How to record sound with my camera?

August 15, 2009 1:13 PM

I can't figure out how to record video w/ sound in my Olympus SP-565 UZ camera.

When we record and then attempt to play it back (after downloading it into computer) there is no sound. We've played with the settings, looked at the manual, searched online and still can't find it or figure it out. We bought at a Ritz Camera store but we no longer live anywhere near one anymore. Anyone know how to do this? Thanks so much for any advice.

posted by dealing away to technology (4 comments total)

If you're sure sound recording is set to "ON" in the microphone menu, then I can only guess that this might be a codec problem. Try playing it under Media Player Classic or downloading the K-Lite Codec Pack and see if that helps. Or, if you're concerned about installing new software, maybe try uploading a test video to youtube... if any software out there can play the audio, youtube will probably be able to figure it out.

If none of that works, the mic on your camera may just be busted.
posted by Riki tiki at 1:30 PM on August 15

According to the manual (page 42), there should be an option to turn movie sound recording on and off in the camera menu; look for a microphone icon. You may need to be in movie mode for this setting to appear. If you do have that enabled...

Are you sure the problem isn't with your computer? Have you tried viewing the video on another computer? I would try playing the video in VLC media player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/), which would eliminate the possibility that you're just missing the proper audio codec.
posted by bizwank at 1:31 PM on August 15

Please don't go installing random crap like K-Lite in some vague attempt to not understand your problem.

You want to know 3 things: Is there audio in the file, what codec does it use, and do you have a suitable codec installed? GSpot will look at the file and tell you all of that. Armed with that info, you can then figure out if you've got a broken camera, need to install a codec, whatever.

(VLC or MPC will tell you much the same info, BTW, but in far less detail).
posted by Pinback at 3:52 PM on August 15

It works now! I had looked, found and played with the mic icon several times before, but this time, I guess I changed the correct settings and it worked perfectly.

Thanks everyone! I"ve been a long-time reader of ask.mefi and only recently joined and this was my first question. It was a silly one but I had struggled for a while to figure this out and maybe just talking it through helped. Thanks again all!
posted by dealing away at 8:32 PM on August 15