Problems converting DivX to VCD

[ashsharma]

I've been following the very helpful all-in-one guide on this site to convert AVI files to VCD, and it works really well... for the first disk.

But when I try to encode the second half of the movie using TMPGEnc it produces an MPEG with audio several seconds ahead of the video.

Is there some kind of offset I need to put in for the source if splitting an avi into two parts so that the audio is sync.

It's very strange because the first half of the movie is perfect.
Please give me some advice.

[johns0]

Are you splitting the divx file before you encode or is it in 2 parts or are you encoding using source range in tmpgenc?

[ashsharma]

I'm using the source range on tmpgenc to split it into two files.

[johns0]

Sometimes divx files have errors in the frames and cause the audio to go out of sync,this can happen in any part of the movie,you`ll have to scan the file and watch for any parts that look like noise or partial images and edit them out with virtualdub.

[ashsharma]

I think the divx file is fine.

The audio simply starts a few seconds before the video for the second half. it seems to me that I'm getting the settings wrong when trying to encode it.
It's perfectly in sync at the end of the first Mpeg, but then completely out of sync for the next Mpeg so it must be something I'm doing wrong with tmpgenc rather than the wav or divx file?

[ashsharma]

I've just tried it again but split the file at a different place, and the sync issue still happens, so it can't be a problem with the divx file and must be a problem with my encoding. any ideas?

[mats.hogberg]

VBR (MP3) audio? That can confuse TMPGEnc. When "splitting" a DivX, I've found it much better to frame serve from VirtualDub, and set the range in VDub instead.

/Mats

[ashsharma]

Not too sure what you mean? can you explain a bit more. I'm using a wav file for the audio input extracted using virtualdub.

[johns0]

Doesnt matter where you set the source range once you get that bad frame,the rest of movie will be out of sync,if a bad frame occurs at 40 minutes of the movie and you set the range for 50 minutes and then try 45 minutes for cd2 you will still get sync errors.

[ashsharma]

Ah, but I split the divx earlier than when the sync problem happened before and it still happened this time again.

The sync was fine on the first mpeg which I cut at 60mins, then bad afterwards on the 2nd mpeg.

Then when I tried to encode it again, I cut it at 30 mins, which was in sync when I played it back, then encoded the last 60 mins which is now completely out of sync by about 4 seconds.

[mats.hogberg]

can you explain a bit more

Well, just open your DivX in VirtualDub and set start (0) and end (middle) frame. Start frame server (movie.avi.vdr). Tell TMPGEnc to encode it all.
Set start = "middle", end=last. Start frame server again (movie.avi.vdr), and tell TMPGEnc to encode it all again.

And of course, you have scanned the AVI for bad frames, and removed them if found. This should always be the first step taken dealing with AVIs.
Guides for both frame serving and scanning for bad frames can be found here at DVDRHelp.

/Mats

[johns0]

Have you thought of encoding the movie without splitting the avi or without using the source range and split the mpg after?

[ashsharma]

Have you thought of encoding the movie without splitting the avi or without using the source range and split the mpg after?

Ok how do I do that then? Is it possible to split using VCDeasy? because I'm putting chapters in too before burning.

[ashsharma]

can you explain a bit more

Well, just open your DivX in VirtualDub and set start (0) and end (middle) frame. Start frame server (movie.avi.vdr). Tell TMPGEnc to encode it all.
Set start = "middle", end=last. Start frame server again (movie.avi.vdr), and tell TMPGEnc to encode it all again.

And of course, you have scanned the AVI for bad frames, and removed them if found. This should always be the first step taken dealing with AVIs.
Guides for both frame serving and scanning for bad frames can be found here at DVDRHelp.

/Mats

thanks for the help. At the moment I'm using virtualdub just to extract the audio to a wav file then using this as the audio input for TmpGenc, is this not the best way to do it then?

And how do I scan for bad frames? using virtualdub?

[mats.hogberg]

split the mpg after?

To my experience, this is a very unreliable method. It may work, but you might as well introduce desync. It's so unreliable, I try to avoid it if at all possible.
When you extract the audio - how do you do that? Are you using full processing, or Direct Stream? You are aware, that if you choose "Direct Stream" (default iirc) under Audio and try save wav, you get a file that ends in ".wav" and has some wav headers, but in essence is the audio in the format it's encoded in the AVI. If it's VBR MP3 audio in the AVI, just saving wav will give you a wav still containing VBR MP3 encoded audio...

/Mats

[ashsharma]

I'm doing full processing with no compression.

I'm following the all-in-one-guide on this site to the letter but can't get the 2nd mpeg right.

[johns0]

Splitting mpg`s is reliable using tmpgenc to demux and then use bbmeg to cut.Been doing that for a few years with no problems.

[ashsharma]

I'm beginning to think that my copy of tmpgenc is corrupted or something. I've had pretty much every possible error message listed on this site for it.

Plus when I split the avi using source range I get an 'invalid pointer' message that keeps popping up. anyone else have this problem?