AVI to DVD MPEG (CCE or TMPGenc encoders)

[mjvgiese]

I'm trying to follow this guide, but I'm having a problem. I've never used AviSynth, so this is kind of new to me. I created my script in notepad, and when I try to open it in VirtualDubMod, I get this error:

AviSynth open failure:
AVISource autodetect: couldn't open file
Error code: 2
(D:\Project\movie.avs, line 1)

Does anyone know why I'm having this problem? Any suggestions? Here is what my script looks like:

AVISource("D:/Project/filename.avi",false)
LanczosResize(720,480)
ConvertToRGB24()

Of course, I do have the correct file name in my script, I just took it out to post.

I'd appreciate any advice. My file is an XviD w/AC3, and I'm going to encode with TMPG. (I've already tried a different guide, but I got jerky/bad results several times, so I want to try doing it with this guide.)

Thanks....

[amirali_esh]

Thank you for your great guide. I have two questions and I would really appreciate if someone could clarify. My first question is about Close All GOPS setting. CCE help recommends this setting to be unchecked because it affects picture quality however in this guide we are asked to check this setting. So what is the best setting for this option? My second question is about timecode setting which is default to 01:00:00:00, some guides instruct us to set it to 00:00:00:00 however in this guide it is unchanged. So what is the correct setting. I am using CCE SP 2.67.00.27. Looking forward for you answers.

Thanks

[Sakuya]

If it bothers you, just add letterboxing to all of your video and shrink your video by 5% on all sides. There's not a lot that happens in that tiny section though. I would think black borders on the side would bother you more. Just multiply your width * 5% to get the value of pixels to add to the sides of your video:

720*.05 = 36 pixels
480*.05 = 24 pixels

You would resize your video to 684x456 and add letterboxing to fill it out to the standard 720x480 like so:

LancsozResize(684,456)
AddBorders(18,12,18,12)

Just as DJRumpy explained to me, but in your case you have 1.85 video so you need to consider the borders that's you need to begin with.
This means your hight 460 - 24 =436 , and the hight in the AddBorders command : 10 + 12 . Your script would look like this

LancsozResize(684,436)
AddBorders(18,22,18,22)

My widescreen AVI is 856x480. So wouldn't it be:

LancsozResize(820,436)
AddBorders(18,12,18,12)

And this was hardcoded subs to begin with and I want it to be hardsubs on the DVD as well.

[The4thDoctor]

Hi,

Just wanted let you know that this is a great guide.

Now on to the question. You mentioned in an earlier post, that the new CCE 2.70 has a 2:3 pulldown.

Does this mean that if I encode with 23976 fps, that I do not need to do the pulldown.exe afterwards?

If I do the pulldown.exe, would that do anything to the m2v file?

Thanks!

[Sakuya]

I have a question. For converting to MPEG in TMPGEnc, why use Video Arrange Method at Center (keep aspect ratio)? In the other guides I read, most of them use Full Screen (keep aspect ratio).

[DJRumpy]

Notifications still aren't working for these. Sorry for the delay's guys. I'll try to answer the last few that I missed.

mjvgiese: Your slashes are backwards in your script. Your 1st line should look like this:
AVISource("D:\Project\filename.avi",false)

amirali_esh: Close All Gops will give you a more compliant MPEG. If your concerned about quality, then leave it unchecked. DVD Mpeg video has plenty of bitrate to spare, and the setting will have no visible effect. It's more for SVCD, CVD, etc, where bitrate is at a premium. Chances are any player will play it. I suggest it checked more better compatiability. If yours works without it, then the decision is mute

As far as the timecode goes, the manual itself suggests you set the timecode to 01. When in doubt, simply encode a small sample, burn it to a cdrw or dvdrw and give it a test spin. If your player doesn't support -RW or +RW media, then just burn an SVCD onto a cdr. They cost only pennies.

Sakuya: I compute the 5% from the final physical resolution, but either method will work. Since your trying to squeeze in subs that are probably in the letterboxing area, you should do a few test clips. Make sure your test region has subs that are multiple line so you know you have enough extra space to avoid cropping them. Definately encode a small test clip.

The4thDoctor: If you run pulldown twice on an mpeg, yes it will adversely affect the final output. Use only one or the other. Whichever you prefer, but do it only once.

Sakuya: Search the forum. It's been a year or three, but I posted the function of each, and examples of the output of each to give you an idea of when to use each mode in TMPGenc. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll go hunting. It's been too long

[elite500]

I have a problem. After I finish with TMPGenc the final mpeg lost quality. I folloved all the steps. Can you help please. Thanks in advance.

[DJRumpy]

All re-encodes lose quality. That is a given. Unfortunately, you have left no description of what you expected, what your source avi was made from, what size and format you encoded to, or what artifacts your seeing. If you expect a real answer, you should at least put some effort into your problem description

[Sakuya]

Sakuya: Search the forum. It's been a year or three, but I posted the function of each, and examples of the output of each to give you an idea of when to use each mode in TMPGenc. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll go hunting. It's been too long

I found aspect ratios but not video arrange method. The search function is weird, I typed in "video arrange method" AND your username but it said it could not find any matches.

[DJRumpy]

Hmm..I can't find it either. I guess they purge them after a few years.

The Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio) if memory serves, will change a widescreen video into a fullscreen it zooms your video until all four edges of the video to touch the edge of the screen. This has the effect of chopping off any letterboxing, as well as the left and right sides of your video.

Center (Keep Aspect Ratio) will zoom your video out until the left and right sides of the video touch the edge of the screen and stop then stop there. It's an easy way to resize a video to a standard resolution.

[Sakuya]

Would you be using Full Screen (KAR) for a full screen video? I compared a full screen video at Full Screen (KAR) and Center (KAR) and I think for the Center one, the faces look longer.

[DJRumpy]

I always use KAR, as it is designed to keep the aspect ratio intact.

[punk_rocker128]

i am using a 23.976 FPS video which i joined into 1 using virtualdubmod. my AVISynth script is:



AVISource("D:\movie.avi",false)
LanczosResize(720,480)
ConvertToYUY2()



i import it into CCE SP and select all the settings shown in the guide and change the bitrate settings to 1 pass VBR and everything, but whenever i encode the video into M2V, the output always lags. i dont have any idea what i could be doing wrong.

i tried selecting the 29.97 option in CCE SP. this made my video about 30 minutes shorter but fixed the lag issue. then my audio (ac3 5 channel) is out of sync horribly.

i tried changing the pulldown from 2:3 to 3:2 but this made no difference.

i have wasted 4 DVD-R's tried to figure this out and i am going insane. everyone seems to have such good luck with this guide but i am not. my audio is fine and dandy, but the video is always jumpy and lags. i hope i can get some help with this because i really want to figure out the correct way to do this. Thanks.

[DJRumpy]

You mentioned you had AC3 audio. Did you run the AC3Fix.exe piece? It must be run against your joined AC3 audio or it will lose sync. You should do this any time you join a split avi with AC3 audio.

When your having problems, you should never keep buring disks in the hopes that he problem will be fixed. Always verify if your project plays in sync first. Use WinDVD or PowerDVD, or some other simular software to preview the dvd on your PC first before burning. Make sure you check random spots every 5-10 minutes to make sure the audio is in sync with teh video all the way through your video.

[punk_rocker128]

yes, i ran ac3fix. everything was fine.

i cant run windvd because the final output is IMG. or is there a way this is possible?

if i convert both video and audio to 29.97, the video is perfect and the audio is like everyone is chipmunks, everything is too fast.

i burned the 23.976 video with perfect sound and lagging video last night. its watchable but anyone can notice it lags. the quality is very good, but its just jerky.

i also use Xilisoft converter to convert the avi to VOB and then import this into DVDLab and everything is fine, perfect audio and perfect video, but the quality isnt as good as with CCE SP.

i would really appreciate it if someone could help me with this. thanks.

[DJRumpy]

Your converting the video to 29.97 fps improperly. You do not actually speed up the video from 23.976 to 29.97 fps. You have to telcine the video. The audio should remain untouched after AC3Fix, and imported directly into the dvd authoring step.

When converting Film (23.976) to NTSC (29.97 fps), your video is modified to simply show more frames per second while leaving the length of the video the same. This is why the audio is unchanged. Your audio would change only if the length of your video had to be changed. To change your video from 23.976 to 29.97 fps, you would use Pulldown.exe on the M2V mpeg that CCE produces, or if your using TMPGenc, make sure you select the "3:2 pulldown when playback" option for the Encode Mode on the video tab (pulldown.exe is not necessary using TMPGenc and the 3:2 Pulldown option).

I'm not sure what you mean about WinDVD. It simply plays DVD's, or DVD images stored on your PC. Just doubleclick the VideoTS IFO file or any .VOB file and it should play in WinDVD or any other Software DVD player.

[punk_rocker128]

after running pulldown on the video, it is still lagging. also, what options should i select in pulldown. im starting to think that the options shown in the guide are incorrect. i could be wrong, though.

in CCE SP, which pulldown option should i select? 2:3 or 3:2? also, should i change any Preprocess options?

how would i telecine the video?


sorry for asking so many questions?

[DJRumpy]

Slow down You sound like your in a race.

If you follow the steps in the guide, you should be fine. They are correct, as are the pulldown settings. How did you determine that the video was lagging?

Just to verify that my info is correct. You don't need to answer all of these questions. Just let me know if I have something wrong here. You had a multi-part AVI that you joined? It also had AC3 audio? You joined the avi's in VirtualDub, and then extraced the audio. You then ran ac3fix on the audio. You then took the fixed audio (not the original file..it should have created a new AC3 file), and your 23.976 fps AVI and encoded them in CCE? What settings did you select in CCE?

[punk_rocker128]

the video is not actually lagging. that term is technically incorrect. it is just jerky. the voices are perfectly in sync with the audio, but the playback is just kinda choppy. definetly noticeable.

i have tried both these CCE settings, both with no luck. i had just used these:

Video setting
MPEG 2 for DVD
1st Pass of VBR
Elementary Stream
Frame Rate: 23.976
Avg. Bitrate - 4,100
Min. Bitrate - 2,000
Max. Bitrate - 9,570
Estimated File Size - 4,073,025 kB
Pulldown - 3:2
Inv. 3:2 Pulldown - Checked (selection is grayed out)
Aspect Ratio : 16:9


Advanced...
M = 3, N/M = 4
Seq Header every 1 GOP

All options unchecked EXCEPT:
Add Sequence End Code
Output top field first stream

Offset line : 0
luminance level : 16-235
quantization : non linear
Packet Size : 2,048


Picture Quality
Low and High detailed settings are unchecked
Vertical Filter and dithered quantization are unchecked
quantizer characteristics : 27 Comp ->Flat
Intrablock DC Precision: 10 bitz
block scan order: zigzag
progressive frame: checked
monochrome: uncheked
fades on static scene: unchecked
black screen: unchecked





Before using these settings, i used all your settings in your guide. if you want to i can write them out. one question: the videos almost always appear jerky on playback on the pc. i read one guy say that the playback was jerky on the playback on PC, but when burned onto a DVD and viewed on a TV, it was fine. wish there was a way to test this.

[DJRumpy]

I thought your issue was strictly with the audio? Are you also having an issue with jerky playback on the few dvd's that you've already burned? Jerky video is typically due to the wrong field order. The offset line should be left on 1.

[punk_rocker128]

no, the issue is strictly with the video. on all 4 DVD-Rs i have burned the video has been choppy. on the 3rd DVD i made, the field order was reversed and the offest line was set on 1.

is pulldown still required to be run if i set the Pulldown to 3:2 in CCE?

[DJRumpy]

Pulldown is not required if you select pulldown in CCE. Use AVICodec to verify that your output MPG is 29.97 fps. You should select 2:3 pulldown in CCE, and leave the field order value set at 1 under the advanced settings. Do not run pulldown. You must have a later version of CCE, as the older versions (pre 2.70) don't have that option. Framerate should be set to 23.976 as you have it already. Pulldown will be grayed out, although you can select 2:3 to the right of it.

[punk_rocker128]

yea, i have v2.70. ill try using AVICodec to verify that. DVDLab usually tells me the right FPS but ill try that.

so should i try it again, with the field order reversed, offset line at 1, and 2:3 pulldown selected in CCE?

i think last time i reversed the field order, i ran pulldown on the output m2v. this basically reverses the field order again, am i right?

[DJRumpy]

I'm not certain what affect it would have, as it would attempt to add pulldown flags to an mpeg that already has them Needless to say, not a good thing. Just re-encode with those settings. Make sure you set your line offset to 1, your framerate to 23.976, and your pulldown to 2:3. The output from CCE should be 29.97 fps. You might also just re-extract your audio from the joined avi's and re-run AC3Fix to create a new fixed AC3 file. I have from time to time grabed the original extracted AC3 rather than the fixed one. The symptom of that will be loss of audio sync at exactly the join point to the end of the video.

One last question. Is the source of this AVI a DVD rip of some sort, like a movie, or is it a from a CAM, or some other source?

[punk_rocker128]

ill try that way, and re run ac3fix. should i change just those three settings, or is there anything else i would need to change?

the source of the avi is a dvdrip my friend gave to me

is there anyway to amplify the audio from an AVI? would it work to demux to WAV, open in audacity and amplify the audio, then resave as wav, and convert to ac3? or would it mess up the WAV file and make it out of sync.

[DJRumpy]

You can fix your ac3 volume that way, but that is a tedious method. You can use AC3Machine to find the maximum gain. you would essentially convert the AC3 back to an AC3 while selecting that option to find the maximum gain. It will normalize the volume. Useful if your audio track is a bit too low in regards to volume. Make sure you check the audio quality of your re-converted ac3 if you decide to do this, as sometimes you can get audio popping introduced in the re-encode. It will do this all in one step with a few simple clicks.

Your other settings should have no effect on your issue.

[punk_rocker128]

wow, ill just use audacity then. ive had bad luck with ac3machine. i cant get it to work but i really dont care. ill try burning that movie tommorow and then tell you how it works

[DJRumpy]

Just make sure you get all of the audio tracks back in the right channel Let me know how it goes. I'm off to bed!

[punk_rocker128]

i was wondering if theres a way i can listen to ac3 audio on my pc. i use mpeg-vcr, but it cuts out every now and then and i cant watch it along with the video file so i have no clue if its in synce.

is there a way i can get an ac3 codec to fix this?

[punk_rocker128]

ok, i re-encoded with CCE-SP and reversed the field order, frame rate at 23.976, and 2:3 pulldown. didnt run pulldown afterwards and DVDLab said the FPS were 29.97. i made the dvd image and previewed it in WinDVD.

the film isnt jerky anymore, but this made a new problem. the movies somewhat blurry at most scenes when theres fast movement. the voices match up perfectly and are in sync, but the movie is blurry. also, the movie is a little bit lighter than the AVI is. if i enabled the Low filter in the picture quality settings, would that fix the brightness?