HELP! MOV to DVD- Audio squashed to beginning of DVD, catching flight soon!

[wildgeese]

So, I know I deserve no mercy for doing this at the last minute, but life is crazy and if anyone is lurking and can help me out immediately, I'd really appreciate it!

I created/edited a movie at work using iMovie. It took forever to export the movie into a reasonable format, which is another story. To be safe, I created several formats. By the time I was done, I didn't have time to create a DVD there. I took it home where I have:

FFMPEGX on an Intel Mac running OSX 10.4.11.

The movie that has the highest quality video is the MOV version. HOWEVER. When I try to convert this to DVD/Video TS, the video remains excellent but the AUDIO is all squished hyper-fast into the first few seconds of the movie! Ridiculously fast, and the rest of the movie is silent. I have tried converting it several different ways and it just comes out the same. I have even tried substituting the ac3 audio from the AVI version, although I don't know if I'm doing that right. That did not work either.

I am at wits end. I have to catch my flight soon and have not slept. If anyone is there and knows how to correct this or has any ideas, please help!!!

Please keep in mind- I have posted here before but am a relative newbie. I follow directions really well! But I do not know a lot about video jargon and so if you don't keep the answer basic I may not understand you. Happy to give more details if someone answers and tells me what you need to know. THANK YOU!!!!

[Case]

If you still have the output file with fast audio, then you can save a lot of time by using that, as it seems to have good converted video. Converting video takes the most time, so any chance to avoid yet another video encode is a time saver.

I'll show you how to create a DVD (VIDEO_TS folder) from the .m2v (converted) and the audio from the MOV file.

1/ If you do have the .mpg file, but not the intermediate .m2v file, get MPEG Streamclip. Open the .mpg in MPEG Streamclip. If you get a warning about a missing MPEG-2 Playback Component, then ignore that ("Continue"), as this specific procedure doesn't require it. File > Demux > Demux to M2V. Now you have the video-only part (.m2v) again.

2/ Get the audio from the MOV file. If you do not have QuickTime Pro, you may use MPEG Streamclip for this. Open the MOV in MPEG Streamclip. File > Export Audio. Settings: AIFF, Stereo, 48 kHz. OK. Now you have the audio in an .aiff file.

3/ Convert the .aiff to .ac3, using ffmpegX, preset: Audio file to ac3 (last preset). In the Audio tab, set Channels to Stereo, and lower the audio bitrate to 224 kbps (as 448 kbps is meant for 5.1 channels). Encode. Now you have a matching .ac3 file.

4/ Next use the Mux tool (Tools tab, Mux sub-tab) in ffmpegX to multiplex the video and audio. With the Video button, select the .m2v file. With the Audio button, select the .ac3 file. Set Mux as "DVD", and (checked) Author as "DVD (VIDEO_TS)". Mux. You should get a VIDEO_TS folder now.

5/ When it's done, check the VIDEO_TS folder by playing it, in VLC or Apple DVD Player. It's probably a good idea to check every file in every step, in order to catch any errors/bad conversions as soon as they happen, before using the file in a next step.

[wildgeese]

Hi Case! Long time no see, and thank you for replying! I was falling asleep... it's 4am here. (My flight is in the morning- later in the morning.)

I did delete all files from that encode; I thought it was no good. So I will get the re-encode going now and tell you how that goes, when I follow your instructions.

Thank you SO much!

[wildgeese]

Hi again Case,

Well, it worked and it didn't work. It was definitely easy to follow your directions, so thank you. When it was done muxing, the audio matched up perfectly. However there were weird random flashes, of what I can best describe as tetris-looking colored pixels in various places across throughout the video.

I am officially out of juice- literally passing out. 5:30am here. That may account for possible glitches. In any case, Case, I have to sleep on this and hope I might have down time at the airport to complete this or something, though I will be offline then.

Thanks again for your help tonight! It might just pan out. I will let you know!

And I love your avatar.

[Case]

However there were weird random flashes, of what I can best describe as tetris-looking colored pixels in various places across throughout the video.

That could happen if the video bitrate is too low. For DVD at 720x480 and 29.97 fps, the video bitrate should be around 4000 kbps. If the bitrate was somehow set for another codec and/or resolution, then it might be set way too low (1500 or less), with pixelation artifacts as a result.
You could try 5000 or 6000 if you think you need to re-encode again, but that would limit the duration to about 90 minutes, if the encoder actually can use the extra bitrate.

I hope I might have down time at the airport to complete this or something, though I will be offline then.

I thought most airports have WiFi connectability?

[wildgeese]

Hey Case,

I forgot to say thank you for your help. I was running around all that week and ended up going home with the flu, and forgot all about it. But your advice worked perfectly, and my video even generated applause part way through!

As for WiFi in airports, I think it would be more accurate to say they're supposed to have it- I've only hung out in four different airports with my laptop, but so far it's never worked! Oh well.

Thanks again!!! You rock.

wildgeese