WMV to DVD

[Victor Hen]

I captured some streaming video (properties say it is WMV9 for video and WMA9.1 for audio) and I am having trouble putting onto DVD. Some converters will convert the audio, but not the video - ASFTools, EOVideo, and Sound Forge, which uses Main Concept plugin. WinAVI converter will actually make the VOB files correctly and there is some video, but it is very choppy and the video/audio is not in synch. I have searched the boards here, but do not see any posts that can help me. Anybody have any suggestions?

[thecoalman]

but it is very choppy and the video/audio is not in synch.

The source probablt has a different framerate than NTSC or PAL, whichever is the format you're going to... see what it is. If that's the case your software is just doubling up on some frames to compensate, this will also present the audio sync problems.

I put a lot of video on the web and frequently drop the framerate to preserve bandwidth.

[Victor Hen]

Since WinAVI works the best, although not really acceptable, I have tried using different settings. I seem to be making progress, but am not there yet. It still seems strange why several of the highly recommended converters will only convert the audio and not the video. Are there any other highly recommended converters that I have not tried yet?

[guns1inger]

ConvertXtoDVD might be worth a shot. I have found that WMV is more prone to drop out and data loss during download than other formats. Might not be noticable during playback, but definately causes problems during transcoding.

[zoobie]

so you drop the framerate to make smaller files at the same kbps and it plays smoothly?

[thecoalman]

so you drop the framerate to make smaller files at the same kbps and it plays smoothly?

Sufficiently to do it. 10FPS isn't that bad. I'm still experimenting with it to find the "sweet spot", I do seem to get a few spots where it skips a few frames.... The reasoning is instead of using the bandwidth for so many frames I can use it on just a few which preserves the quality of the video. BTW this is just for people on dial-up. I provide two versions....

70kbps (pretty sure it 10fps, or 15 if not): http://www.40lbhead.com/headfiles/albums/video/rockfest2005_empire_wandt_du.wmv

500kbps (with a normal framerate): http://www.40lbhead.com/headfiles/albums/video/rockfest2005_empire_wandt.wmv

[zoobie]

wow...much better than i expected...must be 15 fps
i have a bunch of hi-action stuff so i don't think this is going to work for me...but for low-action video with minimal zoom and pans, this is really good
how did you crop it?

[thecoalman]

Actually it's 10, I just looked. For something that will almost stream on 56k you can't ask for much more. At 30fps the macroblocking becomes unbearable at that datarate. There's only a few hitches where you can really see it. I'm guessing it skips a frame or two at that point. I haven't really looked... know anywhere i can find out how to fix that?

And no that probably wouldn't look that great with high action but if upped the framerate to 15 it might work. It's not cropped it's resized and encoded from a 16:9 DV-AI.

[zoobie]

I looked and saw 10fps in mp and actual frame as 25.7...what's that all about?

i don't like todays music but that first song 'empire' rocks...i've been listening to it over and over...great song

[thecoalman]

I looked and saw 10fps in mp and actual frame as 25.7...what's that all about?

Not sure what you mean, my editor gives me a reading of 10fps. Not even sure where that would come from since it was originally NTSC...

i don't like todays music but that first song 'empire' rocks...i've been listening to it over and over...great song

That's what you get when you get outside of the mainstream music... music. Here's my favorite:

http://www.40lbhead.com/headfiles/albums/userpics/10002/Shoulders_of_Fate.wma

Full slection of about 10 different songs here:

http://www.40lbhead.com/headfiles/index.php?cat=3 Studio version of Empire is under "Third Shift".

[zoobie]

You know how the video's going along and slowly gets blurry...then suddenly snaps back into focus? I've found some good settings to avoid this with .wmv's
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/enclfc.aspx