MPEG2 to AVI - Cheap, Fast, Audio synced - Is it out there?

[EwanG]

My WinTV PVR USB captures in MPEG-2 format. For a number of reasons, I don't want to keep my videos in MPEG-2. I would prefer to convert them to AVI so I can run a few filters through VirtualDub, and have an end product worth watching.

So far the only tool I've found that will let me do a straight conversion is the copy of ArcSoft ShowBiz I got with my DVD burner. The problem is that not only is it rather slow, but it only lets you set the quality if you choose an original MS Codec. IOW if you choose Huffyuv or MPEG-4 it greys out the quality selection, and the end result isn't very pretty - not to mention often being pretty large.

I've tried the VirtualDubMpeg2 tool, but the audio doesn't stay in sync with that. DVD2AVI is ok, but then you end up with a seperate audio track, and there are issues with that. I've tried vidomi, but the sounds ends up in sync, but sounding as if it was recorded in an echo chamber even if I use the patch that is on the site for that. TMPGEnc won't even open the mpg files.

PLEASE tell me there is a simple, cheap (better yet free) tool that I'm missing that will solve my headaches...

Thanks,
Ewan

[divi2323]

dont quote me on this, but I think DVDx will load mpeg streams and let you encode them to DivX or AVI

[SatStorm]

I never had a problem using VirtualDubMpeg2 for this.

I load a huge (2 hour +) mpeg 2 files to virtualdubmpeg2, I set the filters and I output to mjpeg.

From mpeg 2 sources, outputing to mjpeg is IMHO a better alternative than outputing to Huffyuv.

An alternative is to frameserve, but that way you might have audio delays, expecially if you use temporal filters.

[jledhead]

I have tried everything and still can't find a way I like.

Here is my process, I have ATI AIW card and with my tests the best capture I can make is with a highbitrate mpeg2 with res of 640X480. It looks really good but is too big for me to keep so I try to convert to avi. I have used vdubmpeg and divx and resized to 512X384 (4X3) and it still doesn't come out good. I have tried flaskmpeg with divx and similar results encoding divx at around 1000kbs (1 and 2 pass). also tried Dr.Divx (yucchhh) and gordian knot, either doesn't work or to complicated for my liking.

I can load into TMPG and reencode but the file is still larger then I want.

I will try DVDx as suggested above but would still like some other opinions.

question, why would you take a full resolution dvd mpeg and encode with huffy or mjpeg?? is the file size still not to large??

will try that also.

[FulciLives]

I think the problem here is a combination of user error (I mean Gordian Knot is the best way to make a DivX and Dr. DivX is so easy ...) and the fact that in my opinion most NTSC captures don't look so hot as DivX since the format doesn't look good to me unless it is progressive so unless you can do an IVTC you have to de-interlace and that kills the quality too much.

Why don't you just capture at 480x480 MPEG-2 SVCD format and burn a SVCD or do 352x480 MPEG-2 which can be burned on a DVD.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jledhead]

Why don't you just capture at 480x480 MPEG-2 SVCD format and burn a SVCD or do 352x480 MPEG-2 which can be burned on a DVD.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I am just capping tv shows so don't really want to use tons of harddrive space to store. I also don't burn movies for my own personal use. I stream all my movies to my xbox, so I store the files on my computer. I can capture at mpeg bitrates but the quality is a bit worse then capturing at full dvd resolution and bitrate. will keep playing with that though, thanks for the help (I do think you are right, the deinterlacing is killing my quality).

question, if I am going to watch this on my TV anyway via the xbox, do I really have to deinterlace?? will the TV handle that or will it show the interlaced lines??

[FulciLives]

question, if I am going to watch this on my TV anyway via the xbox, do I really have to deinterlace?? will the TV handle that or will it show the interlaced lines??

No you do not have to deinterlace for TV output. In fact the only time you really would want to deinterlace is when you are creating a video that will only be viewed on a computer monitor.

DivX does support interlace video but this is a somewhat "new" thing for DivX and I have not really been fooling around with the format very much as of late since I have a DVD burner and do MPEG-2 now for that so I don't know how well the current DivX handles interlaced video but it does now support it.

So you might want to try leaving it interlaced. It will look "odd" on the computer screen but will look fine on the TV.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman