Jerky playback on standalone DVD player

[renovate616]

Good morning all. First time to post. Appreciate any feedback y'all may be able to offer.

First off, I have run several searches for this problem, but can't find a solution that works.

Here's what I've done so far (followed suggestions at www.dvdrhelp.com for converting avi to mpg):
1. Downloaded 2 AVI files: 640x272, 23.976 fps, DivX 5.0.2 codec; audio is Franuhofer IIS MPEG, Layer-3 Codec, 48MHz, 2 channel.
2. Believe I have the right codec (DIVX 5.0.2) as I can watch it on DIVX player, ATI file player AND Windows Media Player 9.
3. Odd error message re:audio, so used Virtual Dub to convert and save the audio as a WAV file.
4. Used TMPGEnc to convert 1/2 of the AVI file into an MPG (SVCD/NTSC film); new WAV file was used as the audio. (broken in half as whole file converted to MPEG wouldn't fit on 700 MB SVCD. Set as NTSC Film per DIVX to SVCD instrux on dvdrhelp.com.
5. Used VCDEasy to move MPEG2 file into BIN/CUE files. Set 10 equidistant chapters.
6. On first try, used CDRWIN to burn BIN/CUE files. Every minute or so, video seems to "freeze" for 2-3 seconds, then it continues. Audio continues uninterrupted. May get a few minutes of normal play, but then the 2-3 second freezing starts again.
7. Went back to AVI. Ran through Virtual Dub to check Video Stream for errors....no error log created or error messages, so assuming it's clean. Watched AVI file. No hiccups.
8. Converted again using TMPGEnc.
9. Used Nero 5.5+ to burn as SVCD. Same jerky 2-3 second freezes.

Don't think it's a dirty laser on standalone DVD player as I can play regular DVDs and everything's fine. And when burning, shut down internet and ALL other programs; recorded at 2x.

Equipment;
DVD Player: Mintek (know it can play SVCDs as I 've made a few others and they play fine).
PC: Celeron 600 MHz
Philips Acoutic Wave Audio Card
ATI All-In-Wonder 7500 Video Card
HP 8250i CD-Writer Plus
Full listing of all gear found on my profile.

renovate@charter.net
Thanks.

[renovate616]

Any thoughts?

[CogoSWSDS]

A couple things you can check...
1. Does the encoded MPG file out of TMPGEnc play OK on your computer? If not then somehow TMPGEnc is screwing up. Try encoding video and audio separately, then muxing them together and see if that helps.

2. If the encoded MPG out of TMPGEnc plays OK on your computer, try burning at a slower speed (I have good luck with CD's burned at 4X, your mileage may vary).

3. Try burning to CD-RW if you were using CD-R, or CD-R if you were using CD-RW.

HTH,
CogoSWSDS

[dcapp1]

I had a similar post once, but didn't get an answer. So don't hold your breath.

[renovate616]

A couple things you can check...
1. Does the encoded MPG file out of TMPGEnc play OK on your computer? If not then somehow TMPGEnc is screwing up. Try encoding video and audio separately, then muxing them together and see if that helps.

MPG plays OK on PC, so figure TMPGEnc is OK. Also, I did encode vid and aud separately.

2. If the encoded MPG out of TMPGEnc plays OK on your computer, try burning at a slower speed (I have good luck with CD's burned at 4X, your mileage may vary).

Burned at 1x, so speed isn't issue.

3. Try burning to CD-RW if you were using CD-R, or CD-R if you were using CD-RW.

HTH,
CogoSWSDS

I am going to try playing this SVCD in another DVD player and see if it's just MY player. Your third suggestion made me think that could be an issue. Will give that a try. Thanks.

[Gazorgan]

Try this. Make a test clip form the movie you are having trouble with, say 5 minutes. Go into TMPG and set the max bitrate to ...oh...2000. Then make another sample at 2250 and one at 5000. Take all three clips and burn as SVCD (basically 3 chapters). Watch the first clip, look for jerks, then #2 then #3.

What you are looking for is to see how sensitive your player is to bitrate. if it will play the 2000 clip but not the 2500, then it's very sensitive to bitrate, and you may ahve to encode CBR, instead of VBR/CQ. Some players will play SVCD's, but they can't really deal with the bitrate.

[roy_newell]

Hey mate, if you're in a PAL region playing this and your dvd player says it can play pal and ntsc, don't take this as gospel, mine is supposed to play NTSC and it can, only problem is it plays it jerky like you're suggesting, you need to follow the guide on here to convert it to a proper pal disc, 25fps, its simple enough mate and then it will play perfect, this is of course assuming u live in a pal region, if not, stuff knows

[narked]

refer to previous post.

If video options in dvd player is set to PAL when playing NTSC then u will get jerky playback (and vice versa). However if in Pal region when dvd set to NTSC then tv might not accept NTSC signal from dvd player (change settings on dvd, if picture goes b/w then your stuffed). In which case u will need to to the framerate conversion

[zzyzzx]

I agree with 2 pervious posters in thinking that it's a framerate problem.

Try encoding it in regular NTSC VCD format and I bet the jerkiness disappears. If you don't live in a NTSC country (where do you live?) then encode it as a regular PAL VCD and see if that works. If thet works try it as a SVCD but not "film" and let Tempgnc do the framerate conversion.

Don't use the "film" format, it just doesn't work all that good.

[renovate616]

Live in the U.S., east coast. Bought DVD player at local Big Box retailer. Documentation says Video System is NTSC. Thanks.

[narked]

Dont burn it as an NTSC Film SVCD. The framerate for that is 29.97fps. Which means u are adding 6 duplicate frames a second for it to run at that speed. Your original files were at 23.976 fps which is framerate for NTSC Film VCD (but not NTSC VCD which is 29.97fps again, confused yet??)

Ive had a couple of movies of the nat running at 29.97fps which is what you need for NTSC Film SVCD, but I use PAL 25fps and I cant convert them the framerate jump is too great.

[Frag]

i believe that svcd ntsc film is 23.976.