Joining two AVIs in TMPGEnc Xpress

[jeanpave]

Hi. TMPGEnc Xpress seems to have a problem with the audio in AVI files. Whenever I try to edit such a file, I see nothing but noise on the green audio bar. It's hard to describe in words, but, believe me, if I play the file imported in TMPGEnc Xpress, I hear only something that's sort of a continuous, deafening guitar riff, instead of the regular audio. I understand it's probably the wrong audio filter being used by TMPGEnc Xpress, but how can I fix it? Any kind of help would be great, please. Thanks in advance.

[Baldrick]

Does it happen with ALL avi files? What is the audio codec in those avi files? Do they play fine in wmp?

Maybe try reinstall xpress and uninstall codec packs.

[jeanpave]

Hi. Thanks for replying. I only tried about 4 AVIs (- movies from the Internet, all -), and, yes, it happens with all of them. They play fine in all media players I have, including WMP. (Also, if I use DivX Converter to make another AVI from the original AVI, the new AVI has the same problem in TMPGEnc Xpress. Because I don't know what codec was initially used to create that file, maybe this bit of information helps, instead.) By the way, I used GraphStudio to render one of the files, and see if I can figure out something. But everything seems normal: file -> AVI Splitter -> ffdshow (for both audio and video) -> renderers (for both audio and video) I have a lot of programs that work with files. And I also have the K-Lite Codec Pack. If I uninstall all of them, wouldn't it kind of create havoc in this Windows setup I have right now? EDIT: Hey, how come you can format your post properly? Whenever I press 'Enter', to space out my paragraphs, the board just ignores my 'Enter's. Or, I guess, it replaces them with another space.

[davexnet]

I had the same problem with formatting, turned out to be a Java Script turned off via Firefox's "Noscript" add-on.

Regarding the avi audio problem, try using Mediainfo to identify the audio type. For example, AC-3, Mp3 (CBR/VBR),
etc,etc.

[jeanpave]

Right you are, Davexnet. Thanks a million. (I am using NoScript, indeed.)

Okay, MediaInfo says the files are different from each other. Two are: MPEG-4 Visual Xvid with AC-3 audio stream; two are: MPEG-4 Visual DivX 5 with MPEG Audio (MP3). But they have the exact same problem.
This is, actually, the first time TMPGEnc Xpress gave me any kind of trouble.

By the way, good to talk to you again.

[davexnet]

Hi jeanpave,
The Xpress encoder? Which version ?
Look on the Tmpgenc sources page and it will tell you what filters it used for the audio and video.
What does it say ?

[jeanpave]

Now, I don't think it's Xpress' fault, anymore. (version 4.2.3, by the way)
It may be a codec, again.

I just tried editing a MP4 file, and I get the same audio problem.
(MPEGs - including VOBs - edit just fine, though.)

Where is the sources page? In 'Preferences'?

[davexnet]

Where is the sources page? In 'Preferences'?

No, not the preferences. It's the area where the source is opened. On one of the tabs it
it tells you about the video and audio it found, the media properties,
and the filters used.

[jeanpave]

Oh, right, sorry. I found the page.

Under the specifications, for both the video and audio streams, it says "DirectShow file reader", or "DivX file reader" when the audio does not work properly. (If it says something else, like "MPEG reader" or "QuickTime file reader", the audio is fine.)

I tried most types of files, from basic MPEG-1 to FLV.

[davexnet]

Is the audio only bad when previewing in Tmpg Xpress, or is it also bad on the converted file when it's played back??

[jeanpave]

It's also bad on the converted file. That's the big problem.

I'd switch the codecs TMPGEnc Xpress uses to process the files, if I knew how...

[davexnet]

I'm out of idea's . Somehow your directshow system is damaged.

[jeanpave]

Thanks anyway, Davexnet. (You're still a very helpful member of the forum, that's for sure.)

But is it possible to reinstall DirectShow, or something? - Can I get a newer version of quartz.dll, perhaps, and replace the old one?

I don't suppose it's possible to tell TMPGEnc Xpress to not use DirectShow, is it?

(...And there's also the DivX file reader, that causes the same problem.)

[davexnet]

There will be a backup in the dllcache, but it's very unlikely that's the problem.
Much more probable that you've got some codecs and other Dshow objects installed that just aren't getting along.

[jeanpave]

Okay, thank you.

I'll have to find a work-around.

[gyoshi]

You can disable certain file readers by going to the preferences-->input/output format list-->File input plug-in.
Then just uncheck the file readers you want to disable. 4.0 XPress will then try to use a different reader to open the file.

You might also want to update to the latest version of 4.0 Xpress; they're on 4.7 or something like that.

Another thing you might want to try is changing the settings for directshow codecs. For instance, when I have a problem, with a video that uses ffdshow, I can usually fix it by changing some settings in the ffdshow configuration settings.

[jeanpave]

Oh, I see. Thanks a million!

I didn't know whether I should mess around with those settings.


Do you think tweaking the ffdshow settings might work better, though? I know now that TMPGEnc DVD Author has the same problem with AVI files as TMPGEnc Xpress, so I'm thinking perhaps the settings in each individual program are fine. (I wouldn't know what to change in ffdshow, however.)


Thanks again, Gyoshi!

[jeanpave]

The problem got solved, on its own, by way of an interesting mixture of events.

Because of the K-Lite Codec Pack (- no doubt -), I was having some problems with Windows Explorer. (It was telling me it has to close.)
After tracing the error to libavcodec.dll, the first time, and to ffdshow.ax, the second time, I deleted both of these files from the K-Lite ffdshow folder in Program Files.
Later, I ran Filmerit and asked it to 'Repair All'.
It got rid of the registry references to those defective files, I rebooted, and then voila: TMPGEnc Xpress now processes the audio of AVI files just fine, without my modifying any TMPGEnc settings.

I guess I have to say it again, be careful when using K-Lite.