Troubleshooting postproduction issues

If you encounter an issue with your postproduction files after you finish editing, use this article to help you troubleshoot.

A postproduction on the Preview Page or Postproductions tab appears stalled at a percentage (such as "Waiting…0%," "Processing audio…40%," or "Finalizing video…90%") for more than an hour, with no progress.

Postproductions usually stall due to an issue with the source files or how they're processed, including delays in the processing queue or unexpected conditions during analysis. These situations usually require investigation by Zencastr Support.

If your postproduction is stuck at a percentage or hasn't progressed in over an hour, contact Zencastr Support via chat or email so we can investigate.

While you wait, the postproduction may eventually return an error: "There was an error running your postproduction. No credits were deducted for this attempt." If that happens, you can click Retry to run it again. You won't need to reapply your edits, and no credits are deducted for attempts that don't complete.

In a postproduction file the participants aren't synced correctly. For example, one participant is talking over another or a participant is answering questions before they are asked, or other sync problems that didn't occur during the original recording session.

Zencastr Editing can properly align and mix tracks when all participants' tracks start at the same time. Sync issues occur when participant tracks begin at different times or when a participant has multiple tracks of the same file type (e.g., 2+ MP3s, 2+ MOVs).

Contact Zencastr Support via chat or email as postproduction sync issues should be minimal since Zencastr creates single tracks for each participant even if they are offline for some period of the recording.

To minimize periods of silent audio and black frames in the final files:

A postproduction file only contains partial content for a participant, e.g. the participant’s last few minutes of audio (and video) are missing.

Zencastr Editing can properly align and mix tracks when all participants' tracks start at the same time. Partial content in a postproduction occur when participant tracks when a participant has multiple tracks of the same file type (e.g., 2+ MP3s, 2+ MOVs).

Contact Zencastr Support via chat or email as postproduction partial content issues should be minimal since Zencastr creates single tracks for each participant even if they are offline for some period of the recording.

To minimize periods of silent audio and black frames in the final files:

A postproduction file doesn't contain any audio (and video) for a participant, i.e the participant’s entire content is missing from the postproduction.

When a postproduction file doesn't contain any content for a participant even though they participated in the recording, this is often because one or more of their recording files has an unfinalized track error.

In the Editor, on the Controls tab, under the Participants section, the participant with unfinalized tracks will have an exclamation mark symbol next to their name that, when hovered over, reads ‘No tracks available.'

To fix this issue, follow the troubleshooting steps below:

When attempting to download a postproduction file from the Postproductions tab or the Editor, an error message appears “An error occurred, your ZIP file may be missing files ()” and the zip file either doesn't download to the computer or downloads but is missing one or more postproduction files.

When an error appears while postproduction files are being downloaded, this most often indicates a problem occurred while zipping the files.

To get around the error encountered while downloading your postproduction files from the Editor or Postproductions tab, you can try downloading them from the recording room instead by:

You can also retry downloading from the Preview Page or Postproduction tab later, as the error may clear itself.

When attempting to run a postproduction, it fails with an error that reads “There was an error running your postproduction. No credits were deducted for this attempt.”

When a postproduction run fails with an error, typically it's due to a problem with selected settings. Less frequently, the cause is an issue in the source files. In rare instances, there may be an issue with Zencastr Editing itself at the time that the postproduction was run.

No matter the cause, no postproduction credits are deducted for postproductions that fail with this error.

If the postproduction returns an error, you can try to run the postproduction again without needing to reapply your edits. Failed or incomplete attempts don't use credits. If the postproduction fails again, please contact Zencastr Support via chat or email so we can investigate further.

If you encounter an issue not covered here or you need additional assistance, please contact Zencastr Support via chat or email.

How long does it take for the postproduction to finish?

Postproductions normally finish in under an hour. The exact amount of time can vary depending on the recording length and the number of participants selected.

My guest’s file(s) didn’t upload after the recording, but I was able to get a backup file for them. Can I upload the backup file so I can include them in the postproduction?

At this time Zencastr Editing can't place externally uploaded files anywhere other than the beginning or end of a postproduction file as an intro or outro. If your guest couldn't complete the retry upload troubleshooting step for an unfinalized track or the track didn’t completely upload, Zencastr Editing can't properly line up a backup track into the postproduction.

Instead, you'll need to download the individual recording files for each participant and use an external audio or video editing program to manually line up tracks and create your mix.

Why is active speaker not showing the switch between participants?

For the Active Speaker and Zen video layouts in Editing, the switch between speaking participants is an effect that is applied after the postproduction is run.

If you selected one of these layouts, ran the postproduction, and still aren't seeing the switch between speakers in the postproduction file, please contact Zencastr Support via chat or email for assistance.

Why can't I hear my intro/outro while editing?

When you add an intro or outro while editing, you won’t hear (or see) it. Intros and outros are applied when postproduction is complete. You can find completed postproductions in your Library.

If you’ve added an intro or outro, completed the postproduction, and still don’t see it, please contact Zencastr Support via chat or email for assistance.