Pulldown worry

[45tripp]

I've encoded some 30 min avi clips to mpeg2 for dvd with several encoders, several times.

All but xilisoft (just set frame rate to 29.97) gave me a jerky display (after pulldown [encoders internal, or external]) when played in realplayer which is my default mpeg player. Bsplayer is what I use for everything else but it crashed with some mpeg files and I switched. With the specific files it also crashed. Windows media player also displays the 3:2 pulldown in a jerky fashion.

( I only noticed this having already burned a dvd which ended up jerky in parts, and prone to crash the dvd player. So that's where the search for the error started.
I'd already burned a similar project succesfully before, my first with diff author program. Thought that might be the problem initially.
Found out some of the clips had too large a GOP size. Could that cause errors in the whole DVD?
Anyway started to get paranoid and noticed that realplayer played the 3:2 pulldown in a jerky fashion. I'd probably never even tried playing the 3:2 pulldown for my first project so I had no refference point.
So... I thought maybe it was because I was encoding with a burdened pc. Not so. Wondered if it was a codec problem, tried avis with diff encoding. Wondered if pulldown had gone batty...)

And finally tried Power dvd to play the 3:2 file, played fine.
Downloaded Media player classic, especially, played 3:2 fine.

Read something about 3:2 'flags' and guessed that realplayer and windows media player don't recognize these 'flags'.
Correct?
But why does xilisoft give a 29.97 that plays smoothly in realplayer?
When setting 29.97 fps to a 23.976 fps clip what does xilisoft do? Not a pulldown? The movie length remains the same.

Paranoia, confusion.
Is it normal to have the jerky 3:2 mpeg play in realplayer?
Is it ok to have smooth play of xilisoft 29.97 encode in realplayer?
Would both author well? (Assuming GOP size correct and other dvd standards are as should be)
I'm guessing changing framerate with xilisoft is bad and one sould demux and pulldown a 23.976 encode.

Could all this trouble I went through be just because some of the clips had too large a GOP size (damn encoders, damn authoring program for not warning, damn trying too many methods too many programs) and buggered the whole dvd?

Not really a clear post, but if anybody get's it, help would be appreciated.

Btw is there a way to fix GOP size to make an encoded file dvd compliant?
womble mpeg-vcr reports GOP error but won't fix. Or at least would not with the file I tried with too large a GOP size.

[BJ_M]

you never said what the source frame rate was ..

real media anything is prob. crap ...


you have to re-encode to fix the gop errors ..

[45tripp]

div3 clips with 23.976 framerate

Which reminds me, when encoding xvid and getting the same problem and wondering about fubar codecs I changed a setting in divx5.2.1 decoder config, unchecked generic mpeg4 support. Some good about exploring...
I got to wondering which codec a program will use to encode.
I also have divx 3.2 installed. How do I know if a program uses it?
I know gspot's directshow renderer uses divx5.2.1, for all divx (did so for xvid before I changed it, How I ended up finding generic mpeg4 support).
Can that change? Can you change what directshow will use i mean?

Divx 3.2 didn't come with an unistaller or anything. Would using codecsniper completely remove it or would I have to dig into the registry?
Not that I want to remove, I see no harm.
Of course if there's no advantage either i guess I best lose it.

[junkmalle]

If you're talking about playing 23.976 fps clips on the computer monitor, there is no pulldown involved. 3:2 pulldown is only necessary for display on NTSC televisions because they can only accept a 59.94 field per second signal.

[45tripp]

I'm using pulldown to make dvd comliant video clips that I plan to author.
Already burnt a coaster.
Hence the search for the error.
Noticed realplyer played 23.976 clips smoooth, but after pulldown they were played in a jerky fashion...

and so on

[junkmalle]

If you are starting with a 23.976 fps progressive source (AVI) you should leave the video as progressive MPEG 2 (23.976 fps) with the 3:2 pulldown flag set. This will cause a DVD player to perform the required 3:2 pulldown to 19.97 fps as it plays the video. A computer based player will ignore the 3:2 pulldown flag and simply play the progressive 23.976 fps MPEG data -- because the computer display is progressive.

GOP size could be a problem for a DVD player. If I remember correctly the max is 15 for NTSC, 18 for PAL.

[45tripp]

It is a 23.976 fps progressive source (AVI). I do keep it at 23.976.
Then use pulldown.exe.
Realplayer and Windows Media Player play the 23.976 file fine as does bsplayer.
After pulldown Realplayer and Windows Media Player play the clip but it's awfully jerky, stop-start. Bsplayer crashes.
So the change def makes a diff to the mentioned progs or something else is strange in wonderland.
My question is if it's normal or if I should be worried.

As for GOP size.
Would an error in GOP size in say 5 clips of a total of 12 on an authored DVD, make the entire DVD behave in a jerky fashion and be prone to crash?