DVD sound sync, Is there really a solution????

[randym431]

I have been through a maze of posts from people with audio/video sync problems. I have played with video capture since the first Snazzi Mpeg capture cards, then Dazzle, then StudioDV, and on and on. Every product has its audio/video sync problems. Forums are full of people crying for help. There are tons of suggestions, you can spend lots of money on software and hardware, but the problems are ever continuing. I've read post stating to get a new sound card or video card, different brand of memory, disable your taskbar clock, and only eating well done foods. It all seems like a joke. I think all this software to make DVD's is only meant for making a 10-15 minute DVD. Anything over an hour, and the sync goes. Nothing really seems to solve it. I'm now using the latest MYDVD by Sonic, and naturally, sync problems galore. I almost went to and purchased Ulead Movie Studio, but see they too have sync problems. They offer a patch, which many have said doesnt work either. So whats the big fix? Do you have to buy those $1000 DVD programs to get results. I know it has to be possible to make a 2-hour DVD thats in sync, after all the dvd's you buy are in sync. You should not have to go through all this and still have no real solutions. BUYERS BE FORWARNED!!!

[rphunt]

This is a very young industry, in tems of consumer DVDR. A/V sync problems can vary, depending. So, the solutions vary.

The problem can happen during capture, encoding, or authoring. For capture and encoding, reMUX is usually the answer. For authoring, well, the authoring tool has to be fixed, or the video lengths have to be kept to around an hour.

To make DVD authoring affordable to joe-public, shortcuts must be taken, which introduce issues between the multiple applications that need to be used. Hopefully, longterm, the shortcuts will boil down to a set that all developers can deal with, and provide the public with a stable set of tools. Also, as chipsets improve, and drivers improve, some the shortcuts will no longer be needed.

"It's a very groovy time."

[SLK001]

Don't blame the DVD Authoring program for you A/V sync issues. They have nothing to do with it. The audio sync issues that you are refering to originate at the capture process and need to be cured there. For instance, my capture card will maintain a perfect A/V sync IF you feed it a good video signal with a good horizontal sync signal (it uses the horizontal sync as the starting reference point for both the audio and the video streams). However, feed it a bad video source, like say from an old video tape, and A/V sync issues will abound (since the horizontal pulses have degraded below the required specification over time). Capping from a normal television broadcast should present no problems to anyone trying to capture. If it does, then I would be banging on my capture card vendor demanding better software.

I capture from laserdisks and convert to DVD. If I use common sense in the conversion process (ie, trim the audio and the video simultaneously), the audio at the last of the DVD is just as "in-sync" as the audio at the first.

[tvtuna]

If the MPEG2 file I am feeding my authoring program is perfectly in sync, why shouldn't I blame my authoring program?

I can't see how I can have a capture problem and have it not show up in my MPG file.

I am having an audio sync problem both with Ulead's Video Studio and Sonic's DVDit.

Can anyone explain what is going on behind the scenes - why does DVDit demux and remux audio that was in the proper format to begin with?

If I look on any of the manufacturer FAQ's the emphasis is on Video Performance issues. I can't see why, if my output from the authoring program is steered at the Hard Drive, that performance has anything to do with it - it is not a real time problem, as it would be if I attempted to burn in one shot.

The problems go away if I use NeoDVD for Authoring, but it manages to turn a 3.7 GB MPG into a 5.7 GB VOB. It will all be perfectly in sync, but now it won't fit.

Sorry if I sound grumpy - it is directed at the folks who are selling us this stuff, not against anyones opinion in this forum.

[thxkid]

Ummm, my Panasonic DMR E-20 has no sync problems at all but then again its originally a $1500 recorder before It dropped in priced and I got it for $699, but then again its got a bunch of different filters, TBC corrector, YBC corrector, Panasonics own VBR HY-Brid MEPG2 solution, it does not matter what siginal I feed it it always comes out perfect even the 2hr 25min AI dvd came out great. Remember consumer solutions are never gonna give you the same results as professional recordings, there is a reason they do costs thousands more to buy , watch when the sub $500 Cheap DVD recorders finally hit the market, watch these same sync problems come back.

[mpb]

Exactly... I can make a PERFECT Mpeg2... capture straight to uncompressed AVI, filling 60+ gigs on my drive to get a movie, and this is at 352x480 mind you, and then whether I split off audio, encode, and remux... OR just convert entirely with TMPGenc Plus (I went ahead and bought it)... I wind up with a spot-perfect Mpeg2 video file. I can make a compliant VBR Mpeg2 file at 352x480, 704x480, or 720x480, and it's perfect no matter which way I go. Sync from the first second to the last.

In fact I can burn files like that which are 700mb or less to a CDR in data disc format and my apex will play them just fine...

However!!! There must be a way to make the DVDs where the audio does not go out of sync. DVDit PE, Ulead DVD factory, all these chucklehead authoring softwares seem to always want to break up and remux my damned video! What up with that? What sort of file can I feed them that will not be remuxed? I don't want the software doing the encoding... I can't get a nicely tweaked VBR/CQ movie that way. I have not yet tried spruce-up... that's the one I still gotta check on.

Is there any software yet that will recognize a validly encoded Mpeg2 file and just VOBulate the damned thing without sticking its processes into the soup? I don't even mind writing my own IFOs with ifoedit. Of course since the VOB/BUP/IFO mix is more entwined than that, this likely isn't feasible.

I gotta give props to Ulead, at least theirs doesn't try to video re-encode... whereas the sonic dvdit always wants to do so. In fact for making VCD or SVCD, the Ulead DVDMF is near perfect. It leaves my files alone, the menu system is simplicity itself, the chapter skips even work on my DVD player, which isn't supposed to be possible. If only it would handle DVD video as well.

[mikerios]

Ulead DVd MF & WS once the patch is applied indeed did fix the audio synch issues for me and now author prerender mpeg2 files perfectly. However DVDIt does suffer ( for me for now ) the dreaded audio synch issue ( 2 - 2 hour movies with 20 chapter stops each using the KDVD template ) and I have not tried the same thing under DVD WS or MF to see if it too louses up the audio.

I too agree I wonder why it must demux and then remux perfectly good mpeg2 files. Other than thaI agree the industry as a whole is very young with respect to consumer products and thus all the issues, however I also think consumer systems with all there varibles tend to be harder to pin down errors than the software desgined for proefessionals / systems. To that end I tend to build my systems with high end components to minimize headaches, but they still come the same and I am more than willing to put up with it.

[mazinz]

the problem is usally both the capture card and of the dvd program are at fault. trust me i am running in some highly shitty videos complete with video drop outs and more. My files that are captured are amazingly 100% insync. its when it goes to author it losses it. the main reason is that their may be video dropouts or other info that is invisible to the naked eye, but not to these programs (which is why some of these programmers should have taken into consideration that most people may be running in not so nice videos). So although it may cpature in sync (somewhat of a record on the fly so to speak) when these author programs take that file and remux it to a vob all of the problems that were invisible during capture now become apparent.
Supposedly using a Time base corrector can highly fix this problem, as those assign numbers for each frame of a video. Although i finally did pick up (but returned) the phillips dvd homedeck recored and since it does record on the fly my main file with problems came out perfect. In the future a combo between a recorder and my pc will be the nice hookup for me
Try using spruceup (if you can find it) as that allows mpeg audio and your files DOES NOT have to be demuxed in order to input it. Most of the files i have had problems with work fine with spruceup

[mpb]

Success tonight!

I applied the patch, burned, and still got out-of-sync audio, and couldn't figure it. I went ahead and had it author the VIDEO_TS directory to my hard drive. The resulting directory played fine under PowerDVD.

Burned it with PrimoDVD and again with Nero, both were OK. In sync all the way to the end... even on a film 150 minutes long.

Still working on the direct burn, but realistically, it's not even an issue. I always like to make an image first, then burn it as data to DVD-RW to make sure, and Ulead sometimes kicks down to 1x when it doesn't have to, where the other software tends to run at 2x with most media.

This is really odd because I can't figure the difference in UDF between burning an image and a disc. Maybe it fails to clear out its own workspace in between... I dunno. Commentary welcome.

Hardware:
DVR-104 Pioneer
P4 1.6ghz
ata-100 7200rpm drives
512mb ram.

Software:
Ulead DVD factory w/patch
tmpgenc plus 2.54
prassi primo DVD
nero 5.8.something

-Mike

[tvtuna]

I did try the file again that failed Ulead and DVDit with NeoDVD and the sync problems did go away. How ever they do it, it fixes the problem, but the extra storage for VOB files limits this program to 90 minutes video in 4.7 GB. I did run a test of recording a movie off of HBO that looked real solid when played back on my VCR, but it too was subject to the sync problems.

Since I am feeding NeoDVD an MPEG-2 file, the quality remains good. I have seen some complaints on here about the quality or NeoDVD's output if you feed it an AVI and have it do the encoding.

I am into preserving other folks home video (mostly relatives and friends).

Until I get a solution to how to do this for more than 90 minutes, I will supply 2 - 1 hour DVD-R's and bump up the quality to a video bit rate of 6000.

If anyone can find Spruce Up could you please post a pointer on here.

[rphunt]

VOBulate--yes, I like that.

[mikerios]

not sure why you are bumping up bitrate to 6000, as I never go beyond 4500 for dvd-r rips, but then AVI to mpeg conversion may need that extra bits, I do not know, but I am suspect. I can pull 2 to 3.5 hours per dvd-r depending on the template I use in TMPEGEnc ( currently trying the KDVD template from www.kvcd.net ), albeit it's from film and not video, but results still look fantastic hence going beyond 4500 for me is a waiste.

[tvtuna]

It all depends upon what one is trying to do. My problem is in taking someones wedding (or graduation etc.) 2 hour VHS and putting it on DVD-R.

Since the only audio-sync cure for me was to Author with NeoDVD, the two hours (bit rate 4000) won't fit (probably because they are PCM encoding the audio). This means I have to use two DVD-R's. While I can get 90 minutes on each, I only have 2 hours of material. I chose to increase the bit rate to 6000 to utilize the remaining space on the disk and possibly increase the quality a little.

[zukoff]

I agree with the complaint about the problems with the software.

My new Dell PC came with Sonic DVD3. When I convert from a downloaded .avi file to a DVD, the audio lags by about 10 seconds.



I have tried--

Sonic--lagging audio
Direct CD-totally hosed up my PC
Pinnacle Express-the VCD had NO audio


Last week, I had to do a system restore, because it seems that Direct CD corrupted my machine, and it does NOT come with an uninstaller! Roxio told me to do some regedits to clear it up, BUT be CAREFULL (I didn't do it). It even got to the point where Norton's Personal Firewall would not start.

I refuse to pay for a downloaded version of software, because if I ever have to reformat the disc, I am the LOSER

I just want to burn a DVD or a VCD, but the software ALL sucks. I don't need a hobby, just software that works!



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