AVI to Mpg2 using TMPGenc 2.58<<<<HELP

[section16]

I am tryin to get a few films onto DVD but am having no luck with them in the encoding process. I am having success with some films but they are only approx 750MB in size, the problem films are all 1.4GB (2 avi's together). I have been using VD to extract the audio (just like I do for the successful movies) then using TMPGenc I select a DVD PAL template and load in the files and set all the settings. the process takes about 5hrs to complete and leaves me with a mpg2 approx 3.9GB in size. If I play this back using media player it plays fine for the first 40 mins - 1 hr then after that it loses its audio sync. Its not just happening to this 1 film (we were soldiers) its happening to all the films I try that are over 750MB in file size. I am pulling out my hair with this 1, 3 films last night encoded and all 3 suffer from the same problem , 15 hrs wasted
I am using the same process to do the 1.4Gb files as I do for the 750MB files yet its only the 750MB that seem to work perfectly...........
Can some1 tell me where im going wrong please, be grateful for some suggestions from the Guru's out there

[bugster]

I am not 100% clear on the exact process you are following but take a look at my last post in this thread:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=395811#395811

to see if it helps.

[section16]

Ok I know how to join the AVI files, thats no problem, my problem is with the audio sync on big AVI files. The AVI itself is fine, sync, quality etc etc but when I make it into Mpeg2 for DVD authroing it loses the audio synchronisation after about 40 mins, its unwatchable past this point and its happening with all my big (1.4/1.5GB) AVI films. I really need to know how to fix this as im developing grey hair quickly and rotting away in my chair watching the process....Like watching paint dry man

thanks for your time man

[bugster]

Ok, so you join two avi files together in virtualdub.

Have you checked the joined file for sync before encoding?

Have you checked that you are encoding to mpeg-2 at the same framerate as that used to encode the avi?

Have you checked the joined avi for bad frames in virtualdub?

[section16]

Ok im gonna go check all that now and get right back

[section16]

Ok the joined AVI is perfect, sync and quality

The 1st 700MB AVI passes the scan for unreadable frames

The 2nd 700MB AVI passes the scan for unreadable frames

The framerate of the AVI is 23.967 fps

Now when im makin Mpeg2 the framerate for PAL is 25 fps and if I change that in TMPGenc (going outside the template rules) the mpeg2 it makes is non DVD compliant, U lead will not accept it. It sounds logical that the audio will drift if the fps is not the same as the original but im baffled on how to correct it, any ideas man

thanks

[bugster]

So you are in PAL country but your avi was probably from an NTSC DVD rip. It is possible to convert from NTSC to PAL but it is long winded and prone to error. Also most of the time it is not necessary. AFAIK, all PAL region dvd players will play NTSC disks. There wouldn't be much point in region-free players if they couldn't play disks imported from the US would there. When you play a NTSC DVD your player will output either an NTSC signal or will convert to PAL-60 (PAL signal but with 60 fields per second) Some players allow you to select between these formats. So now you have to look at what your TV can handle. Most TV's sold in Europe in the past 10 or 15 years are multisystem and so can handle PAL AND NTSC and Pal-60, even if this fact is not advertised on the box or in the literature.

If you have or can get any region 1 DVD's and they play ok then you don't have a problem, just encode as NTSC. If you are not sure you can play NTSC disks you are going to have to make one to find out.

To encode a 23.97fps divx in NTSC, use the NTSC DVD template. DVD requires 29.97 fps so load the unlock.mcf template in the extras folder and make the following settings changes.

On the Video tab, change encode mode to '3:2 pulldown when playback'. Change the framerate also to '23.976fps (internally 29.976fps)'. Now set everything else up how you want.

This should now be in sync and chances are it will play fine.

Hope this helps.

[section16]

man you sure know your shit. You can apprecitate that its gonna take another 5 hrs to do this test and I wont be tryin it till later on but I will be back despite the result to let you know what happened with it.
Sheeesh I thought makin VCD was complex, lol
I cant thank you enough for your help with this man

I will get back as soon as poss

thanks again

[bugster]

man you sure know your shit. You can apprecitate that its gonna take another 5 hrs to do this test and I wont be tryin it till later on but I will be back despite the result to let you know what happened with it.
Sheeesh I thought makin VCD was complex, lol
I cant thank you enough for your help with this man

I will get back as soon as poss

thanks again

Happy to help. You can always speed things up (a bit) by doing a test encode with something like CBR 3000, motion search precision lowest quality etc. It will look like crap but will tell you wether it has worked or not.

[section16]

just checkin over settings now, do I need to check the box in the advanced tab >> 3:2 pulldown

[bugster]

Not if you have done the other settings I described.

[section16]

Ok Ill leave it unchecked, got lost a bit in the framerate setting but noticed the 1 I needed appeared after I changed to the 3:2 pulldown option....
time to encode in 20 mins 8)

[section16]

Well I did all the settings you said and the mpeg2 has still come out with the audio out of sync after about 40 mins playback time. These are the settings I used in TMPGenc.........

VIDEO (TAB)

STREAM TYPE - MPEG2

ASPECT RATIO - 4:3 DISPLAY

29.976 FPS (INTERNALLY 29.97 FPS)

RATE CONTROL MODE - AUTOMATIC VBR (CQ_VBR)

BITRATE - 7000 KBS

VBB BUFFER SIZE - 224

PROFILE & LEVEL - MAIN PROFILE & MAIN LEVEL (MP&ML)

VIDEO FORMAT - NTSC

ENCODE MODE - 3:2 PULLDOWN WHEN PLAYBACK

YUV FORMAT - 4:2:0

DC COMPONENT PRECISION - 10 BITS

MOTION SEARCH PRECISION - HIGH QUALITY (SLOW)


ADVANCED (TAB)


VIDEO SOURCE TYPE - NON-INTERLACED (PROGRESSIVE)

FIELD ORDER - BOTTOM FIELD FIRST (FIELD B)

SOURCE ASPECT RATIO - 1:1 (VGA)

VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD - FULL SCREEN (KEEP ASPECT RATIO)


QAUNTIZE MATRIX (TAB)

MPEG STANDARD

CHECKED THESE BOXES:
USE FLOATING POINT DCT (WHILE USING SSE ALWAYS ON)
NO MOTION SEARCH FOR STILL PICTURE PART BY HALF PIXEL

THIS IS THE INFO ON THE AVI IM TRYIN TO CONVERT (PROVIDED BY G SPOT)

VIDEO
FOUR CC - div3
CODEC - DivX3 Low Motion
VENDOR - DivX

ASPECT - 640 x 272 (2:353:1)
FRAME / SEC - 23.976 FPS
DURATION - 2 hrs 2 mins 56s
Avg BITRATE - 1135kbs

AUDIO

ENCODING - AC3
Avg BITRATE - 448Kbs



My DVD player does play NTSC as well, cool !!
Can you see anything in that lot that Im doing wrong?

Thanks for your help again

[bugster]

Ahah!!!! I have finally spotted your problem!

AUDIO

ENCODING - AC3
Avg BITRATE - 448Kbs

Well maybe anyway. Ac3 audio needs to be handled differently than the normal mp3 audio found in divx. There is a guide on how to conver it to wav here:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/userguides/91588.php
(Except for DVD you need to leave it at 48khz sample rate)

or you can use Tmpgenc to encode to video only and leave the audio as Ac3. This requires a different process which I can describe if you want.

[section16]

I am extracting the audio from the big AVI before I start the encode process. Then I convert the AC3 to wav using media twins AC3 decoder.
Then I put them both into TMPGenc and set all the settings etc etc. This is the usual process I use for makin the Mpeg2 for DVD authoring and out of loads so far prob havin a 80% success rate. Its always the 2xAVI films that lose their sync, only 1 time has it worked for me with the 2xAVI and I encode the 2 seperate with TMPGenc then joined the 2 mpegs it gave me together and Voila it worked, shame only 1 time tho. I have tried this method a number of time since and with no success with the audio sync. I am lost

[bugster]

OK, briefly what I do for films split accross two avis with AC3

Open avi 1 in virtualdub.
Still in virtualdub, APpend Avi segment and select avi2.

Audio->Direct Stream copy
Video->direct stream copy
File save as avi (calle it avi3)

Still in vdub, open avi3,
Audio->Direct stream copy
File->save wav

rename wav file to avi3.ac3
process avi3 with ac3fix.exe (use google to find)
convert fixed ac3 file to wav with HeadAc3he

Encode in Tmpgenc, use Avi3 as video source, avi3.wav as audio source.

As long as I encode with the same framerate (PAL or NTSC) as the original avi I get perfect sync every time.

Maybe your problem is related to your Ac3 to wav conversion or very possibly, if your process is the same as mine till that point, you need to run the ac3 file through ac3fix.exe as I do. I know it always reports at leat one error which I believe is caused by the way virtualdub joins the files.

[section16]

ok im off to find them 2 tools and check the files, be back as soon as ive got a result 10 mins approx

[section16]

ok I ran the ac3fix and you were right it found some errors in the ac3 file and mentioned something about file length correct by 10bytes. Im just using the headac3he util to make the wav file, then its gonna be time to try the encode again, aaaaahhhhhh another 4-5hrs

[section16]

there is 112MB diff between the extracted avi audio>ac3>wav (media twins) and your way using the ac3fix, its 112MB bigger(ac3fix version). Dunno if thats bad or good man but I like that tool, normailzed the audio for you whilst its doing its encoding and very informative on the processes its running. success with that part so far, wont be able to run the encode till later on so Ill have a result for you in about 12hrs, takin into account I must sleep whilst its encoding. I really hope this worx koz if it does.........U DA MAN !! 8)

[section16]

Well Ive gotta bow down to your knowlege man, the mpeg2 file is perfectly in sync

you must be the man here !!

I am really pleased with that now but........when I put it into Ulead dvd and tell it to burn the disc its starts its process of stages 1-6 ok, gets to stage 3 and comes up with a warning about **some chapter entry frame numbers exceed the total frames** ............Ive never seen this before and U lead will not process any more of the job.

Now puzzled??

Any idea friend?

[bugster]

Well Ive gotta bow down to your knowlege man, the mpeg2 file is perfectly in sync

you must be the man here !!

I am really pleased with that now but........when I put it into Ulead dvd and tell it to burn the disc its starts its process of stages 1-6 ok, gets to stage 3 and comes up with a warning about **some chapter entry frame numbers exceed the total frames** ............Ive never seen this before and U lead will not process any more of the job.

Now puzzled??

Any idea friend?

I am glad you have finally got your symc problem sorted and I have been happy to help. Though thanks should go to the whole VCDHELP community as this is where I learnt practically everything I know about digital video.

As for your Authoring problem, I am sure I have seen this question asked before but I can't actually answer it myself as I don't use DVD WS. Try a forum search or post a new topic and I am sure someone will be able to help with this one.

Cheers

Bugster

[bugster]

Just an FYI too. If your divx has ac3 audio you don't actually need to convert it to wav. Extract as described and run ac3fix.exe. name the final file movie.ac3. Now encode your video with TmpGenc, making sure to check the video only option before hitting start. You will get a movie.m2v file.

Now you can author to DVD with these two file using Spruce, which accepts Ac3. Also I have read that you can multiplex the two files together using Tmpgenc mpeg tools multiplex option and author in DVD WS (which you are using). This way your final DVD will have 5.1 dolby digital sound!

Just a thought anyway.

[section16]

thank you for that info, ill go get spruce and give it a go using the ac3 file and the m2v file and Ill post anopther topic in 1 of the forums about the U lead problem I get.

Do you know if its possible to clone the burned DVD so its easier to make a copy of the film again instead of having to do the encode process every time for the same movie? I see Nero has a DVD copy option and suspect it will work with these as they have no copyright on them but I was wondering if there was anything better than nero to do it?

Thanks again

[bugster]

thank you for that info, ill go get spruce and give it a go using the ac3 file and the m2v file and Ill post anopther topic in 1 of the forums about the U lead problem I get.

Do you know if its possible to clone the burned DVD so its easier to make a copy of the film again instead of having to do the encode process every time for the same movie? I see Nero has a DVD copy option and suspect it will work with these as they have no copyright on them but I was wondering if there was anything better than nero to do it?

Thanks again

Oh yes, once you have authored your DVD, have the authoring program write the files to your HD rather than burning direct to the DVD-r. You can then burn as many copies as you want usinh Nero or whatever burning program you prefer.

The Nero DVD copy option should also work from one DVD-r (in a normal DVD-ROM drive) to another in the recorder drive but if both drives are on the same IDE channel I would reccomend copying all the files to your HD (if they are not already there!) and burning from there. No ripping is required as they are not encrypted.

[section16]

I have only 1 DVD drive and thats the burner but nero allows you to make image and then burns from the image it makes of the dvd, sort of twice the work (1drive reading, then writing). Im just tryin it now to see if it worx out.
You are right I still have the mpeg2 stored on HDD but as ive a few of them they are starting to take up plenty of space, because they take so much time and effort to get right its dam hard to delete them......soon I will have no space left on an 80Gb dirve and I would like to make copies later down the line but would pass out if I have deleted the mpeg2 and I wasnt able to simply clone the master disc I have made. i did try putting the mpeg2 onto dvd as data but it had CRC errors when dragging it back off disc to HDD.I did think of using the 2 folders you can create when authoring (TS audio TF video, or whatever they were) as they have all them VOB files inside and they are broken up into smaller files rather than 1 big 4GB chunk. I notice nero asks for the 2 folders to make a DVD video and tried it 1 day and it worked fine so thats 1 way I could save a master of my conversion instead of the mpeg2. Its a very long winded way of doing shit tho and Id be happy to delete the mpeg2's as long as I could always copy my master knowing that its not gonna lose lip sync, go blocky and bad jumpyness...........sure you understand where im coing from 8)

[bugster]

Yup, onec you have your AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders and all the associated VOB and ifo files etc, thats all you need to save. All other mpegs, ac3 files and intermediate files produced by whatever method you are using to rip/encode can now be deleted and you can make as many burns as you like from these two folders. I do it all the time.

[section16]

The copying worked with nero, it just makes an image to HDD then burns back from that ok. Ill watch the complete film (or let some1 else) and see if anything wrong with it b4 I delete the master. I dont mind too much putting the folders onto DVD data discs as Ive a load of them (Bulkpaq) which are shit for films but should be ok for data, "backups r us"

Ive just put spruce onto my machine now and having a look at it, later on I will try the big AVI again but converting it to m2v and then using Spruce to do author it with the Fixed AC3 file and see how I get on, Ill look about the forums for somewhere tpo post that authoring prob I have with U lead and see if that can be easily solved or not

[section16]

I just decided to Author the NTSC AVI I made the other day that U lead had ann error with. Ths time I put no chapters in it and just authored the TS folders and it flew through it with no errors so ive just put 2 chapters in it this time and in the process of makin DVD but burning to disc this time, now if that worked and plays back fine we r kickin ass man !!!

Nope with 2 chapters in it , it came up with same error b4 burning so Ive just taken them back out and tryin again now and hopefully it will carry on past the video/audio multiplexing, have no error and burn to disc (in the perfect world of course!)

[section16]

Ive never seen a film go like that before lol, well U lead allowed me to Author it with no hassles but when I play it back on my dvd player the picture sort of plays along then speeds up really fast then goes back to normal and speeds up etc etc..............the audio is like 10 miles behind lol....its all gone wrong

[bugster]

First, have you patched Ulead DVd WS to 1.2 or 1.3. I have read that the early version did sometimes have sync problems.

Secondly, when you author, do you have Ulead write to your HD. If so, try playing back the VOBS with PowerDVD or WinDVD to check everything is OK before burning.

Other than that I don't have much idea why your video plays so strangley as it has never happened to me, sorry.