Trying to convert flakey wmv to anything

[borra]

Hello everyone,

I have been coming to this site for several years *vcdhelp.com* but this is my first post. I have several wmv files that play great with windows media player and zoom player considering encoders puke on them. During playback, the video gets messed up sometimes in certain spots, and other times the video pauses while the audio is still going but then the video will jump a head and sync backup with the audio.

This isn't a problem since it doesn't happen all that often and they audio/video always stays in sync.

My problem is when I try to convert it to mp4 for my iphone, or to anything else. I have tried a few conversion program but I keep having errors. Some will have major audio/video out of sync, others will output a file that just contains a small portion of the original, others will just get stuck on the conversion process.

I can do a screen record via camtasia studio if I have to, but I am hoping to find a converter that can handle this job. Any ideas?

Thanks

[Baldrick]

Try reconvert it using windows movie maker, you can output it as dv-avi or uncompressed or as new wmv.

[borra]

movie maker gets hung at converting, and so far so does Xvid4PSP.

videora ipod converter will convert them, but audio/video is out of sync starting about 20-min into it and after about 60-min its alot more out of sync.

I have tried TMPGEnc and and AviSynth and I think TMP will hang and AVi will output a small uncompleted file.

[Relayerman]

I, too, have found WMV files very difficult for converters to handle (I usually convert them to XVID or DIVX). However, after a long search I found one that works and keeps the audio in sync (that was my biggest problem with most so-called WMV converters): imTOO MPEG Encoder. Don't let the name fool you as it converts all kinds of formats to other formats. They have a new version out (v5 I think) that is not as good as v3.1. The trick for this is to go to their File menu and select the Load DirectShow file. The regular, and default, file loader does not use DirectShow and that is needed for the WMVs. On a 2 hr 10min movie the conversion, while long, ended up perfect. I recommend the software for the WMV conversion. Can't say anything else about the other formats as I don't use them. I have tried about a dozen different 'converter' apps with no luck with WMVs. Get v2 if you can still get it. I want to say I paid about $20 US for it. It may have been a tad more; don't remember. It was worth it to me to get DVD-quality WMVs converted to DivX.

(edit: http://www.imtoo.com/download.html has 2 links for the imToo MPEG Encoder under Video Tools. One for v5 and one for 3.1. I recommend the 3.1)

[borra]

Thanks for the info Relayerman. This one also blows up at about 1% of the encoding which is around 51-seconds into the video.

At this point, the video kind of smears, pauses, plays for a second or so, then pauses again and the video starts playing again. While the video is goofing off, the audio is playing through with no problems. When the video starts up normally around 1:01 the video is perfectly in sync with the audio.

I originally thought these video goof ups were done during the recording period but since the encoders are having problems I guess the video is messed up just enough to work in players but mess up the encoders.

Please keep the recommendations coming.