Authoring DVD-R at 29.97fps

[nomisco]

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to burn to DVD-R at 23.97fps? The only template included in TMPGEnc for NTSC DVD is 29.97fps. Most DivX movies are encoded at 23.97fps. This creates real headaches trying to convert whilst keeping the audio in sync and not creating jerkiness in video. I don't have the is problem with VCD because it has a 23.97fps NTSC (film) template. Has anyone got a DivX at 23.97fps and burnt it to a NTSC compliant DVD with perfect results yet? ie. no loss of audio sync, smooth video playback.

Thanks

[bugster]

Two options spring to mind. Both require you to use TmpGenc to encode at 23.97fps.

Option 1 - Enable 3:2 pulldown in TmpGenc. This can be found on the settings dialog, advanced tab

Option 2 - Use TmpGenc to encode video only, then use pulldown.exe on the output file. This will also add the 3:2 pulldown flags. I find this preferable to option 1 as it causes less probs with DVD authoring software, esp DVDit PE. Tho I can think of no good reason for that to be tha case

[nomisco]

Thanks Bugster. I gave the pulldown thing a shot and it worked like a treat - the whole thing is perfect now.

Thanks again

[nomisco]

Update...well, I thought it was perfect. Used the 3:2 pulldown to convert the 23.97fps to 29.97fps. Checked some filters - sharpen etc. Encoded with TMPGEnc - this took my 104 minute avi just over 10 hours to encode! Then burn to DVD using ULead - the film plays fine, but after about 10 minutes the audio sync starts to slip. Before I was doing a 5 minute clip of the film to test, but unfortunately I didn't see the audio problem which occurs after 10 minutes or so, by 2/3 through the film I get about a 3-4 second delay on the audio. There must be someone who has got a 23.97fps DivX to work fine all the way through. Luckily i have been testing with a DVD-R/W so I haven't made any coasters. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks

[bugster]

Your Audio SYnc probs could be caused by your DVD authoring software. I don't use it myself but I am sure I have heard of audio sync probls with some Ulead products in other forum postings.

I use MyDvd for authoring. Its limited and basic but generally does the job I need and with PCM audio I get no sync probs.

[nomisco]

Interesting you should say that, I have noticed that during the creation process, it says it is multiplexing audio/video, I wonder if this could be the problem? On a related note, the audio does not lose sync with the video if I play the MPEG file through Media Player....

Thanks for being so helpful, I appreciate it.

[bugster]

Interesting you should say that, I have noticed that during the creation process, it says it is multiplexing audio/video, I wonder if this could be the problem? On a related note, the audio does not lose sync with the video if I play the MPEG file through Media Player....

Multiplexing audio/video is normal for a DVD authoring proggy, but if done incorrectly could cause sync problems

[dvddarren]

If you play back the 23fps video and the new 29fps video and check the length of the films, you will probably find that the one with the 3:2 pulldown flags is longer.

I have had this problem also.

Check the length of your audio compared to the length of your video, they will be different sizes

[nomisco]

Well, if I open the original DivX source avi in Media Player and also open the encoded MPEG2 file, they both show 1:43:26 for the video length. However, if I look at the properties of the PCM (decompressed) audio file in Windows Explorer, the file length is 1:43:51. So I guess I need to shorten or "squash" the audio down by 25 seconds, then re-encode the whole thing...there goes another 10 hours...

[dvddarren]

if u use pulldown on the video, it should make it longer and should fit the audio

[nomisco]

I tried to shrink the audio down by 25 seconds using Sound Forge, but when I loaded the wave file into the program, it says that the length is already 1:43:26. So I set a target time of 1:43:26, it processed something, I will have to try this. If you a have the audio at say 192Kbps and when it is encoded to the DVD standard, encodes it at say 384Kbps, could this affect it?

Also, you may be aware that using Virtualdub to convert the compressed audio in the avi to wave gives an error message and says it will change something (VBR to CBR?). Is Virtualdub likely to have done anything to the file which would produce this kind of error?

To recap, I had taken the output wave from Virtualdub, loaded it into TMPGEnc along with the avi video source, set 3:2 pulldown, then encoded.

Puzzled...