Mono VHS player; how to get L+R channel audio on VCD ?

[bernie01]

I have been capturing AVI files from a mono VHS tape player (it only has one plug for Audio out, not Audio Left and Audio Right plugs), consequently
when I create a VCD I only get audio in the left channel of my hi-fi.
I know I can't get stereo but how can I get the same audio track in both the left and right channels of my VCD? I'm using TMPGEnc to encode the mpeg files and VCDEasy to author them but can't see anywhere where I might be able to put the audio into two channels....... anyone got any ideas?
Thanks, Bernie.

[TeeeRex]

Just select 'Mono' on the TMPGEnc Audio options ....

[jntaylor63]

Get a RCA Y adapter.

Will take your mono and record as L&R. Not true stereo, but will record the audio as stereo.


JNT

[fmctm1sw]

Get a RCA Y adapter.

Will take your mono and record as L&R. Not true stereo, but will record the audio as stereo.


JNT

Yep, he's talking about this: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=274%2D511

[housepig]

or you can capture in mono, strip the audio, open it in most any wav editor, resample it as a stereo file, and remux it with the video.

VirtualDub can handle stripping the audio and adding the new audio in, and Audacity is a good, cross platform freeware audio editor.

[TeeeRex]

as I said earlier - just select 'Mono' in TMPGENc when you encode - it will take your 'left' only or 'right' only channel - mix both of them together (ie the ALREADY mono track + the empty track) and create a proper Mono MP2 file.

There is no need for VDub, a Y adapter or any audio tool ....

[tonyp12]

He would need to have a Unlocked VCD templete to see the Mono option.


Hint:
always spend the extra $10 when buying a VCR to get stereo-out.

Time to get a new VCR?

[TeeeRex]

ok (select extra templates and click on the 'unlock' one..) - while we are on the settings - remember that you can halve the audio bitrate for Mono (with the same sound quality) - and subsequently increase the video bitrate (not by much granted but an increase all the same...)

[bernie01]

Thanks to all for the replies; however I neglected to mention that I have already created the mpeg files and deleted the avi files as they are too big for my disk space. I imagine I may need to demux then manipulate the audio file somehow, then multiplex again?

[tonyp12]

I just tried it, using only tmpgenc.

You do not even have to demux.

Just open the mpg file, select ES (Audio only)

click settings, change to Mono.

When done
under File, mpeg tool.
Simple multiplex, for video select the orignal mpg.
for audio select the new mp2 file.

for output select a new file name just to make
sure you do not write over the original.

[bernie01]

Thanks Tonyp, I'll try it!

[jar5000]

TMPGenc won't give me the option for MONO. All I see is Dual Channel, Stereo, and Joint Stereo. Trying to work with an MPEG2 file rather than VCD MPEG1. Is this any different?

Used my ADVC-100 to cap a mono VHS. The DV and MPEG2 file I created with Tsunami plays in stereo on my PC but only plays 1 channel on my TV.
What can I do to rework the MPEG file to play both channels? Is there another method or app other that Tsunami TMPGenc? Please help!

[spectroelectro]

TIme for the brute force method Ugly, but it works. I've done it .
Use TMPGEnc to read in your mpg files. Now select SAVE AS then choose WAV. You'll get a WAV file with only one channel.
Download Goldwave, a good WWAV editor that lets you use it
for 30 days for free. OPen up the WAV file in Goldwav. Select the entire channel with audio, copy, then paste to the channel without audio. Now save the WAV file.
Load the mpg file into TMPGenc and select SIMPLE DEMULTIPLEX.
Now erase the [filename].mp2.
Now use TMPGEnc to load in the WAV file. It should save AUDIO ONLY. Encode to MP2 file.
Now chosoe SIMPLE MULTIPLEX in the MPEG TOOLS menu of TMPG. BROWSE to load the m2v file and the mp2 file, then save 'em as [different filename] mpg.
This is ugly and time-consuming.
It's so much simpler just to capture to stereo.
How do you capture to stereo if you only have a mono VCR/
Simple,. Drive to Radio Shack and get a Y audio connector. Take the Y audio connecto out form the single audio output on your VCr, then put the 2 outputs into your audio card when you capture. Problem solved.

[tonyp12]

TMPGenc won't give me the option for MONO

As stated before, you NEED to have an unlocked templete.

Click load, click on templete->extra folder.

Select unlock

[vitualis]

I not entirely sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion that VCDs don't support a mono MP2 audio track. If you have mono audio, it must basically be a stereo audio track where L = R.

As for the capturing, just make sure that when you capture the video + audio, the audio is set to something like: PCM 44.1 kHz mono, 16-bit.

Then, when you use the standard VCD template with TMPGEnc, it will convert the mono audio to stereo (where L = R).

If you've already encoded an MP2 soundtrack where L = audio and R = silence, you will have to first...

(1) demux the audio to an MP2 file (e.g., with TMPGEnc)
(2) decode it back to uncompressed PCM WAV (e.g., with Winamp)
(3) load it with CoolEdit and save the appropriate channel to a new mono PCM WAV file
(4) encode the new mono WAV file to a stereo MP2 file of the appropriate specs (e.g., with TMPGEnc or tooLame) --> this should automatically create a stereo MP2 file where L = R
(5) remux the new MP2 file with the old video to create a new MPEG video file.

Regards.

[jar5000]

Thanks Tonyp12....worked like a charm.