600 hours to convert with TMPGenc!!

[welz400]

I have an avi media file which is 162 minutes long, and I am using TMPGenc Pro to convert to a PAL DVD format/file....m2v+wav.

TMPGenc tells me that it will take almost 600 hours to do the conversion.

This is the file information given by avicodec:
File :679 MB (679 MB), duration: 2:42:32, type: AVI, 1 audio stream(s), quality: 36 %
Video :567 MB, 488 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 640*400 (16:9),
DIV3 = DivX v3 MPEG-4 (Low-Motion), Supported
Audio :111 MB, 96 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels,
0x55 = MPEG Layer-3, Supported

I have recently had to do a complete re install of Win2k plus all software, and I wonder if it is due to the fact I may be missing some codecs. Maybe I did not know which ones to install??

Is there a way the conversion process can be speeded up?
My specs are:
OS: Win2k sp3
CPU: Athlon XP 2.4Ghz
RAM: 512mb DDR

Thanks

[daamon]

Wow welz400, 600 hours is a long time. Especially as you've a decent speed CPU and sufficient RAM.

My only guess (in my limited experience) would be your TMPGEnc settings or your source AVI file (is it DV, Divx, Xvid? Use GSpot to find out).

As a reference for you, I've encode DV AVI (36 mins) to MPEG2 using TMPGEnc on an Athlon XP 1900+ CPU with 512 DDR and it took 8 hours. My TMPGEnc settings included:

Average bitrate: 6000
Max bitrate: 8300
Min bitrate: 2000
Using 2-Pass VBR

See this guide...

http://dvd-hq.info/Compression.html

...for possible settings (in all of TMPGEnc). I used it and found it VERY useful.

Hope that helps. Good luck...

[bottle-necked]

For a file with such low quality:

File :679 MB (679 MB), duration: 2:42:32, type: AVI, 1 audio stream(s), quality: 36 %
Video :567 MB, 488 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 640*400 (16:9),

You don't need to use the highest quality setting TMPGEnc offers. You can reduce those settings and probably speed up the process.

That 850Mhz CPU you're using isn't really all that fast by todays standards. You could try a different program such as Ulead VideoStudio. It may be worth the download.

Good luck.

[mats.hogberg]

try a different program such as Ulead VideoStudio.

Don't listen to that! Ulead VS is a video editor, not an encoder (even if it can encode). It sure wont be faster.
The problem is probably VBR audio, that throws the calculation off totally. I suggest you extract the audio track and convert to wav outside of TMPGEnc. Save the AVI without audio, Load it in VirtualDub, select "No audio", "Direct Stream copy" under Video and Save AVI.

/Mats

[daamon]

@ bottle-necked,

An Athlon XP 2.4Ghz runs at a clock speed of 2Ghz, not 850Mhz. The system specs are more than fine.

Fair comment on the bitrate settings though...

[andkiich]

I encoded with TMPGENc

2 hours of source AVI
6000 bitrate
2 pass VBR

Takes around 6-8 hours.

[bottle-necked]

Sorry daamon. I did your profile and thought I read Duron 850Mhz. I don't know what happened. Loosing my mind I guess.

Sure Ulead VideoStudio is an editing program, but it will also encode. If you're having trouble with TMPGEnc, then I'd try it out. It may work for you. I've used it with good results many times.

Like said above, it could be something as simple as the audio.(?)

Hope you get it figured out.
Good luck.

[daamon]

@ bottle-necked,

No probs. Blame it on the Christmas booze... I was mistaken too - I thought you were talking about welz400's setup (the original poster).

How you getting on welz400? It'd be interesting to know what the problem was if you crack it...

[Ripper2860]

Must be the booze -- triple post !!!

Put the bottle down and step away from the computer !!!

[spiderman2k1]

If you have filter turned on turn them off it slow's down TMPG

[ricky1756]

use mpeg tools in tmpgenc to put a start and end to your movie. sometimes on an avi, tmpgenc doesnt see the end, and keeps encoding

[bottle-necked]

Hay now... I did see Duron 850. I'm not crazy after all. :P

[Ripper2860]

1st -- make sure you are extracting the audio from you AVI file into a uncompressed format. Many files using VBR compressed audio will look tremendously large with TMPGenc as it cannot properly handle compressed VBR audio. AVI2WAV is a good tool for that.

In TMPGenc use the AVI file as the video source and then use the uncompressed audio file (PCM) as the audio source.

2nd -- Use Lordsmuf's excellent guide (it will pseed up encoding considerably with no loss in quality)...

http://www.lordsmurf.com/convert/tmpgenc/tmpgencplus.html

3rd -- If the encoding just seems to go on forever (i.e. appears stuck at 99% and continues to encode with the time continuing to tick on the counter), do as recommended in a previous post and use AVANCED SETTINGS/SOURCE RAGE to define the beginning and end.

[lacywest]

If you want some correct answers ... change your profile info.

It says ... 850 mhz ... Duron and a 40 gig harddrive.

If this is correct ... yeah ... it will take along time.

That one harddrive is staying very busy. And if the CPU is the 850 MHZ Duron ... yep it is slow by today standards. Mine goes ZOOM ZOOM.

I can't provide you with any useful info ... until I actually know what you actually have.

Faster CPU ... and another Harddrive to write the output video to ... will help speed up your projects.

Might be a good idea to have your computer plugged into a backup battery power supply ... to prevent your computer from rebooting in case of a momentary loss of electricity. Use to piss me off when the electricity flickered just enuff to reboot my system.

[ricky1756]

theres something else going on besides the processor. even if you double the speed, its still 300 hours

[SaSi]

Tmpgenc, if properly used on a P4/AMD >2GHz machine will encode at least half realtime speed at full DVD resolution video. The 2:42:00 duration works out at ~5.5 hours.

If one wants to make it a two pass encode, it should take twice as much, ~11 hours.

In the figures above, I assume a "properly used" Tmpgenc, which is by far subjective of course. I am refering to motion estimate, no use of filters and no resizing.

As the source video is "the wrong" frame size for DVD, it needs to be resized at 720x480 (I am guessing it's NTSC).

Resizing in general slows Tmpgenc down by a factor of almost 2X.

If you are doing a dual pass encode, the encoder will virtually resize the video twice, once in each pass. This is stupid to do, so it would be much faster to use VirtualDUB to resize. It resizes a bit better (clearer) and a lot faster.

If you resize within Tmpgenc with two passes, the 11 hours easily become 22.

If one uses the highest quality motion compensation, speed will drop by another factor of 4x, so my experiments show a duration of 45 hours almost.

Add another filter or so (each seem to slow things down by a factor of 2 ~ 2.5) and you can easily reach 150~200 hours. (Remember, each filter applied in a multipass encode is applied in every pass - i.e. twice).

In all the above figures, I didn't add the penalty of decoding the original AVI. low motion DivX is a very early and hacked version of the codec. It's not really fast and not really stable. And in a dual pass encode, the AVI has to be decoded twice!

With source material like the one welz400 describes, the best thing to do is to take the video through VirtualDUB or avisynth first and do any cropping, resizing and filtering there, once. Use a "proper" codec to save the target AVI, one that combines good speed with quality and filesize. Good candidates are huffyuv, MJPEG, latest DivX (5.05~5.11) or xViD.

The first is very fast, high quality and almost 20Mbytes/sec. DivX is a little slower and a lot more compact in output filesizes.

Once you are happy with the resulting video (make test runs of small clips within the source video), make a full run (should go almost realtime on a machine with a 2GHz or more CPU) and create the final AVI. Then take that through Tmpgenc doing a two pass or single pass encode. Don't use highest settings unless you have top rate source material. Motion search is more than enough in most cases.

[Foz]

Ripper2860, I have, I guess extended encoded time, with TMPGEnc Plus. The DIVX I am encoded has a length of 96:38 m, TMPGE turned this file into a 484:24 m. The first 96:38 has video, but the rest of the encode 387:50 m shows last frame of the video. After reading this post maybe this is my problem. (3rd -- If the encoding just seems to go on forever (i.e. appears stuck at 99% and continues to encode with the time continuing to tick on the counter), do as recommended in a previous post and use AVANCED SETTINGS/SOURCE RAGE to define the beginning and end.) I went to advanced settings, but I am not sure what to do? I am very new at this and need detailed advice. How do I define the beginning and end? Thanks Foz

[ricky1756]

open tmpgenc, close the wizard, click file,mpeg tools, merge and cut. Load Your file, click on it once to highlight it, click edit, a window will open where you can put a start and end on your file

[Ripper2860]

Have you tried using AVi2WAV to extract the audio? I would try it as compressed VBR audio may be the cuase of the problem with it continuing to run at 99%. This is REALLY something you should try 1st.

Alternately -- try using DVD2SVCD tool and set the encoder to TMPGEnc. It does all of the audio extraction for you in addition to other things. Set MOTION SEARCH PRECISION to the desired level (in this case MOTION ESTIMATE SEARCH (FAST). ** Read one of the many guides on DVD2SVCD **

As for using SOURCE RANGE (SETTING/ADVANCED/SOURCE RANGE) be sure to double click on SOURCE RANGE to open the SOURCE RANGE settings box.

1. Move the slider to the desired start point of the video (or leave in place) and click on SET START FRAME.

2. Move the slider to the desired end point of the video and click on SET START FRAME.

Note: You can use the << and >> buttons to move forward and backwards in the video to "fine tune" prior to selecting the "points".

3. Click on OK

4. Make sure SOURCE RANGE box is checked.

Go about the normal processes after that

[Nasp]

use DVD2SVCD with Cinema Craft Encoder.

[Ripper2860]

I agree. DVD2SVCD w/ CCE is my preferred method and is certainly fast (especially when coupled with D2SRoba). However, if CCE is not an option (i.e. you don't have it), DVD2SVCD does work with TMPGenc.

DVD2SVCD (also supports AVI to SVCD and DVD to DVD) is a great tool, providing a realtively simple front-end to some very robust utilities. It produces great results without having to know all of the inner workings of the myriad of software it uses.

[Foz]

To All, Thanks for the replies, I used Virtualdub to extract VBR MP3 from video clip making a wav audio, Then used HeadAC3he to convert wav to mp2. Then I put original video clip in TMPGEnc Plus to convert DIVX to MPEG 2. Set TMPGE to ES (video only) and followed the Baldrick guide in setting up TMPGE to encode. Even though my MPEG 2 file was 387:50 longer than my audio and way too large to fit on a 4.7 GB DVD I simple multiplexed them in TMPGE to see what happened. The result is a jerky video and garbbled audio and 8.5GB in size. Is what I have done same as DVD2SVCD w/ CCE would do? Confused Foz

[Ripper2860]

Don't really know.

Give DVD2SVCD and CCE a try, as I have had several files which would give me hell and not work properly in one, but would sail through beautifully without error in the other.

Never hurts to have a few different tools in the tool bag.

[Foz]

Ripper2860, I am trying to encode this AVI, DIVX, VBR MP3, video clip to VOB file to burn to DVD. This DVD2SVCD program seems to be for encoding AVI to a format to burn to VCD or SVCD. Am I missing something or is the SVCD same quality video as DVD. Foz

[Ripper2860]

If you go to the MISC tab in DVD2SVCD, you will see that one of the output options is DVD -- in essence making it AVI2DVDR or DVD2DVDR.

At the very least you should end up with an DVD compliant MPEG2 file which you can then author and burn using your favorite software (TMPGenc DVD Author, etc).

[Foz]

Ripper2860, If you will read the reply post I made here
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195121&highlight=
It is a detailed description of my trials. To add to this article I also put the good video m2v file and the good mp2 audio file in TMPGEnc DVD Author last night. I got an error messageafter it had authored about 25%. So I tried it again from beginning and got same error message . I went to folder where I had assigned and had two file folders from both trys. Each folder had a video-TS file. I played the thing in Power DVD and had same mess that I described in the other post. Foz

[ricky1756]

have you sent your original avi file through divfix, sounds like it might be an index problem, divfix will redo the index and check for errors

[Ripper2860]

Good point Ricky1756.

Foz -- have you verified the AVI file is error free by checking for bad frames? I am not a big fan of DivFix, as I prefer DivX Repair instead (it uses VDub as the repair tool and has repaired some issues that DivFix did not find or repair). Either way run your AVI file through one of them or both and see if either finds bad blocks and repairs them.

Other than that I have no clue. If the file checks out as error-free, give DVD2SVCD a try with the DVD output option.

[Foz]

Thanks for the replies. I will check them both out, and if I come up with a fix I will let you know. Thanks, Foz

[Foz]

To all: What to do next? My logic is getting very thin. Here is my latest plan, and if this doesn't work I probably will do the SVCD2DVD and try it. Anyone having more ability to reason than I do, tell me if you think this is a good plan.I have a video clip AVI with DIVX(MPEG 4) video, VBR MP3 audio. I have spent considerable amount of time trying to get to VOB file to burn a DVD. Because of the VBR audio I was advised to extract audio to wav format using Virtualdub, next using headAC3he, to convert wav to mp2. Then run clip in TMPGEnc to encode and extract MPEG 2 video only using the Baldrick guide. I have a good m2v video file and good mp2 audio file. However, when I simple multiplex them in TMPGEnc Plus it is a mess. Has jerky video and garbled audio. I don't know how to fix this, but I was thinking of trying to convert wav to AC3 and see if this will mux with my m2v video. I am now in process of using Ulead, to get this video clip to a VOB file. This program does the complete operation, from AVI to and including burning to DVD disc. I don't know what quality I will have, but it can't be much poorer than what I have already done. Ulead project completed and same mess as when using TMPGEnc and others. The only reason for trying TMPGEnc Plus was to get the best quality possible. To add to this article I also put the good video m2v file and the good mp2 audio file in TMPGEnc DVD Author last night. I got an error messageafter it had authored about 25%. So I tried it again from beginning and got same error message . I went to folder where I had assigned and had two file folders from both trys. Each folder had a video-TS file. I played the thing in Power DVD and had same mess that I described in the other post. I have downloaded DivFix and checked for errors in my original AVI file, per DivFix, it has no errors. I have also downloaded ffmpeggui 0.4.8 and am considering using this to convert the wav audio for this video clip into AC3 and use the same TMPGEnc Plus to simple multiplex video and audio together again to see what happens. It has also been recommended to me that I should use SVCD2DVD to do this procedure. Foz is one confused dude. Thank you. Foz