h.264/AAC audio to AVI/MP3 muxing help

[Ryutso]

Don't bother telling me that h264 and AAC audio are the better of the pair, I already know that. But for the purpose of the video I'm making I need it to be MP3 audio and an AVI video stream.

Already used AVC2AVI to convert the video file and used Xilisoft Audio Converter to convert the AAC file to MP3. But no matter what App I use, I can't get the audio to sync with the video.

I've used AVIMux-GUI, VirtualDubMod and even Avidemux but I can't get both files to sync right under an AVI format.

Any pointers?

EDIT: The AAC audio was 2-channel before I converted it. Now it's a CBR MP3.

[Baldrick]

What kind of sync problem? Progressive or same the entire clip?

Has the source variable frame rate? Check using mediainfo.

[Ryutso]

What kind of sync problem? Progressive or same the entire clip?

Has the source variable frame rate? Check using mediainfo.

I have the MediaInfo here:

Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 174 MiB
Duration                         : 30mn 4s
Overall bit rate                 : 811 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2007-02-10 18:22:33
Writing application              : mkvmerge v1.6.5 ('Watcher Of The Skies') built on Dec  7 2005 18:53:53
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.6 + libmatroska v0.8.0

Video
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 8 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@5.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 30mn 2s
Nominal bit rate                 : 716 Kbps
Width                            : 640 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4/3
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.097
Writing library                  : x264 core 54 svn-620M
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-2:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / brdo=1 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=1 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=-1 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / bime=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=716 / ratetol=1.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30
Language                         : English

Audio
Format                           : AAC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version                   : Version 4
Format profile                   : LC
Format settings, SBR             : No
Codec ID                         : A_AAC/MPEG4/LC
Duration                         : 30mn 4s
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz

[Ryutso]

Is ANYBODY Gonna help me on this? I'm still waiting.

[Midzuki]

Try converting the AAC stream to MP3 with software more reliable than Xilisoft.
I'd highly recommend Winamp's DiskWriter Plugin for obtaining a stereo WAV file,
and then convert this latter to MP3 with lame.exe.


\\\\\

[poisondeathray]

You still haven't answered Baldrick' s question: constant sync issue (eg. 1 sec all the way through) or progressive sync issue (e.g. gets worse and worse as you play to the end)

You are keeping AVC in avi container? (ie. not re-encoding) ? So your goal is AVC/MP3 in avi ?

[Ryutso]

Try converting the AAC stream to MP3 with software more reliable than Xilisoft.
I'd highly recommend Winamp's DiskWriter Plugin for obtaining a stereo WAV file,
and then convert this latter to MP3 with lame.exe.


\\\\\

Shouldn't the variable framerate video be the problem and not the audio?

You still haven't answered Baldrick' s question: constant sync issue (eg. 1 sec all the way through) or progressive sync issue (e.g. gets worse and worse as you play to the end)

You are keeping AVC in avi container? (ie. not re-encoding) ? So your goal is AVC/MP3 in avi ?

It get's worse and worse as it goes on, so progressive sync problem.

Also no, I'd like it to be Xvid/mp3 in avi.

[poisondeathray]

You can try converting it to CFR with avisynth, and frameserving using vdub, vdubmod (I'll assume you know how to use vdub, since you mentioned using it earlier)

Install avisynth, open a text file, print the following, and rename the extension to .avs from .txt . Alter the filenames to match yours. Start with the .mkv, don't use avc2avi

DirectShowSource("file.mkv",fps=23.976,convertfps= true,audio=true)

You need to have haali media splitter, ffdshow with h.264 and aac enabled in the configuration (or alternate h.264 and aac directshow decoders, and mkv splitter)

Load the .avs into vdub or vdubmod and convert

[FulciLives]

I would use XVID4PSP which has a HARDWARE XVID setting. This will convert to XviD AVI with MP3 audio in a way that should be compatible with most hardware supporting XviD playback such as DVD players that support it or gaming units like the Sony PS3 or Microsoft XboX / XboX 360 etc.

Despite the name XVID4PSP can do all kinds of conversions. It isn't just for PSP converting.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
If you have 5.1 AAC-LC audio then XVID4PSP cannot process the audio. However it should have no problems with 2.0 AAC-LC which is what you have according to MediaInfo.

[Ryutso]

You can try converting it to CFR with avisynth, and frameserving using vdub, vdubmod (I'll assume you know how to use vdub, since you mentioned using it earlier)

Install avisynth, open a text file, print the following, and rename the extension to .avs from .txt . Alter the filenames to match yours. Start with the .mkv, don't use avc2avi

DirectShowSource("file.mkv",fps=23.976,convertfps= true,audio=true)

You need to have haali media splitter, ffdshow with h.264 and aac enabled in the configuration (or alternate h.264 and aac directshow decoders, and mkv splitter)

Load the .avs into vdub or vdubmod and convert

I've seen people mentioning doing something like this earlier in my google searching but the fps was up around 119:

DirectShowSource("file.mkv",fps=119.927,convertfps =true,audio=true)

(or something like that.)

Why are you having me put it at 23?

[poisondeathray]

23.976 because that's the base frame rate on your file. Look at the mediainfo

Sometimes people bring it up to that rate, but decimate it later

you can read more about vfr here
http://avisynth.org/VariableFrameRateVideo

This "fix" will only work if vfr is indeed the problem, not something else. If you have cfr , but the problem persists, try the regular methods of shrinking/expanding the video or audio to match (either video frame rate adjust, or audio editor)

This is another reason why you shouldn't convert to .avi. It doesn't support vfr.

[Ryutso]

23.976 because that's the base frame rate on your file. Look at the mediainfo

Sometimes people bring it up to that rate, but decimate it later

you can read more about vfr here
http://avisynth.org/VariableFrameRateVideo

This "fix" will only work if vfr is indeed the problem, not something else

This is another reason why you shouldn't convert to .avi. It doesn't support vfr.

Hmm. I'm thinking that's a different mediainfo then the one I need now. But here it is again. If it's different, don't shoot me.

General
Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 257 MiB
Duration                         : 29mn 19s
Overall bit rate                 : 1 223 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2007-04-24 17:23:24
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.0.2 ('You're My Flame') built on Feb 21 2007 23:40:55
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Cover                            : Yes / Yes

Video
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 2 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@5.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 29mn 17s
Nominal bit rate                 : 1 364 Kbps
Width                            : 640 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4/3
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.148
Title                            : After Class Lesson 1 (h264)
Writing library                  : x264 core 46 svn-504
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=5 / brdo=0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / slices=1 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / bframes=2 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=2 / wpredb=1 / bime=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=1364 / ratetol=1.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30
Language                         : Japanese

Audio
Format                           : Vorbis
Codec ID                         : A_VORBIS
Duration                         : 29mn 19s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Language                         : Japanese

Text
Format                           : ASS
Codec ID                         : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Title                            : ass
Language                         : English

[poisondeathray]

I would try 29.97 for that 2nd one, you can read it yourself - there is nothing "magical" about it:

Frame rate : 29.970 fps

[Midzuki]

Shouldn't the variable framerate video be the problem and not the audio?

It depends. There is a good reason why I suggested any application better than Xilisoft.
A cr@ppy audio recompression yes can lead to synchronization issues.
Also, Windows Media Audio, Vorbis, and even DTS, can have *variable sample rate*,
or at least behave as if they had it, which is another "guarantee" that you'll get sync
issues after a careless format conversion.

Audio
Format                           : Vorbis
Codec ID                         : A_VORBIS

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[Ryutso]

Tried and tried and tried with the AviSynth script but I still get errors on opening the MKV with VDubMod.

I think the problem is the video stream since the sound and subtitles show up under the "Stream" list.

Also tried Xvid4PSP and that said I needed to resize the video source.
Also tried to do it in SUPER and that failed.

Any other help?