No Audio In Encore/Bad Aspect Ratio/Bad Files/Bad ISO/Bad Everything

[koberulz]

I've ripped a DVD to a VOB file that plays perfectly in VLC, converted that with VOB2MPG to an MPG file that plays fine in VLC, and then imported that MPG as a timeline into Encore. However, in Encore, there's no audio. This problem is also present when opening the MPG in Screenblast Movie Studio. The mp3 file I've selected for the menu music plays fine in Encore, so the problem's not there.

How can I fix this?

[koberulz]

Anyone?

[koberulz]

Nobody? Is there not a way I can get the audio out and import it separately or something?

[roma_turok]

What source files you have?
Do you still have source DVD?

[koberulz]

I do.

[roma_turok]

To import from DVD to Encore:
1) Import DVD title to TMPGEnc MPEG Editor
2) Select in TMPGEnc MPEG Editor to save audio as WAV file
3) Save in TMPGEnc MPEG Editor mpeg file as demultiplexed/splitted video and audio streams
4) Import 2 files, video and audio files to Encore

[koberulz]

Running the MPGs through that worked. It was halfway through building the project (or so, I started it and went to bed) and popped up an error saying the video in the main timeline was the wrong aspect ratio for DVD. This seems a little bizarre, since it's unchanged from its original format on a DVD.

I've looked at it, and it's 352x576, but when I play it in VLC it looks identical to a 720x576 file I have.

How do I fix this?

[roma_turok]

Play this specific title/clip on source DVD and check in PowerDVD property of video:

[koberulz]

It's 352x576 there, too, which is bizarre to say the least.

[roma_turok]

It's 352x576 there, too, which is bizarre to say the least.

So you need encode clip to 720x576 PAL and import to Encore.

[koberulz]

What's the best way to do that? I've still got the disc, VOB, MPG, and m2v files.

[roma_turok]

I don't know best way to do but I using TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress and its not free
Check for freeware video encoders from tools list: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-encoders
Not all encoders encode from DVD/mpeg to mpeg

[koberulz]

I used AviSynth to resize the m2v, and put the avs through TMPGEnc. It's now built successfully, but the video looks like shit. It's blocky, not unlike a Youtube video. It looks a lot better on the original disc.

[roma_turok]

You don't need use AviSynth to resize.
Download, install and encode with Tmpgenc Plus

[koberulz]

The problem appears to be with Encore, not the conversion; the m2v files themselves look fine. It's just the finished ISO file that looks like crap, and it's actually worse on one of the clips that was the right size to begin with.

[roma_turok]

The Encore set to encode video file in project?

[koberulz]

You mean transcode?

It appears to have transcoded two of the three clips, one of which looks horrid and one of which actually looks fair, though it's not all that long and involved. It is not, however, required to transcode the third, which also looks fugly.

[roma_turok]

Yes transcode.
The size of mpeg files to big for DVD
or mpeg files not compatible with Encore are set to transcode.

[koberulz]

How could an m2v file not be compatible with Encore?

I'm not sure it's relevant at any rate as the one non-transcoded file also looks ugly, though the original source before the DVD I have is a VHS tape from 1989, so it's a little harder to spot, but it does look a lot worse than the original.

[roma_turok]

What length in time of all clips in Encore?
Did you check finished ISO in PowerDVD?
In finished ISO DVD the audio converted to Dolby digital AC3? (check in PowerDVD property of audio)

What happens if you open new project in Encore witn only 1 clip without any menu,
you have same result in final ISO?

[koberulz]

115m and 4m for the screwy files, 27s for the decent file (though again, if there was much more happening the problem may have made itself evident there as well).
Yes.
It says it's Dolby Digital, it doesn't specify beyond that.

I tried building an ISO with just the one video file (the 4m file), and the first thing it pulled up was 'transcoding' when I built it, despite it saying 'don't transcode' in the list of files in the project. Not sure if that's normal or not. It's just as blocky as the ISO of the full project.

I've also tried the m2v file I used for the single-file ISO in PowerDVD, it looks fine.

[roma_turok]

Only for test purpose try encode 4min. clip from source DVD to m2v with TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress trial version
Did you have same result?

[koberulz]

What good will that do? I've got a perfectly functional m2v file here, Encore's just botching it somehow.

[roma_turok]

What good will that do? I've got a perfectly functional m2v file here, Encore's just botching it somehow.

If video file encoded with TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress will play correct
So m2v file you make before not correct for Encore.

[koberulz]

I can't get TMPGEnc XPress to run, but I did somehow manage to get Encore to display video in the monitor, which it couldn't do before, and the video quality looked just as bad as on the finished ISO. I deleted the timeline and m2v, reimported the m2v and remade the timeline, and it still looks like crap (in both the full DVD and test projects).

Seems it's getting damaged as part of the importing process.

[roma_turok]

All evidence points that m2v file not 100% correct
despite its perfectly playing in player or you can perfectly build DVD on other program.

[koberulz]

I put the MPG into Encore just to see how it'd handle that, and it looked even worse; even corrupted. Again, plays fine in VLC.

Encore doesn't handle VOBs, so I don't know if the error originated with the rip or with VOB2MPG.

[koberulz]

So TMPGEnc stopped hating me, and I re-ripped everything to new m2v and ac3 files. However, the main timeline now has a black border all the way around it, rather than filling the whole screen (this problem is not present when watching the m2v file in VLC), and when I attempt to watch the ISO in PowerDVD, it switches to File Mode and runs the menu with none of the buttons active, rather than running the pre-menu timeline and then going to a menu that actually does something other than loop shitty music. I set the menu as first play, just to see if there was a problem with the pre-menu timeline, but got the same result.

This thing is really starting to get my goat.

[koberulz]

Any ideas how to get this to work?

[roma_turok]

What problem you have so far?