timing (frame rate?) problem with mpeg1 to DVD

[AlanHK]

I've got a bunch of mpeg1 files, probably originally from VCDs.
I've used SVCD2DVDMPG, which demuxes and converts the audio to 48k, than load the result in Gui for DVDAuthor. Most of these work fine. Occasionally some play all the way through, the synch is okay; but the chapter points I've set are missing or wrong, and the time displayed on the DVD player is quite wrong -- it runs down to 0 remaining about half way through, and FF goes crazy.
During the creation of the vob files GfD logged a lot of errors, like:

WARN: audio sector out of range: -385158 (vobu #14266, pts 4399.9261)

Eventually I noticed that these problem files had a frame rate of 23.976 fps; the others were 29.97 fps.

I guess these are PAL vs NTSC rates.

I'd prefer not to reencode the video if possible; my TV and DVD player are both PAL compatible so it shouldn't be necessary, and I see GfD makes its menus in PAL mpgs by default.
I suspected the resampled sound track was at fault; I tried making new sound tracks by changing settings in BeSweet, but there was no improvement. If anyone can suggest correct settings that will be compatible; or any other advice, I'd be happy to hear it.

[guns1inger]

They are both NTSC frame rates (PAL is 25 fps)

Check out What is DVD and What is VCD in the top left corner.

[AlanHK]

They are both NTSC frame rates (PAL is 25 fps)
Check out What is DVD and What is VCD in the top left corner.

That's interesting, but not helpful. If you're going to say RTFA, please point to a specific section that tells me how to make them work.

I tried DGPulldown, converted the frame rate to 29.97, but after remuxing it was severely out of sync.

[guns1inger]

The simple solution is to split the different assets into different titlesets, but I don't know if GUIforDVDAuthor can do multiple titlesets.

Otherwise try the demo of DVD Lab Pro or tmpgenc DVD author, just to see if you can get a working result.

[AlanHK]

The simple solution is to split the different assets into different titlesets, but I don't know if GUIforDVDAuthor can do multiple titlesets.

I've been doing tests that just use that one file with the odd frame rate; same result. (I'm not combining the files; they're separate TV episodes.)

Otherwise try the demo of DVD Lab Pro or tmpgenc DVD author, just to see if you can get a working result.

Thanks; I'll check them out. I'm wary of the more professional tools though, aside from the cost they tend to frown on out of spec files and insist on reencoding, and that can't be good for files with marginal VCD quality already. I'm hoping for a way to repackage rather than resample the video.

[guns1inger]

Neither of these will re-encode. VCD resolution is not out of spec, so long as it complies with the bitrate restrictions in the DVD spec. DVD Lab Pro will take compliant VCD resolution material under the DVD project template. It also take non-spec SVCD material if you choose to use the relaxed complaince project template. This is set in the project settings.

If you are having problems with just the one file, it may be the file is just too far out of spec to be used, and has to be re-encoded. Both framerates you mentioned are compliant in both the VCD and DVD specification. If the resolution is OK (352 x 240) and the bitrate is below 1856 kbps, then the only other thing to cause problems would be corruption in the file itself.