tmpgenc help needed please

[kazz0817]

ok i am finally getting the hang of tmpgenc, however im having problems with sound now, i am following one of the guides off here, all is going great till i get to the sound, i think im mising something out.....tmpgenc author wont accept the sound file i extracted from my video with virtuadubmod, i exctracted the audio as the guide said (going to streams then click demux) and i got a mp3 audio file which when i try to put into tmpgenc author, it wont accept cos its the wrong format, can someone please tell me what i did wrong?

[kazz0817]

ok read a few more topics, and im confused, im kinda thinking i should have converted the mp3 audio from virtuadubmod into wav, or ac3 before going onto the next step of the guide, but which? wav or ac3? or am i wrong and my mp3 file "should" be working with tmpgenc dvd author?

[daamon]

Hi kazz0817,

TMPGEnc DVD Author is correct in not accepting your mp3 coz mp3 audio is not part of the DVD spec.

As to whether you should go for WAV or AC3 - Both are acceptable, but AC3 is a much compressed audio format (leaving more room for video footage), but only a negligible loss in noticeable quality.

If you can't, extract as WAV and convert to 2 channel (stereo) AC3 using ffmpeggui.

If you can, extract the audio to AC3 directly from your source, rather than going through loads of conversions = loss of quality.

[kazz0817]

thank you! ok now i have a .wav file for my movie, thats my audio and video file all done

because i screwed up the sound do i have to start my whole project over? or do i just add my new .wav file to the existing video file in dvd author? just checking it will still be in sync and everything?

my video file comes in at about 3.5gb and my .wav file is 0.98gb does this sound about right to you guys? help much appreciated

[FulciLives]

thank you! ok now i have a .wav file for my movie, thats my audio and video file all done

because i screwed up the sound do i have to start my whole project over? or do i just add my new .wav file to the existing video file in dvd author? just checking it will still be in sync and everything?

my video file comes in at about 3.5gb and my .wav file is 0.98gb does this sound about right to you guys? help much appreciated

You have a slight problem ... 3.5GB + 0.98GB = 4.48GB but a DVD disc can only hold approximately 4.37GB

Best thing to do now is to convert your WAV audio to AC-3 as it will shrink in size BIG TIME and allow you to fit this project on a DVD recordable.

You can use ffmpeggui to convert the WAV to AC-3 but since you already have TMPGEnc DVD Author I suggest you purchase the AC-3 plug-in wihch is cheap and does a better conversion to AC-3 than what ffmpeggui can do.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[kazz0817]

if i get the ac3 plug in, is it straight forward to convert wav - ac3? also will my sound stay in sync cos of the screw up (sorry for repeating question )

[kazz0817]

one more question....if i have the choice to use ac3 or wav on a dvd, which is better quality? thanks for the help

[FulciLives]

I haven't used the TMPGEnc DVD Author AC-3 plug-in because although I do use TMPGEnc DVD Author I have another much more expensive program I got a year or so ago that does AC-3 conversion so I don't really need the plug-in.

However based on what I have read from those that have used the plug-in ... yes it is very easy to use.

As for the audio ... PCM WAV is a better sound format than AC-3 but PCM WAV takes up a HUGE amount of space whereas AC-3 is much more compressed and truth be told you would be hard pressed to hear the difference ... especially if the sound originated as MP3 audio.

So AC-3 is the preferred sound format since quality is nearly as good as PCM WAV but the AC-3 file will always be much smaller.

I suggest when creating 2.0 AC-3 (we call STEREO 2 channels or 2.0 AC-3) that you use a bitrate of 256kbps ... going higher than that is overkill.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[daamon]

but since you already have TMPGEnc DVD Author I suggest you purchase the AC-3 plug-in

As I understand it, this is assuming that kazz0817 (Karen?) has the latest version of TDA which supports AC3 encoding. Earlier versions don't encode or playback AC3 (so no sound when doing chapters), they just let it "pass through" and it comes out OK on the final DVD disc.

If it is an earlier version, use ffmpeggui (dead easy) as we've suggested above.

Good luck...

[andyp1]

Kazz0817 Just going back to your first post here.

Are you not over complicating things a little with the extra sound steps.

I have done plenty of conversions perfectly well and it seems to me that you are making things slightly more difficult than they need to be .

Let me explain my reason -

TMPGenc happily accepts mp3 audio so just stick your original file in TMPGenc and convert to DVD which will produce an m2v and wav file for you . Then open TMPGenc DVD Author when you get to Add File and find your m2v file it will automatically insert the corresponding wav file .

Because you converted it all in TMPGenc you would have set how much of your disc you want to use ie 96 97 98% or whatever so you know it will fit on a DVD-R.

The only reason people need to extract the audio is if the original file has AC3 sound .Because TMPG doesn't handle it that well.

Have you been extracting the audio for a reason or just because it seemed that it was what you should do ?

Or have I read it wrong ?

[FulciLives]

The only reason people need to extract the audio is if the original file has AC3 sound .Because TMPG doesn't handle it that well.

TMPGEnc does have trouble with some MP3 audio tracks muxed with DivX/Xvid although my understanding is only if VBR MP3 encoding was used (vs CBR MP3 encoding).

So it's not just always AC-3

Also you can get this utitliy called AC3 ACM Decompressor which does this:

"Install this and you can convert/decompress AC3 audio directly to WAV/MP3 using Virtualdub. This also works with AVIsynth, TMPGEnc, allowing you to use AC3 encoded AVI files, not normally recognised."

Although if you aks me it seems silly to feed TMPGEnc AC-3 audio as you are better off extracting the AC-3 and using it on the final DVD but I suppose it comes in handy for those that encode to VCD/SVCD since those formats use MP2 audio.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[kazz0817]

was just following a guide, and when i ran into sound problems, i was unsure what to do....i have done it now tho using ffmpgui (i think thats what its called) and am happy with results....thanx for the help....i ran into a problem with video in tmpgenc earlier.....712mb file (xvid) it was converting it for me, and all was going well till it got to 96% then a smal box appeared saying stream error, i clicked ok and lost the 96% it had already done.....im guessing i need to fix the avi b4 trying again right?

[daamon]

Try using VirtualDub :



...to "Scan video stream for errors..."

Hope that helps.