Converting MPEG to VOB for a DVD

[nutsfordvd]

I am a licensed owner of the Cucusoft MPEG to DVD Burner Version 3.08. which is giving problems generating VOB files from an MPEG file that is 3,018,463 KB in size. As you will be able see from the hardware description of my computer, there is ample HDD space and RAM, and yet every time I attempt to use this software, I get a failure.

The software is loaded on my D:\ drive, with the rest of my applications, and the MPEG file is on the I: drive. The VOB file is being directed to the J: drive for output. Each drive is a 40 GB partition, since I find that that to be easily manageable.

The first thing that the software does is that it copies the MPEG file to the J: drive. Then it takes quite a while to process the file - in fact several hours!

The size of the VOB file generated is 0, and yet the software says that it was successful in creating the VOB files. Here is the status report from the Event Log.

MPEG file resolution: 720 X 480
MPEG sample rate: 48000
MPEG File Size: 3090905092
The inputed video file is a DVD compatible MPEG file.
start 'StartToBurnDVDDisk' thread!
--Begin to clear Temp Folder
--Begin to Author DVD
MPEG Temp folder: J:\MPEGTmp
Temp MPEG file: J:\MPEGTmp\movie.mpg
Move file successfully.
Begin to create VOB files.
Begin to config authoring settings.
Config authoring settings successfully.
Begin to check authoring settings.
VOB output Path = j:\CucusoftOutput\, Source MPEG file = J:\MPEGTmp\movie.mpg
Check authoring settings Successfully.
Check engine value: 328978
Author DVD successfully.
Move file successfully.
--Begin to check output VOB and IFO files
OutputFile0=j:\CucusoftOutput\VIDEO_TS\Default.PLS , Size=41
OutputFile1=j:\CucusoftOutput\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VO B, Size=0
Create VOB files successfully.


I am not getting any responses from Cucusoft's support at "support@avi-vcd.com" or "david@avi-vcd.com". Can someone please tell me why_o_why can I not generate the necessary VOB files from my MPEG file?

I checked my system startup configuration, and noticed that the "c:\windows\system32\vobregcheck.exe -checkreg" is there. Can someone let me know the significance of this file?

Thanks a bunch for your help!! I am going nuts

NUTS for DVD

[jimmalenko]

I don't know why, but I'd be interested to see what happens of you drop that MPEG file into TMPGEnc DVD Author (30 day free fully functional trial), dvdauthorgui, GUI for DVDAuthor, or demux the file and author with IFOEdit.

[nutsfordvd]

Hi Jim,

I tried the TMPGEnc DVD AUthor version 1.5.20.62, and it generated a theme file of about the same size as the MPEG file. Then, when I went to the Output screen, and clicked on author, the application just shut down. NO error messages or anything. This happened several times, so I did not have the heart to invest into that software. Instead, I went for the Cucusoft package.

At this point, since two different vendors' packages have thus failed on my machine, I am wondering if I am having a critical conflict with something.

The original MPEG file was generated using the "TMPGEnc-2.521.58.169-Free.zip" package. It gave me a very good quality encoding from a .mv2 file and a high quality .wav file. The .mv2 file was generated using the Cucusoft AVI to VCD DVD MPEG Converter Pro for which I have a license too.

[jimmalenko]

I'd say there's either something amiss with your OS install (worst case scenario), or the MPEG file has something wrong with it. Either way, it's a bitch to troubleshoot

Can you try those other two authors, GUI for dvduathor and/or dvdauthorgui for me ?

If all 4 authoring programs fall over, then it's a fair bet it's your source file IMO.

BTW, authoring shouldn't take any longer than an hour, possibly even as short as 10 minutes depending on your rig.

[nutsfordvd]

Hi Jim,

I tried the DVDAuthorGUI version 0.997. When I presented it my MPEG file, it gave me an error "NAV packets are not detected in the XXX.mpg file. Please Demultiplex." Can you please tell me what this software is looking for, and is this the reasoin why the other two software packages could not generate the VOB files?

Thank you again for your help.

[jimmalenko]

Hi Jim,

I tired the DVDAuthorGUI version 0.997. When I presented it my MPEG file, it gave me an error "NAV packets are not detected in the XXX.mpg file. Please Demultiplex." Can you please tell me what this software is looking for, and is this the reasoin why the other two software packages could not generate the VOB files?

It may well be contributing to the matter

Maybe try this guide, but where it talks about MPEG1 VideoCD or MPEG1 VideoCD (non-standard), choose MPEG2 Program (VBR). Then try to author.

... either that or try re-converting your source with TMPGEnc Plus (free 30 day trial) and see if similar things happen.

Can you post a GSpot screen dump of the source file you fed into Cucusoft ?

[nutsfordvd]

By the time I recieved your response, I used the original .m2v file generated by the Cucusoft AVI to VCD DVD MPEG Converter Pro, and BeSweet for converting the .wav file to a .ac3 file. After presenting this file to the DVDAuthorGUI version 0.997, I went through the chapterization and set up of menu. Finally when I tried to "Author the DVD", specifying the location of the output (a folder), the software immediately indicated that the process is complete. However, the log file is empty!!

So again I feel that I am up against some driver or dll conflict, but can't put a finger on it. If you have any further ideas, please let me know.

Thanks again. Going NUTS

[jimmalenko]

... either that or try re-converting your source with TMPGEnc Plus (free 30 day trial) and see if similar things happen.

Can you post a GSpot screen dump of the source file you fed into Cucusoft ?

I'd still like to see you re-encode using something else - I have my suspicions about that program you used

[nutsfordvd]

Here is a screen dump of the source file as evaluated by GSpot.

[ChrissyBoy]

Can you try SVCD2DVD v2 to see if that creates a DVD from that file?

[burnman99]

By the time I recieved your response, I used the original .m2v file generated by the Cucusoft AVI to VCD DVD MPEG Converter Pro, and BeSweet for converting the .wav file to a .ac3 file. After presenting this file to the DVDAuthorGUI version 0.997, I went through the chapterization and set up of menu. Finally when I tried to "Author the DVD", specifying the location of the output (a folder), the software immediately indicated that the process is complete. However, the log file is empty!!

So again I feel that I am up against some driver or dll conflict, but can't put a finger on it. If you have any further ideas, please let me know.

Thanks again. Going NUTS

Nuts, I have run into the same problem at times, The way I got around it was to copy the contents of the DVDAuthorGUI Folder then Paste them in a dfferent folder in a different location. The program then authors fine. Not sure why this is, need to get a hold of liquid217 and find out. But this should get it to author your video.

Hope this helps

Rog

[liquid217]

@nutsfordvd, The NAV packet error means that your mpeg must be remultiplexed, either by the gui, or yourself. You can only import mpegs that are ready for dvd authoring (blank NAV packets inserted), or elementry streams (separate video and audio streams).

As to why it doesn't author, im at a loss. Alternatively, you can run the 'process.bat' file in the dvdauthorgui directory to begin the process.

@burnman99 and nutsfordvd: Were you using the dvdauthorgui installer, or just the rar package? I highly recommend using the installer.

[nutsfordvd]

@liquid217: I am using the "DVDAuthorGUI_0.997.exe" file as is downloaded from the web site. Any suggestionsas to what the command line would be like in the "process.bat" file??


@jimmalenko: Can you tell me anything from the snapshot of the GSpot screen that I have provided for the source file? I do have the licences for the Ligos Indeo XP Video 5.2 Codec. If I understand the GSpot screen correctly, it implies that what ever is necessary for preparing the DVD, is already provided in the MPEG file. Am I totally off the track??

nutsfordvd

[burnman99]

@ liquid217: It was the older Zip versions not sure if the installer has the same problem. Also had the same problem with Batch_Demux. Strangely copying the files to a different directory fixed it.

Later!

Rog

[nutsfordvd]

Nuts, I have run into the same problem at times, The way I got around it was to copy the contents of the DVDAuthorGUI Folder then Paste them in a dfferent folder in a different location. The program then authors fine. Not sure why this is, need to get a hold of liquid217 and find out. But this should get it to author your video.

Hope this helps

Rog

@burnman99: When you suggest a different location for the DVDAuthorGUI, do you mean a different Hard Disk Drive, Logical Partion, or an Active Partition? I never install any applications - as far as possible - in the C: drive. They are always installed on another Hard Disk Drive's Active Partition. Can you please give a little more detail on your recipe?

Thanks in advance!!

[jimmalenko]

@jimmalenko: Can you tell me anything from the snapshot of the GSpot screen that I have provided for the source file? I do have the licences for the Ligos Indeo XP Video 5.2 Codec. If I understand the GSpot screen correctly, it implies that what ever is necessary for preparing the DVD, is already provided in the MPEG file. Am I totally off the track??

The GSpot pic looks fine to me. I think there must be something wrong with the source file

[vhelp]

@ nutsfordvd

Can you U/L a small .MPG (or is it .M2V) file for us to
have a look at. It can be just a couple of seconds.

-vhelp

[nutsfordvd]

@vhelp: Please accept my apologies for the delayed response. The file that I am working with is 211408 frames long in NTSC. I have the data as ".mpg" as well as ".m2v". However, I do not have a utility with which I can chop it down to size small enough, so that I can U/L a sample of it here, for your analysis. If you can suggest a tool that I can download to facilitate this, I would be more than glad to do it.

-nutsfordvd

[frazer]

I'm new to this game and have been searching the forum to try and discover how exactly NAV packets can be added to .mpg files in GUI for DVDAuthor; and this thread was the closest thing.

All of the files I have recorded using various satellite TV softwares are missing the packets, and I assume, as this particular software was apparently designed for converting TV recordings into DVD files, that they can be added here, but I can't find exactly how it is done anywhere.

Thanks for any help out there,

Frazer

[borax]

Hi frazer,
I don't know any TV recording software which creates compatible files...

But: Usually the files recorded are not what you really want as normally they contain unwanted commercials, have some additional 'security' minutes before and after the movie... and sometimes transmission errors in the stream.

Therefore it is common to rework the raw recording file(s) before authoring.
Personally I use WinSTB for recording, but any other software that creates mpeg2 or ts or pva files should work also. If possible use ts or pva as output files from your recording software as these formats have no sync problems even if there are transmission errors in the stream.

These files should then be demultiplexed to elementary streams with either ProjectX or pvastrumento. The resulting elementary streams can then be cut with either mpeg2schnitt or cuttermaran. All these programs are freeware and very fast.

The final elementary streams can then be used directly in GFD or you can choose to multiplex them as 'postprocessing' step in mpeg2schnitt or cuttermaran. Both programs use multiplexers (mplex, imago) which add the necessary nav packets into the final stream.

[frazer]

Thanks for the reply Borax- I presume this is your software, so it's very good of you to offer help so quickly. I am starting to get the hang of this now, and have managed to create a few successful trial VOB files using GUI, having first used the demultiplexing tool in TMPGEnc.

Interestingly though, the VOB files I have created from recordings made in DVBDream all have the audio out of sync, whereas those made in MyTheatre are perfect (both softwares create .mpg files, which all play perfectly in sync in their original form). DVBdream is my favoured platform though, as the CPU usage is considerably less (and I'm running a low-powered Via C3 system) so I shall have to investigate further why this is and how I can fix it.

Thanks again,

Frazer

[borax]

Try demultiplexing with projectx. It is the best tool for dvb streams.

[frazer]

Thanks once more for the help, Borax. I've had a bit of trouble getting ProjectX going, but pvastrumento seems to demux all my satellite .mpg files properly for DVD authoring, so I'm now up and running, and learning how to make chapters and menus etc. Hours of fun!

Frazer