What am I missing?

[jkennedy_4]

I have a Sony digital 8 camcorder and used WinDV to transfer to PC. Settings changed from default are output folder, discontinuity threshold (set to 0), and max AVi size (1 million frames). Capturing as type-2 AVI. Transfer goes smooth, all audio and video looks good as avi file.

I use AVI2DVD with CCE as encoder to convert to DVD. The conversion process completes but no sound when done; well there's sound, just white noise. It may be paranoia but the video doesn't look quite so good either, but that may be the compression ratio (~14gb down to 4.4gb).

In any case, sound is my big problem. Does anyone have suggestions or even a fix? There are a load of options and settings in AVI2DVD so listing them is nigh impossible, but if someone wants specific settings let me know.

Thanks.

[edDV]

This may solve your problem
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVConverter

see

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/directshow/htm/type1v...pe2dvfiles.asp

[thecoalman]

Capturing as type-2 AVI. Transfer goes smooth, all audio and video looks good as avi file.
.

Try capping in type 1, some apps have trouble with tpye 2 and vice versa.... The only difference between the two is how the audio is stored which would leave me to believe that could possibly be the problem. I'm unfamiliar the apps your using so I don't know for a fact.

[jkennedy_4]

OK, I looked at the links provided (thanks for that) and tried the Type-1 v. Type-2 capture/conversion. It doesn't make a difference.

The thing that really perplexes me is that I can capture/convert to AVI type-2 without any issue; it runs great on the PC and I could burn it right there if I had a player that read avi. But when I use CCE to convert it (with the AVI2DVD wrapper) it loses the audio. Follow my logic and see if I'm missing something.

If the video captures and plays back on the PC in avi type-2 format then everything so far is good. When I try and load the type-2 file into AVI2DVD (CCE) it loads fine and the conversion runs great; except where the end result has white noise for sound.
When I try and load the type-1 file into AVI2DVD it spits out an error "unknown fccType in header. (iavs). Try using the Canopus DV AVI converter..".

So the application sure seems to take type-2 avi's just fine and not type-1.

My guess is I'm missing a setting somewhere but I have no idea what. Has anyone used AVI2DVD (aka SVCD2DVD, DVD2DVD, etc. it's really just a very handy wrapper) with CCE before on DV files?

Long shot I know but I have to ask...

Thanks.

[thecoalman]

Possibly the apps don't like your original audio format? The Sony cams (at least the D8's I've used) by default use 12 bit 32khz audio. Perhaps the apps don't like it. Agian I'm just throwing out some suggestions here. Have you tried converting it with another app just to rule out the capture as the problem?

The canopus file converter is free BTW if you want to give that a try? https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Canopus_DV_File_Converter

[tmh]

Where are you playing the encoded file on (PC or TV)? What is the file extension (type) you're trying to play? Did you author and burn or just encode? The all-in-one programs I've used used a seperate audio encoder - any idea what encoder the one you're using uses?

[Raga]

Feed it in through AviSynth and resample the audio on the fly.

[jkennedy_4]

Man, this is getting frustrating. I had tried the Canopus file converter but it always fails, destination file not completed or some such error. Source file is ~13gb but target file after conversion is >6gb. Obviously that's not working.

The extension on capture is .avi, and like I said the conversion seems to go flawlessly since the avi file plays perfectly on my PC. This is the file straight from the camera (including the on-the-fly conversion) using WinDV.

SVCD2DVD uses BeSweet and AVISynth for audio. I'm not sure in what capacity they are used though. I've never made an AVISynth file myself outside of the wrapper.

[thecoalman]

The extension on capture is .avi, and like I said the conversion seems to go flawlessly since the avi file plays perfectly on my PC. This is the file straight from the camera (including the on-the-fly conversion) using WinDV.
.

Not sure what you mean by "on the fly conversion" but when you transfer video from a digital cam to comp there's no conversion. What your doing or should be doing is essentially like copying a file from one folder to another. The reason I say "like" is because your system has to be able to write the data to HD as fast as it's coming in, otherwise it's same.

[Quantum]

I would give TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0 a try. It has a trial period and does all the bitrate calculations for your video and audio automatically. I know TMPGEnc has had some compliants with its older versions regarding DV-MPG2 and audio conversion, but the latest version looks great to me. I also purchased the AC3 add-on so it makes 2 channel AC3 tracks automatically.

[tmh]

Where are you playing the encoded file on (PC or TV)? What is the file extension (type) you're trying to play? Did you author and burn or just encode? The all-in-one programs I've used used a seperate audio encoder - any idea what encoder the one you're using uses?

I think I can help you if you'd answer these questions. It's very limited info to go on so far. The LAST question was answered but the others were not.

[jkennedy_4]

Well tmh, I'm all for getting help as this is making me insane. So here goes as best I can....

Where are you playing the encoded file on (PC or TV)?
not sure what you are asking. The file I end up with after transfer is an AVI file on my PC. I can play it on my PC with Media PLayer or any other AVI player perfectly. It looks and sounds like the original DV played from the camcorder.

What is the file extension (type) you're trying to play?
After transfer to PC from camcorder it's an AVI file. I want to end up with a DVD.

Did you author and burn or just encode?
I never get that far. I'm not looking to do anything fancy, just turn a HI8 tape into a dvd, that's all. No menu's, no editing, nada.

The all-in-one programs I've used used a seperate audio encoder - any idea what encoder the one you're using uses?
Not really. On the audio tab it lists BeSweet 1.x and MadPlay. There's an AVI audio extraction dropdown that has the following 2 options:
VFW (audio < 2gb)
Internally
I've tried both settings on my conversion from AVI to DVD, no apparent difference.

I think that's all the questions. Hopefully you haven't forgotten about this post, I'm dyin over here....

Thanks.

[tmh]

Just to make sure I "get it", what is the file extension on the file that plays without sound? If you look in the file it is put in, what other files/ext are in there?

Going back to the "process", it seems that the TRANSFER from cam to winDV is fine - is it "type 1" or "type 2" (setting on WinDV I think)? Now you need to ENCODE to mpeg2, AUTHOR and BURN. YES, you do have to do all these steps even if you wany nothing but the video itself. he AVI2DVD all-in-one app is supposed to do all this. I haven't had much luck with all-in-one products except for the encoding step. I then would use another authoring app and something like Nero to burn.

Maybe others who usee SVCDTODVD can better tell you if that one works well for encode/author burn. Anyways, somehow you aren't getting through these steps completely. You need to find out WHICH STEP is not working. You can do this by finding where the app puts the files and seeing what's there. .VOBs indicate it's been authored and is ready to burn to DVD.

Trying another encoder app might help. You should be able to get that amount of footage onto a DVD with near-original quality or close. TMPGenc is an encoder often discussed here and there are lots of guides for it, so maybe download and try it. TMPGenc DVD Author (TDA) is a popular AUTHORING program for taking your encoded files and setting them up for burning.

Good luck