Trouble converting AVI to MPEG/DVD

[propman07]

Hello-

I have looked at several of the various guides available, but I haven't had any luck. I am trying to convert an AVI file to MPEG so that I can burn it (and others) to a DVD. I have been using the guides that use the following tools, with the following results:

TMPGenc: I get the error that it is unable to open the .avi file. I have used changed the priority, as described in the help section, with no luck

WinAVI: I am able to create a MPEG file, but the audio and video are out of sync

Virtualdub: I get an error when I load the AVI I get the error about the audio portion. I run Virtualdub-MP3 Freeze, and it reports no errors.

Here is a snapshot of the GSpot output. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate the help.

TIA

[reboot]

Load it into vdub. Click YES at the error.
Click Audio, full processing.
Click File, save .wav
Open tmpgenc.
Use the original avi as your video source, and the newly extracted .wav as your audio source.
Encode.

[propman07]

Reboot-

Thanks for the reply. I must have done something else wrong. Now, when I try to load the original AVI into Virtualdub, I get the following error:

Couldn't locate decompressor for format 'xvid' (unknown)

...I'll have to see if I can get this sorted out, then try what you suggested.

I'll post the results, if I can get it to work.

Thanks.

[nelson133]

AVS video converter has worked well for me. The trial version is free, but leaves a watermark, the full version is about 30 US. It converts many different formats to avi or mpg (1 & 2) or wmv or others I can't remember now. It also does some measure of authoring, but I have never used that feature. try the free version just to see if it works. Nyah Levi

[propman07]

Nelson-

Thanks for the info. As soon as I get the error that I am getting with Virtualdub corrected, I'm going to try Reboot's suggestion. If they don't work, I'll give your suggestion a try.

Thanks again.

[propman07]

nelson133-

I just downloaded and tried the trial version. It said that the AVI file that I was trying to open was unsuported.

Does anyone know how I can resolve the error that I am getting with Virtualdub? I can't seem to get the right codec loaded so that it will open up the AVI file.

[reboot]

Ignore the error, and change the audio to the .wav, and it should still work, or load the .wav as audio FIRST, then the avi as video.
The error is generated by the mp3 audio you have inside the avi, but we're not using that.

Edit: AVS video converter is not anything I'd recommend to anyone.

[propman07]

Reboot-

I remember the error about the audio. The error that I am referring to is the one about the xvid decompressor (I'm new to this, can you tell?)

Here is the error that I get when I try to load the AVI into Virtualdub:

Couldn't locate decompressor for format 'xvid' (unknown)

Thanks...I'm off to the Divx site to see if I can get the codec...

[propman07]

Reboot-

I was able to get the right decompressor loaded. I followed your steps:

Load it into vdub. Click YES at the error.
- Done.
Click Audio, full processing.
- Done
Click File, save .wav
- Done
Open tmpgenc.
- Done
Use the original avi as your video source, and the newly extracted .wav as your audio source.
- Done
Encode.
- Error: WAV file cannot be opened, or is unsupported.

I went into TMPGENC settings, and the video preview window is black, and there is a box below it, indicating that the WAV file could not be opened.

Any thoughts?

TIA

[guns1inger]

When you saved it out as a wav, did you save it as uncompressed LPCM ?

[mats.hogberg]

A simpler way (and more n00b proof! ) of getting a wav from an AVI is to just load the AVI in GoldWave and save.

/Mats

[Jeremiah58]

I am trying to convert an AVI file to MPEG so that I can burn it (and others) to a DVD.

Try VSO DivXtoDVD (still freeware).
It usually does a good job in cases like yours and it supports batch converting.

[reboot]

Jeremiah58. If the audio or video is unsupported, it won't matter what program is used.
If the audio is VBR mp3, then VSO will throw it way out of sync.

Try the Goldwave method mentioned by mats. It'll give you a proper wav if virtualdub screwed up.

What are you using to author the DVD?
Most apps, will take elementary streams, so don't even bother with audio in tmpgenc, just encode video.
Transcode audio to AC3 in ffmpeggui.
Use the AC3 and the m2v to author the DVD.

[propman07]

Guns1inger-

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I did save it out as uncompressed PCM. For some reason, the audio is behind the video.

mats.hogberg-

Thanks for the reply. I'll try the trial version of Goldwave and see if I have better luck with it.


Reboot-

I don't think that Virtualdub screwed up making the WAV file, at least it didn't give me any error messages stating that it encountered an error.

I am going to use DVD Lab to author the DVD once I get the file converted. The only thing that I am doing now is using Virtualdub to create a new AVI file (with the new WAV file as the audio source) and that is when I notice that the audio and video are out of sync. I have tried other programs to go straight to MPEG, but the audio is always out of sync with the video.

I will try to use ffmpeggui to get the audio in AC3 format, and try to get TMPGenc to give me a M2V file for the video. If I can get that, maybe that'll make DVD Lab happy.

I'll give your method a try, and post back with results, in case anyone else is learning from this thread.

[guns1inger]

If the audio is out be a constant amount all the way through, then you can use DVD Lab to fix the delay (in either direction). It is a bit hit and miss, in that you have to guess the delay, render the audio, author the disk, and if your were wrong, do it all again.

[propman07]

guns1inger-

Thanks. I haven't had this trouble before, but this is my first try working with an AVI file. I'm processing the video right now, and I will give the audio offset in DVD Lab a try, once it's finished.

I am wondering, though, why the original AVI plays in sync in WMP, but the minute that I separate the video/audio, then try to put them back together, they wind up out of sync. Is that the nature of the beast, or is it something that I'm doing incorrectly?

[johns0]

Have you got the xvid codec installed?

[mats.hogberg]

I am wondering, though, why the original AVI plays in sync in WMP, but the minute that I separate the video/audio, then try to put them back together, they wind up out of sync. Is that the nature of the beast, or is it something that I'm doing incorrectly?

This image tries to explain this phenomenon. The problem is that audio and video tracks don't have to line up in the AVI container. When taken apart and put back together, the assumption is made that they shuld start simultaneously, resulting in sync error.

/Mats

[propman07]

johns0-

Thanks for your reply. I am able to play the AVI file, so I was assuming that I have the correct codec installed. I'll download the XVID codec that you suggested, and see what that does.

mats.hogberg-

Thanks for the explanation. It looks like I'll have to try offsetting the audio to see if I can get them to sync up again.

Question-

The error message that I get in Virtualdub when I open the AVI file regarding the time skew...would this give any hint as to how far to offset the audio to correct the sync issue?

[Abond]

Hmm, I think the delay is shown in the GSpot pic you posted. I can read there
NG 1152 in the I/L field. That means negative (NG, for positive it is p) delay 1152 miliseconds. Hope this helps.

[propman07]

Abond-

Thanks. I'll try that value first when I try to offset the audio to match the video. On all of the attempts that I have made, the video is ahead of the audio, so I guess that I will have to make a positive offset of the audio to "catch up" to the video.

Do you know what the 42 ms is referring to in the Gspot window?

[Abond]

Not sure, but I think this is the time for displaying a frame. If you firstly have the video and the audio follow (this is how I understand "the video is ahead of the audio", let say somebody shoot and after a second you hear the shoot) - then it is negative delay for audio (hmm, <-- to move the audio in this direction negative, --> to move in this direction is positive).

[propman07]

Abond-

Thanks. I do have the video with the audio following (person's lips move, then the sound is heard after a second or two) If I understand your explanation, I do have audio with a negative delay (which is what Gspot is telling me) In order to correct this, I need to move the audio in the positive direction, which would result in a delay of zero.

[Abond]

Well you take it wrong or maybe I was not clear. Now the file you examine in Gspot is the source one - there is negative delay and the audio is in synch. The new file has no delay and the audio is out of synch. So you should set in DVDlab (or maybe even earlier in ffmpeggui when you transcode the file) negative delay of 1152 miliseconds - it should correct the synch. Hmm, well, I have dealt before with some VBR mp3, but if I remember correctly the answer which I gave to VirtuaDubMod about rewriting the header was "No".
How to explain more clearly? Simply I think this delay is set during the multiplexing. If you correct it at the encoding stage with ffmpeg gui, the multiplexing will be correct without delay.
Hope it is clear

[propman07]

abond-

My mistake. I understand what I need to do now. I think that I will try to correct the audio error using ffmpeggui so that I won't have to worry about it in DVD Lab. I may also try to create a new AVI file from the two pieces to check to see if the audio is in sync so that I won't have to go through the authoring process numerous times, trying to find the right offset.

I will also be sure to answer "No" when Virtualdubmod asks to rewrite the audio header.

Thanks again for the explanation.

[propman07]

(or maybe even earlier in ffmpeggui when you transcode the file) negative delay of 1152 miliseconds - it should correct the synch.

Well, I must be missing something. I couldn't figure out where to tell ffmpeggui to shift the audio by the 1152 ms. Could I do this with Goldwave?

...off to do some more searching...

[Abond]

Oops, sorry. I never used it but at the image in the tools section I see there isn't a place to tell this.
Well, I would do it with AC3Machine and BeSweet.
Goldwave - probably yes, but it looks too complicated for my taste.

[propman07]

Oops, sorry. I never used it but at the image in the tools section I see there isn't a place to tell this.
Well, I would do it with AC3Machine and BeSweet.
Goldwave - probably yes, but it looks too complicated for my taste.

abond-

Thanks. Yeah, Goldwave is a little complicated. I downloaded the trial, and it is pretty intense.

When you mentioned AC3Machine and BeSweet, did you mean to use them together, or will one or the other work? I have BeSweet, but I couldn't find AC3Machine.

TIA

[Abond]

Together. AC3Machine can be downloaded at the same site where BeSweet is located
http://dspguru.doom9.net/
Click on stable - you will see.

[propman07]

abond-

Thanks again for your help. I'll give that a try later tonight.