Cubase new video engine -- removing replace audio

Cubase
#1

The original post is LOCKED : https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=250&t=119011 so starting an alternate
[ additional info at : https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/115000808250-New-video-engine-for-Nuendo-8 ]

If I understand correctly :
The next C9 maintenance update (presumable 9.0.30)

  • will take away and remove a feature, namely : “Replace Audio in Video”
  • and users we will not be getting an suitable work around or remedy until sometime in the future,
  • and this ‘sometime in the future’, is open ended, arbitrary, we do not know if it will be in the ensuing 9.0.40 upgrade, or in the next major Cubase release [that will no doubt be a paid/upgrade path.]


    I vote : do not TAKE away and REMOVE features that are part of the core release 9.x version !

SB if you want to do product improvement, then do so please with suitable flexibility so that users can still have backward compatibility
without losing functionality to features that are paid for by consumers

Give New features, a checkbox in preferences like:
[Y] Run new video codec with NO replace-audio-in-video

C10.5 FeedbackSurvey : and replace audio in video
#2

I understand it as you read it - you cannot replace just the audio, but you have to render a new video as I read somewhere else.
Was a bit confused reading that.

In my view though it does not matter - my aim is to only have a preview video that is frame accurate to original, and make music for that.
Then render that audio and place in video editor to photage for final version.

And disagree that current engine relying on a deprecated software like Quicktime is the way to go.
However small they claim security risk is - it was large enough to recommend uninstall.
And never had it installed before - does not feel like doing it now. Especially since I don’t use antivirus anything since it jeapardize stability.

So please for us waiting for new video engine a year by now - let us have what will work for us.

But fully support your wish for setting to still use Quicktime…read some betatesters that thought that you could install video engine as separate package, which on later readings seem not to be the case - a maintenance update was necessary.
I really thought v9 was prepared to do alternate packages.

#3

Thanks for your feedback
I do not specifically want or insist on quicktime …

I just insist on :
A) having a working function “replace audio in video” at the same time when the new video codec is release, and not
relying on (what I would term here-say… from SB ) when they mention … “As an alternative, video render export functionality (including audio) is planned.”
B) Software developers not REMOVING functionality in a RELEASE (eg 9.x) from the core software branch.
(and certainly not at the expense of other potential bundled patch-fixes ) -

For all we know, this “is planned” could be sometime in the far-far-far away future.
Their seems to be no real/meaningful answers to this development time line on the original post nor transparency of what is intended

#4

+1

This is an important function for me… so until they have a suitable replacement, im gonna keep my cubase 8.5 pro installation intact.

#5

As a principle it is obviously utterly wrong for a new major version having it stripped of some functionality in current versions.

If difficulty is dependent on some format, or most of them I have no idea.
Maybe focus on a couple of video formats of today - H264 inside MP4 or AVCHD containers?

First time I used a video editor in the 90’s, there were some detail settings I had to experiment for audio. Like interleave factor - how often audio chunks are put in between frames, smaller chunks more often etc.

Is this things that make it difficult to write back audio?
And just focus on a couple of major formats - or is that close to nothing doing that?

Overall I feel that Steinberg just used their pinky finger effort to make new video engine - both time schedule for it and also reducing functionality.
It’s always difficult to rely on 3rd party software, like Quicktime, for your own products functionality. But a choice you make at some point - we now make ourselves dependent on those people.

I had my own software business for 16 years(now retired making film and music) - and tried to use developer products that also gave you the source code. Database manager and grid controls and stuff. It was a savior many times being able to fix bugs yourself and not be dependent on some company still being there, or having the effort to fix things like properly handle swedish characters ÅÄÖ and similar. Starting with 16-bit windows 3.0 I could make 32-bit libraries when Windows95 came etc. More expensive alternative - but prepare you for independence.

#6

The reality is that it needed to get rewritten because of the security issue, and this takes time. What you practically ask for is to have them only release it after it has the same features again. That would mean that we have to have QuickTime installed for a longer time, which most people don’t want.

#7

tbh the replace audio in video has been becoming less and less reliable in my experience.

#8

There must be a ton of free software that can do that, until it is implemented

#9

all interesting discussion points, and I’m sure other work arounds can be researched as mention by some of the contributors to this thread - HOWEVER
my point and core concern though:

is SB should not be removing functionality from a RELEASE version.

IF SB, need to remove functionality from a release, they should be doing so, in then next core release version, and not
in a dot/patch update of a given release - in my opinion

Consumers, look at features in product release version and make a choice to spend their money in purchasing that version.
To have SB (or any software developer), just carte-blanc come in a and say, “by the way” you will not have feature"x", but we ‘plan’ to give you something else in the future … - is well , not good enough - (again in my opinion)

#10

Hello - I’d be interested to know which software you are thinking about that allows audio replacement in a video file without the need to re-encode.

Can you post some links please?

#11

For Windows users. http://www.xmedia-recode.de/en/download.html

#12

Hello

Thanks for the link.

Can you tell me your procedure to simply swap the existing embedded audio with the new (optimised) audio?

I can’t see the button / option to replace the audio.

It’s probably me - but I only see that I would have to import a video file without the audio first and then add another audio file to it and then re-encode.

What do you do when using the program?

Thanks

#13

This may or may not be helpful to anyone, but what I do, which might actually be totally not right, is do my audio tweeks, usually from a camera file, in cubase, render out the new audio with exactly the same length as the original audio, then bring the camera video and new audio into Vegas and scrap the old audio track, leaving only the new audio, then I begin the editing process.

#14

+1 for Vegas, even the “Studio” version does a much better job of both editing and audio replacement.

Much more useful from my Cubase perspective would be the ability to load a video, add (compose) audio tracks, and export (re-render) just specific sections; in my case, basic preview quality is all I require, as the production video will be rendered with the final audio by a different application either way.

A number of us have been waiting for this for years:
Export video between locators with replaced audio
… and that thread was started in the days of Cubase 8, before the demise of Quicktime.

#15

Do a web-search for ‘mux’.

Programs like ffmpeg can mux and demux the streams in a/v file containers without ‘re-encoding’ from a command line. An example command to mux together an audio file with a video file might look something like this for a video that has no audio stream at all:
In this case we do need to encode the wav file to something suitable for mp4.

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i audio.wav -c:v copy -c:a aac -strict experimental output.mp4

Or like this if you wanted to ‘replace’ an existing audio stream with a new one:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i audio.wav -c:v copy -c:a aac -strict experimental -map 0:v:0 -map 1:a:0 output.mp4

If you wanted to strip the audio out of a video file you might use something like:

ffmpeg.exe -i video1_noAudio.mp4 -i video2_wAudio.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy video1_audioFromVideo2.mp4

If you don’t like working from command lines, there are also GUI shells that can make things like ffmpeg a little more user friendly.
I.E. AVANTI and myFFmpeg.

ffmpeg is just one example though…there are others as well, but don’t be surprised if a lot of stuff actually uses command line tools like ffmpeg under the hood…and simply serve as a kind of user shell.

#16

I’m thinking a video editor like PowerDirector www.cyberlink.com you just import the rendered audio from Cubase - sell all the time around $70, I payed €60. I find it really good and featherlight easy on system compared to Adobe Premiere Elements also in that price range.

If doing no editing on video parts it render without re-encoding video part and assemble with audio.
There is a green marker in timeline which parts can be generated without touching video encoding - clip by clip if so.

Haven’t done video part in Cubase yet, waiting for new engine - but other daws just make separate audio tracks when importing video with audio in it.
So in daw you use original video for preview - or from an editor like PowerDirector generate a frame accurate video that is smaller but good enough.
If original is 4k video it will be heavy to run in comparison and run in full hd or even dvd resolution is good enough. Better to have headroom for audio part in Cubase. But gather that a professional setup just preview video in another system synced with Cubase.

But finally just take audio generated from Cubase(or any daw) and import into video editor - line up if needed - then render the assembled video, with or without old audio track.

If doing film score for a client you probably deliver audio separate anyway, and the preview you got from client(with your music in there) is a really easy job in a video editor of today.

#17

I’ll look at that. Cheers.

#18

Check out this Youtube tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld8kW6pyAmI

#19

Sorry for late reply. Only just seen this. I’m not sure that’s the solution though. As a comment says on the YouTube video ‘The video used does not have audio included. How do you replace/swap existing audio?’

#20

I’m pissed. I have used that feature in Cubase a thousand times and I rely on it. Now, since my upgrade - for which I payed money! - I have less functionality than before. That’s tough.

That’s it. I’m gonna switch to a new DAW. I’ve considered doing so for years, but now’s the time. Well done, Steinberg!