Need help with the best encode method....Plus getting errors

[Vachoen]

Total Newbie here, so I am not sure where to post, and I have several different questions.

I have a lot of music videos that I am capturing to put on DVD for personal use. I am capturing using the Canopus ADVC 100. Then I trim the file with Virtual Dub. Then I was encoding with TMPGenc Express 3.0 and using Roxio DVD builder 6 to make the DVD (Don’t like Roxio, but it came with the drive.)

For the Encoding I was letting TMPGenc encode the audio and video as a system. I have been reading on this site that you should not do this. Every where I read it says I should encode video only. The audio should be extracted using virtual dub and saved to a wave. Then use a program to normalize the audio before adding it back when you author a DVD. What is wrong with the encoding as a system??? I tried both ways, and the only difference I can tell is that the one with audio separate and normalized is louder when played.

Also, when I do the video separate, a m2v file is created, and roxio does not recognize this format. If you encode together, a mpg file is created and roxio sees it fine. Is there any way to make the Roxio software see the m2v file???

When I encoded the video separately and the m2v file was created, I downloaded TMPGenc DVD author 1.6 to author the video. When I would add a video, then select the location for my separate audio, I would get an error with several reasons that the program could not continue. One of the reasons was that audio was already present, but it is not, because I encoded video only. If you just close the box, it seems to author the DVD just fine. What is causing me to get this error???

Thanks for the help

Vachoen

[lenti_75]

there is no difference, unless you want to do something special with that audio. sometimes when you separate those, you get sync problems.

[guns1inger]

The recommendation to demux the audio using virtualdub is usually in the context of audio sync issues caused byt he way the audio has been encoded. If you are not exeriencing these issues, then their is no need to split the audio out.

If you find you do need to, you can always save it as a wav file, then load it back into tmpgenc as the audio and encode to a combined mpg.

[daamon]

What is wrong with the [audio] encoding as a system??? I tried both ways, and the only difference I can tell is that the one with audio separate and normalized is louder when played.

It used to be that TMPGenc's encoding to MP2 audio wasn't as good as other encoders doing the same job. However, if you install the tooLame MP2 encoder, and configure TMPGEnc to use it, it'll be fine to do the video and audio together.

Note: MP2 is only a valid audio format for PAL land. That said, it's likely that it'll play OK in NTSC land but not guaranteed.

Is there any way to make the Roxio software see the m2v file???

An *.m2v file is the video component of an MPEG (*.mpg) file and can be thought of as an *.mpg file with no audio in it. Because of that, just change the file filename.m2v to filename.mpg and you should be OK.

I downloaded TMPGenc DVD author 1.6 to author the video ... I would get an error with several reasons that the program could not continue ... What is causing me to get this error???

Not sure why you're getting that error - sorry. But, you could either do what guns1linger suggested or you could just encode the input to "System (audio+video)" after you've installed the tooLame (if you want to).

Hope that helps. Good luck...