How do you do DVDR w/AC3?

[Soapm]

I first want to get a temperature check. When I make a DVDR from an AVI file with AC3 sound I perform the following steps;

1. Separate the WAV file with VDUB.
2. Convert the WAV file to AC3 with BeSweet.
3. Encode the AVI video to M2V with TMPGE Pro.
4. Combine the M2V and AC3 files into a VOB file with TMPGE author
5. Burn VOB files to DVD-R.
*** NOTE *** If there are two or three AVI files I first append them with VDUB then follow the above steps.

What do you guys think of my procedure?

Problem: I like the wizard in TMPGE because it looks at the source video to determine the video type (interlaced etc…), field order, if 3:2 pull down is needed etc… It even looks at the aspect ratio and I can still make my other tweaks by unlocking any field I want to change. I believe the M2V file TMPGE produces for NTSC is always 29 fps. Is this correct?

The problem is if the source video was 23 fps and the M2V file is now 29 fps. When I put the two together the audio gets off more and more as the movie progresses. I believe this is what is happening. Does this make since?

What I believe I need is a tool like GSPOT that can look at the M2V file so that I know if I need to convert the frame rate of the WAV file in BeSweet during the WAV to AC3 conversion. Is there such a tool? Also, will the frame rate of a NTSC M2V file created in TMPGE always be 29 fps? If so should I look at the initial AVI file and if it is 23 fps, convert it to 29 fps so it will match the video that comes out of TMPGE?

[sterno]

If you have tmpgenc encode with the NTSC template it produces a 29.97fps MPEG. If you use the NTSCFilm template you'll get a 23.97fps MPEG. If your source is 23.97fps you should use NTSCFilm.

The audio shouldn't need to be converted for 23.97fps vs. 29.97fps, but if your source is 23.97fps and you encode it with the plain 29.97fps NTSC template tmpgenc may be doing an improper frame rate conversion. That could cause sync problems or jerky playback.

[Soapm]

The audio shouldn't need to be converted for 23.97fps vs. 29.97fps, but if your source is 23.97fps and you encode it with the plain 29.97fps NTSC template tmpgenc may be doing an improper frame rate conversion. That could cause sync problems or jerky playback.

Thanks for the help. I have been playing with TMPGE and noticed you are right. When my source AVI file is 25 fps or 29 fps it sets the output to 29 fps. However, when the source AVI is 23 fps is sets the output frame rate setting to "23.976 fps (internally 29.97 fps)". What does 23.976 fps (internally 29.97 fps) mean? Do I need to do any converting to the AC3 file to make it match this setting?

[sterno]

That reflects the use of 23.97fps and 3:2 pulldown. The pulldown flags are embedded in the MPEG to tell a player to telecine the video (convert it to 29.97) on the fly when you watch it. You should not need any audio conversion for that.

If you start with 25fps and want NTSC output you should probably do a proper conversion to 23.97fps with avisynth or Virtualdub and besweet, or simply encode it as PAL if your player can handle that.

[Soapm]

If you start with 25fps and want NTSC output you should probably do a proper conversion to 23.97fps with avisynth or Virtualdub and besweet, or simply encode it as PAL if your player can handle that.

Cool, maybe this is the source of my problems. Like I meant to say, it doesn't happen very aften but I do notice that every now and then the audio seems a bit out of sync. You have to be watching real closely to notice it.

Going forward, when I have a AVI file that is 25 fps, I will forst use VDub to convert the AVI file from 25 fps to 23 fps. Then split the WAV file and proceed with my normal procedure. Do you think this will work ok?

Also, do you have a link handy for converting the frame rate with VDub?

[sterno]

You probably want to extract the wav file first, then change the video frame rate with VirtualDub and the audio rate with besweet.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/78178.php