AVI to DVD MPEG (CCE or TMPGenc encoders)

[dvd_jr]

about the LancosResize command, i copied and pasted from your guide

If your AVI is using a 1.85 aspect ratio (anamorphic widescreen), enter this text in Notepad as the next two lines of your AVISynth script:

LancozResize(720,460)
AddBorders(0,10,0,10 )

lol, you should fix that so some other newbies wouldnt make the same mistake

[dvd_jr]

ok, i chose CCE to encode my video, but under audio mode, does it matter which one i choose? like joint stereo, stereo, dual channel etc, cuz my audio bitrate is ac3 (5ch) CBR, it dont matter which one i choose it will still turn out 5ch right?

and also that CCE says my video is CBR, after i double click on it to edit the settings, under the video setting should i stick with mpeg2 CBR, or choose VBR (which is the one you chose in your guide)?

thanks

[dvd_jr]

oh and last question, sorry im kinda annoying here , does the movie shows a lil logo on every frame if you encode it with a CCE trial version? cuz ive heard someone said that...

[prybar]

Yes, If you use the unregistered demo version of CCE, there's alittle logo in the bottom corner, just like television stations are doing on their shows nowadays.

The CBR/VBR thing, my experience has shown that VBR DVD's will fit better onto a disc with better quality. Not sure of the technical aspects but if you think about it, making a file with a CONSTANT 5000 bitrate would have a lot of overkill on dark scenes, credit, any other scene that doesn't require a whole lot of color/detail. VBR accomodates for this and allows the other scenes to come in much better.


Just throwing in my 2 cents as well, i've followed this guide approx 12 times, never had an issue that i couldn't resolve by re-reading the guides, and i've tried both encoders. CCE is by far much faster and the quality is identical if not superior to TMPGENC.

Once again ( and i'll keep saying it), thank you DJRUmpy for this guide, it has made life a lot simpler and allowed me to convert some files i'd never thought would make it to DVD.

CHEERS!!

pry

PS- I'm no expert at any of this, so if i'm way off on anything, please feel free to correct me!

[DJRumpy]

dvd_jr, thanks for finding that typo. It should now be fixed in the guide. Prybar is also correct about CCE. Until you purchase it, it will have a logo.

Regarding your Audio question, since you are keeping your original AC3 audio, you would leave the Audio option Unchecked in CCE, so CCE will produce only an M2V (or MPV depending on your settings) file. That file is video only, and it will be combined with your AC3 file when you author it to DVD.

As for the type of video, choose Multipass VBR as it says in the guide. For movies, you will want to use VBR to maximize your bitrate use, and media space. Set your number of passes to 1 or higher. Each pass will increase the amount of time it takes to encode, and 1 is usually fine for DVD.

[dvd_jr]

i have CCE basic , and i dont have the multipass VBR settings, is it a big deal tho to create new file or use existing file and choose passes to 1? and also whats so difference between m2v and mpv? one quality better than the other? or both formats are just the same?

[dvd_jr]

CCE is by far much faster and the quality is identical if not superior to TMPGENC.

very true prybar, CCE only takes 3 hrs to encode my whole video, tmpegnc took 7 hrs to analyzing the video and took around 7-8 again to encode the video, and it turned out crappy picture, and the screen looks like 4:3 to me (which i set it to 16:9)

[dvd_jr]

ok i am so DISAPPOINTED right now! done all settings on CCE, and click on encode now, so far 3%, then went back to 0%, after 3-4 min, it back to 3% again, when its about to 4% the whole process got canceled automatically, tried it 3 times already, happened the same, whats going on?

[BK]

I have the following .avi that I would like to convert to mpeg, but the properties of the .avi doesn't seem to fit any of the described setting...

Video:
Codec: XVid
Size: 640 X 352 (1.82:1) [=20:11]
Bitrate: 1018 kb/s
FPS: 23.976

Audio:
Bitrate: 131 kb/s (65/ch, stereo) VBR
FS: 48 000 Hz

Can someone help me wih the setting for TMPGEnc?
Also, does it mean the .avi is in NTSC Film format? And is it interlaced or non-interlaced?

Thanks.

[prybar]

Seems like an odd size, but the fps (23.976) means it's def. NTSC FILM. So when you get CCE to run, you will use the 23.976 setting under settings -> Video, then use pulldown to get it to 29.97. The interlaced/non-interlaced part i can't help with, but i have a paste here from another topic from another very smart man, FulciLives, and here it is.

"OK so now we have to determine if the source is PROGRESSIVE or INTERLACED before going further.

Easiest way to check is to load the D2V directly into GORDIAN KNOT but if you don't have GORDIAN KNOT then that is A-OK because you can use VirtualDubMod but to use VirtualDubMod you need to create a (very) simple AviSynth AVS script.

If you are using Avisynth 2.08 then it would look like this:

Code:
LoadPlugin("MPEG2DEC.DLL")
mpeg2source("D:\MOVIE\VIDEO_TS\movie.d2v")

If you put MPEG2DEC.DLL in your WINDOWS/SYSTEM32 folder then you don't need to "point" towards it with DIR PATH info ala my example. Also make sure you put in the proper DIR PATH and FILENAME for your D2V project file. If you are using the newer 2.5x version of Avisynth then the script is the same except you will be using MPEG2DEC3.DLL intead of MPEG2DEC.DLL

Now load this AviSynth AVS script into VirtualDubMod (or the D2V directly into GORDIAN KNOT) and find a scene with motion (like someone walking from one side of the screen to the other) and step through it frame by frame to look for INTERLACED ARTIFACTS. This is the only real way to determine if the video is PROGRESSIVE or INTERLACED."

Hope this helps, it's the method I use, and i don't think i've been wrong yet!

pry

[DJRumpy]

dvd_jr, the problem your describing used to be common with 'cracked' versions of CCE. It sounds like the encode is crashing only partially through each pass, which is why your seeing the percentage drop back to zero. Does your .AVS file play properly in Windows Media Player?

BK: Your AVI will be 1.85:1. Remember that these are created by humans, and being human, we tend to make mistakes. When in doubt, pick the closest aspect ratio. Your AVI is FILM, and most likely progressive. There are very few true interlaced 23.976 FILM AVI's. Most of those are interlaced PAL conversions. Set TMPGenc to 16:9 for the aspect ratio, and try using the 'Full Screen (keep aspect ratio) setting' for the Video Arrange Method. Just make sure you preview your output first (look under the FILE menu) before encoding it.

[dvd_jr]

dvd_jr, the problem your describing used to be common with 'cracked' versions of CCE

no man, i used my friend's installation cd, he bought it online, its an legal disk, but i get the different serial number from the web, cuz i know its not allowed to use the same serial number on 2 different computers, so its not cracked version. plus i also have the trial version in my harddrive too, i also tried trial version, and it happened the same thing what the basic version did, so it has nothing to do wid 'cracked' version of CCE, in fact its an legal disk, but input different serial number, i have no clue that would be ilegal or legal ...
and yes, it plays properly in windows media player, but the video skips alot, and the pic is jerky, is it normal?


prybar: yes i am using avisynth 2.08, so i should put this line in my script? LoadPlugin("MPEG2DEC.DLL")
mpeg2source("D:\MOVIE\VIDEO_TS\movie.d2v") , and about the FPS part, i thought we use pulldown after we encoded the video? or maybe prybar you werent talking to me? [/quote]

[prybar]

dvd_jr - The method in the quotes was simply a small script you create and load in vdubmod to determine weather your source is interlaced or progressive. You are correct about pulldown, it is simply for when you are finished encoding your file (assuming you're encoding NTSC).

I'm no expert, but i would imagine using a serial number you didn't purchase would qualify as a "cracked" version. I had a very similar problem, only mine would crash right away. I can't recall 100%, but i'm pretty sure it was an installation issue, and once i re-installed it went away.

Good luck
pry

[DJRumpy]

If it was just a serial number, then your CCE is fine. I'm guessing your source AVI is the problem. It should not be playing jerky, or skipping. You should also consider upgrading to AVISynth version 2.5. I don't think it will help in this particular issue, but you never know. AS for fixing your source, your options are limited. You can try re-saving your AVI in VirtualDub, but you would loose quality, and as you already found, your codec choices are important. Choose uncompressed, and you will require a lot of space. Huffman is a good choice, since it's lossless, but expect a full length movie to take somewhere around 20+ gigabytes of space. You could also use something like Divx, XviD, or MJPeg, but all of those are lossy, and will cause a drop in quality. Even then, the probelm could still persist. Is it possible to get another source file that isn't likely to be corrupt?

[dvd_jr]

sorry guys i went to the trip and just came back, i will update and reinstall everything tomorrow and let you if there's still problems, cuz its too late right now...

[Spiet]

great guide but i have a pretty weird problem

i always used tmpgenc for encoding and most of the time it works great , sometimes still a few blocks tho in some scenes (even with bitrate 6000 cbr).

however i wanted to try cce and everything works by working with this quide however ... and now it comes.

i need to have black bars around the actual image of the serie/movie.
so top and bottom (like its letterboxed) but also left and right.

right now i dont have those black bars left and right (with tmpgenc i managed to do that with for example 16:9 , then 16:9 ntsc 525 line and most importantly center (keep aspect ratio), but with cce and this quide i have no idea how to create those black bars left and right of the screen too (and also top and bottom).

because when i don't have them, it seems my tv (widescreen) just cuts a part out of the actual image.
i think that is called the "safe field" in some dvd authoring guides.
so when the black bars are present , top , bottom, left and right, it cuts off too but since it then cuts of the black bars on every side, i still have the original image.

i hope there is a way to produce those 4 bars using this quide because unfortunaly i haven't found it yet

thanks again!

spiet

[DJRumpy]

That's because your Widescreen television is set in Zoom mode. It should just be a button click on your television remote, or just take a look in your television guide on how to change the zoom mode.

If you insist on leaving a border on your encoded movies, then simply leave out the resize command in the AVISynth script, and check DVD Compliant in your CCE options. It will automatically letterbox your output on any size that is not a compliant height or width (think picture frame).

If you want to do this via AVISynth instead, you would modify the AddBorders command and your LanczosResize command to compensate for the additional letterboxing on the sides. I would suggest if you want to do this, you post your question in the advanced conversion forum, since it doesn't relate to this guide.

A small hint though. What you add to letterboxing, you must subtract from your total width or height. If you add 20 pixels of letterboxing to the sides, then you would resize your output via AVISynth to 700 pixels wide, and 20 pixels of letterboxing on the side. Totaled, they come out ot 720 pixels (the standard dvd width), like so:

LanczosResize(700,340)
AddBorders(10,70,10,70)

In the above, the two 10's equate to left and right letterboxing. The 70 and 70 equate to top and bottom letterboxing (both in pixels). If you add those left and right letterboxing value together, you get 20 pixels in letterboxing total. You then SUBTRACT that from the standard width of 720 ( 720-20=700), and you have your LanczosResize width. The same is done for the height.

[Spiet]

thanks! it helped a bunch, i have still edited the borders a bit and now i do not get any cuttoff anymore, it may be weird tho coz the left border is a bit bigger then the right ,but once put in widescreen mode, it all disapperears and i only see the image like it should be, no more cut off !

however, i have tried the same method like described above with the avisynth and cce for ogm file, through virtualdubmod but when loaded the avs file

it says : avifilesource: couldn't open file (line 1)

i have renamed the ogm to avi and renamed it to the file like it was in the avs (example input.avi)

any ideas? it does work though with tmpgenc but i wanna see if i can do it through this method and with cce!

thanks

[DJRumpy]

It sounds like a typo. That error usually indicates that the filepath specified doesn't exist. Make sure you typed the first line correctly, and that you have quotation marks around it. Example:

AVISource("c:\temp\myvideo.avi")

[absinthecarolinas]

Great guide! Thanks for your efforts!

A question (jump to last 2 paragraphs to go straight to the question ):

I've been using your other tutorial on the 'patch' method, using IfoEdit to change the headers so that U.S. DVD players will play PAL DVDs. This has worked very well for me, and the movie itself always looks fine, but the disc behavior is rather buggy. For instance, the "highlights" that are supposed to color the navigation links when pressed don't fit over the actual link, they're just floating somewhere near it, and the menus look a bit stretched.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I've been wanting to learn to do it the "right" way and covert the framerate. I think this could be the ticket. But after much, much, much reading (I've probably read through this tutorial 5 or 6 times start to finish, and numerous other guides on aspect ratios, framerates, telecine, pulldown, etc., etc., etc.), there's still something I don't quite understand, and it's the audio.

If I have a 25-fps AVI with AC3 audio, and I extract that audio, then change the video framerate to 23.97, then use pulldown to make it 29.97, do I simply proceed to author using the same audio that I extracted? It seems like it wouldn't sync, or am I just being dumb about this? Let me know, cuz if it's really that simple that I'm gonna get started!

Okay, sorry, 1 more quick question. I've used FitCD in the past to compose a quick avisynth script, and it has always used the "BicubicResize" command. How is "LanczosResize" different? Is it better?

Thanks again!

-abs

[DJRumpy]

You must slow down the audio, to 23.976 frames per second. AVISynth can do this if you've fed your audio into it. You can also use BeSweet, or AC3Machine (for AC3 Audio) to slow it down. Your correct. If you do not slow it down, your audio will fall quite a bit out of sync.

LanczosResize is the most accurate type of resize that you can do. It also produces the sharpest image after resizing. This has drawbacks for lower bitrate media like SVCD, and CVD since sharper edges require more bitrate. For DVD however, the sharper edges are desirable, and typically no problem due to the higher bitrate limits.

[swerve2]

Hey, when u convert pal to ntsc do u need to have 23.976 or 25 fps for tmpgenc??

[absinthecarolinas]

Ok, I think I'm getting this now ...

* In other words, performing pulldown (23.976 > 29.97) does not effect the speed/play time? (am I correct)??

* I can resample wav audio using AviSynth as in your example ...

* For ac3, I need to demux and then use something else, specifically your suggestions above, to slow it to 23.976 ... right? Furthermore, using AviSynth+CCE is not an option to convert ac3 speed directly ... correct? (i.e. the encoder does not process ac3 audio[??])

Am I way off on anything here?

--abs

[Spiet]

regarding this pal to ntsc convertion or ntsc to pal

i'm in a pal country but my dvd player and widescreen tv can handle the ntcs signal.


why should i convert any ntsc files to pal since both equipments can handle the signal .. in other words, it seems not necessary to do this , right or i'm a wrong?

[swerve2]

I am very confused on Pal movie types.. I'm using a movie that is 25 fps and has ac3 audio.. I tried to convert this to ntsc and attach the audio when authoring but it's way out of synch.. I guess u need to slow the audio down somehow?? Also What if I leave it as pal and attach the audio when authoring will the audio be correct then?? Will my tv accept a pal movie?? Guess I'm a newb to this whole concept.. I got Ntsc down and love the guide though.. Thx in advance..

[DJRumpy]

Ok....

swerve2: Convert your audio to 23.967, and then join them after. You do not need to feed it to TMPGenc. Use the 'Do Not Frame Rate Convert' option in TMPGenc to slow your video down, and set the frame rate to 23.976.

absinthecarolinas: You've got it exactly. Pulldown simply adds a flag to the MPEG stream that says 'repeat this field', so the dvd player can convert it back to 29.97 fps on the fly. It doesn't change the actual frame rate at all, so the length stays the same. It only appears as if it's 29.97 fps after pulldown. Correct on the AC3 issue as well. I would suggest you demux, and use AC3Machine. CCE does not accept AC3 input.

Spiet: No need to convert if your player handles both NTSC and PAL.

[walkyman]

Hi. Ive tried again and again and again, and followed your guide step by step. I'm so confused at writing avisynth scripts.



I chose the second option and wrote it as follows:

AVISource("D:\Program Files\DVD Projects\shrek 1\movie.avi",False)
aud=WAVSource("audio.wav")
AudioDub(clip,aud)
ResampleAudio(48000)
LanczosResize(720,480)
ConvertToYUY2()

But when i drag and dropped it onto virtualdubmod, error message appears.

Avisynth open failure:
AVISource autodetect: couldn't open file
Error code: 3
(D:\Program Files\DVD Projects\Shrek1\movie.avs, line 1)

I doubled checked to make sure that I have the movie in the right folder . I placed the audio, the wordpad document(avisynth script) and the movie in the same folder. I don't know why its not working. Can someone assist a lost fellow?

[DJRumpy]

Avisynth open failure:
AVISource autodetect: couldn't open file
Error code: 3
(D:\Program Files\DVD Projects\Shrek1\movie.avs, line 1)

You put 'movie.avs', instead of 'move.avi', assuming this is directly from the error message and not something you typed. Looks like it's a simple typo.

[walkyman]

Oops.. I made a typo on the message board. but I did use "avi". So whats wrong now?

[walkyman]

You put 'movie.avs', instead of 'move.avi', assuming this is directly from the error message and not something you typed. Looks like it's a simple typo.

I'm so sorry I made another mistake.
Acuatlly, I checked the error message again and it said error: "movies.avs" But when I opened word pad, It typed the 'movie.avi'.