOnce the main window is open, drag your wonky video clip into it, and you will see a preview window.

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureTo begin reshaping, open the file menu and select “Export to MPEG-4”, or if you want to cross encode to another format, you can choose it here instead.

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureOnce you have selected your preferred export format, a new window will pop up where you can adjust your settings, and de-distort your movie.

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureAs you can see from the above capture, my video was recorded in 720px wide by 400px high, so I am now thinking I really do need to go and take a look at the default settings on my set top box. To start repairing the problem, I clicked “Other”, left the width at 720px, and started to play with the vertical height. After I changed the setting, I clicked “Preview” to see if my changes made the aspect ratio better.

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureA new window popped up and the movie started to preview, and I noticed a secondary window which looked like it had already begun encoding, but this doesn’t appear to be the case. It seems to me that it is just encoding your preview while you are watching it, but its not the final pass.

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureIf the preview looks good, or even if it doesn’t, click the stop button after you have assessed your changes. If you want to re-adjust your settings, you can go back and do so, or if you are happy with your changes, go ahead and click “Make MP4” in the bottom right hand corner, and give your FIXED video a new unique name.

MPEG Streamclip Screen CaptureLike most video encoding, it will take some time to process the file and apply your changes. But when it’s done, everything will look like it should again.