Choppy video help needed

[draftbeers]

I recently bought a dvd burner and have been trying to convert XVID and DIVX files to mpeg2/DVD. I have been making svcd for some time and havn't had a problem, but know that I am trying to make dvds the video play back is very distractingly choppy. I have searched this site and have found bits of information on this subject and I have fiddled with everything I can think of on TMPGEnc 2.510 but have not been able to get rid of the choppyness. I assume I am not doing something right with the frame rate (avi is 23.976) but I can't seem to fix it. I have messed around with pulldown and different framerates and either it gets even more choppy or the movie length is changed and the audio doesn't match. I am using virtualdub to extract audio and to repair the avi, then tmpgenc 2.510 to encode the video and meastro to author and nero to burn. If anyone can point me to a guide to get the encoded video to look as good as the original avi I would appreciate it.
Thanks

[Pratticus]

I too would like the answer to this one. The choppiness does not render the movie unviewable, but it is frustrating.

[draftbeers]

I have just tried changing the stream type from ES to System and that seemed to help but Meastro will not except the .mpg file will it? I thought it needed a .m2v? I also changed the VFAPI order, AVI2 up to 3 and directshow down to 0 for the System stream type but when I switched back to ES I got an invalid pointer error and I think that these settings smoothed out the video not the stream type change because when I change them back to AVI2 to 1 and directshow to 3 the video becomes choppy again.
Can you help to enlighten me?
Thanks

[kjmacke]

this is what worked for me. My dvd player doesn't like 23.976 frame. So I encode with tmpgnc in 29.97 frame with 224 44hz on the audio. This fixed my problems 100%.

[draftbeers]

OK maybe I am a dumbass but this is the type of vagueness I keep finding when I search the forums. When you say you convert to 29.97 fps do you mean that you used TMPGEnc to do the conversion or did you use vdub and then change the length of the audio. When I use TMPGEnc to change the frmerate to 29.97 fps I get alot of jumpy video becuase of the frame duplicating, I think. And when I use vdub to change the framerate I get sped up video and audio. I don't know much about frameserving so I can't comment on that but I was under the impression that 3:2 pulldown was all that was needed on a 23.97 fps movie and no framerate conversion was needed. But as I have found nothing other than the VFAPI order changes from my earlier post helps the video I encode.
Thanks

[Duc851]

I also got choppy video results with NO audio using Nero. Found all the workarounds but man...what a waste of time. Still couldn't completely get rid of the choppy video.

Anyway, here is what I ended up with and it works great for me:
I capture from my DV camcorder using firewire and the Scenalyzer Live capture software. This software kicks ass as it can index a whole tape in about 5 minutes and then you can capture only the scenes you select.
The program also lets you select the quality level of the capture.

Using the Avi capture file I then encode, author and burn to my Pioneer DVR-105 using Dazzle DVD complete. Nothing could be simpler and faster.
I use 4x DVD-R Media and the video comes out very clean.

Scenalyzer is also cool for capturing clip sequences and exporting a scene to Jpeg. I like being able to automatically capture what I want by clicking a mouse and walking away.

[draftbeers]

Duc851
I am not sure that what you posted applies in my case and please correct me if I am wrong. I have xvid and divx encoded files that I am trying to encode to DVD. The files are already on my computer so the is no need for capturing software is there? I think my problem is in the fps from the TMPGEnc encoded file.
Thanks

[draftbeers]

I might have it figured out so for those of you who would like to know hang on for a couple of hours until encodeing is complete and I will post my findings, but don't let this keep those of you that really do know how to accomplish what I am trying to do from telling the rest of us how because I am not sure my way is going to work although it looks clean in TPMGEnc's preview screen.
Thanks

[draftbeers]

OK it seems to have worked. Here are the settings I ended up with.
size 720x480
aspect ratio 4:3 display
frame rate 23.976 fps (internally 29.97 fps)
Rate control CBR
Rate Control level MP@ML
video mode NTSC
encode mode 3:2 pulldown
video source type progressive
top field first
1:1 VGA
Full Screen (keep aspect ratio)
nothing checked in the filter menu

Here is what I think really made the difference
Environmental settings
-VFAPI
-directshow 3
-AVI2 2
-AVI VFW 0
-Microsoft mpeg-1 0
-Wave file 0
-BMP/PPM -2
-TMPGE project file -2
ES video only

Hope this might help someone else. Just remember to take the audio out and do it seperately. I would imagine that any of the resizing options could be changed without effecting the video playback quality.

[draftbeers]

Just to add I have been tinkering around with other settings now that I have eliminated the choppy video and here are some improvements.
I set the rate control up to 2 pass VBR and to CQ and the 2 pass seems to be better.
I also tried normal and high quality in motion search and couldn't tell a large difference but the encode time wasn't that big of a difference so I went with high quality.
Hope this helps

[Stonemann]

If you notice in draftbeers last post he claimed his video was progressive not interlaced . Which is why his last encode worked with no slight synch issues. I am assuming the majority of others are dealing with interlaced sources. When encoding using a 3:2 pulldown flag it is important that your source is progressive. If your source video is progressive you can simply set the 3:2 pulldown flag and then set the fps to 23.976 (29.976 internal). However if your source is interlaced you will have to do an inverse telecline on it to get it back to progressive BEFORE you can properly encode it at a true 23.976 fps. In tmpgenc you would simply select the box for "inverse telecline". This will run the telecline on the video before it encodes it. Putting it back to its original progressive form. It then encodes it properly at 23.976 FPS and adds the pulldown flag so your player will boost that to 29.976.

In essence you would have 3:2 pulldown selected / 23.976 fps (29.976 internal) / and have inverse telecline checked to properly apply a 3:2 pulldown to a interlaced source.

Someone with slightly better knowledge than me may jump in and correct something I said but basicly that should set you in the right direction. Hope it helps ...

[draftbeers]

As long as you frameserve with vdub into tmpgenc I don't think you need to perform an inverse telecine. If you frameserve and follow the settings that I have posted above you should get a smooth DVD that has well synced audio. There are guides in this site to help with frameserving.

[billy beard]

i used virtualdub and tempenc to convert an avi to mpeg ready for dvd auth'ing with ulead,if i play back the mpeg after conversion its perfect however once i turn it in to vob files its jerky as hell,is this the same thing people above are suffering or have i done something stupid.

[Stonemann]

Unfotunately I dont frameserve to tmpgenc as I use a 2nd PC for my conversions and time is of no issue to me. but this much I do know , most divx movies on the net ( not all ) must have ITC run on them before tmpgenc will properly apply a 3:2 pulldown and give synched output. If VDub is handling the ITC somehow or dumping the extras I cannot say.

Here is a for instance. On my conversion PCs HD right now are both Caligula ( progressive ) and Halloween pt I ( interlaced ). Caligula would not need the ITC and could be setup exactly as your above settings implied. And the converted MPG would run beautifuly. However the same settings when applied to Halloween would result in a poorly synched , jerky playback. However with the ITC run on Halloween beforehand it would be fine. Remember this is when working solely within TMPGenc
and no frameserving.

If VDub handles the ITC pre-frameserve (which it may /shrug) then all apologies for wasting everyones time. But if it does not, there is the possibility that you converted a progressive source on your sucessful attempts.

Just playing devils advocate in an attempt to help you guys troubleshoot, believe me Im not trying to start a debate. If any moderator with good VDub>TMPGenc frameserving experience could educate us further it would be most welcomed. I certainly appreciate any knowledge gained from this board ...