Does TMPGEnc have a preference for Type 1 or Type 2 avi?

[jellied]

I have noticed that TMPGEnc seems to have a hard time with avi files that have been rendered by Movie Maker. I capture DV using Firewire into Movie Maker, add transitions etc, then output the file as DV. This output from Movie Maker is Type 1. When I import the file into TMPGEnc, it often fails to open-- and yes, I have tried all the various permutations for the filter priorities. When it does open, the MPEG2 encode sometimes is very strange. For example, I had one case where the entire MPEG file consisted of just one frame for 45 minutes.

I have done some limited captures using DVIO in Type 2 format. I don't seem to have any problems whatsoever with TMPGEnc when these unedited avi files are used.

I have seen some posts that say that TMPGEnc prefers Type 2, and also that TMPGEnc doesn't like fade-in/fade-out transitions in avi files. So, I am wondering whether there is an issue with Type 1 avi files in general, or whether it is just the MS codec used to re-render the edited avi.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

jellied

[daamon]

Hi jellied,

I have seen some posts that say that TMPGEnc prefers Type 2

I've been advised of this too. I've never captured to Type 1 DV, so can't comment on TMPGEnc's like / dislike of it. But do recall that there was a good reason why DV Type 2 is preferred over DV Type 1.

Of course, you could always use something other than Movie Maker to edit your footage...

[jellied]

Hi daamon:

Well, I've done some more playing around and it definitely seems that TMPGEnc prefers type 2 DV. With type 1 files, I also had problems with batch encoding because TMPGEnc would just quit at the end of the first project. It would also do this at the end of single encodes. And by quit I mean that the program would close itself completely and disappear rather than just stop processing. I have seen many people describe that problem; I wonder if they are using Type 1 also.

I agree, it's definitely time to junk Movie Maker. I noticed that when I looked with Avicodec at files rendered by Movie Maker as DV-AVI it showed a quality rating of 58% vs. 98% for the original unedited avi. I am sure this is not good, but does anyone know what Avicodec is basing this quality determination on?

jellied