Issues with TMPGenc encoding m2v's?

[chad5871]

Hey guys! I have TMPGenc Plus 2.5 and am having issues with it. It seems that whenever I encode an .avi (Xvid) file using the .m2v elementary stream, it "freezes" or "sticks" every second or so. The original file plays fine in Windows Media Player, but when I try to encode it, it sticks about every second. I have extracted the audio (since it is in AC3 5.1 so I can burn it to DVD for surround sound) and tried plugging the video only file through TMPGenc but the problem still happens. I have tried CBR and VBR, both with the same issue.

Also, I am having issues since the original resolution of the video is 960x544, when I try to encode it to 720x480, it stretches it in. I have tried selecting "full screen (keep aspect ratio)" but that just adds black bars to the left and right sides, and the picture is still stretched inward. Any ideas on how to handle this?

ANY help or ideas are appreciated. The TMPGenc sticking problem has been an issue ever since I tried TMPGenc about a year ago and I have never really gotten it to work properly. Thanks everyone!

[Shadowmistress]

On the sticky video issue: Go into tmpgenc's environmental settings> Vfapi plugin tab. Set directshow priority higher over and over again until it's at the top of the list. If that doesn't work, try setting the avi plugins higher.

On the resize issue: Is your source's aspect ratio 4:3 or 16:9? Are you encoding to the same aspect or changing it? Make sure that the aspect ratio under the video tab and the source aspect ratio in the advanced tab are the same. If they are in conflict change the one under the video tab.

[jimmalenko]

Is it possible that the sticking issue is a codec problem on your computer ?

[chad5871]

Okay, I think that I figured out the source issue. I was putting in "16:9 Display" instead of "16:9 525 Line NTSC" for the source on the Advanced tab. When I changed it, it put the little black bars on the top and bottom of the video rather than the sides, and the aspect ratio was maintained.

As far as the sticking is concerned, I tried what shadowmistress suggested and set the directshow priority higher than all the others. I couldn't find the avi plugins setting. The video still sticks...

Just for kicks I tried encoding the video as a .mpg instead of a .m2v and guess what? Works like a charm! I'm wondering if I'm having issues with my .m2v encoder - the decoder seems to work seamlessly. I'm going to poke around the site and see if I can download a new codec for mpeg-2. If anyone would like to suggest one to me, I'd much appreciate it. Thanks again for all of the help!

[EDIT]: I just downloaded and installed Stinky's Mpeg-2 Codec and same problem... It's very odd. Also I noticed that in the .mpg that I had encoded earlier, there are some artifacts in the quick-moving scenes - would there be a way to encode the HDTV quality in the smaller resolution? Sorry about all the questions, I'm not such an expert on all this stuff and I want to get DVD quality from the file... Thanks everyone!

[chad5871]

Okay guys, I finally figured everything out! First of all, the "stickiness" is due to the crappy codec I have. It was encoding everything just fine, but when I went to watch it, it would become choppy. I finally figured out that it worked okay by plugging the video into DVD-Lab and creating a short test DVD - looked great! Also, I figured out that in order to get the aspect ratio correct, I need to change the setting to "Full Screen", but not "Full Screen (Aspect Ratio)." For some reason, when I would play the .m2v in Windows Media Player, it would display a 3:2 picture when the ratio was actually 8:5, which is weird. When I would go to write to a DVD, the video would be stretched out. So I went back in and changed it, did another test DVD and it looks great!

Also, to get rid of the choppiness and artifacts, I encoded using the High Quality Motion search precision. Let me tell you, that movie file looks like commercial quality now! And I've got it in surround sound as well. Thanks so much for helping me figure everything out guys!

[Shadowmistress]

Glad it worked out for you. You shouldn't be using Windows Media Player to play your m2v's though but if you insist, try installing DScaler (it's always worked well for me.) You ought to have PowerDvd as well to test your dvd's and m2v's before burning to disk.

[chad5871]

Thanks for the advice, shadowmistress. My computer came bundled with Intervideo WinDVD, so that's what I used to figure out that the videos were okay. I guess I'm just so used to windows media that I hadn't really thought about trying anything else.