P: No sound/audio when playing mts video

Hi Paul-

I definitely get the frustration of not having Dolby 5.1 support in Lightroom.

AVCHD files are supported, unless they have Dolby 5.1 in which case you will only be able to play the video without sound. If you are seeing different behavior please let me know so we can investigate what is happening.

This hasn't changed- Dolby 5.1 was never supported in Lightroom. It was not a feature added and then later removed. Lightroom 4.0 never supported Dolby 5.1.

-paul

Thanks for the thoughtful post Delane. I agree with your analysis- it is spot on. If/when we see dolby digital 5.1 in DSLR's it would be really hard for Lightroom to not support it. I also agree that it would be a nice add-on for those who really do want to manage their video assets via Lightroom, but as I mentioned it is unlikely we will see this feature soon. I will continue to track this internally and make sure it stays on the radar though.

-paul

When I bought LR4.0 I understood that it would be able to play, and keyword AVCHD files. Like I mentioned before I was happy to finally find a program that would do this and the fact that I was already using it for photos made it all the better. It worked as advertised. But every update since 4.0 the sound has not worked. I feel bait and switched here. It sounds like Adobe dropped Dolby 5.1 to save a buck.

Frustrated

Paul, Thanks for sharing that information. I guess the product IS named "Photoshop Lightroom" (rather than "Videoshop LIghtroom")...so there is a certain amount of logic to your statement....and while it is nice that the video clips taken with "photography cameras" are playback compatible with the Photoshop Lightroom features, filling the Dolby 5.1 gap would make this capability even nicer.

The device distinction is getting fuzzier between photo cameras that also take video clips and video cameras that also take still photos, as more and more cameras are equipped with increasing capabilities for both video and still photography (e.g. "photo cameras" with connectors for external microphones and "video cameras" with built-in flash). From your comment, it sounds like the Adobe decision point on this may come if SLRs start to offer Dolby 5.1 sound.

It should be expected that growing numbers of users will be using Lightroom catalog features to organize ALL video clips and photos (while using Photoshop and/or Premiere and other applications for any editing requirements beyond those available within LIghtroom). Some cameras record video only with Dolby 5.1 sound. Owners of such devices would especially find it less awkward if Adobe were to simply make Dolby 5.1 sound playback an OPTION in LIghtroom (even if supported only as an added cost plug-in).

I have been tracking this issue internally, but as Dolby Digital 5.1 is not a feature found in photography cameras, it sounds unlikely that we'll add support in the near future...

Not to my knowledge. Sorry. I don't understand it, because the 5.1 Dolby sound is generally a feature of higher-end cameras and even if Adobe were to provide a Dolby 5.1 plug-in at an additional fee to cover the licensing, I think there would be a sizable number of such users that would be receptive to this.

At this point I am disappointed, but it isn't a major problem for my workflow. I continue to feel that It would be nice to have this feature, even as an added cost option.

Is there an update on when this problem will be resolved?

Thanks for the comments. We've noted the feature request to add support for Dolby 5.1 audio, but we can't commit on timing or feasibility at this time.

Still doesn't work.... oh well.

Paul, Thanks for jumping into this discussion. The main question I have with this issue is why does the sound work in After Effects, Premier, and Soundbooth but not in Lightroom? It's obvious that Adobe has the licenses in question but there seems to be no information on why they are not included in Lightroom.

Also, as far as the audio codec is concerned, why not use a gpl available one which will do the audio decoding? I can play these files with full audio in many other open source programs with no problem. The only piece of software I'd like to use but can't is Lightroom.

Thanks,