jerkyness on DVD Playback..

[TheDJ®]

Does the jerkiness only happen on the PC (from the Harddrive?) or on the standalone?

Both.

When playing back the movie on standalone, it reminds me of when ur watching a movie on ya PC, and the PC hangs for a bit.

[TheDJ®]

I've just done an avi (25fps) to DVD (16:9 PAL)....and it came out perfect.

So it is the fps converting which is causing this problem!

[Jukka]

Now that IS strange.

Another thing you can try is after converting the AVI to 25fps in VDub is to use AVICodec (or similar) to check that it is in fact 25fps. Then play that AVI and see whether it is jerky.

If you still have problems upload a few screen shots of what have been doing in VDub and TMPGEnc so we can check the settings. Also are you on the latest TMPGEnc?

Jukka

[Major_Problem]

Hi Guys,

Just been reading through your post and had a lot of similar problems with my 1st few efforts at converting ntsc avi's to pal. Below is my method using various tips picked up from this site's guides and also the guides at Doom9. I don't know if this will help but there's no harm in trying it.

Try to use avi's encoded with ac3 audio as i've always found them easier to work with.

1. Open avi file with gspot to find out all it's info i.e. aspect ratio,video codec used,frame rate and audio codec.
2. Open your avi file in nandub and select direct stream processing under audio, then click Save Wav, this will give you you're ac3 file but will give it a wav file header. We need to change the header before we can covert it.
3. Use ac3fix (you need to run this program from a c:>) to fix the wav header and give it it's correct ac3 tag. ac3fix is very easy to use, just make sure the program is in the same directory as you're ac3/wav file and open a dos session, goto the directory with the program and the ac3/wav file and type: ac3fix filename.wav filename.ac3
4. You know have a working ac3 file, now open BeSweetGUIv.06 and use this to convert the framerate of the ac3 file to 25fps. Audio conversion is now complete.
5. Video conversion now, open TMPGenc and use the project wizard to select a PAL DVD. I always use the 2 pass method for best results,under the Advanced tab make sure the Field Order is set to "Bottom Field First (field B), and also the Source Aspect Ratio should be set to 1:1 VGA. Set Video Arrange Method to Fullscreen (Keep Aspect Ratio). Make sure you tick the box for "Do Not Frame Rate Conversion". This setting is very important.
6. Only output the video stream as you've already got your audio sorted.
7. Now use TMPGenc DVD Author to mux your freshly converted video file with your ac3 file and then author your dvd.

I use this method all the time now and get perfect dvd's every time, with the odd exception. I have also been experimenting with the different aspect ratio settings, getting this right has a massive impact on the quality of you're final DVD. The settings i've used above seem to give the best results so far for xvid/divx avi files.

Hope this helps.

Let me know how you get on.

[TheDJ®]

@ Major_Problem, thank you so much for ur time and efforts, i will be experimenting with your method asap.

@ Jukka, I'm using TMPGEnc Plus 2.59.47.155, i did try using a newer version but it had bugs.

I am also wondering if VD did actually convert the 23.976fps avi to 25fps properly?? will check it!


Thx alot peeps, i appreciate it!

will report back with results asap.

TheDJ®

[TheDJ®]

@ Major_Problem,

i was just wondering how long ur method takes converting just the video in tmpgenc? Coz i have started mine, 24 hours remaining (P4, 3Ghz, 1gig ram)....triple checked all settings. And also wots ur average video bitrate (kbps) when using this method??

thx

TheDJ®

[Jukka]

I'm using 2.521.58.169, you should be able to download and upgrade for free, might be worth a try. Also puzzled by your previous message that says it is taking 24 hours to do a conversion, I have a 1.3Ghz Duron and even in 2 Pass VBR it only takes 12 hours!

Anyway, keep trying and let us know whats going on - we'll sort this by hook or by crook,

Jukka

[Major_Problem]

It usally takes between 4-6 hours with no filters running i.e.noise reduction etc. Also depends on what i've got running in the background.
Something else that might speed it up is to re-boot before encoding, my pc is usually left on all the time but re-booting before an encode does seem to speed the process up.

Average bit rate on my current encode project is 4672kbps.

Something must be going screwy if you're P4 can't hack it, i've only got an Athlon XP1800??

[TheDJ®]

I forgot to mention, i chose Highest Quality (very slow), maybe thats why its taking long...

[Major_Problem]

Bingo!!!!!!!!!!

[TheDJ®]

lol...ok, so why dont u guys use highest quality???

[TheDJ®]

ok, Major_Problems method looks much better, it seems the option in tmpgenc "Do not frame convert" seems to have improved the jerkyness, aswell as field order! Thanks!

But the movie i just encoded was over 3 hours long and the bitrate of the 2 pass vbr was set too high (4000) final video size was over 6gb , this time i will try 'average: 2500, max: 3000'...wot do u think?

Was also wondering if i should use 3:2 pulldown as encoded format?

Cheers guys

TheDJ®

[TheDJ®]

I've stumbled into yet another problem....

I'm trying another movie, and when converting the audio in besweet from mp3 to mp2 @ 25fps, the full length of the audio does not match the length of the encoded 25fps video?

Original Video 23.976fps = 2 hrs 58 mins

Encoded Video 25fps = 3 hrs 34 mins
Encoded Audio 25fps = 2 hrs 51 mins

I checked in besweet to convert from 23.976 to 25fps.

It worked fine on a movie before, using same method, but i havent tried saving it as a wav, then converting to mp2, instead of using mp3, will give that a go.

Any idea's please?

Thx

TheDJ® 8)

P.S. This post is being viewed alot, so any help is being widely distributed

[TheDJ®]

hmmm.....seems like u guys have given up on me...

I just cant believe why i'm having so much difficulty making NTSC > PAL DVD's.....is it the source? Like i said before, i always do a framecheck using VD to make sure theres no errors...

If theres no problem with video, then audio has problem, or vice versa...

[Jukka]

No haven't given up just not been on this thread for a couple of days.

How did you convert the frame rate of the video, in VDub? If so, looks like you could have typed 20 instead of 25 looking at the maths (remember increasing the frame rate decreases the time & vice versa).

Audio looks fine for 23.976 -> 25.000 conversion.

Sorry you are having such problems, as I have said before (no help I know) I have done this lots of time w/o probs.

Again check the 'new' video file with Avicodec (great little program) to see whats what with the video.

Let me know how you get on,

Jukka

[TheDJ®]

Hi Jukka, good to hear from you!

When i open the file in VD, it says improper VBR, and wil be out of sync, so i use nandub, which doesnt come up with the error. I set the video to 25 fps, audio>direct stream, save as .mp3. Then in besweet i choose 23.976>25fps, MP3 to Mp2, and doesnt convert the file to 25fps.

Its kinda driving me crazy, coz i did it before with previous film. These divx/xvid files are a real problem!

I dont know wot else to do, i've encoded the audio 10 times now, spent hours trying to convert it, just will not do it!

Source Length @ 23.976fps: 2 hours 58 mins (178mins)

Target Audio @ 25fps: 2 hours 51 mins (171mins)

Its just not making sense.

I tried converting the mp3 to wav-stereo & wav-mp3, then convert wav (23.976) to wav (25fps), still nothing. I have tried all possible ways i think.

I've been told the total audio @ 25fps should be 3 hours 6 mins (186mins) after converting from 23.976 to 25fps, someone did the calculations for me.

Wot i'm gonna try now is this;

MP3 > WAV (no fps conversion)

WAV > WAV (23.976 -->25fps)

WAV > MP2.

If that doesnt work, than i give up!

wot a mission!!

[Jukka]

Ok lets look at the facts:

'Original Video 23.976fps = 2 hrs 58 mins'

This is 23.976 fps, therefore at 25fps it should be (23.976/25) x 2h58m = 2h51m (171 min) so looking at your post if you got 171min for Audio that is ok.

Also should be the same for video.

So your friend says the video should be 3h6m, WRONG, it looks like he/she has got the maths wrong, video s/be (as before) 23.976/25 x 2h58 = 2h51m, HOWEVER if the calculation is done 25/23.976 x 2h58 you get 3h09m (which is near the 3h06m you mentioned). REMEMBER increase the framerate = shorter fil (in time).

e.g. AVI is 23976 frames, NTSC. Therefore @ 23.976 frames/sec = 1000sec, now at 25 frames / sec time would be (23976/25) = 959.04 seconds, i.e. shorter.

Now in VDub you are getting a the VBR warning. So, save the audio as an MP3 by using Audio > Direct Stream Copy and File > Save WAV. When the 'Save File' dialogue comes up where it says 'Save As Type Windows Audio (*.wav)' select 'All Files (*.*)' and then save it as "audio 23fps.mp3".

Then import this mp3 into BeSweet and convert - its foolproof.

Save the AVI out as a 25fps AVI from VDub (as shown before).

Import these into TMPGEnc+

As for NanDub I've never used it so I'm afraid I cannot help. If all this fails send me the AVI on disc and I'll look at it.

Regards

Jukka

[TheDJ®]

Hi Jukka, your a star mate!!

I was going crazy last night trying to figure out why this is happening, and it wasnt the audio which had the problem it was the VIDEO. After converting the video only in tmpgenc from 23.976 to 25fps, the total video length was 3 hours 34 minutes.

Jukka, i tried using ur process by changing the framerate in VD, but like i said before, it comes out jerky on playback. Major_Problems method worked much better by checking "Do not frame rate", and the jerkyness had more or less disappeared, but like i said above, for some unknown reason, it encoded the movie to 3 hours 34 mins, is this anything to do with checking "do not frame rate conversion?" in tmpgenc? I will re-encode the movie again, and hopefully it will come out to 2 hours 51 mins (171 mins).

I was also wondering wot the frame server does in VD? is this same as changing frame rate?

Thx Jukka

TheDJ®

[Jukka]

DJ,

I know exactly the problem with your AVI - its 29.997fps (or TMPGEnc thinks it is), so when you do a 25fps conversion its is slowing it down.

Maths as follows:

(29.997 / 25) * 178 = 213.6 = 3h34m

I think you should be able to convert 29.997fps avi to NTSC DVD straight in TMPGEnc, ensure your TV and DVD can handle NTSC.

If you want to convert to PAL then this is a totally different ball game that requires lots of hardware (there are some posts here on it).

You could try a PAL output on TMPGEnc and use the 'Inverse Telecine' flag (this converts it to 23.976). I haven't tried this so don't know what will happen. Try it on a small sample of the AVI. Also when you come to convert to DVD be prepared to wait a VERY long time (24 hours or more).

Jukka

[TheDJ®]

Ok, finished converting video.

Length = 3 hours 25 mins. (pal 16:9, 25fps, 2-pass vbr @ 3000kbps, full screen (keep aspect ratio), do not framte convert checked <~~maybe this is causing the problem!

I used VD to frame convert to 25 fps 1st, then encoded. The other encode came out to 3 hours 34 mins, so i dont have a clue wot is going on with this video.

If audio is 2 hours 51 mins (25fps) then so should the video?

I'm gonna go mad!! lol

[Jukka]

Are you sure this is a 23.976fps AVI? The maths just don't add up. Something is screwy somewhere.

Jukka


Might be worth just buying this one!

[TheDJ®]

i've checked it in gspot, virtualdub, says 23.976.

Yeah i've given up on this one...

Thx for the help Jukka, appreciate it.

TheDJ®

[TheDJ®]

Jukka, i did it!!!!!!!!!!

After all this time....the problem in tmpgenc was checking the "Do not frame convert", i didnt need this function.

Video & audio now have same length!

Seems like major_problems method confused things a bit, nevermind!

Thx again..

TheDJ® 8)