Newbie - Have Made Plenty Of Coasters

[RABinMS]

Still having trouble getting my first disc to burn problem free. Getting much closer, but not there yet. Here's a quick rundown of hardware/software:

2.66 Gig Pentium 4
1 Gig RAM
Windows XP Pro
Plextor 712A
Taiyo-Yuden DVD-R (TYG01) rated at 2X, 4X, 6X and 8X
VHS to Canopus ADVC100
File transfer to PC using WinDV
Cut out commercials with VirtualDub
Encode to MPG2 with TMPGEnc Plus
Converted WAV to AC3 audio with ffmpegGUI
Authored with TMPGEnc DVD Author

The latest effort is the best yet, but the DVD still hangs 3-4 seconds in. Previous attempts had hung in that same spot and then a few minutes later as well. This one seems to be fine except for that one spot. What am I doing wrong??? Any and ALL help is appreciated. Have made 12 - 15 coasters at this point and would really like to be able to get started transferring VHS to DVD.

[handyguy]

Best to get a Panasonic e55 dvd recorder or equivalent to get VHS on dvd. Its real easy.

[daamon]

Hi RABinMS,

When you're capturing to your PC, what format are you capturing in? I'm guessing it's AVI of some kind?

If so, use VirtualDub to scan the AVI for bad frames. If found, delete them. Does the captured footage play OK before encoding?

What settings are you using in TMPGEnc?

Does the MPEG file play OK before authoring?

Also, get yourself a re-writeable DVD disc - no more coasters, even if the finished article isn't to your satisfaction.

[RABinMS]

Thanks for the responses so far. I did consider using a standalone recorder, but really want more control over the finished product that that would afford.

I’m using a Canopus ADVC100 to capture the analog VHS signal and convert it to DV. I brought that file into the PC using WinDV and, as I understand it, the result is a DV AVI. The AVI plays just fine and checked out OK in VirtualDub. There were no bad frames found when I scanned it a few minutes ago at your suggestion.

After conversion the MPG plays fine, as do the authored DVD files when I play them with Roxio DVDMax Player. The disc also plays OK using Roxio when inserted into the Plextor drive. The only problem I encounter is trying to play it on my Sony DVP-NC650V player. It plays other burned DVDs, all of which I have checked are DVD-R; the format I’m using.

As far as settings in TMPGEnc, I’m following Step Six of this guide:

http://geocities.com/mmelancholic/lddvd/guide_main.html

I tried following a couple of other guides, but the quality of the output wasn’t what I’m looking for. I’m pleased with the quality now, but just want to figure out how to burn a disc that will play correctly. I’ve got hundreds of hours of experience doing straight digital transfers from DAT tapes to CDs, but haven’t seem to have gotten all the bugs worked out of DVD yet.

Thanks also for the suggestion of using RW discs. I’ll take a look at that as well, but the biggest problem I’ve got is not the wasted discs, but the fact that I haven’t been able to put all the pieces together yet to solve the puzzle. I “think” I’m throwing an adequate amount of quality hardware and software at the task, but need some help in figuring out why it’s not working the way it seems that it should.

Please continue to make suggestions, etc. and I’ll follow up on them until I get this resolved.

[lordsmurf]

Burn speed? Legit TY?
That guide is serious overkill for res/bitrate on VHS transfers.

[RABinMS]

At this point I've got no reason to doubt that it's legit TY media. Plextools, DVD Identifier and DVDInfoPro all show it as TYG01. DVDInfoPro shows that it's good for 2X, 4X, 6X and 8X. I've tried burning at 2X and 8X. Actually got better results (disc only hangs in that one spot) at 8X.

While I would agree with you that it certainly takes quite a while to encode video using that guide, it appears to me to deliver much better results than a couple of others I've tried.

As I've said before though, I'm very new to this even though I've been reading the posts and guides here for quite some time now. Please let me know if you see anything else that I may have missed or should check out further. Thanks again for the suggestions and attempts to help.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I would run the finished product through DVDShrink before burning and try another brand of media.
BTW...what program are you using to burn?

[daamon]

That guide is serious overkill for res/bitrate on VHS transfers.

While I would agree with you that it certainly takes quite a while to encode video using that guide, it appears to me to deliver much better results than a couple of others I've tried.

Try dropping the bitrate to 7,000 - it shouldn't affect the quality, but it may be stop that freezing. I recently had a similar "freezing" problem - same place every time, same duration - and a slightly lower bitrate did the trick.

Also, check these out:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=219885

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=218734

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=218746

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=207014

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=818034#818034

There's 2 reasons why I've provided the above links:

1. They all refer to "VHS to DVD", with some using the ADVC-100.
2. There's a lot of info on 1/2 D1 and associated bitrates, and the reasons why it's worth considering encoding at 1/2 D1 (352 x 480/576 - PAL/NTSC). Even if you capture at full D1 (720 x 480/576), as you are.

Hope that helps. Happy reading and good luck...

[lordsmurf]

Try the TMPGENC guide from my site, use my settings. Encode 2 minutes worth of source, author and record to a DVD-RW/+RW. Try your current method, but with only 2 minutes of source. Get past 3-4 seconds.

[RABinMS]

Thanks VERY much for everyone’s suggestions and help. I did pick up some DVD-RWs and experimented a little with them. The program I was working with is only 44 minutes long, but dropping the bitrate from 8k to 7k did the trick. Looks great, absolutely no problems using the TY DVD-Rs.

I’m going to be tied up for a few days, but I will definitely read over the links that have been provided. I searched the archives before posting anything, but I’m sure I probably missed some good posts, so thanks for pointing those out.

Lord Smurf, I did try using the encoding guide on your site, but obviously was not doing something just right because the resulting quality was not what it should have been. Once I have a little more time to play with things I’ll give it another shot. I’m sure I’ll have more questions and will appreciate your help again in the future.

[daamon]

Hi RABinMS,

I'm glad you got it cracked. But I'd also like to applaud / thank you for taking the trouble to come back with your gratitude and posting which suggestion worked - the latter being so useful for people who have a similar problem.

Check out the following link - I use it for making DVDs from DV AVI, but it could just as easily be used (with a few tweaks to bitrate and / or resolution - as required, if at all) for VHS to DVD. If nothing else, I gained a much better understanding of TMPGEnc from it.

Configuring TMPGEnc for high-quality, DVD-compliant MPEG-2:
https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=303#303

Good luck, and, with your manner, you're welcome to ask questions any time.