TMPGEnc DVD Author Divide by Zero Error?

[rkr1958]

I've been tyring to do what I've done for months now. I capture a TV with my AverTV Turner card (MPEG-2, 352 x 240, 3200 kbps). I then use TMPGEnc Tools to Muliplex the captured video. I find this step makes cuts out the commericals in the next step much cleaner. I then add the DVD video to my project in DVD Author and then edit out the commericals, author and burn. However in my latest attempt during authoring I getting a Divide by Zero Error.

Any clues, thoughts or suggestions?

[SatStorm]

This is a usuall problem with TMPGenc Author, nothing to worrie about. It happens frequently with my mpegs too, when I author.
It is probably something to do with the decoders.

[rkr1958]

O.K., how did you solve it or work around it?

[SatStorm]

I ignore it. I export to vobs, burn the disc and it's just OK

Also, if you move the cursor a bit, you bypass the point of this problem. Just set for a chapter the next Intra frame!

Really: Just ignore it! I know it sounds weird, but since it works, why try to solve it? After all is a codec / decoder PC internal issue, a problem only for the PC preview of your project. It doensn't affect the result product.
Your DVD gonna play just fine!

[rkr1958]

I ignore it. ...

Really: Just ignore it! I know it sounds weird, but since it works, why try to solve it?

I give ... I've tried to ignore it. I've changed my chapter points. I've broken up the MPEG-2 file that I'm authoring. I seem to have the problem isolated to a 10-minute segment in the middle of the file. Authoring works if I leave this segment out. However, if I try to author this segment alone I get the divide by zero error. I guess I could keep trying to zero in on the exact frame (or frames) that are causing the problem but is there another way? I just can't ignore it. If I do I can't get from MPEG-2 to .vobs. What am I missing here? Suggestions? Possible Solutions?

[FulciLives]

So much is wrong here.

First of all the AverTV capture cards should not be used to capture direct to MPEG

At that task they are rather poor.

Why?

1.) Aspect ratio error. You need to do 688x480/576 for proper aspect ratio of D1 resolution (720x480/576). So you capture at a width of 688 then pad it out to 720. This can be done if you capture to an AVI file first then encode to MPEG-2 but this can't be done if you capture direct to MPEG

2.) Capture to MPEG is completely done in software. Typically this gives more results including the possibility of a MPG file with ERRORS in it.

So get another capture card or start to capture to AVI files first then convert to MPEG

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
For Half D1 capture at 344x480/576 then padd to 352x480 for correct aspect ratio.

[rkr1958]

So much is wrong here.
First of all the AverTV capture cards should not be used to capture direct to MPEG
At that task they are rather poor.
For Half D1 capture at 344x480/576 then padd to 352x480 for correct aspect ratio.

O.K., I'll accept your "reprimand" for "poor capture" and defer to your better quality approach.

Anyway, I've have had very good luck at capturing TV shows at their best setting (MPEG-2, 352 x 240, 3200 kbps) and then editing out commericals and authoring to DVD.

The quality has been acceptable for my families purposes (Cartoons by my 3-year son (Clifford, Dora, Blue's Clues), the Bachelor for my wife, and Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital for me (though I missed one two weeks ago).

I'm just fishing for a solution to this error I'm getting. By the way, I've probably captured and authored over 50 hours of TV shows this way (but only 15 hours or so using TMPGEnc DVD Author), and this is the first time that I've encountered this error.

With all that said I'm just

[FulciLives]

Well all I mean to say is you are getting an improper aspect ratio. Also this card usually doesn't do that great at MPEG-2 DVD spec recording since it is 100% software based MPEG encoding. However if you have a fast enough computer and use a high enough bitrate then that might not be such a big deal.

But the aspect raito problem IS a problem.

If you really want to do direct to MPEG encoding I suggest you look for another card ... perhaps the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 for instance.

Sorry to burst your bubble. I knew something was "off" myself but it wasn't until I did a lot of research and reading around that I found out that the problem is the aspect ratio error on top of the fact that the complete width is not captured.

This all applies to the Avermedia drivers.

Things are better if you use the BTwincap drivers but then capturing direct to MPEG-2 might not be as easy (can't use the Avermedia software for instance).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I just noticed you said you capture at a height of 240 ... this is unacceptable quality as it destroys the interlaced picture of 480 lines of resolution for NTSC format. The result is a "jaggy" quality picture. How anyone can say this looks acceptable is beyond me.

[rkr1958]

- John "FulciLives" Coleman
P.S.
I just noticed you said you capture at a height of 240 ... this is unacceptable quality as it destroys the interlaced picture of 480 lines of resolution for NTSC format. The result is a "jaggy" quality picture. How anyone can say this looks acceptable is beyond me.

Obviously you haven't seen my TV ... Thanks for the advice ... I will look into getting another TV capture card. I'll check out the Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250. Thanks again.

[SatStorm]

Before you do something drastic, download the mainconcept 1.4.2 demo and use the built in captrure fuction.

Set for input 720 x 576/480 and the mainconcept mpeg 2 encoder to export to 352 x 576/480

This ******* aspect ratio problam is not a big issue for most users. It is unoticable for the most.
Only picky users, transfering delegate material to DVD, can detect it. But if you have to do this, why to use a bt8xx(x) based card? At the time being you can buy a new capture card cheap (50 euros) based on the philips of the CX chips with 9bit (in theory more) support.

Hauppauge PVR cards have mixed revies. Some love them, some hate them. I'm one of the second ones. After all, I'm not a fan of hardware mpeg 2 capture. Hardware accelation yes, but not true hardware mpeg 2 capture. Except those 10.000 Euro hardware encoders of course

[rkr1958]

If anyone is interested in the workaround I found to this problem I'll post it.

By the way, I was unable to ignore this error (as SatStorm suggested) because it caused my authoring to abort before it finished.

Also, I'll concede that I have a crappy TV Tuner card and the method I used for capturing resulted in substandard-quality video (as FulciLives was so kind to point out).

However, I do have an "Honest-to-God" workaround (solution) to a specific problem if anyone is interested.

[FulciLives]

Also, I'll concede that I have a crappy TV Tuner card and the method I used for capturing resulted in substandard-quality video (as FulciLives was so kind to point out).

Actually I have and use an AverTV Stereo PCI capture card.

They are pretty darn good as far as PCI TV Tuner type capture cards go.

You just have to know how to use it properly either adhering to the Avermedia driver limitations or by using the BTwincap drivers (which have their own "oddball" thing but are much better).

But either way this card really is not a good solution for DIRECT to MPEG capture.

Also we tend not to hold back things here with comments like, "I have a work around if someone is interested".

By all means you should share!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rkr1958]

Also we tend not to hold back things here with comments like, "I have a work around if someone is interested".

By all means you should share!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

Well I'm just a little frustrated that in this post all I got was assessments of what I was doing with no real comments on what I could do to fix the problem I was having. Anyway, I wasn't holding back ... I just didn't think anyone was interested in my findings ...

The workaround that I used was really quite simple. The hour show that I recored contained five commerial breaks. This resulted in the show being divided up into six segments totalling 42-minutes, which is roughly an average of 7-minutes per segment. In addition the five commerial breaks I also had leading and trailing parts that I needed to cut out because I started the recording 5-minutes before and ended 5-minutes after the scheduled time of the show. So that gave me 5+2 or 7 segments I needed to cut out and it left me with 6 "good" segments that I needed to author.

I then tried authoring only segments 1-3 first in TMPGEnc DVD Author. These went through o.k. so I knew the problem wasn't in those segments.

Then I tried 4-6 and got the divide by zero error. I then tried segment four and got the error implying that at a minimum segment 4 was a, and hopefully the, problem. I then tried authoring segments 5 and 6 and they authored suceesfully. So segment 4 indeed contained THE problem.

Next, I used the MPEG tools in TMPGEnc Plus to edit the captured MPEG 2 file and save segment 4 by itself. I then tried to author that file (let's call it 4.mpg), just to see, and it failed (same error). 4.mpg was 7:11;26 (a little over 7-minutes) in length. Through trail and error I found that the trouble interval was 3:19;21 - 3:20;06. Well, it really wasn't trail and error but a methodically search approach that started over trying to author the first half of 4.mpg, actually 0 - 4:27;23, and failed. I then kept narrowing that interval down until I found the troubled interval.

I then authored segment 4, with the 1-second trouble interval removed. Thus, my workaround included this 1-second glitch. Next I combinded the three authored parts; (1) segments 1-3, (2) segment 4 and (3) segments 5 & 6 in TMPGEnc DVD Author to make the final video. I then burned using Nero (to DVD-RW for sure) and played flawless (except for the 1-second glitch) in my settop player.

For anyone in the future who encounters this problem ... here is a brute force workout around. I'd be interested if anyone had a better solution ... That's why I made my original post.