Forum Discussion
Audio and Video out of sync when using Seekbar
I have a number of different courses where I have recorded video using Storyline. I have then exported the video, converted it to an audio file, edited the audio with Audacity, and then inserted the audio file back into the slide. When I play the video everything works fine until I use the seekbar. If I try to use the seekbar the video jumps to the right part but the audio doesn't jump with the video. The audio just keeps on playing. I'm sure there is an easy solution to this but I'm a new user and don't know what it is. Please help Storyline experts.
Thanks.
Hi all,
Thanks everyone for your patience.
We have been actively investigating this specific issue for some time now and are now able to share an update on our progress with you.
The sync issue stems from a limitation with the way Flash handles video. It is only possible to sync playback to the nearest video keyframe. Keyframes may occur multiple times per second, but in some videos it may be several seconds between keyframes. If the seek bar is moved to a position that does not correspond to a keyframe, the timeline will play from the precise position selected but video will only play back from the nearest keyframe, causing the sync issues described above.
The Storyline team is working on a fix which is currently slated to be included in the next update for Storyline 2. The fix works around the Flash limitation described above by limiting seeking during video playback in Flash to positions that line up with the video’s keyframes. We will share further information on timing for the update (which addresses several other customer-reported issues as well) on this thread once it has gone through our usual testing process.
In closing, I wanted to assure everyone that we closely monitor these discussions and take the issues you report incredibly seriously. The seven major updates we’ve shipped for Storyline 2 since its initial release have addressed a long list of customer-reported issues at no cost to our customers. You have our commitment that we will continue to actively evaluate and fix reported issues for the lifetime of the product.
Thanks for the real response Ashley. As your usergroup, we definitely appreciate the information.
Ashley, thank you. It's a relief to finally see this conversation moving in
a more productive direction.Cool. I created a work around for this.
- Put a 50% transparent rectangle over the seekbar.
- Create separate start/stop controls that sit on top of the start/stop controls of the seekbar.
- Create triggers assigned to the "faux" stat/stop controls that would start and stop the timeline.
Benefits:
- Still get to see the seekbar advance and the time indicator
- Starting and stopping timeline doesn't throw any animated effects out of wack
Drawbacks:
- Not a true seekbar since you can't jump around in the movie.
Hope this helps.
- Michael
Hello Jennifer!
Are you inserting the video and the audio as separate files? When you insert a video, and use the video control seekbar, this will only work for the video portion.
If you need a seekbar that will work for both the video and audio, enable the seekbar for the slide by going to the Slide Properties:
You will want to disable the video controls for the video itself, which is found under the Options tab when the video is selected. You can turn off the video controls. Please keep in mind that when a video is inserted, it can still be clicked on and it will pause the video, and not the audio. You can add a transparent shape on top of the image to prevent this.
Hi Jeremy,
Unfortunately I cannot help with a solution (other than putting the audio and video in the same MP4 file) however, I wanted to mention that I've encountered that issue as well. i had no choice other than to remove the seekbar from the particular slide affected.
You could try submitting a support case, if nothing else that will raise it to people's attention.
Hope you find a solution
Harri
I'm having the same issue. Is there a good way to find the latest on the support case?
I have not received any updates which I find rather surprising as this seems to be a fairly major bug. It's an essential function which is just not working.
Emily, this seems to be a fairly fundamental issue and gives me quite a bit of concern about our choice to center a major educational development initiative around this software. I am sure other customers feel similarly. Can you please give us a timeline for resolution?
I cannot believe there is still no update to this issue. Nothing at all? No plans for a fix? Is it even in the queue? Has anyone even LOOKED at it yet??? Totally ridiculous.
Hi Jay,
In regards to the buffering issues, have you looked at testing it outside your LMS/server or on a different network to see if that's impacting how the videos are loading? Storyline will preload slide content as detailed here and videos are set to progressively stream.
I was thinking the same thing, Bernard. My interpretation of what I have heard from Articulate on this issue is as follows:
"We'll keep you posted" means "We will reply with the EXACT same response when someone new asks about this problem."
"The QA Team is looking in to it" means "No one here really cares about this issue."
and
"We can't give a time frame for when it will be resolved" means "We will be adding it the schedule, um, NEVER."
SUCCESS!!
I can't believe I didn't know that setting was there. So yeah, I set it to not compress, and it works like gang-busters.
www.ezlearnin.com/Clients/Test/keyframes_2/story.html
Adjusting keyframes may not be an option for the average developer, but maybe I'll put a little tutorial together on how to do it in Adobe Premier.
Thanks again for all your help Ashley. Problem...solved.
Oh, it's also worth noting that adding additional keyframes to these videos didn't increase video size at all.
