Help with VHS -> DVD using capture card (audio problem)

[dustin1]

(Using Ulead Movie Factory)

To start, I'm a complete noob. After messing with my new KWorld DVD Maker PCI capture card, I thought I got everything to work, but the audio is still holding me back. When I play it back on windows media player after capturing it, there are some weird sounds coming from it every now and then. Then I tried to burn it (to see what happened on my DVD player), it gave me this error:

The audio data in the mpeg file is not compatible with this program.

Not sure why this is happening or what other information you'll need to help.

If anyone could please help it will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dustin

[jagabo]

Open one of the files with GSpot. Post a screen cap of the display.

[dustin1]

Here the screen of file I tried burning.

untitled.bmp

[jagabo]

It looks like you have a standard VCD MPEG file. There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about the audio -- MPEG-1 layer 2, 224 kbps.

Have you tried playing with any other players? Like VLC, KMPlayer, MPC? Those three have their own MPEG video and audio decoders so they don't rely on installed system codecs.

[dustin1]

Playing that file using MPC, the audio was MUCH better. The picture isn't very good though. I don't expect it to be great coming from VHS, but I wish it was better. There are so many different options when using the Kworld capture card. Any hints on what to set the disc template as?

Also, I still have the problem of burning this to a DVD. Maybe its the Ulead program, but I still get that error message.

Thanks,
Dustin

[jagabo]

I don't know that card and its software. But in general, you want to capture VHS for DV at 352x480 or 720x480, MPEG 2. Does the software have any DVD templates?

Regarding the Ulead program, which program is it? Ulead DVD MovieFactory? NTSC DVD audio should be LPCM or AC3 to be fully compliant. MP2 audio isn't allowed (although many players will play it). There is a setting in Ulead DVD MovieFactory that will force the program to convert the audio to compliant AC3.

[dustin1]

I am using Ulead Movie Factory 4 SE. I cannot find any place to convert the audio to compliant AC3. There are several templates, all with different frame sizes and such. I believe I have searched every options menu and cannot find anything.

[jagabo]

After starting a new DVD project, click on the little gear icon in the lower left hand corner. This will bring up the "Project Settings" dialog. Tick the "Treat MPEG audio as non-DVD compliant" option. This will cause your MPEG audio to be converted to AC3.

[dustin1]

I had that box checked and these were my other settings:
MPEG files
24 Bits, 352 x 240, 29.97 fps
(MPEG-1), 4:3
Video data rate: 2000 kbps
Audio data rate: 224 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 44.1 KHz, Joint stereo

Yet it still gives me the same error.
Thanks for the help so far,
Dustin

[jagabo]

Are you capturing with Ulead DVD MovieFactory? You should be using one of the DVD templates.

[dustin1]

If I select one of the DVD templates, I get an error when I click "capture video" saying that it cannot set the MPEG parameters. . .

What template should I be using, and what does this error mean/how do i fix it?

[jagabo]

From what I've read about your card it should be able to capture at 720x480. Did DVD MovieFactory come with the card? Maybe it's a limited version without MPEG 2 capability?

[dustin1]

I got Ulead DVD Movie Factory packaged with my video capture card. I have been doing lots of research and asking around. I can capture the video fine, but I still cannot burn to a disc because it says

"The audio data in the mpeg file is not compatible with this program."

I've been trying to find an audio converter of some sort, but so far they give me weird messages like file not found and stuff like that. This is very frustrating. I have a friend bringing me some sort of audio converter that I will try. I am very open to using other programs to do this, but so far everywhere I turn, something else stops me.

Thanks,
Dustin

[jagabo]

I just noticed something about the GSpot image you posted earlier. I hadn't noticed before because I only looked at the audio information. But the video is captured at PAL VCD resolution and frame rate (352x288, 25 fps), not NTSC VCD (352x240, 29.97 fps). You will not be able to make an NTSC DVD from this VCD data without converting the audio and video. This may be the reason for the error messages.

If this is something you can record again you should do so with the proper NTSC settings. If you can't record again MovieFactory should be able to convert it.

Is it only this one file that is giving you problems? Or does it happen with all files you record?

<edit>
I have MovieFactory 4.0, the full release, and it had no problems when I added a PAL VCD MPEG file to make an NTSC DVD.
</edit>

[lordsmurf]

I don't expect it to be great coming from VHS,

Your expectations are too low. A VHS conversation can and should look BETTER than the VHS tape did.

[dustin1]

I don't know how it got onto PAL last time, but here is the file I have been messing around with for a while.

(Also, I just copy and pasted the error message I keep receiving in the blank box of the Gspot pic.)



gspot%20&%20movie%20factory%20error.bmp

[thecoalman]

I'd suggest trying to capture with the manuafacturers software (if any) that came with card then import into MF. As far as what you're doing now capturing to MPEG1 is pretty well pointless anyway, the error you're getting might have something to do with the fact its 44khz and DVD needs to be 48khz. Go to Uleads site and make sure there aren't any patches avaiable. Lastly version 4 is pretty old, suggest upgrading, since you have version you can get the upgrade price which is going to amount to very little as MF is already pretty cheap.

There is a setting in Ulead DVD MovieFactory that will force the program to convert the audio to compliant AC3.

Not sure which version they switched it but AC3 was at one point a plug-in and didn't come out of the box.

[jagabo]

There is a setting in Ulead DVD MovieFactory that will force the program to convert the audio to compliant AC3.

Not sure which version they switched it but AC3 was at one point a plug-in and didn't come out of the box.

I'm pretty sure version 3 didn't include AC3, and version 4 did. Of course, a V4 that came free with a capture card may have had reduced functionality.

[dustin1]

After reading the newest posts, I visited Ulead's site and there were no downloads available for the SE version. Then for some reason, I decided to uninstall MovieFactory and resinstall it. After that, I captured and burned with no errors. Not sure what was wrong, but I'm just glad it works. The quality really sucks, so I'll search around for some tweaks to improve it.
Thanks for all of your help,
Dustin

[jagabo]

Heheh. I was going to suggest uninstalling and reinstalling next!

You want to capture at 352x480 or 720x480.

[dustin1]

352x480 looks pretty nice, I'll probably try 720x480 as well just to see it.

The only problem I have now is that the sounds "cracks" whenever there are loud noises (explosions, yelling, etc.). Any idea how to get rid of those?

Thanks