Taxi's Saga of Agony and Dispair

[SuicideTaxi]

This is a continuation of this problem here.


If you read the thread I linked above, you'll know that I'm a stone novice at DVD authoring, and that I'm working on my first DVD project. The problems I listed in the previous thread I thought were solved, but apparently I was fooled by my stand-alone DVD player, a Sony DVP-NS300. My DVD project plays fine on that player and on my computer, but apparently does not work in any others.

The problem is audio. When played in other players the audio sounds distorted, but in my Sony standalone it plays fine. In PowerDVD & other software it plays fine, and when the audio track is played alone in Winamp, Win Media Player, etc, it plays fine. For those who havent followed Taxi's Saga of Agony and Dispair, here are the specifications of my video project:


- Footage shot with a Sony TRV830 camera
- Footage captured on a Windows machine on a Pinnacle DV500+ card
- Footage codec is Pinnacle codec, default NTSC settings (720x480, 48K audio)
- Footage edited in Adobe's After Effects and Premier using the Pinnacle codec
- Complete Premier project exported as .avi using the same Pinnacle codec and settings
- Exported .avi (which is 15 gigs) re-encoded using TMPGEnc (audio & video)
- DVD authored with DVD-Lab (latest version, I cant remember what it is)
- .m2v and .wav file from TMPGEnc imported into DVDLab with no problem
- DVD burned with Nero (latest version, cant remember what it is)


The video looks beautiful. The menus function perfectly.The audio however, it sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks on any other DVD player but my computer and my Sony standalone.

I dont know what to do, and most of all, I DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON. My audio track, (all 740 frickin megs of it) is encoded as 48K PCM like every tutorial on earth seems to say it should be. It also plays fine before burning to disk. I dont understand what is wrong with it or why it wont play on other players correctly.

I also dont understand the entire audio format/specifications/parameters regarding DVD's. As far as I've been able to teach myself, the audio you burn to disk should be a 48K PCM file, and if there is any problem with it, the DVD authoring program should reject it. Well mine is exactly 48K PCM, and DVDLab accepts it without a hitch.

Can someone be kind enough to explain, in non-intricate dullard terms, ( I'm not en engineer or technician, although I dabble in it. I'm a photographer and editor!) can someone explain how DVD audio works, what is the "standard" for DVD burning, what I could possibly be doing wrong, and most of all, WHY THIS P.O.S. WONT PLAY CORRECTLY!!


As usual, thanks for your patience & time!

[SuicideTaxi]

[secretagent]

seems to me your problem occurs when you reencode the audio in tmpgenc the worst audio encoder on earth and the other eight planets nearby. use tmpgenc to encode the video only and use your exactly 48k wav alone and then import both to your authoring program

[SuicideTaxi]

Did that


Didnt work.


Just now re-encoded the base .wav file with BeSweet to AC3 and its burning to (yet another) DVD as I type.

I'll prolly be back here to cry and bitch in about 10 mins. Unless it works. Then I will prolly be in hospital getting treated for heart attack.

[SuicideTaxi]

Ok, re-encoded to AC3 48K in BeSweet, and now on my Sony standalone the audio plays at like 2X speed. Sped up. Like people are on helium.


I just dont understand what the hell could be causing this.

[SuicideTaxi]

In every program I open up the base .wav file in, the file reads as:

Wave PCM signed 16 bi, 48000Hz, stereo


Now correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldnt that burn to DVD with no problem whatseover?

[David K]

Just a shot in the dark here, and forgive me if I didn't read the whole record below (as we say in the law)

but

Did you at any point resample your audio to 48 Mhz? Check the sample rate of your original audio file. Check your Sony Camcorder. The default setting sampling audio rate on that camera is 33 Mhz because it records in two separate stereo chanels. You have to switch it to get it to record in 48 Mhz.

I've had that chipmonk effect when I've taken a lower sample rate (33 or 44.1) audio file and then resampled it (the wrong way) to 48.

Of course, that still wouldn't explain why it works on some players but not others.

[SuicideTaxi]

It's captured, edited, and exported at 48K Hz.

[secretagent]

it is possible that your audio is recorded at a variable bit rate instead of a constant bitrate? open audio in vitual dub and see if it tells you that the audio is at a variable bitrate.

[SuicideTaxi]

Okay, here's the play so far-


I deleted all of my audio files. Started over, clean slate.


Went to Premier, exported audio only. Settings:


Rate: 48,000 Hz
Format: 16 Bit Stereo
Compressor: Uncompressed
Interleave: 1/2 Second


That .wav file was then imported into DVD-Lab, where it was used as the audio track and the DVD was compiled.

The DVD was then burned in Nero.


Result: Same thing as before. Plays fine on my Sony standalone and computer, plays at 2X speed (chipmunks) on other standalone players.


------

So I'm getting the same exact result regardless of whether I use the raw exported soundtrack from Premier, or if I re-encode with TMPGEnc, BeSweet, or anything else.

Is there possibly something burning wrong? Is there some kind of audio setting in Nero that would cause this to happen?


Guys, I'm really starting to panic. This project is a month overdue and it's all because of this stupid audio not burning correctly. I really could use some help cuz I dont know wtf Im going to do.

[FulciLives]

Hello

I don't know if BURNING is the problem here but MANY people have trouble BURNING with NERO so you might want to try another burning method.

One way (which has always worked for me) is to use the Classic version of ImgTool to create an IMAGE file from your VIDEO_TS folder then BURN that IMAGE file with DVD Decrypter.

You can find ImgTool (classic version) on the DOWNLOAD section of the DOOM9 website. There is a download here as well but it takes you to a website that is not in English whereas the DOOM9 website just downloads it direct when you CLICK on the FILENAME.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Both ImgTool (classic version) and DVD Decrypter are FREEWARE programs. Not to mention that many people find that that combo creates compliant DVD discs much better and easier than MOST versions of NERO

[SuicideTaxi]

I just dont understand how the audio can be screwed like it is. I've done everything I can think of, I've followed every tutorial and reasonable advice offered to me, yet it still does the same thing over & over. No matter how I encode it, (and Im not kidding- I've encoded and burned like 30+ DVD's trying) the raw audio from Premier sounds fine when played on a computer in audio editing programs and players. I've tried burning the audio every way imaginable- raw as is, re-encoded in BeSweet, re-encoded in TMEPGEnc, etc etc, and the resulting audio tracks sound fine on the computer as well. (Sounds fine in editing programs, sounds fine in Win Media Player, Winamp, Premier, and it also imports fine into DVDLab.)

Yet when it gets to disk it wont play on other standalones. Plays FINE on my Sony standalone, but on any other, the audio is destroyed. It also plays fine on computer DVD players.

I can only imagine that perhaps I am missing something in either DVDLab or Nero which is resulting in a fubar audio track??? It seems odd to me that no matter how I encode the audio, by the time it gets to disk the result is the same- fubar.

Any ideas?

[David K]

A few random thoughts.

Does the screwed up sound happen right after you jump to a chapter in your DVD or does it happen when you play straight through from the beginning? I notice that in my DVDs from my own home shot footage that on some players I get a speeding up of both video and audio when I jump to a chapter. I don't have a solution but I have seen this phenomenon.

Why don't you download a trial version of Sound Forge 6 and work on the audio track with that. You can open up a graph of the sound file and look at it and then try re-sampling it etc. This program has many more options than the freeware programs you have been working with.

Your pain is our pain. I hope you find the solution.

[SuicideTaxi]

The Saga Continues:



The soundtrack was replaced with a temporary file. The new file was exported from Premier and then opened in Windows Media Player and Winamp, where it played fine. The file was then opened in GoldWave (version 5.04) and checked, and the file shows:

Wave PCM signed 16 bit, 48000 Hz, 1536 kbps, stereo

The file was then opened in VirtualDub (version 1.5.4) and checked, and the file shows:

Sampling rate: 48000Hz
Precision: 16-bit
Channels: Stereo
Bandwidth required: 188KB/s



The file was then imported to DVDLab, where its attributes show:

FPS: 48.0 Hz
Ratio: 16bits
System: PCM
Status: OK

The DVDLab project was then compiled, then burned with Nero.


Result: Same as before. Garbled audio from the very start of the DVD.


------------------------

The soundtrack was then re-encoded in BeSweet to .wav. I ran into much difficulty here because BeSweet has about 10 million toggles, and so far I haven't found a BeSweet tutorial showing how to convert wav to wav. However I "winged it", and the resulting re-encoded file was played in Windows Media Player and Winamp, where it played fine.

The re-encoded file was then opened in VirtualDub and GoldWave, where it showed the same attributes as listed above.

This file was then imported into DVDLab, encoded, and burned with Nero.


Result: Same as before. Garbled audio from the very start of the DVD.


------------------------------


So the only thing I can think of to do at this point is take someone's advice and move away from Nero. I doubt it's DVDLab that's causing the issue since (from what I understand) DVDLab doesnt do any type of re-encoding. So taking someone's advice, Im going to attempt a burn with DVD Decryptor.

Expect me back here weeping and moaning in about 20 minutes.

[SuicideTaxi]

[begin weep]

Ok well, as per suggestion, I compiled the DVD in DVDLab, made an image of it in ImgTool, then burned the iso in DVDDecrypter.


Guess what?


Same exact deal as before - plays fine on my Sony standalone, runs at chipmunk speed on any others.

[/end weep]

[dcsos]

Suicide Taxi
NEVER INTERLEAVE AUDIO at the HALF SECOND RATE IN PREMIERE

Try putting your audio with every frame and let us know what happens

[flaninacupboard]

would it be possible to do your authoring in DVDlab, and then use a seperate program (i would suggest Ifoedit) to author -just- the video and audio file you are having problems with, and then simply overwrite just the main .vob files in the DVDlab authored directory from the .vob files in the ifoedit directory? this way dvdlab will have set up your nice menu etc, and ifoedit will have done the actual multiplexing. i'd also suggest you examine the settings of your MPEG2 file, as it does sound like a multiplexing issue. what bitrate/VBV settings are you using in TMPGenc?

[BJ_M]

SuicideTaxi
see your personal message- the offer still stands

[SLK001]

Here's what you did:

One (or more) of your audio tracks was recorded in either 16 bit at 44.1ksps, in 12 bit at 44.1ksps, or in 12 bit at 48ksps. You then changed them to 48ksps by simply adjusting the bitrate (this just changed the HEADER in the file, and did nothing to the audio). This was NOT what you needed to do. What you needed to do was to RESAMPLE the "off" audio files to 16 bit 48ksps. Since your resulting audio sounds like "chipmonks", you have probably recorded at 16 bit, 44.1ksps, which will give you this result once speeded up.

So, go BACK to your original files, and RE-EXTRACT the audio files. Use a good audio program to tell you what the files were recorded at, then convert those not at 16 bit, 48ksps to DVD compatible audio - 16 bit at 48ksps.

[SuicideTaxi]

The soundtrack was re-exported from Premier with "1 frame" interleave.

The file shows up the same as all the others, 48K Hz PCM wav 16bit Stereo in every program I open it in.

Burned to disk, and same result as before. Plays fine on Sony standalone, plays at accelerated speed on others.


------

Also, I think I can rule out the burner or Memorex disk I've been using, since I've copied movies with the same disks and Nero setup and they've play fine anywhere I play them.

[dcsos]

Sorry that didn't fix the problematical audio,
but always using the 1 frame interval will provide much better results
in any file format you output in PREMIERE and it should stay selected that way the next time you go there..
Especially if you put content from Premiere on the web, the audio with every frame can solve many sync problems. Unless the audio interleave is 1 frame , your clips may appear out of SYNC, even if they actually are fine.
If I can think of anything else...I'LL BE BACK

[SuicideTaxi]

Problem solved [url=https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=165501]here![/i]


BJ_M is my new hero.

[michaelyoung]

Hello,
Could you please post the details of what the encoder settings that you used to correct the 'chpmunk' problem?

Thank You,
Mike

[gnocchi_ny]

First of all, this web site and the forum discussion have been extremely helpful. I've learned so much about video and audio encoding, ripping, converstions, etc and still have plenty to go...

I've been running into the funky chipmunk problem on certain standalone players (works on my Pioneer but chipmunk on my Apex) when I burn. (Un)fortunately it doesn't happen when I review it using PowerDVD on my computer. I am using the following for tools:

-GoldWave for audio extraction
-Tmpgenc for video encoding
-DVDLab for authoring
-Nero for burning

Could someone please post thier tmpgenc settings for the encoding process? I am trying to go to DVD-R as well. Aparently another one of your posts mentions that video was the problem and not the audio.