Staxrip - Audio out of Sync, weird frame rate issue?

[chortle]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to my Simpsons DVDs into x264 format using Staxrip. Handbrake didn't allow me to use QTGMC so I've used MakeMKV and Staxrip.

MakeMKV makes a file thats in sync: Mediainfo Pastebin (https://pastebin.com/XxSPN6xi).

Here is the file after running through with Staxrip (https://pastebin.com/cF6GduPp).

The audio seems to go out of sync very quickly. I'm new to all this sort of semi-manual process and I'm not really sure where to start. I've done a lot of reading but I wonder if my issue stems from a weird framerate reported by Mediainfo and using QTGMC. I can't tell the original FPS of the file since it's not reported cleanly as 29.97 or 23.976. Other episodes on the DVDs report 23.976. This episode in particular has weird interlacing in some parts that QTGMC takes care of very well.

Here's the AVS from Staxrip: https://pastebin.com/42CrVBki

I'm currently trying with assumeFPS from mediainfo which is 29.941.

Is there anything I can try? Let me know if there's anything else I can post.

PS. I also don't mind/care if the resulting files are VFR. I kind of prefer that, but have no idea how to do what with StaxRip.

Thanks!!

Edit: The beginning and end using assumeFPS were in sync, but inbetween seems to vary by a little to as much as a few seconds . Not sure what I'm doing wrong here.

Edit 2: Pulling timecodes from original mkv from MakeMKV didn't make it better, muxed MKV won't play.

Edit 3: Audio and Subtitles are in sync if that helps.... still not sure what I'm doing wrong with the video framerate.

Edit 4: So I've used SelectEven() and the resulting MKV has less frames than the source. If I take source timecode and mux it into resulting MKV, then the audio is synced. However when I don't use SelectEven(), framerate is doubled, but result is smoother. How do I take source timecode and mux it into resulting MKV with doubled framerate?

[manono]

The first thing I'd suggest is to feed it the DVD and not repackage it as an MKV. From the sound of it, it's a mix of hard and soft telecine and giving StaxRip the IFO or VOB files might help with that.

...from mediainfo which is 29.941

Probably a result of you using MakeMKV on it. All NTSC DVDs output 29.97fps (or 59.94 fields per second). They are all constant framerate. You shouldn't need to use QTGMC. You shouldn't need to use AssumeFPS.

[chortle]

I only used MakeMKV as StaxRip threw me a warning that opening VOBs had disadvantages, but I didn't know what.

What should I be using to get rid of the telecine in this case? Confused between TFM and Tdecimate usage!

Also now confused at how to load just the VOB containing the episode I want. Is there a way to rip a PGC to a single VOB?

Thanks!

Edit: Here's a sample of one scene where I thought I'd have to start using QTGMC. Most other 'combing' artifacts are just for one random frame here and there but in this episode there are the most in this one scene (around 20s mark). https://vimeo.com/215013848

[manono]

I only used MakeMKV as StaxRip threw me a warning that opening VOBs had disadvantages,

I don't use StaxRip but the two guides I checked both explain how to convert DVDs by opening VOBs. Since StaxRip uses known good methods (making D2V files and using AviSynth scripts on them), there's no reason for any warning about opening VOB files. Not unless you did something wrong in preparing them for conversion.

What should I be using to get rid of the telecine in this case?

The same as you'd use in any case - an IVTC filter such as TIVTC. TFM (Tritical's Field Matcher) matches up the fields and TDecimate removes the duplicate frames created in the field matching process. It's a 2-step process.

Also now confused at how to load just the VOB containing the episode I want.

You separate out the episode first. You can do that when decrypting, or after it's on the hard drive PGCDemux can extract the VOB with the episode you want. StaxRip can open multiple VOBs so there's no need to join them, although PGCDemux will do that if you save out an episode consisting of multiple VOBs.

Vimeo or YouTube are useless for anything. Upload samples cut from the DVD (DGIndex can do that) here or to some third party file sharing site such as MediaFire.

[chortle]

StaxRip throws an mkvmerge error when trying to go through the process with vobs.

I managed to get my VOBs loaded into megui.

Here is the avs that megui generated:

LoadPlugin("d:\Desktop\MeGUI-2715-32\tools\dgindex\DGDecode.dll")
DGDecode_mpeg2source("D:\Desktop\PgcDemux_mod_bin\ Vobs\VTS_01_1.d2v", info=3)
LoadPlugin("d:\Desktop\MeGUI-2715-32\tools\avisynth_plugin\ColorMatrix.dll")
ColorMatrix(hints=true, interlaced=true, threads=0)
LoadPlugin("d:\Desktop\MeGUI-2715-32\tools\avisynth_plugin\TIVTC.dll")
tfm(order=1).tdecimate(mode=1,hybrid=3)
#crop
LanczosResize(656,480) # Lanczos (Sharp)
#denoise

It ended up being okay. Audio was in sync, but was jerky in that panning section (the original wasn't that smooth). I don't think I'm going to get the smoothness I got with QTGMC at near 60fps. I'm going to upload a sample and I wonder if you'd be able to offer any tips for me. I'm going to tweak around with the AVS and see if I can get better results. Thank you so so so so so so much for your help.

Edit: StaxRip Error: https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/0euXoz6.png

[manono]

You have a problem, alright, but I don't think the MeGUI solution is the one I'd go with. There's no way I'd make it 29.97fps with a ton of blended frames. One decent solution is to bob it (turn all fields to full frames making a 59.94fps video) using QTGMC and be done with it. But QTGMC (depending on the settings used) is slow, and you'll need more bitrate for the same quality as compared to making it 23.976fps. Know there isn't any ideal solution. You have a bunch of orphaned fields (fields for which there is no match) and it can't be IVTC'd properly.

I'll assume this is an aberration and few sequences in this episode or in others are like this. I'd bob it and then decimate it by doing something like this:

QTGMC()
TDecimate(Mode=2, m2PA=true,rate=23.976)
Crop(8,2,-8,0)
BilinearResize(640,480)

QTGMC is still slow, and the results aren't perfect. There are still a couple of jumps and a couple of dupe frames, but it's not too bad. Others might have other ideas.

It's in your best interests to learn enough AviSynth to be able to do these things yourself and not to rely on all-in-one programs to do it for you.

Interesting error message about using MakeMKV over opening the VOBs directly, especially given that the guides I checked didn't mention any problems with opening VOBs. You never "continued anyway"?

[chortle]

Yes, this is an aberration. Most of the first season is like this, some episodes worse than others. The rest of the seasons seem to be generally okay with the odd episode like this. The ones detected by Mediainfo as 23.976 go perfectly with tdm() and tdecimate().

I'm starting to learn a lot more from you and through using Megui which generates an .avs file that I can look at and modify.

I did try to continue with StaxRip directly opening a vob file, but it crashes with an error when it gets to the mkvmerge section. I believe the it has a muxing error with regards to opening a .sup file.

I got a lot of thing to try, but thank you so much for you help. It's pointed me in a lot of different directions and now i have more and more programs to try out. I would still appreciate any suggestions that anyone else has too.

[chortle]

I tried running your code to see if I could replicate it. I'm getting blended frames.


This is my AVS:

LoadPlugin("d:\Desktop\MeGUI-2715-32\tools\dgindex\DGDecode.dll")
DGDecode_mpeg2source("d:\Desktop\VTS_01_1.demuxed. d2v", info=3)
LoadPlugin("d:\Desktop\MeGUI-2715-32\tools\avisynth_plugin\TIVTC.dll")
QTGMC()
TDecimate(Mode=2, m2PA=true,rate=23.976)
Crop(8,2,-8,0)
BilinearResize(640,480)

What am I doing wrong?! This wouldn't have to do the DLLs I had to copy into call QTGMC would it?

[manono]

Ouch, that's ugly. Hehe, I think you latched onto the only version ever of QTGMC that actually introduced blending:

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1804484#post1804484

I'd upload the one I'm using but the different versions have different dependencies and I might mess you up even more. If you're using version 3.357s, don't. It's the most recent version and should be updated in a day or two. If you read more after that post, the problem might be blamed on some of the other stuff needed.

On second thought, I'll enclose the one I'm using, but don't know for sure if it'll work with your other needed DLLs or not.

I'll make another post about another and nearly as good a way to bob.

[manono]

Another and somewhat faster way to Bob:

yadifmod(mode=1, edeint=nnedi3(field=-2))

To use it you need YadifMod and NNEDI3. The only possible problem might come from the wrong field order. Put it on by itself (before the TDecimate line) and advance a frame at a time to make sure there's none of that jerky backwards/forwards stuff you get from having the wrong field order. If you have some you have to use a different "field=". If it's no good, first replace -2 with 2, and if that doesn't work, try 3. Once everything is moving correctly, turn on the TDecimate line again and go on from there.

[chortle]

Hey Manono, your QTGMC file worked! Leave it to me to get the one that's got the 'feature' in it.

I've been reading all night about other ways to bob and had touched upon yadifmod, but either my syntax was wrong or likely I was just using it incorrectly. Then you show up and there's a command that works immediately.

Have so much to learn :S.

Thanks again! Appreciate all your help! I'm sure I'll be back again soon with all he different things I'm trying out.

[manono]

Bobbing's important and those are the two good ones I use. Yadif(Mode=1) is really fast but I only use it for testing before switching to something else. Especially when working with animations, the aliasing it leaves behind is unacceptable. TDeint(Mode=1) is also fast but I don't use it at all. And there are other bobbers as well.

You're a quick study. Or a slow study. But at least you study, and I have every confidence you'll get the hang of it.