Wierd Situation

[bezhan_o]

Hello all,
I have run into a problem. I have three VCDs which i want to put onto one DVD. I copied the mpeg's from the cd's onto the hardrive and using the latest version of Nero6/Nero VisionExpress3, I made a dvd (single layer). I wanted the Dvd to have 4 simple menus. The main menu shows links for the 3 VCDs. Each of these links takes you to a separate menu page where there are links to chapter points. Everything worked flawlessly, the videos were transcoded in about 3 hours and i was happy until i popped this into the dvd player.

The Main meny works fine; each of the buttons takes you to the appropriate secondary menu. From here i run into problems. None of the secondary menus work. When a selection is made, the player either freezes or the "stop" funtion is activated. I have never been able to create successful menu's with Nero. What gives?

After this i decided that I will use Adobe Encore to do the job but it is very picky about the kind of files that it will import. I tried importing the vob files from the dvd i just made but Encore doesn't import it saying that the resolution doesn't match. So i decided that i will use the latest Tmpge xpress to convert the mpeg files into acceptable format so that i could import them in Encore. After carefully setting up the settings so that all the video content would fit on a 4.7GB disc, i let it encode but Tmpge crashes before completing the job.

Now i am not sure what to do. Nero is able to transcode the files and make a dvd but the menu's don't work. Adobe Encore won't accept the files and TMPGe freezes in the trancoding process. I am confused why one app is able to transcode while the other is not. Any ideas on what i should do from here?

[Josef K]

I copied the mpeg's from the cd's onto the hardrive

Sounds like your problem begins at the very start. Did you just do a straight copy or did you use ISOBuster? Try using ISOBuster, right-click the .MPG and select 'Extract but filter M2F2 MPEG frames'.

[bezhan_o]

yeah i just copied. But does it make any difference? the video is low resolution so even if i use ISOBuster, Encore still wouldn't accept them right? And the deal with Nero being able to transocde and TMPGe Xpress not bein gable to transcode. What about that? r they connected?

[Josef K]

yeah i just copied. But does it make any difference?

Yes. VCDs/SVCDs are Mode 2 Form 2. The MPEGs need to be pure MPEGs.

the video is low resolution so even if i use ISOBuster, Encore still wouldn't accept them right? And the deal with Nero being able to transocde and TMPGe Xpress not being able to transcode. What about that? r they connected?

I'm afraid I don't know that - I don't use any of those programs for authoring. I use SVCD2DVD and DVDlab Pro which do accept a fairly large array of non-standard MPEGs. The only thing you can do is extract the MPEGs properly with ISOBuster and see if they can be imported. Chances are, they should and the state of your MPEGs before was the cause of the problem.

[bezhan_o]

yeah i just copied. But does it make any difference?

Yes. VCDs/SVCDs are Mode 2 Form 2. The MPEGs need to be pure MPEGs.

I tried doing what u said in ISOBuster but it extracts an empty mpg file. 0 bytes.

[bezhan_o]

i forgot to mention that the source mpg are set in PAL

[Josef K]

I tried doing what u said in ISOBuster but it extracts an empty mpg file. 0 bytes.

I've come across this before, though rarely. I take it to mean that another method of extraction is required. I don't know why it didn't work on your VCD, unless it wasn't a true VCD to begin with. Was it just an ordinary MPEG burned on a disc or a proper VCD?

i forgot to mention that the source mpg are set in PAL

This makes no difference other than the frame rate it will playback at. We're dealing with file systems and structures at the moment.

Try taking a look at this thread which explains the whole process.

[bezhan_o]

I've come across this before, though rarely. I take it to mean that another method of extraction is required. I don't know why it didn't work on your VCD, unless it wasn't a true VCD to begin with. Was it just an ordinary MPEG burned on a disc or a proper VCD?

No, it is a proper VCD. What other extraction method do u recommend. In the mean time, i'll read the thread you linked



EDIT: Okay I used vcdgear to fix the files. Let's see what i get.

[akbor75]

What I do with low resolution material is I convert 352x288 px, 44 kHz to 352x576 px, 48 kHz with TMPEGEnc Plus. This is DVD compliant (named Half D1). After that I create a menu and DVD image with DVDLab, but I guess you can use any other program if you created compliant MPEG2 files.

Note: If you created VOB files and want to use the MPG files within, you don't have to reencode, but you can demultipex them (e.g. with TMPEGEnc Plus).

[jimmalenko]

I use VCDGear to do the DAT->MPEG extraction, then just drop the files straight into TMPGEnc DVD AUthor. No conversions necessary at all.

[bezhan_o]

What I do with low resolution material is I convert 352x288 px, 44 kHz to 352x576 px, 48 kHz with TMPEGEnc Plus. This is DVD compliant (named Half D1). After that I create a menu and DVD image with DVDLab, but I guess you can use any other program if you created compliant MPEG2 files.

Note: If you created VOB files and want to use the MPG files within, you don't have to reencode, but you can demultipex them (e.g. with TMPEGEnc Plus).

If only. TMPEG freezes on me. Like I said, i used VCDGEAR to fix the mpegs and am using dvdlab to author the dvd's let's see how it works out.