No sound in encoded WMV file using TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress??

[Dazzled]

I'll start from the beginning.

I used DVD Decrypter to rip a vob file from a DVD_VR (it was a 12min segment of a program I had recorded from the TV).

I renamed the movie m2v file to mpg and the audio stream to ac3. Then using TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress I multiplexed these two files to create an MPG file.

However upon realising it was over 375MB in length I wanted a smaller file size.

So then I again used TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress to Encode the MPG file to WMV to reduce the size of the file. The output file is a third of the MPG file, only 108MB, and the video quality looks just as good. Only trouble is there is no sound??

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong, or of another way I can covert an MPG file to WMV that will take both the video and audio with it?

Many thanks in advance and Happy New Year

[kschang]

If you just to reduce the size, I'd re-encode in TMPGEnc in a lower bitrate. You should be able to predict the size using the bitrate calculator in the program itself.

If you dont' care about transcoding to another codec, I'd say really shrink the file down by using a MPEG-4 based codec like DIVX / XVID / MPG4 where often you realize a 75% file shrinkage. However, I don't know about your specific program to know the exact menu combos to produce that sort of result.

[Dazzled]

Well for some reason when I choose Add File and insert my mpg file, it says in the Audio Source: "There is no audio data"?

When I play the MPG through Win Media Player I can hear the sound, but cannot seem to import it in the Set Source part of TMPGEnc.

I can't add WAV or AC3 files either when I browse to them. Does TMPGEnc not include the sound when trying to encode to WMV?

Edit: kschang - I did try to encode to a lower bitrate, and it took 2 hours, but again the resulting file had no sound??

[kschang]

I know the reason... I think. TMPGEnc does not read AC3 streams. You need to use BeSweet or something to trancode AC3 to stereo MP3, THEN you'll get sound.