Audio/Video dubbing for VCD's

[ScttW15]

I'm using VIRTUALDUB to dub my AVI files into a supported format to convert to mpg and burn to VCD. On the Video compression, I use Divx 5.0, and use MPEG layer3 on the audio, it seems to work fine, my only question is, are there better codecs that I should be using? It seems that even though my VCD's work on my player, there are still some VCD compatible players that they do not work on.

[KingJohn]

You need to explain more, why are you using Vdub to "Dub" into AVI's ?? are you saying you are capturing them to DivX 5 ?

TMPGEnc will convert what ever you have to mpeg1 for VCD's. But it does sound like you are encoding twice ??

[bprothero]

It sounds like you are capturing in a lossy codec (DivX5) then encoding into yet another lossy codec (MPEG1). You would be better off capturing to a less lossy (ie. MJPEG at a high quality setting) or loseless codec (ie. AVI, HUFFYUV) then encoding to MPEG.

[ScttW15]

When I DL a video file from Kazaa, and try to go straight to TMPEGnc, it gives me an error saying "File not supported", thus using Virtualdub. When I run it thru Virtualdub, Using DivX 5.0 for Video compression, and Mpeg - Layer 3 for Audio, TMPEGnc will then accept the newly created file for conversion to mpg, so that I can burn it to VCD. I'm SURE there is a better way, but, as you can see from the section I'm posting in, I'm a newbie at all this. Thanks for any help that can be offered on this.

[KingJohn]

Hi, right..

When you download the movie from Kazaa it will work with TMPGEnc, you don't need to convert it to another AVI type before converting to mpeg1.

Mostly AVI's need the correct codec... You can right click the AVI and select properties, to see what Video codec was used.... Then install that codec

"File not supported" means you have something missing from your system, usually a codec. So start by downloading and installing the Nimo codec pack, this has a good range of popular codec's.

Once you have the correct codec for the movie, it should go straight into TMPGEnc without a problem. However some of the movies you download might have bad frames, which you may need to remove before VCD conversion.

So start with the Nimo codec pack, See if that fixes your problem.

Like this
1, load AVI into Vdub and scan for bad frames.
Video > Scan video stream for errors
1b If it finds bad frames,
Video >Direct Stream Copy and
Audio > Direct Stream Copy and
SAVE AS, save out another copy of AVI

2, Now that the AVI is junk free, load into TMPGEnc.

2b Select options > environmental settings
2c click the VFAPI plug-in tab
2d right click the "DirectDraw" and select higher priority, do this several times until its at the top with a value of 4

Now load a PAL or NTSC template and run.

They are the basics, but there is a lot more too it. Also if it loads into Vdub and you are able to convert it to DivX 5, it sounds like you have some codec working, if you have the SMR (Angel Portion) installed, then un-install it, that can also cause more problems.

Make sure you have the latest TMPGEnc (TMPGEnc-2.55.38.142)
ASF, WMV files also behave differently, what is the movie type ?

[KingJohn]

P.S

You can also try streaming another copy of the AVI, that can also fix problems.

3, Load into Vdub
3b, Select Video > Direct Stream copy
3c, Select Audio > Direct Stream copy
3d, SAVE AS, save out another copy with a different name, and use that with TMPGEnc