Help needed re: AVI files

[charllie]

Hi Folks,

Im fairly new to AVI conversion and experiencing some annoying problems. I was hoping that you folks will be able to help me. I have looked at the guides and other topics but they are so extensive im not sure which really applies to me, that said i apologise in advance if tis question causes anyone to repeat an answer previously discussed.

My problem is converting AVI files to SVCD. Every time i try it the audio/voice is out of sync by a few seconds. I have tried it with several different AVI files but keep getting the same result.

The software i was using was WinAvi and when that did not work i tried a trial version of Aare converter The results were the same with both programs and with Aare converter it frooze a few times.

I was using the k-lite codec pack 233 full version on windows xp pro. I played all the AVI files with windows media player 10 and they work fine but after conversion they do not, again i have tried a few different players with the same result.

I have now uninstalled everything including the codecs so if anyone replies then treat this as a complete newbie starting from scratch.

I would be grateful for your help on getting me started and converting AVI files correctly asnd with good results.

Finally what is the best program to use to add chapters and menus to an SVCD.

Thanks in advance to everyone

Charllie

[daamon]

"Hello boy-o!". Sorry, coming from England I couldn't resist!

I'll try again: Hi ya charllie,

I notice it's your first post - welcome to the site and the forums.

First off - avoid all codec packs all the time. You should only install the codecs you need as having too many can (and usually does) cause conflicts.

Use AVICodec or GSpot to see if you still have an MPEG-2 Codec - you'll need that for SVCD. f not, you can get one from the "Codecs" category in the "Tools" section (link on the left side of this page). Codec Sniper claims to be able to remove codecs - though I've never used it myself.

Also, AVIs come in all sorts of different types: uncompressed, DV, Divx, Xvid etc. - use either of those tools on your AVI to find out which one it is, and what the audio format is. That will help you to narrow down which guides / tools to use for your particular AVI.

When you say your audio is out of synch - is it by a fixed amount throught the whole of the footage, or does it gradually get worse as time goes on?

As for encoding to SVCD - TMPGenc is one of the regularly recommended encoders. I use it for DVDs and it gives me great results. There are others (Canopus Procoder, Cinema Craft Encoder, Mainconcept MPEG Encoder - see the "Tools" section).

You can hook it up with DVD2SVCD (does AVIs to SVCD too - including Xvid and Divx) to make the process of making SVCDs easier. Again, there are other SVCD making tools - VCDEasy is one that springs to mind, though I don't belive that that does any encoding (it's been a while since I've used it).

As for menus - I've never done that so not sure what tools / how to. Check the guides - there's most likely something in there.

Hope that helps...

[charllie]

Hi Daamon,

Thanks for your reply, i really appreciate it boyo, lol.

I've downloaded the items you mentioned and the mpeg 2 codec. Im gona run sniper and clean my pc of all codecs etc and then install everything. Ive got mainconcept encoder and tmpeg, what did you mean by hooking up these with DVD2SVCD (what guide will i find that in?).

The sync seems to remain the same throughout.

I will let you know the results and hopefully the success of my first conversion.

Thanks again for your time and help.

Charllie

[ZippyP.]

Finally what is the best program to use to add chapters and menus to an SVCD.

I like VCDEasy, see guide here.

[timmyp]

In many cases, sync problems going from avi to svcd are the result of vbr audio encodes in the source avi file, or bad frames in the source avi file.

Please use gspot to determine what codec was used for the video (dv, divx, xvid, etc) and the audio (ac3, mp3, cbr, vbr, etc).

Assuming that your avi file is a divx/xvid video encode with mp3 audio, your best bet is to extract the audio to a .wav file using VirtualDub and then use that file as the audio stream when you convert to SVCD. (load the .avi as your video source and the .wav file as your audio source).

As mentioned, the other common problem with sync issues is the presence of 'bad frames' in the .avi file. You can use a variant of VirtualDub called 'Virtual Dub MP3 Freeze' to check your avi for bad frames. If this is the case, there are several steps to correct this and you may be better finding/downloading a new source file. To correct, you will need to look at the log file created by VDub MP3 Freeze and see which frames were identified as bad, trim those frames out of the .avi file, save a new copy of the .avi using Direct Stream Copy for video and audio and then going back to the paragraph above to convert.

First step, though, is to run Gspot and see what you're dealing with here.

Good luck!

[daamon]

Thanks for your reply, i really appreciate it boyo, lol.

...what did you mean by hooking up these with DVD2SVCD (what guide will i find that in?).

No problem.

When you install DVD2SVCD, it requires TMPGEnc (or other encoders - see the details if you click on the tool name) to be present as it uses that to do the encoding. So, it looks as if you're only using DVD2SVCD but that then uses TMPGEnc behind the scenes...

I had audio synch issues when I was making SVCDs (many moons ago) and was tearing my hair out trying all sorts of things. I was using VCDEasy - it turns out that the fault lye with the way the headers were written in the files that were ouput, and these were being interpreted incorrectly by my player (a Toshiba SD-220E).

I found the following in the comments for that player:

Use the fixed version of VCDImager that I have on my web site: http://www.billh.demon.co.uk
This is FREE! You can use it with, for example, VCDEasy. I have had a lot of emails from satisfied owners for whom it has solved their problems. Go to the thread in the DVD player forum:
Toshiba SD220E...sound unsynced on SVCDs
or
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=154033&highlight=

for more info.

If you want technical details, goto:

http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-vcdimager/2003-03/msg00005.html

This will answer the questions of anyone who wants to know why the problem exists.

Who knows, it may just be of use...

timmyp's comments are the next stages I was going to walk you through after you'd figured out what type of AVI you had. My suspicion too is that it's a VBR encoded audio. But we'll take it step-by-step as he said...

[charllie]

Hi guys,

just thought id let you know that i used avi2svcd and tmpegnc to convert my first file last night. Not sure if i did it right though. After the program finished converting etc i wam now left with 4 files named:

Encoded_Video_TMPGEnc_PAL.mpv
Encoding Terms
Encoding Terms 2
TMPGEnc_Project_file.tpr

What do i need now to copy theses to cd, i have nero, also how do i play them on my pc.

By the way the audio was in mp3.

Finally, is there any type of list out there of codecs that should be on my pc. When i used sniper it found 100 codecs/filters, i am not sure which ones i should delete if any.

Thls

Charllie

[daamon]

...What do i need now to copy theses to cd, i have nero, also how do i play them on my pc.

It's been a long while since I've made SVCDs, and I didn't use avi2svcd so I can't help you there. Sorry. Maybe someone else will chip in...? [nudge, nudge...]

By the way the audio was in mp3.

I can't remember if AVICodec or GSpot report whether it's VBR or not. There's a good chance it was. If it was (or if you're not sure), follow timmyp's advice on using VirtualDub to get the WAV to use as the audio source.

Finally, is there any type of list out there of codecs that should be on my pc. When i used sniper it found 100 codecs/filters, i am not sure which ones i should delete if any.

I've just recently got a new PC that hasn't had any new codecs installed (I'm on XP Pro). I'll get a list of the codecs on there - it's not a definitive list, but it will help you to identify the "basic" codecs. Of course, you'll need codecs for files that require them - I don't know if things like Divx, Xvid etc. come as standard with XP... You'll have to do some investigation. The best thing to search by is the four letter unique identifier that each codec has.

I'll post back with the codecs list soon...

[daamon]

Hi charllie,

There are four separate areas (as defined by AVICodec) for the codecs:

1. audiocodecslist.csv
2. videocodecslist.csv
3. directshowfilterslist.csv
4. diretxmediafilterslist.csv

Hope that helps. Good luck...