MPEG-1 Encoding Problem

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

Hello, this is my first post. I am still fairly new at this whole MPEG encdoding thing, but I have read almost all the guides on the site, and have sifted endlessly through this forum, and I cannot find a solution to my problem anywhere. I am encoding with a very low end system (400 mHz, 64 MB RAM; all my system details are listed), but it suits my current needs and I am able to capture (with WinTV) and encode, with TMPGENC, uncompressed AVI or DIVX to MPEG-1 for VCD's very well, up to the point that the problem occurs. The problem is this: If I encode an MPEG-1 file with audio (System Video+Audio, whether an audio track is actually present or not), it plays back in a swimmy, almost slow-motion way. The audio and video are perfectly synced up (I burned a movie to 2 VCDs and it played flawlessly except for the swimmy motion; this is how I know it is not just my PC), but the motion is not fluid like the source VHS or Divx. What I don't understand is that when I encode the same clip to MPEG without sound (Elementary Stream or System Video Only), it plays back as perfectly smooth as the source! I could burn this MPEG to a VCD and it would playback fluidly in my standalone, but with no sound. I have played around with changing almost every setting in TMPGENC (the problem occurs no matter what encoder I use), but the results are always exactly the same. Also, I could previously play a short MPEG clip I had downloaded, with sound, on my PC, and the playback had the fluid quality. Now suddenly the same clip plays in this slightly offset, slow-motion, and nothing has been changed on my system. Has anyone else ever had this problem, and could you please tell me what I am doing wrong?? Thank you.

[macleod]

I would suggest using dvd2svcd from www.dvd2svcd.org. Using the standard vcd template should rule out "human error". Barring that, it is quite possible that the audio is very low and you are trying to "polish a turd", basically you are taking a say 8mhz audio and turning it into a 44mhz audio file.

Dont know if that helps, but I would really recommend you give dvd2svcd a try.

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

Thanks a lot, I will try dvd2svcd immediately. I have tried to encode from Divx with raw audio that I thought was already 44.1 KHz Stereo, but it may have been a "polished turd", as you say, that someone else created. I don't think I have yet tried to match up the video to audio that was recorded at that quality, but I will experiment with it. However, as I stated, even if I encode in TMPGENC as if the file contained audio, but do not actually include an audio track, I still get the slow-mo effect.

[macleod]

what is the frame rate of the source. Standard VCD (NTSC) frames per second is 23.976 and 29.976. You may have a divs that is like 11 fps. Course, that would give you jittery video.

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

I capture my video at 29.976 fps. The one divx I encoded was 15 fps, but this jittering is happening with every MPEG with sound, even when I play short MPEG clips I have downloaded. That's what gets me: if it's NOT just in the playback process (since a burned VCD played on my standalone with the exact same jitter, and soundless clips play smoothly), then it must be something else. I HAVE noticed a discreprancy between the length of the MPEG audio and the length of the MPEG video in VirtualDub, but I don't know what changes VDub makes to an MPEG when it parses it, or whatever. The sound and picture are just not interfacing properly; the lips sync, but it is as if the video is just a few fps slower.

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

Just had the idea to try and encode the MPEG in Mono... The results were much better, much smoother. Not quite the same as the source but almost. Good enough. Too bad Nero says the file is not VCD compliant! I would let Nero convert it, but I have no idea what the result will be, and I am short on CD-R's and the cash for them right now. Maybe the Mono thing will give somebody an idea on what to do. Trying to figure out how to use dvd2svcd now...

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

One more thing I forgot, if someone can tell me... IS there a way to burn a Mono VCD? Just so that I have the option?

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

Burned a VCD of my nephew's Halloween trick-or-treating with Mono audio, remembering (duh) that I could make it non-compliant in Nero. Played fine (though I have to keep on working on capturing higher-res video), but in the near future I will be wanting to make VCDs with stereo audio. Would really like some help on this, please.

[macleod]

Does it do this on all of the dvd players that you have tried it on? My mmother in laws toshiba is real picky on the audio for VCD. Barring video and audio, thinking something with the dvd player or the media??

[21stcenturyfilmmaker]

No, this happens on the PC, too, before the MPEG is even burned. Plays smooth without audio, plays jittery with (but only if it's stereo; mono is fine).

[andkiich]

Also, DO NOT LET NERO ENCODE your MPEG-1. It does not do a very good job. Put your faith in the dedicated encoders for that task.