TMPGEnc problem with bitrate setting

[not_a_virus.exe]

I just got a DVD burner and got into encoding movies from AVI to MPEG-2 for DVD burning over the last few days. I have successfully burned 3 or 4 movies so far, but when I went to encode my latest movie, I have a problem. It doesn't seem to matter which AVI file I choose, the same thing happens in TMPGEnc. A screenshot is included below. I cannot modify the settings on this screen at all. Normally I am able to modify the % of the disk capacity but now it won't let me. The file I am trying to encode is a 700mb AVI file, same as the others I've burned but as I said i can choose other AVI's as well and they all have this same problem. No other settings or options have been changed within TMPGEnc since my last encode.

[FulciLives]

This often happens when the AVI uses VBR MP3 audio.

The "fix" is to extract the audio from the AVI file. There are a few different ways to do this.

You can use GOLDWAVE or you can use VirtualDub. Basically you want to extract the audio as a 16-bit 48k Stereo WAV file.

Load the AVI as the VIDEO input but your extracted WAV file for the AUDIO input and all should be fine.

Of course if you are trying to create a DVD you don't even need to process the sound in TMPGEnc as 16-bit 48k Stereo is already DVD compliant PCM audio although it is best to convert it to AC-3 as that takes up less space. You could use TMPGEnc to convert the WAV to MP2 but not all DVD players (at least in the NTSC world) will work with MP2 audio.

Anyways look up some guides on either GOLDWAVE or VirtualDub if you need exact instructions on extracting the audio as such guides do exist on this website.

Good Luck!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
If your AVI has AC-3 audio then there are guides on how to extract that and keep it as an AC-3 file but my guess is the AVI you are having problems with is using MP3 audio.

[not_a_virus.exe]

Thanks dude I'll give that a try tonight.

[BounceMeister]

I have the same problem with an AVI file. But i noticed that the length of the movie is not right in tmpgenc.

[Baldrick]

read FulciLives post and www.dvdrhelp.com/tmpgenc#problems

[BounceMeister]

Extracting the audio with virtualdub and the feeding the video and audio separately to tmpgenc seems to work. But then tmpgenc produces an m2v and an wav file, but i need an mpg file! I cannot save as mpg?!

The MPEG tools simple multiplex option doesn't accept the wav file that tmpgenc generated by itself...?

[FulciLives]

Extracting the audio with virtualdub and the feeding the video and audio separately to tmpgenc seems to work. But then tmpgenc produces an m2v and an wav file, but i need an mpg file! I cannot save as mpg?!

The MPEG tools simple multiplex option doesn't accept the wav file that tmpgenc generated by itself...?

You cannot mux M2V and WAV but you can mux M2V with MP2 or AC-3 audio. So the best thing to do (quality wise) would be to convert your WAV from the TMPGEnc output to AC-3 with BeSweet then you can mux the M2V and the AC-3 using the MPEG TOOLS option in TMPGEnc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Baldrick]

Extracting the audio with virtualdub and the feeding the video and audio separately to tmpgenc seems to work. But then tmpgenc produces an m2v and an wav file, but i need an mpg file! I cannot save as mpg?!

The MPEG tools simple multiplex option doesn't accept the wav file that tmpgenc generated by itself...?

You must select mpeg audio if you want a mpg file.

www.dvdrhelp.com/tmpgencdvd

but remember that you can still use the m2v and wav to author and burn a dvd.