Error "The Video GOP is too long" converting .avi to DVD w/ DIKO

[KroZ]

I just finished encoding an XviD .avi with DIKO. This is the first movie I have encoded since updating to 2.23 form 2.12. I have always authored my .mpv and .ac3 files to DVD externally from DIKO with either TMPG DVD Author Pro or TSUNAMI-MPEG DVD AUTHOR PRO and had perfect results every time (I author externally because sometimes the .ac3 or .mp3 files included in .avi files have a delay and DIKO does not seem to detect it when extracting resulting in out of sync audio). This time though I receive a similar error message in both programs when trying to author. They read as follows:

TMPG DVD Author Pro:

The Video GOP is too long.

TSUNAMI-MPEG DVD AUTHOR PRO:

38 Fields is too long for a video GOP. The DVD-Video standard requires that the GOP maximum length is as below.

NTSC: 36 fields (18 frames)

The DIKO Log Reads as follows:

11:58:39 - DIKO Free 2.23
11:58:39 - -----------------------------------------------------
11:58:39 - *************************
11:58:39 - * Getting movie info... *
11:58:39 - *************************
11:58:39 - -----------------
11:58:39 - Processing Movie 0:C:\Temp\Video1.avi+
11:58:39 - Script Template: .\scripts\avi\DivXHighQuality.avs
11:58:39 -
11:58:39 - Progressive Width: 656 Height 352 A.R.: 1.863636 Framerate: 23.976000 Dest. Framerate: 23.976000 Frames: 193424
11:58:39 - Audio type: 8192 (AC3), channels: 5 Frequency: 48000 Hz Bitrate 448 kbps
11:58:39 - Audio for this movie won't need to be reencoded! Yes!
11:58:39 - Calculated Audio size: 441.185978 Mb
11:58:39 - ***************************
11:58:39 - * Processing Subtitles... *
11:58:39 - ***************************
11:58:40 - *******************
11:58:40 - * Calculations... *
11:58:40 - *******************
11:58:40 - Total audio space: 441.185978 Mb
11:58:40 - Media Size: 4482 Mb
11:58:40 - Mux Overhead: 140 Mb
11:58:40 - Remaining space for video: 3900.814022 Mb
11:58:40 - Total length: 134.456679 minutes
11:58:40 - Desired Sample Size: 40.674154 Mb QFactor Adjust used: 1.000000
11:58:40 - Average Bitrate: 3961.061254
11:58:40 - **********************************
11:58:40 - * Initiating prediction phase... *
11:58:40 - **********************************
11:58:40 - *********************
11:58:40 - * Encoding Video... *
11:58:40 - *********************
11:58:41 - Re-Creating movies scripts without sampler for Full Encode
11:58:41 - Encoding... Please Wait this can take many hours depending on your processor.
11:58:41 - Processing Movie 0:C:\Temp\Video1.avi+
11:58:41 - C:\Program Files\Video Tools\CCE\EclCCE.exe -ecl "C:\Program Files\Video Tools\DIKO\Temp\movies.ecl" -encode -exit -hideshutdown
15:51:29 - Enabling pulldown flag... Command-line:
15:51:29 - DGPULLDOWN\DGPulldown.exe -i "C:\Program Files\Video Tools\DIKO\Temp\movie0.mpv" -c -s -1
15:51:29 -

16:28:14 - Pulldown returned an error flag.
16:28:14 - Pulldown Sucessfull. Renaming original file and the pulled-down one.
16:28:34 - ********************
16:28:34 - * Audio extraction *
16:28:34 - ********************
16:28:34 - Extracting audio from movie with VirtualDubMod...
16:32:00 - ---------------------------------------
16:32:00 - ********************************
16:32:00 - * Initiating audio encoding... *
16:32:00 - ********************************
16:32:00 - Processing Movie 0:C:\Temp\Video1.avi+
16:32:00 - ------------------

16:32:00 - Fix errors and remove WAV header using AC3Fix from file 1. Command-line:
16:32:00 - dvdauthor\ac3fix.exe "C:\Program Files\Video Tools\DIKO\Temp\extract0a.wav" "C:\Program Files\Video Tools\DIKO\Temp\movie0a.ac3"
16:33:54 - C:\Program Files\Video Tools\DIKO\Temp\movie0a.ac3
16:33:54 -

16:33:55 - Renaming movie 0 files to its final name...
16:33:55 - 0 - DIKO finished processing!
16:33:55 - DIKO Finished the conversion. If everything
went fine, your files should be in the working folder.

The strange thing is that I never had this problem with DIKO 2.12. The only difference I can detect between the two versions is in the configuration in the Mode setting. 2.23 is BDVD instead of KDVD in 2.12. I would appreciate any help with my problem. Thanks

[jimmalenko]

Your GOP is 19 frames long, whereas the max for NTSC DVD is 18 to remain compliant.

[KroZ]

Thanks for the reply... If anyone is familiar with DIKO I would like to know what setting is responsible for the adjustment of the GOP and how can I alter that to create compliant DVD video? BTW... I know that the encoding process is the problem and not this particular .avi because I have tested it with several different XviD .avi files with the same result.

[redwudz]

You will find that is a fairly common problem when authoring with TDA. Here is some discussion of it:

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1303959#1303959

You can find a lot more by doing a forum search for 'GOP is too long'. I ignore it most of the time, but it will create a non-standard DVD. They usually work fine. But you would likely have to re-encode to change it. I'm not really familiar with DIKO.

[KroZ]

Thanks for such a quick reply redwudz...

Just one more question... If anyone is familiar with eclCCE I am using it with DIKO as my encoder. I was wondering if the settings in this program can be altered independently of DIKO to correct GOP length. If not I guess DIKO is the problem. Also, if I am forced to look elsewhere for "one click" conversion software what other program will...
#1- Maintain 5.1 channel .ac3 audio
#2 Allow for external authoring of my DVD from .mpv (or similar MPEG Elementary Video) and .ac3 files
#3- Will use eclCCE or CCE as the encoder?

Thanks to all who take their time to help me out!