TMPG shows incorrect length

[agent222]

I have some tv show files that I acquired. In order to ensure the the audio, and, video are insync (as well as to change the format to full screen,) I routinely decompress the audio, then recompress it with the video using TMPGEncoder. But today I noticed that TMPEG, when I went to recombine the files, showed nearly triple the actual length of the files, (from about 43 minutes to to 120 minutes plus,) what gives?

[Baldrick]

It's usually because of vbr mp3 audio. Did you select to open the video only and then the extracted audio? And try change the directshow reader priority in tmpgenc / tmpgenc plus.

[agent222]

Baldrick;

Yes; the method you described in your second sentence, is exactly what I did. After decompressing the audio with GoldWave, many times, the audio is totally separated from the original file, (no audio remains.) In any case when I "load" the files into TMPG I do select the remaining video file, and, the extracted audio, as separate files.
As for changing the direct show priority, I believe that there is a posting/"sticky" on that. Presuming that I'm right, I'll have to look it up, and, check those settings.

[akrako1]

I've noticed a problem with TMPGEnc misreporting the length of avi's - mainly with xvid and divx. This happens when I drop in the video clip, before I select a seperate audio file - so it has nothing to do with the audio. If this is your problem, then read the following:

I've found a very simple way to overcome the problem to that TPMGEnc will recognize the actual length, and can use that to choose an appropriate bitrate... Here's what I do...

Drop the avi into TMPGEnc. 'next' thru to the screen where you pick the bitrate. It displays the length at the top of the frame. If it's incorrect, hit 'back' to get back to the previous screen. Click on 'source range'. You'll get a new window popup. Click on 'move to end frame'. Then click on 'set as end frame'. This tells TMPGEnc to actually use the last frame as the real last frame. That's it! Now it will report the proper length of the clip. Hope this helps...

[agent222]

Actually, somehow my original clips came down as Mk2 instead of avi.
I've since went to another source, found the files I wanted, made sure they were avi, and, had no problems this time around.
Either I didn't notice that the files I originally downloaded were this mk2, or, I somehow changed the format, though I can't see how I could've done that.
thanks for the help anyway to our beloved moderator, and, to you akrako1