VCD > DVD Sync problems.

[ulyanov]

I've got some downloaded TV eps that are all VCD formant, and am having a lot of trouble converting them to DVD.

They're NTSC with a 44.1K audio track, and whenever I convert them to DVD compliant the audio ends up from 4 to 6 seconds out of sync by the end of the file.

I have tried:

Full TMPEG conversion (video and audio)
TMPeg video and toolame audio
TMpeg video, extract audio as 44.1K wav and then convert
Tmpeg video, goldwave extract and resample audio at 48K, then convert

They all end with a similar result. The weird thing is that the original mpeg1 file is in sync all the way through, but if I extract the audio to wav, the track is the 5 or 6 seconds shorter. I think this is the problem, but I cannot figure out why! I've even just now demuxed one of the offending mpeg1 files, and the mp2 file is short!

I have 24 episodes to do, the first 6 worked, but only with the toolame conversion, the next 6 worked, but 5 required the internal mp2 converter from a goldwave resampled wave file, and one had to be manually stretched using chickenman's guide - http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59487

The next 6 are really annoying me - I don't want to have to guess the chickenman thing for each file, but I can't get them right using regular methods...

any hints as to why the demux would come up wrong would be cool...

uly...

[Forum Troll]

There's really no need to convert them, since VCD is a valid format for DVD. You might try simply importing them into TMPGEnc DVD Author, and it will automatically conver the audio to 48 Khz, and make a DVD for you.

[ulyanov]

Nah, I've put a lot of work into making motion menus in DVDLab, so don't want to use anything else.

DVDlab doesn't like MPEG-1, at least for previewing et al.

I think I'm going to have to use the chickenman hints, because everything else I have tried has come to naught.

I did find out why they are in sync as downloaded - Presentation Timestamps - https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=174728

Unfortuantely I am not happy with the remedies offered - I don't like the idea of reencoding mpeg1 - mpeg1 - mpeg2

Though, I think I will try mpeg1 - mpeg1 - demux - resample - mpeg2 (from org mpeg1).

ghods... this is getting worser and worser...

uly...

[fmctm1sw]

DVDlab doesn't like MPEG-1, at least for previewing et al.

I've had issues with MPEG-1 and DVDlab as well. I ended up doing this:
demux
convert MP2 to wav
resample with SSRC
convert to AC3
Then use dvdauthor and the associated gui.

I know you got menus though. I havn't upgraded dvdauthor for quite some time. I don't know of its menu making capabilities...

[ulyanov]

Hmm. I reencoded mpeg1 - mpeg1, leaving the audio alone, and it stays in sync, but it actually pauses the sound intermittently to accomodate the PTS, I think.

Back to chickenman, after all..

[ulyanov]

Looks like it's crap source files.

Now that I'm paying them more attention as I try to stretch the MP2's to suit the video I'm finding little pops and clipped words - a bad cap, I'd say.

All that said, I'm having some good success with chickenmans method, except I'm going a little further with it.

I'm using Pinnacle Studio just to play back the files, but with the seek window I can get the accurate MM:SS:FF where the word starts for the audio and the video, and Punch that into an excel sheet that will auto generate the required playback rate so that the resample is damn near perfect. Out of 6 vids I've done tonight, I only needed to redo one, and I think that was cos of a typo.

Annoying, but I'm happy for now. Thanks for the suggestions...