ffmpeg problems with high action sequences

[pravda]

I'd really rather use ffmpeg than mpeg2enc, due mostly to the speed, but also the better picture quality. But ffmpeg unfortunately seems to freak out on high action sequences like where there are gun muzzle flashes, or even lights turning on and off. The effect is almost like it drops down to one frame a second during that sequence, then everything is fine again. At least on my DVD player anyway. I've seen other posts connected to this, but no real solution.

Is there a solution to this, or is it an inherent problem with the encoder?

[alph]

This could be due to ffmpeg not producing a perfectly constant bitrate, and it varies most during high action scenes. Some DVD players don't react very well to variations in bitrate.

If the movie plays fine on your computer, odds are this is the problem. One solution is author your dvd, once you've encoded with ffmpegx, with Toast. Since version 6.0.7 or 6.0.9, I forget, Toast remedies variations in bitrate during it's remultiplexing process. I'm not quite sure what it does exactly, padding perhaps, but it works well.

Alph

[pravda]

I've seen Toast (when using the Video tab, not the data tab) doing some slow encoding when I've dropped a ffmpeg encoded file on it. Not the quick re-multiplexing that it does when I drop a mpeg2enc encoded file on it, which only takes a couple of seconds, but something that is going to take a lot longer. I've always cancelled it, because I assumed it was re-encoding the video which would A) take hours and B) not look very good. At least that's what it used to do.
Do you think I should let it run? How long does that take for you?

[alph]

You don't want it to re-encode. You only want the re-multiplex. I've found that most times running your mpeg through MPeg Streamclip with a convert to mpeg feature will let toast recognise it and not re-encode.

Also the new Toast 7 has a "never re-encode" option under the more button that eliminates this problem altogether.

Alph

[pravda]

Do you think that if I used Toast 7 and the never-re-encode option, it would still multiplex the files?

[alph]

Toast 7 always, at least, re-multiplexes. If you turn on "never reencode" Toast will only remultiplex, but if your original file is not within dvd standards then that could be a problem when it comes time to playing it in your DVD player. In your case though that should not be a problem and the re-multiplex should fix your data rate problem.

Alph

[pravda]

Awesome, thanks Alph.

[pravda]

For anyone else following this thread, I can confirm that a file I had some freezing troubles with, when remuxed by Toast (making sure to use never reencode), played fine afterwards. Thanks again Alph.