Newbie Lost in a Sea of Information and Software

[purplehawk]

Hello. I acquired an outstanding copy of a movie in .avi format. I would love to burn this movie to CD in order to watch it with the family on our big-screen television. I use Nero 5.5.6.4 and a Sony 24x CD-Rewriter.

I converted my .avi movie to .mpeg-1 using TMPGEnc 2.02.31.119. I ended up with a mpeg movie file of 1.6GB - way too much for my little CD burner.

I want to cut the movie into pieces that will fit on multiple CDs, if possible. I have Cool Edit Pro 2000, ULead Media Studio Pro 6.0, and a demo copy of M1-edit Pro, plus the smaller programs: VirtualDub, TMPGEnc, Blaze Media Pro, and LSX-MPEncoder.

I confess I don't have a clue about Cool Edit. I tried ULead's Media Studio but it will not open my movie file. The M1-edit demo program does open the file but will only work with about 300 frames. I'm afraid to try one of the others for cutting - is that the right term? - the movie because I don't want to destroy the quality of the video and sound, both of which are really superb. On the other hand, I'll probably be divorced if I suggested purchasing another piece of software in the near future.

BTW, I still have a copy of the original .avi file as well.

Can someone please help me?

[videoguy79]

Here's an easy solution: go into Tmpgenc, and open the menu entitled "Mpeg tools". Go to cut and paste. Here, you can divide (by moving the slider around or specifying the source range) the movie into two or three pieces without having to reencode. Save each piece as (name)1, (name)2, etc. Hope this prevents you from drowning in the "sea of information" . . . and your wife won't bitch at you for buying more software!!

[videoguy79]

I should mention one more thing--divide your 1.6GB mpeg file, not the orignal AVI. Thought I would clarify that.

[purplehawk]

Thanks for the reply, VideoGuy. Made me laugh as I am the wife in this 35-year union. My hubby's idea of computers is sorta like pouring cash down a rat hole, if you take my meaning.

Is there no way to do this with ULead's Media Studio? I've heard it's a great program and since I've paid for it, I'd like to learn to use it. Plus, I read here that TMPGEnc is "buggy," as in operations freezing and what-have-you.

[dumwaldo]

i was just wondering if you noticed the enourmous website that this forum resides on? you know there are guides that explain in detail exactly how to do what you want without spending a penny.

throwing money at the problem and purchasing software that makes false promises will not help you. reading the guides here for one night will get you more than all the money you have spent on software put together.

nero does a pretty poor job of re-encoding so i would suggest you look at the link on the left that is titled CONVERT and follow one of the guides to convert to VCD. you will need to cut your video in half to create 2 CD's at some point in this process. again there are guides under the link titled EDIT that will explain in detail several ways to cut video. a VCD can only hold the equivelent amount of time that the cd was designed for in audio mode. so a 650 meg blank CD is made to hold 74 minutes of music there fore it can also hold 74 minutes of video in VCD compliant form when burned as a VCD.

once you have the mpgs that you want to burn nero is a very good program to burn your VCD's

[preacher238]

I must agree with Dumwaldo. This site has helped me immensly with all of the guides and software and info. I have become somewhat not as stupid as I used to be when it comes to making SVCD's and VCD's! Many thanks go out to Baldrick, Sefy, and yes even Pinoy2201!!!! I used to be a newbie (still am really!) But now that I have learned to use the search forum, I am all over it!!

[purplehawk]

I have noticed the site around the message boards, Waldo. The trove of information contained here is the reason I registered in the first place. The problem is there are no specific instructions for how to use the software I already have, or there are problems listed for the freebie programs. One reason I have all this software is because I learned about it from this site.

I'm the ultimate novice. I don't know what I'm doing and I posted here for help.

[purplehawk]

A last note: this movie is a "screener" - a real theatre-quality copy of a popular movie. I just don't want to ruin it.

[purplehawk]

I just tried to convert my mpg file to vcd using TMPGEnc. The program will no longer open the file. I used the same program to convert from .avi to .mpg.

[videoguy79]

purplehawk--

Ok, let's sort some stuff out here. You say you are "trying to convert your mpeg to VCD"? You shouldn't have to do that as long as you encoded using the proper VCD specfications when you used ULead (352x240, 1150kbps video, 224kbps audio, 23.973 or 29.97fps (these are US specs I am using). You do not have to re-encode your file to cut it. You have to open the file under "mpeg tools-->cut and paste", not the default screen. Once you do this, follow my original instructions for cutting the file. It will not riun the file--I have done it a bizillion times without any trouble.
Also, FYI, a "screener" is usually of wretched quality, so I am suprised that you obtained a good one (of course, this is all subjective). Screeners can be "camera copies" of made at the movies before the film is released onto DVD. I usually don't bother with them, personally.
Also, I will reccomend you read some of the guides on this page--they are a huge help. I know several people have reccomended this already, but it cannot be emphasised enough. By utilizing the guides and forum posts, I managed to make VCD's for two years before posting a single question. Also, why pay for software when freeware apps. on this site will do everything you could ever want (well, almost)? I have never purchased a piece of VCD software in my life. I use the applications that are provided here and have had very good results. Furthermore, all software provided here is discussed in how-to guides or on the forums, so help is never far away should you need it.
Oh, sorry about the wife comment. . . I guess my somewhat rigid experiences (thus far) has biased my feelings towards wives (or girlfriends in my case) and video. No girl I date even wants to hear the word "computer" ever come out of my mouth, let alone learn how to use Tmpgenc! You go!!

[dumwaldo]

maybe this will help you make sense of things...

http://www.binnewz.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=715

sorry i just dont have the energy this morning to compose a whole new post so im just linking to something i posted on another forum a while ago.

[purplehawk]

That's a great post, Waldo - I can't bring myself to type the "dum" part; actually that might apply more appropriately to me at the moment. I've copied it for future reference.

Um, VideoGuy, those numbers you gave me were The Bomb. What I'm doing right now is encoding the original .avi in Ulead Media Studio Pro. I had to laugh when reading Waldo's comment "to make a vcd from your avi files, you're going to need some patience." I'm currently at 8.5 hours elapsed time, with another 20 hours or so to go! I used the settings VideoGuy mentioned above and crossed my fingers. I see the little bar at the bottom indicating something is happening with the sound, but I don't hear anything and that makes me very nervous. On the other hand, the video can be seen clearly in the little window.

Interestingly, the first mpeg I tried to make using TMPGEnc took only 6 hours and it couldn't be opened in ANY cutting program - including itself. So I made a newbie decision that the 1.6GB mpeg wasn't a "good" copy and started over. I kept it anyway, just in case.

You know, I've burned several copies of this movie - copies I acquired from other sources - and all were disappointing. This one, however, screener or no, is just superb. I saw the movie in the theatre Christmas 2001 and the copy on my hard drive is every bit as good, just smaller. That's why I really want to make a good copy for burning.

[purplehawk]

Uh-oh...

Waldo, I just reread the post in your link. You say to cut the file while it is still in .avi format? I didn't do that! Is this going to cause me a huge problem when I try cutting it later?

[purplehawk]

One question, please? Should I be able to hear the audio as this file is converting? I could hear it before in TMPGEnc but I don't in Ulead Media Studio. Thanks!

[videoguy79]

You should not be able to hear audio whilst converting. Tmpgenc will show you each video frame, but it cannot decode and playback the audio in real-time since it is converting much slower than that. If you were to hear anyhting, it would be digital gibberish. Don't worry about it--just walk away from your computer and find something else to do for a while

[purplehawk]

Thanks, VideoGuy. You've really eased my mind a couple of times since my first post last night. I have to take my hat off to you folks. I'm not a stupid person by any stretch of the imagination. I can build a computer with the best of 'em, I'm nearly finished with my MCSE and am a manager at a Windows XP website - all this after retiring from a career in accounting and finance - but this audio/video business just eludes me. I want to do well with it, though, and normally that's a sure-fire sign I'll get the hang of it. With resources like you, I can't go too far wrong. Thanks again!

[videoguy79]

No problem! This is a fantastic site, if I may say so myself! There are many helpful and knowledgable people who utilize this site, so even as confusing as digital video may be, you are never more than a click away from help. I am certainly no expert myself. . .I am a PhD student in Psychology, and have no formal computer training! I picked up on programming, building computers, and audio/visual editing all on my own. This just goes to show that doing your research and becoming well-read (and experienced) in certain things (a skill often eschewed by younger kids) is the still best resource for doing anything.

[purplehawk]

I'm down to six hours, so the conversion should be complete some time this afternoon. I guess I'll need to split the file then. Should I start a new post if I can't figure it out, or continue my questions here?

[purplehawk]

VideoGuy - anybody - please help. I've just finished 28 hours of conversion time on this file. Turned it on to take a final look before trying to figure out how cut it into three pieces.

I have NO SOUND whatsoever on the converted 1.72GB file. What can I do? Does this mean start over - again?

[dumwaldo]

dont panic and DON'T DELETE!!!

load your avi file into TMPGEnc like you are going to convert it to VCD. now click the load button and browse the templates for unlock.mcf and load that as the template. that will open all the controlls that were greyed out before. select audio only in the stream type box. click start.

this will create an mp2 file of the audio to your movie. this should take less time than the audio so it may be an hour but its not another really long process. the worst i could imagine it taking is actual real time so an hour for an hour.

once you have the audio track open the file pull down menu and select mpeg tools. the first one you should see should be simple multiplex. in this window load your mpg that you created with no audio as the video source. it will probably list that file as the audio source as well. ignore that and hit the browse button and load the mp2 audio. now set a new name for your output file and hit run.

this will put the audio and video file together.
sorry i just got a call so i hope this wasnt to short

[purplehawk]

I did panic. I deleted the file, too.

Now I'm back to the "how to's" on the left. At the moment I'm creating a .wav audio file in VirtualDub. I was going to follow the instructions there, which say to go to TMPGEnc for the merge audio-video and encode portion. Assuming I get an mpg (pal? I think) with sound...

Oh, I'm ready to cry. I am so discouraged.

[purplehawk]

I am in TMPGEnc now. I selected the original divX-avi file as video input and the new .wav file as the audio. I followed the instructions as to the settings. It's a PAL, whatever that is, at 25fps... sample rate 44100... and in advanced settings I did the slider-bar thingy to set the range for the first CD. I figure I'll just wait it out and see what happens.

Oh, if only I'd known I could have made a new sound file!