mpv / mpa Macintosh Help !

[squeed]

I have an .mpv and a .mpa file that I am ready to burn to a SVCD using VCD Tools. My problem is, I don't know how to get them into a .mpg file.

What is my next step and what software do I need to use to combine them into an SVCD compliant MPG File ?

-S

[Ross]

Check this site http://homepage.mac.com/rnc

[squeed]

That site looks like it is down. Is there a mirror ? Also, are you directing me to a MAC solution or is it a Virtual PC solution to the MPEG-2 Conversion issue ?

[Ross]

This hosted by Apple, should be up soon as there is no mirror.
There are three guides, 1) using VPC, 2) OS9 or Classic, 3) 100% OSX

[squeed]

I am a very casual computer user and I have been to the FINK site that you recommended. I don't understand what I need to do in order to compile the tools that you recommend. Do you know when it will be available in regular OS X format ?

[Ross]

squeed:
I've never tried this before, but it's worth a try.
I posted a link to a compiled mplex in the news section of the site.
Maybe it will work, either way let me know.
What we really need a member with more *nix knowledge to build the app.
Maybe major can help.

[squeed]

Ross, I tried it but I get

mplex: Command not found.

Any ideas ?

-Squeed

[Ross]

no symbolic link
try starting the command with ./
ie ./mplex -V -f 4 -o movie.mpg video1.mpv audio1.mpa

[squeed]

Closer, I get a

**ERROR: File video1.mpv not found.

And I named it exactly. Also, I am new to UNIX as of tonight. I get this when I open the terminal which looks like an error to me.

Welcome to Darwin!
/sw/bin/init.csh: No such file or directory.

[squeed]

Ross:

Sorry, I did name it incorrectly. It did something because I have a movie.mpg. I will attempt a burn to toast and post results tomorrow.

-S

[Ross]

Good...Very Good

Be sure to go back to the guide and pick up on the next step.
GNU vcdtoolsX http://www.sbpr.a.se/vcdtoolsx/

Before you burn you can play the svcd mpeg with VideoLAN
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download.html (MacOS X package at bottom of page). After videolan installs, move your mpg file into the vlc folder, then in terminal type
vlc movie.mpg
To quit. use control c
The GUI open file works with standard mpeg2, but does not support svcd encodes, so you have to use command line interface (CLI) in terminal.

There's a email link on my site, drop me a line so I can keep up with your progess.

[squeed]

OK, it didn't work. I burned the files and the CD looked like a SVCD but it didn't play in my DVD player that does play SVCDs. I think it is because I didn't follow this step:

Step 3 Add “user data blocks” , convert packet size to 2324 and multiplex into program stream.

How do you do this ?

-S

[Ross]

Mplex would handle that function.
Use MPEG Info http://www.sbpr.a.se/systemjammers/index.html
to look at the properties of mpg, make sure it is set up correct.
What software did you use to build the file structure, cue/bin, .img?
Review all the steps again, be sure to burn as XA , ect.

[squeed]

Here is what I have done to date.

Step 1.

I started with 2 files

Video.m2v
Audio.mp3

Step 2.

I used MACMpeg2 to decode the video into an MPG-1
file.

Step 3.

I opened QT 5.0 and loaded my video. Then I opened
another QT session and opened the audio. I copied the
audio and pasted it into the video. By luck or some other
measure unknown to me, they synced perfectly. I saved
the QT as video.mov

Step 4.

I used MPACK to convert the .MOV to 2 MPG-2 compliant
files using your settings and I had:

Video.mpv
Audio.mpa

Step 5.

I used the command line that you helped me with and MPLEX
converted them into an MPG-2 file.

Movie.mpg

Step 6.

I Used MpegInfo to view the file. It looked good. Then I used VCDTools the GNU interface to convert it to .BIN .CUE

Step 7.

I moved the .BIN to Toast using Multi-Track XA

Step 8.

Burn

Step 9.

Play in VCR. (Didn't work)

Step 10.

I tried using MAC Binchunker 1.0b3

Step 11.

I tried to re-burn (Still didn't work)

[squeed]

Obviously above I meant Play in DVD not "Play in VCR" of course it wouldn't work if I tried to shove a CD/R into my VCR.



-S

[major]

your DVD player doesn't play it because you're burning the .BIN file. You should use the ToastXAImager tool from VCDToolsX which will save two .IMG files and burn them instead.

[squeed]

I tried what you said and it worked!

But for some reason the sound is out of sync with the video. At what stage do you think that this happened?

I thought that I got too lucky with that Quicktime paste situation. When I saved it to a .MOV (With normal dependencies) it is perfectly in sync.

So somewhere between MPACK and Burning it came out of sync.

-S

[Ross]

major is right

I talked to the author of vcdtoolsX about this, here's the transcript:

Ross: However toast will only take the bin without the cue. Cue is required for the file structure of a svcd. Bin only is good enough for vcd.

Jesper: And yes I know that toast will not burn the svcd-output from vcdImager (in vcdtoolsX). Thats not the meaning of it. ... Those files can easily be burned with CDRWin for pc.

Therefore, you will need a XML script and use the toastXAimager tab on vcdtoolsX.

Download or copy the single clip XML file from my site, edit the name of the movie to match yours. Don't use the options (in green), make sure all text is black. Save as plain text (Format->Make Plain Text if your using TextEdit in OSX), change extention to .xml

I think your almost there!!!

[squeed]

What "Green" options was he talking about ? I am assuming that what he was referencing was this example but there is no green text per the reference ?

__________________________________________________ _________
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE videocd PUBLIC "-//GNU//DTD VideoCD//EN" "http://www.gnu.org/software/vcdimager/videocd.dtd">
<videocd xmlns="http://www.gnu.org/software/vcdimager/1.0/" class="svcd" version="1.0">
<option name="track pregap" value="152" />
<info>
<album-id></album-id>
<volume-count>1</volume-count>
<volume-number>1</volume-number>
<restriction>0</restriction>
</info>
<pvd>
<volume-id>VIDEOCD</volume-id>
<system-id>CD-RTOS CD-BRIDGE</system-id>
<application-id></application-id>
<preparer-id/>
<publisher-id>VCDImager</publisher-id>
</pvd>
<filesystem>
<folder>
<name>SEGMENT</name>
</folder>
</filesystem>
<sequence-items>
<sequence-item src="test_svcd.mpg" id="sequence-00"/>
</sequence-items>
</videocd>
__________________________________________________ ___________

[Ross]

The green is only on the html page. Doesn't matter if it worked.
Quicktime has been know to round off frame rate.
What size is the .mpv in step 1, if it's 480x480 you could convert the audio to mp2 and go staight to mplex.

[Ross]

major: I hope you back up all this tech support, squeed teaches the next class.

[squeed]

Don't worry, I'll pitch back my fair share. After I figure this thing out I am going to post "The Layman Guide To SVCD"

I'm serious. I have been at this for 4 months. I think I have enough bad CD/R in my trash can to provide 1 drink coaster to everyone at this years superbowl.

The file is actually an .MV2 not an .MP2. Here are the specs on it.

Codec : Animation (1.1)
Dimensions : 720 X 480 (4:3)
Clip (tblr): 50 0 0 0
Output Size: 720 X 430
FrameRate : Force 23.976
Bitrate: 24500

-S

[Ross]

Sounds like you've come a long way, just hope we get to the end.

MV2,M2V, and MPV are mostly interchangable for mpeg2 video streams.
MP2,MPA is like MP3 mpeg1 layer 2 or 3 are audio streams, not interchangable in this case, as svcd standard requires mp2/mpa.

In your case the .mv2 is in the wrong size for svcd, it's in dvd size.
So, decoding to Quicktime then re-encoding is your only choice.

The setting I used in my guide were for souce material at 29.976 (ntsc) frames per second, yours is at 23.976 (film). I would think you need to re-run the m.pack step using 23.976 fps.

However this does not explain why QT played it in sync. There is a post on another forum talking about the cue file having offsets that sync the A/V. Using the xml method eliminates that problem.

[squeed]

I think I am starting to see the light.

Let me ask you 2 things.

1) Should I be using CUT & PASTE in QT to put the video and audio back together again ? OR, is there a better way ?

2) Is the 23.976 vs 29.976 a factor in the audio synch ?

When I cut and past the audio into the video of QT, when you look at the slider bar you can see that they don't match up perfectly. There is a 1/4 gap at the end.

-S

[Ross]

1) You should be using Add or Add Scaled.
2) Search this forum about audio out of sync. This is not a new problem!
3) Go get yourself a copy of QT Mutator, I think it will all become clear to you then.
http://macdvd.org/lukifer/dvd.html

[squeed]

Ross, I have tried QT Mutilator, I think that it changes the video and audio of the file. Is this true ?

Also, what exactly does "Add Scaled" mean ?

-S

[Ross]

Your own post last week showed a link to blibbler's synching tutorial.
A reminder that more and more dvds are found with alternating frame rates. Shrek for one switches about four time. It is important to rip by chapter or scenes. It's easier to sync ten 15 miniute clips than one hour and half movie. Opening splash scenes may or may not be offset with the audio track.
The authors of recent mpeg decoders are aware of this. mm2d does not look for changes in rate, mm2c does but may not reproduce it correctly, mediapipe may be close to getting it right.

[squeed]

I am aware of mm2c and mm2d, what is Media Pipe ? Is that a freeware program ?

-S

[gojera]

I think QT's "Add" simply pastes in the audio track to the movie, while "Add Scaled" scales the audio to fit the movie. Maybe it's in QT Mac Help. I imagine that QT Mutator would be a better option than "Add Scaled."