nova-t USB - mpeg1 -> divx AVI -> mpeg2

[novaluddite]

after a week wrestling with this 'fine' device, it is now reasonably stable (i.e. i know the workarounds now). recording quality is excellent, though the output format is a little unwieldy (mpeg 2, 720 px = very very big files!), and there's no way of changing the output format to anything else. i assume this format is for a DVDwriter, which i don't have.

what i'm after is a one step (or fast multi step) conversion from mpeg 2 to mpeg 1 so i can archive on VCD 2.0 to play on my DVD. i do have one method which works really well for video quality and file size, but takes forever (up to 3 or 4 x the running time of the clip!) -

i use Flask to convert to a DivX5 AVI with 56kbps audio (a useful file in its own right), then TMPGenc to convert from this AVI to the mpeg layer 1 required by VCDeasy to do a VCD. the AVI is about 20% of the original mpeg2 size, while the mpeg1 about 33% of original mpeg2. using this method the soundtrack is synced and clear, and the picture quality acceptable, and it plays on my DVD. but it takes SO LONG!

any suggestions gratefully received! results from multiplex/demultiplex in TMPEGenc are very poor by the way....sound track gets chewed badly....

[mats.hogberg]

If you have PowerDVD installed, you can open the MPEG2 directly in TMPGEnc, and then encode it to VCD MPEG1. No need for an intermediate (and quality loosing) AVI.
Depending on your processor, 3-4 times real time is not unusually far fetched. In fact, I think many envy you!

/Mats

[novaluddite]

hey Matt - cheers! i'll try that one tonight if i can get this PowerDVD thing.
system isn't too special, win2k on an AMD duron 700, fresh rebuild, with half a gig RAM (may be the secret...!).

[mats.hogberg]

The demo version of PowerDVD will do nicely. It's said that it's enough to install then deinstall PowerDVD. It leaves its decoder in the system for TMPGEnc to use at its own discretion.

/Mats

[Crystal Symo]

Why don't you use AVISYNTH instead?

Just open your mpeg2 file with DVD2AVI, choose your settings but don't decode audio, just demux. Don't crop, resize or other here.
Then SAVE PROJECT.

It will be created a d2v file and a MPA (audio) file.

Then create an AVS script like this:

LoadPlugin("D:\PROGRAMS\Avisynth\MPEG2DEC.DLL")
Clip=Mpeg2Source("E:\temp.d2v")
Clip=Lanczos3Resize(Clip,352,288)
return Clip

Then Load it in TMPGENC or CCE and encode THE VIDEO ONLY!!!
Then Multiplex the original audio which is already MPEG2 encoded.

Doing so, you'll have the highest quality as possible (because avisynt is great and really fast), then the audio should be already ok, else reencode it.

[novaluddite]

nice one - that looks like rocket science but i'll give it a go )

[Crystal Symo]

Well it's quite difficult to use Avisynth but when U learn the basics, you can do everything you want easy and quickly.

[Gazorgan]

You said USB, enough said. The large file format isn't because it's DVD compatable, it's becasue that's what the hardware codec uses.

[energy80s]

I have the PCI version of the Nova-t card. The reason your files are so big is because the Nova-t saves the raw MPEG 2 file as broadcast from the TV station. This is not a "DVD-type" file and must be converted with PVAstrumento to get an MPEG2 program stream. This can then be frameserved by DVD2AVI and you will end up with a .d2v file and MPEG audio file with a delay written in it. Import these two files into TMPGenc and set the audio delay in the source range feature.

Incidently, can you get your Nova-t to record a clean signal? I keep getting glitches every 3 to 4 minutes. At first I thought it was a poor signal, but the glitches are too regular for that to be the case, Then I thought the new 1.48 software would fix this, but this is totally unusable, only finding 2 of the 5 available multiplexes. So I'm stuck with version 1.46. Apparently the only way to get the Nova-t work work flawlessly is to use Linux.

[novaluddite]

..best way to get a stable recording i've found is to set desktop to 640x480, and knock anything you can out of the systray...!

[novaluddite]

hey, thanks for all suggetions - i'm goin to be busy over christmas.

-i got an off topic reply of someone...i did reply back in some detail, but it looks like the site 'lost' the sent mail, and now it's lost the original msg...so apologies if you didn't get the reply..!

to summarise what was in it though...NOVA in spanish apparently loosely translates as 'doesn't work' :.)

c.o.jones