Extract WAV from DivX -> AC3 for DVD

[Mickey79]

Hi,

I have a DivX video file. I'm trying to make a DVD.
I have learnt that it's better to extract the Audio from the file to add it seperately with the video in TMPGEnc for encoding.

Can someone guide me to the settings in VirtualDUB for extracting the Audio for DVD?

Once i have the WAV file... i will use BeSweet to convert it to AC3 .. are there any special settings i must keep in mind?

Lastly, when i run the wizard in TMPGEnc to encode my video(avi)+audio(wav) to get my dvd compliant mpg2 video ... i could determine most other settings in TMPGEnc, except one.. at the end, just before start, it asks one question : "Output Video & Audio as Individual Elementary Streams" ... Should i have this one checked or not?
If i check it, i get 2 files.. .m2v and .mp2 seperately.. instead of one .mpg file.

Also.. once i have extracted my WAV from the DivX AVI file... do i need to save my AVI with NO AUDIO through VirtualDUB, and use that in TMPGEnc or just use the AVI that i have which does have sound, but give seperate Audio (my WAV file) ?

Thanks..
Mickey

[Baldrick]

www.dvdrhelp.com/virtualdubaudio
www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/129419.php

or convert the avi directly to ac3 with my ffmpeggui.

Only encode the video with tmpgenc and join the video and audio when you author and burn, www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/186739.php

[Mickey79]

YOU ARE THE MAN!
Awesome.... thanks a lot. Got everything i wanted to know.

One question - In the guide, it talked about CBR (Constant Bitrate) ... why not VBR (Variable Bit Rate) which has the 2 Pass Encoding?

Thanks,
Mickey

[djblade]

"Only encode the video with tmpgenc and join the video and audio when you author and burn, www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/186739.php"

to do the above, how do you know what bitrate (in tmpgenc) to use so the the audio and video files will fit to the 1 dvd in your authering programme..?

tia

[FulciLives]

"Only encode the video with tmpgenc and join the video and audio when you author and burn, www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/186739.php"

to do the above, how do you know what bitrate (in tmpgenc) to use so the the audio and video files will fit to the 1 dvd in your authering programme..?

tia

You need to use a bitrate calculator

CLICK HERE

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[djblade]

done that, from what i can gather, its best to use extracted wav files, i take it thats the highest setting in the bitrate calculater audio dropdown menu....?

[yepyep]

ffmpeggui02c rox. After fighting with saving wav's it's a great relief.

I'm pretty new with this and not running any super sound equipment here - just my TV's 2 speakers, so I dont know about the quality but the ease of use and speed is definitely there. Couldnt be simpler.

If it says 'finished' immediately there's a codec problem.

[Mickey79]

I had a Question ...

I successfully converted a DivX file using TMPGEnc and its' audio to AC3 using ffmpeggui ... got them into DVDMaestro and made the chapters, menus etcetera... and finally burned the DVD using Nero6. It turned out Superb!

Coming to other videos files now... i have various formats..
one file is 352 X 288 format
another is 720 X 352 format

When i'm setting up TMPGEnc to encode them to .m2v files... is there something special i must keep in mind, like the aspect ratio or something?
I was giving "1:1 VGA Full Screen Keep Aspect Ratio" in TMPGEnc and 4:3 in DVD Maestro. Has this to change now in any way in both TMPGEnc and Maestro when it's a 720 X 352 or 352 X 288 file?

Any guidance appreciated..

Mickey

[yepyep]

Using "Full Screen Keep Aspect Ratio" is how you do it. This tells TMPGenc to put the black bars into the movie and shrink or expand it so it fits into the dimensions you set on the video tab.

At this point, the movie is ready for Maestro, or whatever program you use to compile the mpg (mpv) into vobs with (I'm a dvd-lab fan). All the compiler should have to do is put the streams together and make the menu... which is what you are doing.

Those other video sizes will come out fine the way you did it. Be sure to specify the source aspect ratio correctly on the Advanced tab according to the AVI's spec, which is best found with AVIcodec. Aspect and 'Full Screen Fit' are the only 2 settings I set on that tab. When needed, TMPgenc auto-checks the inverse telecine, and I just let it do what I thinks is best there.

Be sure to check that audio before using on a DVD. I have found some that are just static. The last 3 I've encoded with ffmpeggui came out as static, but worked fine with BeSweet.

I discoevered the hard way that ffmpeggui's (beta build 2) AC3 output text field is editable but it ignores any changes you make there... use the 'browse' to set the file name for output.

Good Luck

[yepyep]

Oh, and you will notice that the specified aspect ratio in a movie is not always the same as the actual dimensions. This is OK, er, well, I have not had problems with it, once I decided to ignore this fact.

AVICodec will says "16:9" on some when the size is really 4:3 because it's reading the header info.. So if it says this you have a movie with bars already...

The real fun starts when you take a 2.1-1 or 2.5-1 movie and process it properly in tmpgenc but it comes out as a 16:9. bleh.

[Mickey79]

Astrum!

That is some really cool information that i definately needed.

What comes to my mind is, what is the difference between 4:3 & 16:9 on the TV Screen?

What i mean to ask is.. once i have encoded my divX or whatever into the mpeg2 format video using TMPGEnc keeping 1:1 VGA Full Screen Aspect Ratio.... and once i have brought the file into DVDMaestro for Authoring the menus & burning it... there is column in Maestro where i can specify 4:3 or 16:9 Letterbox... how do i decide which one to use?

Thanks,
Mickey

[yepyep]

I dont know that much about the Maestro..

You can open your VOBs with BSPlayer and hit the aspect ratio button to for it to size the video, and if it looks right as a 4:3 then you are good to go. Some of the BS skins, like Crystal, have a button right on the player to rotate aspects. I'm specific about this because I have had video's that looked all scrunched up when first opened on the computer, but were really fine.

16:9 on a DVD Player is for wide screen tv's. I wish dvd players could do the letterboxing so that these dvdr's would be good to go when 16:9 tv's are the standard here in the states (ie cheap) but such is not the case today. 4:3 DVDR's will come out as 4:3 on a wide screen too.

So... my answer would be try one and then the other, test the vobs before burning.

FYI I'm using TMPGenc right now to do both audio and video on a couple movies that just wont match up with the timing. With tmpg video and ffmpeg ac3, DVD-Lab shows the video steam as 1:40:33 and audio as 1:40:27. I tried adjusting the start point for the audio but it is just impossible to get the whole movie right. Also tried VDUB 'omg' mod with streams for the audio, same problem. I think there's a problem in the original, just have to play with it till it's OK or get a new source I guess.

[yepyep]

It's not 'omg' it's 'ogm' but OMG is about right considering the power and ease of use of the VirtualDub mods