Round and round in circles

[marcopolo1]

Right, before the computer goes out the window and I give up on trying to simply convert a movie file so I can play it on my DVD player. Could someone please put me straight as to what software I could/should use as I'm getting nowhere fast and get lost those people who just put twatty comments in threads.

1. I have been told to use VirtualDUB, but which one (I've got 1.5.10) to test and extract audio and audio seperately from a file. (I'm still trying to figure out how to use the blumin program and getting nowhere fast)

2. Use TMPGEnv (I've got the Plus version) to then re-encode the two files together. Why, if the program can do it for you from the beginning, again this is confusing to me and also what should I output this as without loosing too mush quality.

3. How to actually fit them on a single DVD if possible and as what format, I now read you can place a SVCD file on DVD.

I did get as far as using cucusofts all in one program, but got sync errors, now after reading everything I totally confused.

[ZippyP.]

convert a movie file so I can play it on my DVD

What type of file is your source? What is the resolution and what codecs does it use? Not sure? Test your file with Gspot. I can recommend a guide if you give a little more info.

Also, if it's an avi then make sure you check for bad frames... see below.

[ZippyP.]

To answer your questions...

2. Use TMPGEnv (I've got the Plus version) to then re-encode the two files together. Why, if the program can do it for you from the beginning, again this is confusing to me and also what should I output this as without loosing too mush quality.

It's recommended to extract (decompress) audio to a wav file bacause TMPGEnc does not handle all audio types.

3. How to actually fit them on a single DVD if possible and as what format, I now read you can place a SVCD file on DVD.

It's all in the bitrate you choose. SVCD is not recommended for DVD as it is not a valid DVD resolution, although many DVD players will handle it. DVD has 3 basic (NTSC) resolutions 352x240 (VCD), 352x480 (1/2 D1) and 720x480 (D1). For VCD res you can use a bitrate of 1200 and get about 7 hours on a DVD, for 1/2 D1 you can use a bitrate of 2400 and get almost 4 hours and for D1 you can use a bitrate of 4000 and get about 2 1/3 hours on a DVD. Using VBR encoding can lower the average bitrate and enable you to get even more on a disk. The bitrates I've given are examples only and you need to test for yourself to find what you like best.

I did get as far as using cucusofts all in one program, but got sync errors, now after reading everything I totally confused.

TMPGEnc produces great video, stick with it. As with anything on a computer there is a learning curve. The guides section can help you every step of the way.

[marcopolo1]

Thanks for that, but lets say for arguments sake, that I have an avi file with Divx codec, which has been ripped from a dual layer DVD, do I use Virtualdub to extract the audio & video or TMPGEnc, what is the D1, etc and you mention DVD has three NTSC modes, what about PAL, also will I be able to fit on 4.7gb DVD.

Cheers

Mark

[ZippyP.]

I have an avi file with Divx codec, which has been ripped from a dual layer DVD, do I use Virtualdub to extract the audio

Yes.

& video

No.

what is the D1

That is the full DVD resolution of 720x480 for NTSC.

and you mention DVD has three NTSC modes, what about PAL,

Yes, PAL has three DVD standard resolutions as well. They're slightly different than NTSC...352x288, 352x576 and 720x576. It's all in the "what is DVD" section over there <-<-<-.

Extract the the audio from the avi using Vdub and encode to mpeg using TMPGEnc. It's best if you select a guide, here's one.

[marcopolo1]

Well, it's all going ok so far, but when splitting using VDub, is there a way to make prior to starting to see what size the files will be. It's all well and good doing all the conversions, but useless if if outcome doesn't fit on a DVD.

Thanks

Mark

[presto]

Don't worry about size. After you author the DVD you can use DVD shrink to make it fit with little or no loss in quality.

[mats.hogberg]

Well, it's all going ok so far, but when splitting using VDub, is there a way to make prior to starting to see what size the files will be. It's all well and good doing all the conversions, but useless if if outcome doesn't fit on a DVD.

The size of the output from VirtualDub has nothing (at all) to do with the size the movie will occupy as DVD Video. What matters is movie length (in time) and bit rates used when encoding to DVD video/audio.
Use the DVDRHelp bitrate calculator to find out what bit rates to use when encoding. You can fit 2 hrs of D1 (720x576 PAL) video no prob. on a DVD. If the movie is longer, go for half D1 (352x576) - this let's you lower the bit rate without making the picture suffer (more than from the lower resolution).

/Mats

[marcopolo1]

OK, all completed, but same outcome, lipsync. Should I need to play around with anything in VirtualDUB prior to extracting A/V, like codec, fps, etc. I did test the file and no errors were displayed onscreen.

Mark

[mats.hogberg]

In what way "out of sync"?
Off from start, and stays that way?
Starts out OK, but soon starts to desync more and more?
OK to begin with, but then suddenly is out of sync?

/Mats

[marcopolo1]

Seems to start off ok, then when I forward the movie, audio starts to lag behind video.

Mark

[mats.hogberg]

Is the source and target frame rate the same?

/Mats

[Gazorgan]

Did you forget to mention a VDUB error about VBR audio? VDUB doesn't like variable bitrate MP3 audio, neither does TMPGEnc.

Oh the joys of free 700 MB AVI's.......

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, there is that part about VBR too, yes...

/Mats

[marcopolo1]

OK, the source is 23fps.

Just tried a 25fps file, absolutely fine.

Anything I can do?

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, a frame rate conversion.
Extract audio.
Change the AVI frame rate with AVIFrate to 25 fps
Make extracted audio (wav) play faster by 25/23=~1.087 with GoldWave time warp function, or WavWorks (highly recommended)
Use new wav + 25 fps AVI as audio and video source respectively.

/Mats