Audio sync problems with TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0

[firebirdude]

Hello all. I read a quick walkthrough on TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0 and decided to give it a try on converting my .avi files to DVD. Seemed pretty easy to use, although I'm not sure all my settings were correct. Loaded up my file, progressive video mode, set Aspect ratio to Pixel 10:11 (4:3 NTSC)..... because.... I guess I have no idea why. Cut out about 10 secs of the beginning of the movie and the end credits. Nothing under the "filter" tab was touched. Then I selected my output format: DVD NTSC VBR with MPEG1 audio. Set 100% of disc use, 2-pass, and started ouput. Took roughly 5 hours to do 1 hour 45 mins of movie. When I started playing the .mpg output the beginning looked great, but towards the end of the movie.... the audio was WAY behind the video. Worse and worse as the movie progressed. Nearly 30 seconds behind at the end of the movie. What happened? Also, I noticed an "Audio correction" box under the filter tab. Do I need to check mark that box? Or maybe I selected NTSC when I should have selected PAL??? I'm lost guys. Help!

P.S. Anyway to strip the audio from this video and resync it correctly? I don't want to have to wait another 5 hours if I don't have to.

[bunyip]

This is a fairly common problem - usually caused by the audio stream being a variable rate in the AVI file.
It's generally good practice in this case to process the audio separately.

If you were starting again I would recommend that you open the AVI file in VirtualDub, cut the parts you don't want then save the audio as a WAV file and save the cut AVI to another file, then you would either encode the Video and Audio with separate tools and Multiplex them into an final MPG file, or feed the WAV file as the audio source to TMPGEnc instead of the AVI audio stream.

But since the Video has already been encoded you only need to go back to the original audio and re-process that.
Open the AVI file in VirtualDub and cut the bits that you originally cut, and try and cut on the same frames that you did originally.
Then select 'File' -> 'Save Wave' and write the WAV file.

Now use an audio conversion tool to convert the WAV to MP2 (48000kHz).
(BeSweet is very reliable (but is command line), while HeadAc3he is easy to use.) but there are others available in the Tools section one the left.

Once you have the new MP2 file, then use the TMPGenc 'MPEG Tools' to multiplex the video and audio into a single MPEG file.

If this doesn't fix the problem there are still some other things to try, but we'll address those later if necessary.

(BTW the audio filters in TMPGenc don't fix sync problems).

[firebirdude]

Before I got your response I tried to encode a different movie with the PAL setting. I get no more then 10 minutes into the process and I get an error stating "FAPIFrame.exe has encontered and serious error and needs to close." Just great. So I try a different file and get the same error. So I decided to try the first movie I was having problems with (in 1st post) and I get the same error! WTF? Worked....semi-fine before. Atleast it finished. I had all programs closed and rebooted PC several times with no change. Damn it.

So I tried Virtualdub. I cut out the parts I didn't want and saved the audio as .wav. It took roughly 1 minute. Then I selected "Save segmented AVI' and it started saving. But it was going through the entire movie! It would have taken nealry 2 hours to save! This can't be right. There has got to be a better way. I know everyone else doesn't have to go through this, so WTF?

[bunyip]

Another Xpress user just had then same problem but was able to rectify it, see https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251487

As for saving the cut AVI in VirtualDub, what you have to do is go to 'Video' option and select 'Direct Stream Copy', then go to 'File' and select 'Save as AVI'. This will just copy the uncut part without trying to re-encode it, which it was doing when you selected 'Save Segmented AVI'.

[firebirdude]

Another Xpress user just had then same problem but was able to rectify it, see https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251487

As for saving the cut AVI in VirtualDub, what you have to do is go to 'Video' option and select 'Direct Stream Copy', then go to 'File' and select 'Save as AVI'. This will just copy the uncut part without trying to re-encode it, which it was doing when you selected 'Save Segmented AVI'.

Thanks for your help thus far. So I tried the fix you linked to. Now instead of giving me the FAPIFrame.exe error, it just says "Read error occurred at address 031F9A67 of module "P3Package.dll" with 25519C7A". I tried to again, after 6 or 7 minutes it gave me a very similar error. (Just a couple different numbers) So I tried uninstalling it, deleting it and downloading it again. After re-install, same exact issue. Oh, and if you disable the FAPIFrame and then exit TMPGEnc, you have to re-enable it when you add the file you want to convert. Or else it tells you the video cannot be opened. Just the audio portion. I tried disabling it again, same error. Different file. Same. Tried just about every option on there. Same thing. WTF? It worked all the way through once. Haven't changed anything else on my PC. So I decided I'd give another encoder a try. I downloaded WinAVI because I heard it was super easy. And it was.... kinda. While, yes, it is easy to setup....it's giving me similar errors. Damn it! Just says WinAVI.exe has encounter a series error and needs to close. Really makes me start to think something is FUBARED with my PC.

[Soopafresh]

Try VSO Software's DivXtoDVD. It's free and it's quite good - audio sync has been fine on all of my encodes so far.

http://www.vso-software.fr/download.htm

the direct download link is

http://software-files.download.com/software/10351865/10341695/3/vsoDivxToDVD_setup.exe

[firebirdude]

Ok, so I have now tried DVDSanta and DivXtoDVD. Same error with DVDSanta (DVDSanta has encountered an error and needs to close) and DivXtoDVD just stopped encoding after about 5 minutes. So now I'm pissed. That pretty much says my computer is jacked for some reason. Any ideas what it might be? This topic starts out with an audio sync problem, and turns into NOTHING working.

[bunyip]

Disclaimer: The following are suggestions only and not to be taken as 'must do' actions, just attempts at analysing the problem.

First thoughts are the codecs on your system are are bad but I would expect these errors to occur immediately not several minutes into the encoding - but you could try re-installing them.

Second possibility is that the video you are trying to process has errors, but you suggest that you have tried more than one source video - is that correct?

Third possibility is an error on your hard drive that pops up whenever a process tries to write to the bad part. Try a 'checkdisk' with the 'Scan for bad sectors' option enabled.

Fourth possibility is that your system is having device conflicts - is anything else you're running having problems?

Other than that it could be a general Operating System glitch - you could try restoring to an earlier snapshot or consider applying SP2 (which will replace most system files with newer versions).

[firebirdude]

Thanks for sticking with me guys. Yes, I have tried several different files. Yes, I exit all other programs with encoding and I leave the PC alone. I even turn off the screen saver. NOW THEN! I think I have figured it out. So I was reading one of the newbie guides on this site. The one title "10 DVD Newbie Tips". One of the tips was to download and run MemTest86 and CPU-Burn in. The memtest passed fine. HOWEVER, after roughly 10 minutes of the CPU-Burn in program, the screen turned blue with a bunch of numbers. It said something like "Dumping memory to disk". And then it had a percentage complete counting up. When it finished, the PC restarted and I ran the program again. Same thing. Is this the famous blue screen of death I hear so much about? Well, I guess that's cool because I seem to have found out what's wrong..... however, that sucks because I can't encode my movies.... until I get a better CPU cooler that is. Been looking for the Thermalright 900A. Sold out everywhere. Anyone know where they're in stock? Or does the 900U fit on the Asus A7N8X? I already bought a 92mm Tornado..... yolur thoughts guys?

[bunyip]

DO'H - I keep forgetting about the 'Overheating CPU' possibility - must add it to the list.
Can't help you with the cooling questions, however in the meantime have you tried running with the PC case open to get better air circulation, I've had to do this on my 3000khz box.

I would suggest that if you get no response after a day, to start another forum thread in the computer section with a different topic, this topic is unlikely to attract people with the knowledge you seek.

[firebirdude]

Ok, pulled the side of the case off and presto. Problem solved. That'll hol dme over until I can find the heatsink I have been looking for. Anyway, so I used TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0 to convert to MPG2 format. Then I used TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.6 to cut the MPG into chapters (Used the handy walkthrough by Afonic) and used the same program to burn it to a DVD-R. Threw it in the ol' Sony DVP-NS575P.... nothing. WTF. The DVD player is supposed to play all formats of burned DVDs and CDs..... any ideas?