Difficulties getting right settings to encode AVI to DVD

[tacolover]

Hello,

I have an AVI that I'm trying to convert to DVD and get various versions that all seem to not be right. So far, I've managed to get the aspect ratio correct, but the sound slowly gets out of sync over time, especially when I use the Decode with QuickTime choice. The framerate for this AVI is 23.98 fps and NTSC film is 23.976. Is this difference in fps why the sound gets out of sync when encoded? Any suggestions on how to correct it?

Here's the info on the AVI:
Video: mpeg4, 640x288, 23.98 fps
Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s

[alph]

Since you are not changing the framerate, the reason you are losing sync I suspect would be a bad AVI.

If you care to verify that it's the AVI at fault, run your avi through DivxDoctor, KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL AVI, and then open the .mov Divx doctor made in Quicktime player. From there, "extract" both the audio and video tracks and compare their lengths. If they are different and differ by more than 5 seconds or so, then the AVI index was compensating for encoding problems.

Independent of checking that, I see you as having 2 options. ALWAYS keep a copy or your original AVI.

-Cut your avi into 2 or 3 chunks ("split" in the filter tab of ffmpegx), to limit the amount of sync that is lost during encoding, and avoid using decode with quicktime. You can use Mpeg Streamclip to join the Mpegs once the are encoded. I've done this often.

-Make sure you have installed, the Divx, and AC3 codecs for quicktime. Get the lastest Mpeg Streamclip, and install the "Save as AVI" component that comes with it. Open your AVi in quicktime, and re-save the Avi using the Save as AVI component you just installed. In some cases this can make an AVI that will lose less sync than the original AVI, but this does not work all the time.

A combination of these 2 options is to use the tools in the second option to perform the splitting described in the first option. The one thing not to do is try and convert the AVI to .mov for encoding: I've never seen that work.

Cheers,
Alph

[tacolover]

Well, I've managed to get it to work not using Decode with QT. I put 64 64 0 0 in the letterbox filter and it seems to have worked keeping the original AR (or close to it). Burning the DVD now, I'll let you know if it does...

Thank you.