TMPGEnc+ not opening MPEGs

[scottb721]

I tried opening an MPEG2 movie (created by TMPG) in the Video browse window, both normal and wizard windows, so that I could reconvert to MPEG1.
I am getting an error message stating "File xyz.mpg could not open, or is unsupported"
I even tried demuxing the mpeg and then opening the .m2v but this didn't work.
Does this sound right?
I seem to recall being able to open mpeg2 files in the past.

Thanks

[scottb721]

I've just found VirtualDub won't open Mpeg2 files either.
It comes up with "MPEG import filter : pack syncronization error"
The mpegs play fine in PowerDVD, Windows Media Player etc.

Any ideas people?

Thanks.

[bugster]

Yes, the regular vdub will not open mpeg-2 files. There is a modded version that will though.

TmpGenc should open mpeg-2 files but only if you have one of 3 or 4 certain mpeg-2 codecs installed. IIRC the one that comes with PowerDVD is one of those. Download and install the demo, uninstall any other DVD player SW or mpeg-2 codecs and try that.

[scottb721]

Hi bugster, thanks for the input and your time.
I recently upgraded from my 2 channel PowerDVD OEM version to a 6 channel version that a friend gave me. Perhaps I could try reinstalling the basic version of PowerDVD.

The Plug-in tab in the Evironmental setting window does show "Cyberlink MPEG2 Decoder" but there isn't anything next to it in the file column. see attached picture.

Is this the reason it's not working?

Can I add the IIRC file without altering my current PowerDVD setup?
Would something like Nimo codec pack fix my problem ?

Thanks again.



thought the piccy would show up here! The link is correct though, please have a look if able.

[puertorican138]

If you get an error message when opening like file unsupported or can not open or is not supported
or you get an empty(black) video preview window
or the video look wierd in the video preview window like green or purple or pink
Try first to change the codec reader settings in TMPGEnc under Option->Environmental settings->VFAPI plug-in and right click on the DirectShow Multimedia File Reader and increase the priority to 1 or 2 and try open the video.

Hope That Helps!!! :P

[scottb721]

I increased the DirectShow Multimedia File Reader priority but this didn't fix the " could not open, unsupported " error.
Should I uninstall then reinstall something, PowerDVD or TMPG or something else.

I was trying to re-encode an MPEG2 to MPEG1 when I found the problem.

[mrspangle]

hi,

I had this problem when trying to open an MPEG2 file in TMPENG once. I dont know what you are trying to do in TMPENG, but i was trying to convert the MPEG2 stream which was in SVCD format into DVD acceptable type.

What i did i got DVD2AVI. Look in the "Convert" section on the left and find the DVD2AVi and TMPENG help. It explains it all.

John

[puertorican138]

Try WinDVD.

[scottb721]

Update.
TMPG is opening MPEG1's but still not MPEG2's
Don't know if this changes anything.

What program provides the tools for TMPG to open MPEG2 files?

[scottb721]

I downloaded the MPEG2 PlugIn for TMPG from the Tools section.
When I got the ZIP file it won't let me open anything because it says I don't have LHA installed.
Anyone know what this means?
I can't even read the readme file to see how and where to install it.

Cheers

[scottb721]

Found a good version of the zip file.
I not sure what to do so I copied the m2v.vfp file to the TMPG folder.
This got m2v's opening but still not muxed mpeg2 files

[puertorican138]

Found a good version of the zip file.
I not sure what to do so I copied the m2v.vfp file to the TMPG folder.

You copied the m2v.vfp zip into the right folder.

[scottb721]

I think I probably should have left things well alone.

For some reason now my AVI and d2v encodes have increased in time.
CBR used to take 2 times the original file length and VBR was x4. This was with standard VFAPI plug-in order.
Now it takes x3 and x6, respectively.
I did do a reinstall of TMPG trying to get the MPEG2 thing sorted. This must have been the cause. bugger!

[puertorican138]

I think I probably should have left things well alone.

For some reason now my AVI and d2v encodes have increased in time.
CBR used to take 2 times the original file length and VBR was x4. This was with standard VFAPI plug-in order.
Now it takes x3 and x6, respectively.
I did do a reinstall of TMPG trying to get the MPEG2 thing sorted. This must have been the cause. bugger!

Try defragmenting your hard drive. Defragmenting decreases your encode time and increases the speed of your computer.

[scottb721]

I did add 30 odd gig of AVI capture to the hard drive before the increase in encode time started happening. I added 12 AVI files but most only have 2 fragments.
Possibly related, but I still have 6gig free. Surely this is enough not to slow encoding,

Regarding fragments ,Co-incidentally, the frames dropped during each capture was equal to what is said in the "Disc Defragmenter" window when it reports on each file.
So it is obviously dropping frames when the hard drive fragments the file.

I kept defragging until all info was compacted to one end of the drive but this still caused fragments in the captures, mind you only, it was only 2 or 3 dropped frames for 10minutes of 480x576 AVI capture using HuffyUV in VirDub.

[hustbaer]

hi!

1) opening mpeg-2 in tmpgenc with the direct-show plugins...
tmpgenc supports the following mpeg-2 decoders:
cyberlink (powerdvd)
ligos (lsx) and
sony

the import-plugin is NOT the direct-show plugin though.
and it will even work if the vfapi mpeg-2 decoder (the one that comes as a .lzh file) is also installed.
which one is used only depends on the priority/"enabled" settings...

2) using the vfapi-plugin.
do decompress the lzh file you need lha.exe OR you can use IceOWS (look on tucows).
i can't remember if arj32.exe is needed too, but you can get arj32.exe from there: http://www.arjsoft.com/

the problem with 1) is that you will get wrong chroma-decoding with interlaced mpeg-2 streams.
9 out of 10 direct-show decoders have this bug, it's really annoying!
i have not tested the sony decoder though - so i can't tell for sure it has the same bug.
the only mpeg-2 direct-show filter i found that does it right is the one frmo elecard... 8)

the problem with 2) is that you will get the same synch-problems as with dvd2avi...
if it works perfectly with dvd2avi it will work here too.
however you'll get no sound

the best solution i found so far is to use the elecard-direct-show plugin to decode to uncompressed avi or huffyuv, including PCM audio, and then open the avi in tmpgenc...
takes time & disc-space though.

but be careful when using graph-edit to decode - graph-edit does not disable the reference-clock, so you'll lose frames if your computer cannot decode & write at "realtime" speed...

ahhhhhhhh, much text, not much said, ... i hope you don't mind 8)

bye,
--hustbaer

[scottb721]

I checked the CPU usage whilst doing an encode and instead of CPU usage being remaining on 100%, which it used to do, it is now doing a roller coaster type thing. once every couple of seconds it drops down do about 60%.
This would explain the increase in encode time but I'm not sure if the the drop in CPU usage is being caused by TMPG or is from another source.