Data rate too high using MPEG Editor and DVD Author

[jrlouie]

I thought I had chosen something simple for my first DVD authoring project, but have run into problems.

I dubbed a 30 minute home VHS tape to a DVD-R on a home DVD recorder at SP speed.
I used TMPGEnc MPEG Editor’s (with AC-3 plugin) Media Wizard to copy the DVD to disk.
I then cut the 30 minute clip into smaller clips.
I used Windows Movie Maker to create a special effects title for each clip.
I used TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator to convert the titles to MPEG files.
I joined the titles and clips with MPEG Editor.
I then tried to author a DVD with DVD author using the joined title and video clips. It said there was an error with every clip because the sum of the video and audio data rate was too large.
It said I had the option of creating a non-standard DVD, which I tried to do. However, then it aborted because of an error in the data stream.

I know I could try re-encoding the video/audio at a different rate, but I got MPEG editor specifically so I wouldn’t have to re-encode.

I wouldn’t think the problem is with the title MPEG file, because if it were encoded differently, MPEG Editor couldn’t join the title clip with the video clip. Since the video should be the same as was copied from the DVD, why can’t I author another DVD with the same type of MPEG files?

(There is no problem with system resources. I have a 3.6 GHz. P4, 2 GB of ram, and over 300 GB of space on a SATA drive.)

[jimmalenko]

I'd suggest that the joining of your titles to the existing clips is causing your problem.

Try it again, but this time leave your titles and clips as seperate MPEGs. You can then add them to the same track and delete the chapter point at the start of the clip for seamless playback.

[lordsmurf]

What are your bitrates? audio, video

[jrlouie]

I can try using the separate clips, but wouldn't the files have to be the same to join them? Do I need to alter the bit rates when I convert the title clips to MPEGs? I would like to learn how to make the join work for when I tackle larger projects.

I did not change any of the settings except using the recommended defaults in DVD author. (The same thing happened before and after this change.) The title clips were exported as standard MPEGs in Source Creator. I will get the actual values from the clips, but probably won't have the time to get on that PC until Friday night. I'll post a follow up then.

Thanks for responding.

[jrlouie]

The clips from the DVD had a video bit rate of 9800 kbps and an audio bit rate of 256 kbps. I set the output of MPEG Editor to these values, and the resulting clips have these values, but DVD Author is telling me that the combined rate can be no more than 9848 kbps.

Why is that when the original DVD clip had a higher rate?

If I select ignore, I get a stream writing error.

[manono]

Hi-

The clips from the DVD had a video bit rate of 9800 kbps

Where did you get that figure? From Bitrate Viewer or Restream maybe? Anyway, it's just a figure in the header, and doesn't necessarily reflect the true max bitrate set. I see DVDs all the time that have 9800, but the actual max bitrate has to be lower.

Although the act of joining them may have screwed it up, as jimmalenko suggested (and I also wouldn't recommend joining them until the authoring stage), I think that lordsmurf is on the right track with this one.

but DVD Author is telling me that the combined rate can be no more than 9848 kbps

I've seen people mention that before, and it's obviously wrong. The max video bitrate can be 9800 kbps, and video+audio+subs+muxing overhead max bitrate can be up to 10080 kbps. Yours add up to 10056, and I'm not real sure what the overhead takes up. You said you encoded with TMPGEnc. Does it honor the max bitrates set, like CCE does? If you go over only a little bit, you're screwed.

[jrlouie]

The bit rates are what is shown for the clip after it is brought into MPEG Editor and/or DVD Author. They are also what the options are set for for the MPEG Editor output.

[jrlouie]

Thanks to Windows Update restarting my computer, my folder of video clips was corrupted. I re-created it in just a couple of hours and was able to author a DVD. Apparently a file was corrupted when I was trying to figure out how to use the software. This time everything went smoothly and the clips with the joined titles worked fine (and is also backed up), although DVD still gives me errors and warnings about the non-standard bit rate. However, the DVD played fine. I take it this is normal?

Thanks again to all for the feedback.