Problems authoring a DVD with SpruceUp

[mulder77]

Hi!

I am trying to author a DVD. I want to put some SVCDs onto it.
Therefor I followed the guide here on this site with not too much luck.

The problem is:
I got 2 SVCDs. I merge them with tmpgenc-tools. After that I demultiplex them and convert the sampling-rate as stated in the guide.
When I insert the movie into SpruceUp, everything is ok. The trick with AVestensione functions well.

But, when I go to export the new DVD, it begins compiling. It takes about 1,5-2h for a 45min video. If I leave the audio and import only the video, this compiling is very well (only a few mins). So I think, SpruceUp is doing something with the audio in order to fit for a DVD. The audio is mpeg1-layer2, 224kbit, 48000Hz.

What I saw was the audio 3 secs. longer than the video. For example the video has 45:11, the audio 45:14.

What am I doing wrong? What is important? Might there be a version of tmpgenc which is buggy in such case?


Many thanks in advance...
Markus

[mulder77]

OK,

I made some further tests.
When compiling a project _with_ sound I get about 300 kb/s ( Very, very slow... It's a Athlon, 1.4GHz, 512MB Ram.
Doing the same _without_ sound I get about 7-8 mb/s. Thats 25 times as fast!
BTW, the sound _is_ 48KHz. mp2, 224kbit/s. Anything else to be patient of?

So whats wrong?
Perhaps there is a hint for another program, with which I can author (S)VCDs on a DVD with reencoding?

Thanks,
Markus

[kitty]

48 khz is the DVD sampling frequency - what is your audio data rate? 224 kbs is fairly standard . . .

[mulder77]

48 khz is the DVD sampling frequency - what is your audio data rate? 224 kbs is fairly standard . . .

What do you mean? I left it on 224 kbit/s as described in my prev. posting. I only sampled it to 48KHz using tmpg and ssrc as described. Should I change something with joint-stereo, stereo etc.?

To get it a bit clearer to me: 300 kb/s compiling speed when normally nothing has to be reencoded is far too slow, right?


Thanks, Markus

[kmmoore]

Marcus,

Not sure if this will make a difference, but it certainly sounds like SpruceUp is re-encoding your audio for you as it compiles it. The only difference I can see betwee your and my setup is that I encode my audio to 384k rather than 224k

I always use 224k for my VCD and SVCD projects, but when compiling for a DVD I always encode it at 384k, and I am wondering if SpruceUp is detecting this and re-encoding it to 384k ?

Just a thought.

Another question for you. The two SVCDs that you are putting onto a DVD, are you actually joining them into one movie ? or are they to be burned to DVD as two seperate files ?

I can tell you exactly how to do it if it is two seperate files, (as I put 5 at a time on without a problem), but I have not joined any files and done it that way. Though the principal should be the same.

Also, what are the sources of your SVCDs, are they ones you have made yourself, or are they downloaded ?

Anyway, this is how I put 2 (or3,4 or 5) SVCDs onto a DVD.

1. De-mux the 2 .MPG files into 2 .M2V and MP2 files using TMPGEnc Simple De-Mux

2. Delete the 2 .MP2 files. I have found that TMPGEnc causes a loss of sync when de-muxing these files.

3. Next, select audio only in the stream type, and point the audio browser to your 1st .MPG file and select 'File --> Output to File --> Wave File' and select the Format as PCM and attributes as 48.000kHz 16bit Stereo, and then save it. Do the same for your 2nd .MPG file.

4. Now you want to re-encode these Wav files to MPG layer 2 using TMPGEnc. I personally use Toolame for this as it is better than TMPGEnc's built in encoder, but either will work fine.

5. Selecting, audio only again in the stream type, browse for the newly created PCM Wav file, and under settings select, Mpeg-1 Layer 2, 48,000, Stereo, 384kbits/sec (I also tick error protection). Now save the file as the SAME NAME as your de-muxed .M2V file created earlier except with the extension .MPA and then do the same for the 2nd PCM Wav file you created.

6. Next thing you have to do is to "fool" SpruceUp into thinking the M2V files are DVD compliant files as at the moment they are at the wrong resolution. Run DVDPatcher, select the 1st M2V file and patch the header to a resolution of 352x480 (for NTSC) or 352x576 (for PAL). Then patch the 2nd M2V file. remember to keep the aspect ratio and bitrate the same. You will probably have to use the 'Custom Bitrate' to do this.

7. You will now have 2 M2V files and 2 MPA files (with the same name), and you can now use SpruceUp as you would normally. Simply, click 'Import' and select the first .M2V file. This will load and after it has loaded it will load the associated MPA file. Then 'Import' the second .M2V file, which will load and then load the 2nd associated .MPA file.

8. Now, simply set your menus, screens etc, and save the project, and exit SpruceUp.

9. We now have to go back and set the M2V headers back to 480 x480 (NTSC) or 480x576 (PAL). Run DVDPatcher again, select the 1st M2V file and patch back to 480x480 or 480x576, again, remebering to keep the aspect ratio and bitrate the same. Do the same for the 2nd M2V file.

10. Start SpruceUp. Open you earlier saved project, which won't look any different, and export it. Personally, I export it to File, which creates a Video_TS and Audio_TS folder at a specified location, and then once these are done (takes about 10 minutes) burn with Nero. This seems to be a far more reliable way of exporting it to a DVDR than exporting to your DVD drive.

So far, I have used this method to put the first 5 episodes of Buffy season 7, Charmed season 5 and Enterprise season 2 onto DVD+R and got excellent, fully synced, results, which I can pause, fast forward/reverse without any loss of picture or sync. And also, without having to go through the long re-encoding process otherwise needed to to change the SVCD MPG files into DVD compliant files.

If any of the above doesn't make sense, please feel free to e-mail me again, or leave a message here and we can go into it in more detail.

Best of luck,
Kevin.

[mulder77]

Hi, Kevin!

Thanks for your detailed answer!

I always use 224k for my VCD and SVCD projects, but when compiling for a DVD I always encode it at 384k, and I am wondering if SpruceUp is detecting this and re-encoding it to 384k ?

I reencoded it to 224 kbit, 48KHz...

Another question for you. The two SVCDs that you are putting onto a DVD, are you actually joining them into one movie ? or are they to be burned to DVD as two seperate files ?

I tried both, as one merged file and each seperatly...

Also, what are the sources of your SVCDs, are they ones you have made yourself, or are they downloaded ?

And here is the point where I got closer to the problem last night.
I captured some DV from my DigiCam and encoded it to mpg2 via tmpgenc with SVCD-Template (PAL) to get a similar file as some downloaded mpgs. I followed all steps as you describe but with the 'original' method of getting the audio to 224kbit, 48KHz. Your method sounds good and I will try it this evening.
I use AVestensione to trick SpruceUp but I think that won't matter.

This time, encoding was lightening fast _with_ sound, so there must be something wrong with the audio of the downloaded mpgs. As I said, my demultiplexed audio is never the same length. Sometimes 4 sec. less, othertimes 2 sec. longer than the video. So there might be some gaps or something else?
BTW, I tried it with enterprise.e02s05 (VCD), same result. I mention it because you talked about Buffy, Enterprise...

[detailed instructions]

3. Next, select audio only in the stream type, and point the audio browser to your 1st .MPG file and select 'File --> Output to File --> Wave File' and select the Format as PCM and attributes as 48.000kHz 16bit Stereo, and then save it. Do the same for your 2nd .MPG file.

4. Now you want to re-encode these Wav files to MPG layer 2 using TMPGEnc. I personally use Toolame for this as it is better than TMPGEnc's built in encoder, but either will work fine.

5. Selecting, audio only again in the stream type, browse for the newly created PCM Wav file, and under settings select, Mpeg-1 Layer 2, 48,000, Stereo, 384kbits/sec (I also tick error protection). Now save the file as the SAME NAME as your de-muxed .M2V file created earlier except with the extension .MPA and then do the same for the 2nd PCM Wav file you created.

Good idea, I will try. I hope this will get me to the point.
I have another idea how to rip the audio: I will try WinAmp3 to play the mpg. There is a plugin to save a wav. Maybe this will help me with the gaps etc.

[even more good instructions]

So far, I have used this method to put the first 5 episodes of Buffy season 7, Charmed season 5 and Enterprise season 2 onto DVD+R and got excellent, fully synced, results, which I can pause, fast forward/reverse without any loss of picture or sync. And also, without having to go through the long re-encoding process otherwise needed to to change the SVCD MPG files into DVD compliant files.

Hopefully I will be at the same point this evening )

If any of the above doesn't make sense, please feel free to e-mail me again, or leave a message here and we can go into it in more detail.

No, all made perfectly sense!
Thx a lot for your advices and tips!

Markus

[kmmoore]

Glad I could help. I hope it works for you. Oh, and sorry I spelt your name wrong !

Cheers,
Kevin.

[mulder77]

Hi!

Little update.
I had no success with your described method of ripping the audio. Compiling is still slow as hell. I haven't tried 384kbit/s yet, but I really don't think this will matter as my selfmade video compiles fine with 224kbit/s.

But there came another question to my mind.
Does it have a effect that the mpg I am using did came directly from a SVCD? I simply copied it from the folder on the CD to my HDD.
Perhaps I need to "do" something with this file?

Another question: Does it matter which tmpgenc I am using?

And perhaps another authoring tool will do the trick... any recommendations? But I WANT to get success with SpruceUp as others have no problem... )


Thanks, Markus

[mulder77]

Hi!

Some more questions. Hopefully someone can tell...

1. What "Output Type" should be displayed when exporting a SVCD-DVD?

2. How long does your compiles take when doing a e.g. 45 Min. mpeg2?

3. Are there any known probs with Athlon-CPUs in SpruceUp?

4. When compiling (which lasts more than 1h on my AthlonXP1600), only 2-3% CPU-Time is used and disk-activity is low (only activity every few secs). When compiling without audio, the system is very busy and compiling is fast. Anyone else saw this problem?

5. Is there any SW on my system which could cause this?

6. What software is "normally" the best to do a SVCD-DVD?


I hope, someboby can help... *pray*
Thx, Markus

[snowmoon]

I just did a 45 minute mpeg-2 720x480 + 256 audio this morning took 15 minutes to compile 1.1gb DVD and another 15 minutes to burn it.

Are you giving spruce up SVCD .mpg or plain mpeg-2 muliplexed mpg. The user scan offset data may be confusing it.