DVD Workshop 2 problems

[shido]

I've got a few problems with DVD workshop right now. Firstly, I have a problem with 3:2 pulldown. When try to play back my m2v file with 3:2 pulldown enabled via pulldown.exe, it's very jerky - like the video plays for a second, pauses, plays, pauses, and so on. Not sure why, cause the same m2v file with pulldown plays properly in powerdvd. However, DVDWS indicated that it didn't need to reencode the file, so I thought it would be okay. So I added in my 5.1 ac3 audio and allowed DVDWS to create the dvd folder, so I could play back the finished vob file in powerdvd. But when I did that, the stuttering was there even in powerdvd, and the audio stuttered as well. I don't know why this is happening.

My second issue is the 5.1 ac3 file I used as the audio for my video. Even though the convert to disc template setting wasn't checked, (it wasn't greyed out either) DVDWS insisted on converting it to 2.0 instead. Can anyone tell me if there is a maximum bitrate for 5.1 ac3 files to be dvd compliant? Perhaps the bitrate i have is too high for 5.1 compliancy.

Any help on the matter would be appreciated.

[shido]

Alright, made some progress. The ac3 audio stream had an error in it, which was why Ulead insisted on converting it even though it was compliant. I ran the file through ac3fix, and that cleared up that problem. So I tried it again, this time testing my results on my DVD player instead of powerdvd. The disc worked, though the video and audio were not synchronized. The video was playing faster than the audio. Is this because of the 3:2 pulldown? I'm so close now, so hopefully I can figure this out.

[thecoalman]

My second issue is the 5.1 ac3 file I used as the audio for my video. Even though the convert to disc template setting wasn't checked, (it wasn't greyed out either) DVDWS insisted on converting it to 2.0 instead.

Sounds like your converting both video and audio, not sure where on Workshop 2 it's located but on
1 on the final menu right before you click the "start" button to begin burning there's a "do not convert compliant files" checkbox. Make sure it's checked. If this box is checked Workshop will burn any video as is as long as it meets the DVD specs regardless of what your project settings are.

[shido]

Thanks for the input, though in dvd workshop 2, there is no "do not convert compliant files" option in the burning window as in the previous versions. To make dvd workshop 2 not convert compliant files, the option "convert to disc template" under the video and audio tabs when editing your files must be unchecked. If the files are compliant, they will be unchecked by default, which was what my ac3 file was reporting. However, I later discovered that there was an error in the ac3 file, which was the reason dvd workshop insisted on converting it anyway. And since dvd workshop can only encode into 2.0 ac3, my file was downsampled to 2.0. Since I've fixed the error, dvd workshop no longer reencodes the audio.

Now, the question is: why does the video playback faster than the audio? I finally got dvd workshop to accept both files, and I can confirm that all dvd workshop did when I burnt the test file was to multiplex the video and audio together. I forgot to mention before, but I also have subtitles in this project. In that test I burnt the subtitles were in synch with the audio, but the video was way ahead. I can't figure out why. Here's the weird thing. I played the m2v file in the mediaplayer, and it reported that the file was only 1 hour and 6 minutes long, when the file is in fact 1 hour and 38 minutes long. In the dvd workshop preview, it reports the correct length of the movie, but plays back very jerky - like its trying to compensate for something. Mediaplayer and my dvd player both play the video back smooth, but the video is way ahead. Could this be a problem from encoding? The file was done in tmpgenc, with 2 pass vbr. I encoded it in tmpgenc keeping the file at 23.976 fps, and ran pulldown.exe on it afterwards. Could I have done something wrong along the way? Hopefully somebody can help me, cause this is really bugging me.