AVStoDVD Support Thread

[_MrC_]

Hi riven, thanks for the kind words and for the suggestion.

I'm not sure how to implement that feature. I mean, the DVD menu is highly dependant on the source title(s): thumbnail image, thumbnail title, menu title, ... it is hard to guess what the users are going to keep as "constant" for their projects. By the way, I am open to tips.



Bye

[riven]

Hi MrC,

You're welcome. I guess it would more difficult than it sounds at first to implement with changing titles, etc. I don't know how to go about that either, perhaps someone has some ideas. If not, that's okay and it doesn't take long to configure each project.

[_MrC_]

New 2.8.1 Alpha is out.

Main difference from previous Alpha is the refactoring of fps conversion routines and interactions with the GUI (preview, trim, chapters).



Bye

[doctorm]

I've noticed some further subtitle conversion weirdness.
First, as I think I've mentioned before <font> tags can crash Subtitle Creator (at least <font color=...>). AVStoDVD doesn't strip these lines during cleanup so as a quick fix on a project I'm working on I just deleted the lines.

Numerically this leaves a gap of no consequence to Subtitle Creator which automatically renumbers. Unfortunately, AVStoDVD's SRT fix cycle gets confused by the gap and removes all following double spaces, effectively preventing any subtitles that follow from being converted to SUP.

24
00:01:09,525 --> 00:01:10,931
«Grunting»

25
00:01:10,932 --> 00:01:14,301
Don't make me unleash the
kraken. Because you know I will.
28
00:01:36,897 --> 00:01:39,029
Small world, isn't it?
29
00:01:41,410 --> 00:01:43,428
Clearly not small enough.

Hope this can be fixed.

[steptoe]

I'm using AvstoDVD 2.8.1 alpha 150203 (no install) but now have issues trying to save a project

If I set up a project, multiple files or single files, choose 'save project' or 'save project as' from the menus does nothing. Neither does the keyboard shortcut 'Shift+F12' to save a project

If I quit AVStoDVD it asks me if I want to save the project, but if I choose 'yes' it quits. On checking the folder where the source files are, there is no .a2d file for the project I just built, so have to do it all again next time I start AVStoDVD


It used to work perfectly, but now isn't ??

[_MrC_]

Hope this can be fixed.

It will be. Thanks for the report.



Bye

[_MrC_]

I'm using AvstoDVD 2.8.1 alpha 150203 (no install) but now have issues trying to save a project

If I set up a project, multiple files or single files, choose 'save project' or 'save project as' from the menus does nothing. Neither does the keyboard shortcut 'Shift+F12' to save a project

If I quit AVStoDVD it asks me if I want to save the project, but if I choose 'yes' it quits. On checking the folder where the source files are, there is no .a2d file for the project I just built, so have to do it all again next time I start AVStoDVD


It used to work perfectly, but now isn't ??

I cannot replicate the issues, neither the failing 'save project' or 'save project as' menu commands, nor the save project during quit.

I suggest you to reset the AVStoDVD preferences by selecting 'Options'/'Restore Default Preferences'.

Let me know.



Bye

[xKupo]

Hay guys, I hope someone can help me.
First at all, I am a beginner and I use that tool for 3-4 days.
I use Magic DVD Ripper to copy my DVDs as Backup to HDD. Then I search for forced subtitles in the backup with SubRip, edit them with Subtitle Edit and convert them to ANSI with Notepad++.
Now I use AVStoDVD to convert the Backup and the Subtitles (hardcoded) to a single Mpeg2-file. At some DVDs there was no problem, but now it always skips the subs encoding operations and I don't know why.
Any ideas?

[julitomg]

Please excuse if this has been asked before, but...is there an easy way to create custom chapter points (in HH;MM;SS) while authoring a custom DVD with AVStoDVD? Thanks and congratulations for such a fine piece of software (well, my question has to do with my only complait about it)

[manolito]

Hi julitomg,

yes, I think it has been asked before, but it was a long time ago...

You can enter custom chapter points, but only in the "Celltimes" format (frame numbers). It can be a little painful to manually convert chapters from the HH:MM:SS format into frame numbers, so a while ago I made a a small converter which does that automatically. It uses ChapterGen by shon3i.

It works like this:
Create a text file and enter your chapters. Two formats are supported:

3:43,7:18,35:12,1:20:13

or

3:43
7:18
35:12
1:20:13

Drop this file on the Convert_to_OGG.bat file, it will create a chapter file in the OGG format. Open this file with ChapterGen and export it in the MuxMan format. This file can be imported into the AVStoDVD chapter setup page.

It is just a quick hack, but it works. I chose the OGG format as the intermediate format because it is widely supported (You can use it to add chapters for MKV or MP4 containers).


Hope it will be useful for you...

Cheers
manolito

[Agemi]

Hi... when AVStoDVD suggests that NTSC encoding would yield a better result, should i change the DVD standard then? The target device is a PAL television. And i dont know whats best then.

Thanks!

[julitomg]

Hi julitomg,

yes, I think it has been asked before, but it was a long time ago...

You can enter custom chapter points, but only in the "Celltimes" format (frame numbers). It can be a little painful to manually convert chapters from the HH:MM:SS format into frame numbers, so a while ago I made a a small converter which does that automatically. It uses ChapterGen by shon3i.

It works like this:
Create a text file and enter your chapters. Two formats are supported:

3:43,7:18,35:12,1:20:13

or

3:43
7:18
35:12
1:20:13

Drop this file on the Convert_to_OGG.bat file, it will create a chapter file in the OGG format. Open this file with ChapterGen and export it in the MuxMan format. This file can be imported into the AVStoDVD chapter setup page.

It is just a quick hack, but it works. I chose the OGG format as the intermediate format because it is widely supported (You can use it to add chapters for MKV or MP4 containers).


Hope it will be useful for you...

Cheers
manolito

Thanks a lot manolito! I´ll test it later, but seems to be just what I was looking for

[manolito]

Hi... when AVStoDVD suggests that NTSC encoding would yield a better result, should i change the DVD standard then? The target device is a PAL television. And i dont know whats best then.

Thanks!

This is something you really have to test for yourself...

I live in PAL country, my TV is more than 10 years old (CRT), but it does handle NTSC DVDs quite well. But maybe it's my (also very old) DVD player. The setup menu of the DVD player offered the options for the TV as Multi-Standard, PAL or NTSC. Multi-Standard did not work, so I set it to PAL. This probably means that the DVD player already converts NTSC DVDs to PAL.

So chances are that a PAL TV will play NTSC DVDs without problems. But you should test it using a variety of different NTSC DVDs.


Cheers
manolito

[_MrC_]

@xKupo

subs encoding operation are skipped because you have selected hard-encoded subs, hence the subtitles should be rendered in the final mpg file, not in a "selectable" way.

@julitomg

other than using the very good util from manolito, you can also use the Preview Clip feature, from the 'Edit Title' section. You can slide the clip, see the timing, and place the chapter flag in a visual mode.



Bye

[xKupo]

Hi _MrC_, thanks for your reply

yeah I see what you mean, unfortunately that doesn't answer my question, why the subtitles don't appear in the final mpg file. Even if I deselect the hardcoded option I get no subtitles. Why? When I have tried the same operation with other movies, it worked without any problems. I have also compared the log files to find the problem, but I have no idea where the difference is. its so frustrating.

[_MrC_]

@xKupo

probably it is because the source video file is shorter than the first subs line:

TITLE 1 SOURCE FILES
Video: C:\Users\Jan\AppData\Local\Temp\VTS_01_0.d2v
Info: DGIndex - 3864 kbps - 720x576 - DAR 16:9 - 25 fps (CFR) - 1:53:15 hours - 169875 frames
Audio 1: C:\Users\Jan\AppData\Local\Temp\VTS_01_0 T80 3_2ch 384Kbps DELAY 0ms.ac3
Info: AC3 - 384 kbps - CBR - 6 ch - 48000 Hz - 16 bit - 1:53:15 hours (0 ms delay)
Subs 1: C:\Users\Jan\Desktop\Testmovie\VTS_01_0.srt
Info: SubRip (SRT) - C:\Users\Jan\Desktop\Testmovie\VTS_01_0.srt

Content of VTS_01_0.srt:

1
03:24:43,954 --> 03:24:45,023
Löschen

2
03:24:45,194 --> 03:24:47,992
Ein Kontakt wird von Ihrem
Handy gelöscht. Fortfahren?

3
03:24:48,154 --> 03:24:49,348
JA

Bye

[xKupo]

Oh okay, probably you are right, I should test it. But why is the timecode wrong? I haven't change it. Is there a possibility to change the timecode in the right one automatically or have I change it manually? Not a big deal at a single movie with just a few subtitles, but if the timecodes of the other movies are also wrong, it could be a bit annoying.

[_MrC_]

Probably you have to check the workflow:

I use Magic DVD Ripper to copy my DVDs as Backup to HDD. Then I search for forced subtitles in the backup with SubRip, edit them with Subtitle Edit and convert them to ANSI with Notepad++

and understand in what step the wrong timecodes have come out.



Bye

[xKupo]

Yeah I've found the problem. SubRip didn't reset the time when I've startet it more than once to search the subs. So everytime when I have started to search the right subtitle of a single movie, it added the whole movie time to the last one. Thank you very much

However I have some more questions

1. Most of my movies are encoded by HCenc. Some other movies are encoded by ffmpeg and show a yellow message at the start of encoding "Guessed Channel Layout for Input Stream #0.1 : 5.1". When encoding is done, the movie has sound but no video (black picture). If I change the profile to HCenc all is fine. So because I'm a beginner I don't know the difference between ffmpeg and HCenc. Do I have a loss of quality if I change the profile to HCenc? The logfile of the ffmpeg movie is in the attachment btw.

2. I have a Multimedia HDD to watch my movies on TV. The HDD is already a few years old. Whatever, yesterday when I wanted watching one of the encoded movies, the combination of video and sound was wrong, but only as MPG-file. With the same movie as DVD Structure I had no problems (On PC both are working btw). So is the DVD Structure the better option in general? I'm just considering which format I want to use next time. If the DVD Structure has more benefits I will take it, but don't know the difference.

3. When I've encoded a movie there always keep files in temp, even if encoding was successful. Files like

VTS_01_0 T80 3_2ch 384Kbps DELAY 0ms.ac3

and

VTS_01_0.d2v

Not sure if its studied. If I start a new Project and add a new DVD backup, I will get the question which audio file is the right one ("..files with similar filename found").

[_MrC_]

Good to read you fixed the SRT subs issue. About the new questions.

1. FFmpeg yellow lines are warning messages, usually you can ignore them, as in this case, becasue you are dealing with the video conversion step. The black video output only with FFmpeg is very strange: do you get it both on the PC and on the TV? Anyway usually HCenc profiles deliver a better quality than FFmpeg profile.

2. DVD structure MAY be a better choice than mpg single file: VOBs contain subs, chapters, menu. mpg single file is more handy when dealing with files, because VOBs are splitted in many 1024 MB files.

3. Those 2 files (d2v and ac3) are not deleted because they are created as part of the VOBs indexing step when you have added the original DVD structure as input. Hence they are considered as new source files by AVStoDVD.



Bye

[xKupo]

Okay I have tested some movies and this is my conclusion:

The movie encoded by ffmpeg only has a black screen with VLC Media Player. It works with another video player and on TV as well. Unfortunately I only had Nero Show Time to test it, because I've thought that I never need another video player than VLC

I also have tested some of the other encoded videos with my Multimedia HDD. On PC they are fine but on TV the Audio-Video sync was always wrong with Mpeg2. However the DVD structure works on PC and TV as well.

I can't say why Movie A as mpeg2-file doesn't work with VLC and why all encoded mpeg2-files on my HDD have this problem with synchronization but I never had any problems with the DVD structure, so I think I will prefer this option for my movies.

Two last questions:

1. Is there an option to make a subtitle default without hard-encoding? Cause I'm not surce if its better to encode forced subtitles hard or soft. With a default option the forced subtitles would be always seen but could be turned off or edited for another language as well.
2. When does the program take ffmpeg, HCenc1, and HCenc2? Cause you've said that usually HCenc profiles deliver a better quality. So why does the program take ffmpeg at some files? Should I keep auto profile or should I change it to HCenc when it takes ffmpeg? And in this case HCenc1 or HCenc2? Where is the difference?

[manolito]

Okay I have tested some movies and this is my conclusion:

The movie encoded by ffmpeg only has a black screen with VLC Media Player. It works with another video player and on TV as well. Unfortunately I only had Nero Show Time to test it, because I've thought that I never need another video player than VLC

I also have tested some of the other encoded videos with my Multimedia HDD. On PC they are fine but on TV the Audio-Video sync was always wrong with Mpeg2. However the DVD structure works on PC and TV as well.
I can't say why Movie A as mpeg2-file doesn't work with VLC and why all encoded mpeg2-files on my HDD have this problem with synchronization but I never had any problems with the DVD structure, so I think I will prefer this option for my movies.

Hi xKupo,

this problem has been fixed already. Please download the latest Alpha version.
(Technical: When MrC switched to using ffmpeg as the MPEG2 muxer, initially the command "-fflags +genpts" was missing from the command line. This resulted in an MPG file without Presentation Time Stamps, and this causes the problems you are experiencing).
The sync problems when using MPG files instead of a DVD structure should also disappear when using the current AVStoDVD version.

2. When does the program take ffmpeg, HCenc1, and HCenc2? Cause you've said that usually HCenc profiles deliver a better quality. So why does the program take ffmpeg at some files? Should I keep auto profile or should I change it to HCenc when it takes ffmpeg? And in this case HCenc1 or HCenc2? Where is the difference?

This is the basic design of the software. It automatically picks an encoding mode depending on the video bitrate of the output track. The defaults are:
Use ffmpeg CBR (constant bit rate) for bitrates above 6500 kbps
Use HCenc 1-pass for bitrates between 4500 and 6500 kbps
Use HCenc 2-pass for bitrates below 4500 kbps

You can change these thresholds under "Preferences\Video". You can also lock one encoding mode for all bitrates. Let's say you always want the highest possible quality then you would lock HCenc 2-pass for all bitrates.
Also have a look here:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/277852-AVStoDVD-Support-Thread?p=2370573&viewfull=1#post2370573

An easier way to make such settings is in the Quick Startup Tutorial. Just pick a specific encoding mode instead of "Smart Selection".


The difference between the two HCenc modes is that 1-pass VBR (Variable Bit Rate) is faster than 2-pass VBR because it does not do a full encoding pass to determine the source characteristics. It only does a much shorter analyzing pass using about 5% of the source file. This results in a bitrate distribution which is less precise than for a 2-pass encode. But the quality is surprisingly good, just compare it for yourself...



Cheers
manolito

[xKupo]

Hi manolito,

thank you very much for this piece of information I already uncheck the auto video setup for each file, because I want to keep the orginal data as much as possible. So I always change the auto bitrate to the source bitrate. File size doesn't matter, cause I'm copying the movies to external hdd, not to dvd (also if I prefer dvd structure) and bigger files will be compensated by smaller files anyway. If I really want to fit a movie on dvd one day I can still use this auto bitrate function.
However I have always forgotten to adjust the encoding mode to the changed bitrate, so I'm glad to read your post. If HCenc 2-pass VBR is always the best mode for quality I think I will lock it for all bitrates. I think my PC is quite good and time doesn't matter. Just wasn't sure if there could be problems with, cause in preferences/video stands that it isn't recommended to lock a single profile for everything.

PS: I've updated AVS to the alpha version, but nothing changed. Sync works on Pc, but not on TV. Maybe its also because of my HDD, nevertheless I think that I'll stay at DVD structure. In the past I also prefered a single Mpeg2-file but in the last few days I've seen the DVD structure as more comfortable

[_MrC_]

Release 2.8.1 final is available.

Change log (cumulative):

- Some bugs fixed
- Added routine to shift times for text-based subtitles when PAL SpeedUp or NTSC SlowDown are activated
- Added Visual Crop section in 'Edit Title'/'AviSynth'
- Added a warning for dual presence of ffdshow and LAV Filters
- Added a check for Windows Common Controls (mscomctl.ocx) presence and prompt to install it at runtime
- Added PTS creation when multiplexing with FFmpeg (thanks to manolito)
- Added 'Collage' and 'Blue Rain' as DVD Menu Templates to the Installer and NoInstall package
- Improved PAL SpeedUp routine (now also 24 fps source titles are supported)
- Improved Auto Crop routine and moved to Visual Crop section
- Improved log activity (Chapters creation section)
- Improved filters merit change routine in 'Preferred DirectShow Codecs Setup' section
- Improved RAM detection routine (now it works for 64 bit systems)
- Improved detection of Variable Frame Rate (VFR) sources
- Updated A2DSource.avsi to assume VFR true as default if not specified
- Changed 'Adjust Frame Strategy' default value to 'Add Left/Right Borders'
- Changed 'Unload DirectShow ActiveMovie library at runtime' default value to 'On'
- LAV Filters updated to release 0.64
- FFmpeg updated to release 2.2.3 (2014-06-19)



Bye

[davexnet]

Thanks MrC,
downloading now.

[MooMooMooMoo]

Question:

EXACTLY what crop (& other settings) would be required to remove all 4 sides of a pillarbox/window box from an old style full screen film recorded in high def off of an hd TC station that would be played back on a full screen TV as a dvd or mpeg?

[manolito]

So you have captured an old 4:3 movie which has been encoded as 16:9, and it has black borders on all 4 sides? And you want to encode it to DVD or MPEG as 4:3, right?

The exact crop values depend on your source resolution of course, but why do you even want to go through all the math? AVStoDVD now has Visual Cropping, it can do everything for you automatically. Load the source into AVStoDVD, click on "View/Edit Title Settings". Under "Video" you have to force 4:3 as your Video Aspect Ratio. Then go to the "AviSynth" tab and select "Transform -> Crop". Use the visual cropping to get rid of all black borders and import the values. That's it, AVStoDVD will create a perfect 4:3 DVD output.


Cheers
manolito

[JukeboxJezabel]

I installed the latest Release 2.8.1. Every time I start a new project I get a message that DVD drive D: is not ready. In the preferences the drive selected is F: Every time I click preferences I get a similar warning that DVD drive F: isn't ready to burn. Is this a bug or is there something I can do? This never occurred in 2.8.0+hotfix except at first clean install. I have never burned through AVStoDVD but have used CDRTools Frontend and in the output drop down menu it is set to 'folder structure'. Thanks in advance.

[xKupo]

I have subtitles with quite long words, when I try to reduce the font size in the avs preferences it shows the new font size but doesn't assume it. Font size in new encoded movie is still 16

[_MrC_]

@JukeboxJezabel

after the 1st time you select the DVD drive "not capable" (according to A2D) to burn DVD, you should not be anymore prompted with that message. Please check.

@xKupo

are you using IDX/SUB subtitles? With text based subs (SRT, ASS, SSA), that's the output with 10pt and 16pt size font. Remember that IDX/SUB are already in bitmap format, they cannot be altered by A2D.



Bye

MrC