Audio/video/subtitle sync problem converting MKV to DVD (Muxman issue?)

[crackerbear]

Hi,

I just want to apologise upfront for this long post as I want to explain everything I've tried in detail.

For the past few days I've been trying to convert a 2 hour 720p mkv file (H.264 video, 6 channel AC3 audio) to DVD.

I've tried using FAVC 1.07 which isn't particularly difficult and I still followed this guide just to be certain I wasn't doing anything wrong, but after every conversion, the audio and video are out of sync. The audio starts off in sync but then gets progressively out of sync to about about half a second at the end.

I've used various different settings and also FAVC 1.06, but the sync issue still occurs.

I then used ConvertXtoDVD 4 which manages to keep the audio and video in sync, which is great, but I also want to add subtitles.

The mkv already has a srt subtitle file inside, I used ConvertXtoDVD to try and automatically convert everything (video, audio and subtitles) but for some reason the subtitles don't stay on the screen for very long. The subtitles on the converted DVD start at the right time but then end after about a second or less, in other words (as far as I can tell), it's honouring the start times that are in the srt, but not the end times.

I decided to try adding the subtitles manually. I used SubtitleCreator and followed this guide to convert the srt in the mkv to sup and with the VOBs created by ConvertXtoDVD (which are in sync) to create a final DVD. However, the resulting files also has a progressive audio sync problem. Since I'm merely adding subtitles with no re-encoding, I would've have thought the the audio/video would be in sync. I've loaded the VOBs into PgcDemux and it says all streams are in sync.

I know FAVC and the DVD Authoring Wizard in SubtitleCreator use Muxman to create the final DVD VOBs, so does the sync problem I have lie with Muxman or elsewhere? The topic here suggests it may be, but I'm unsure.

I could just use ConvertXtoDVD, but then does anyone know of a fix for the subtitles ending too quickly?

Thanks in advance for any help.

MediaInfo for the mkv file, if it's any use:

Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 3.02 GiB
Duration                         : 2h 6mn
Overall bit rate                 : 3 420 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-04-30 17:31:38
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.9.8 ('C'est le bon') built on Aug 13 2009 12:49:06
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Main@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 2 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@3.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 2h 6mn
Bit rate                         : 2 968 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 3 000 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.129
Stream size                      : 2.62 GiB (87%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 80 r1376M 3feaec2
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x131 / me=hex / subme=4 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Format_Settings_ModeExtension    : CM (complete main)
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 2h 6mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Video delay                      : 3ms
Stream size                      : 347 MiB (11%)

Text
ID                               : 3
Format                           : UTF-8
Codec ID                         : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                    : UTF-8 Plain Text

[Baldrick]

Have you tried extract the subs from the mkv and manually load in convertxtodvd?

[crackerbear]

No, I haven't tried that as I thought the problem would still occur, hence trying the SubtitleCreator approach, but I'll try that tonight. Spending 5 hours to convert only to find out it was all for nothing is demoralising

Would an unicode srt file affect ConvertXtoDVD? As I've read that ANSI srt subtitles have fewer problems. However, the subtitles are in Chinese, so it pretty much has to stay in unicode.

[crackerbear]

Have you tried extract the subs from the mkv and manually load in convertxtodvd?

I've done what you said and it appears to have helped a bit. The subtitles are still not quite displaying long enough on screen but it'll do as I can't be bothered to spend another day or so converting.

Thanks for the help Baldrick