Using Kwag's Templates - Always Audio Problems, Why??

[mrebman]

I really Like Kwag's Templates, I can get a fairly large VCD onto one CD-R. The problem I am having is that I almost always have Audio problems when I use his Templates, either Choppy Audio or just NO Audio!
What puzzles me is that when I use Other peoples Templates, I get Audio, Kwag says to run this through FitCD whatever that is. However, I just want to feed my Divx file into TMPGEnc & let it pull the Video & Audio both from that Divx file & not have to feed the damn thing thru 3 Frick** software programs just to get a watchable Mpeg1 file.
Does anybody know a good & simple Template program that will give me at Least 90 Minutes on an 80 Minute CD-R & also one that works for Both Audio & Video?
-Thanks-
-Mike-

[adam]

If Kwag told you to run anything through fitcd I'm sure that it had nothing to with audio. Fitcd is a bitrate calcultor.

I don't know why other templates worked ok for you, maybe just the luck of the draw but TMPGenc has problems converting compressed audio. You need to uncompress the audio first and yes you have to use a separate program from TMPGenc.

Get virtual dub in the tools section and load your divx file. In the audio tab select full processing. Click file/save wav. Now in TMPGenc use the divx as your video and this wav file as your audio. This should prevent sync problems and audio choppiness when converting divx to mpg.

I know this is the newbie forum but please read the guides before posting questions. The very first step in the "divx to mpg" conversion guide tells you to uncompress your audio in virtual dub.

[mrebman]

Hi Adam:
Thanks but let me be the first to tell you that you DO NOT have to run Divx files through VirtualDub before feeding it into TMPEnc. I know because I have made plenty of VCD's directly from Divx files fed straight into TMPGEnc & Yes, TMPGEnc SHOULD be able to use the audio straight fron the Divx.Avi ( I have Never used VirtualDub, nor should have to).

P.S. - I am not a Newbie & Yes, I have the Guides your are speaking of, trust me they are helpful but don't answer all the questions that are out there, quite often they're one person's opinion. I was nice & posted this in the Newbie section, why because I don't have endless time to research this stuff out.
-Mike-

[adam]

Yes you have made plenty without problems except for these in question...isnt that the whole point of this thread? Obviously your method ISN'T perfect. Its a proven fact that TMPGenc has a hard time with compressed audio. The sheer number of people who have had this exact same problem and who have solved it by uncompressing the audio should make that clear. Why SHOULD TMPGenc be able to handle the extremely complex process of uncompressing and recompressing while simultaneously converting frequencies (assuming you need to) and be able to do it flawlessly? Just because TMPGenc accepts the divx as an audio source does not mean it can properly process it without introducing artifacts. No its not absolutely necessary to uncompress the audio first but it is an extremely good idea because almost all audio choppiness can be avoided by doing so.

This step is in the guide because it is generally accepted as an important step in converting divx to mpg. Incidentally I think you will find this step in any reputable divx to mpg conversion guide...obviously it is not just someone's opinion.

If you intentionally skip important steps in the guides and refuse to use any additional software other than your mpeg encoder than are you really suprised that you are having problems?

[banjazzer]

adam is absolutely correct. More and more DivX are being made now which cause TMPGenc problems unless the audio is extracted first. Usually it is ones with VBR audio. If I convert my own DivX (CBR mp3 audio) I don't bother, but anyone else's I don't take the chance any more. One or two silent encodes was enough to convince me. 8)

[mrebman]

Thanks for the Input, I was hoping to keep this as simple as possible but it appears I will have to go thru a few extra steps.
-Thanks-
-Mike-

[Pied-Piper]

It depends on the format of DivX audio and its bitrate and compression. DivX files are AVI (:means Audio-Video Interleaved). The audio part of older DivX files are MPEG4 or DivX audio but for the files that has coded by DivX 4+ codec in most cases the audio is MP3>VBR or CBR(16KB/s,44100Hz). For instanse you can have a VBR MP3 for DivX in NanDub by using the lame codec.
When your DivX AVI file has a VBR MP3 audio I think if you uncompress the audio first and import it as a separate file, nothing can prevent sync problems when converting DivX to MPEG.

[mrebman]

OK, I stand corrected, I run the Divx thru VirtualDub & it WORKED!
Now I just load the Divx into Video & Load the .Wav file into Audio & let TMPGEnc go to town, does seem to work. Now tonight I will try encoding a whole Divx Movie using Kwag's Template, should be interesting to see how big of file I get.
-Thanks for the Help-
-Mike-