AVStoDVD Support Thread

[doctorm]

Sounds like this might be an HD-DVD. Try using tsMuxerR GUI and rebuilding it to a Blu-ray folder.

[JohnnyBob]

That sounds too complicated. I know zilch about Blu-ray. In any case I need it in ordinary DVD format which I can then manipulate fairly easily. I'll just re-request the video clip from the TV station in DVD format. I know they can provide DVD format because that's what they've sent me in the recent past. Just somebody with a MAC trying to make it difficult for Windows people, I imagine...

[Highlander71]

Hello all,
I'm sorry if this has been asked before, I searched the thread but I couldn't find something relevant.
After converting a few video files to DVD, I noticed that in some cases there was a slight change of the image contrast and/or brightness. I'm attaching an image containing two snapshots of the same frame, for comparison. As you can see, the difference is obvious on the bright red and slightly noticeable on the darker left side of the frame.
Strange thing is that when I tried to convert with two other applications (which I consider inferior to AVStoDVD as they have less features and control) there wasn't any change.
When I first noticed this, I was using all the default settings on the application, it was only after that I started fiddling with them, but I always got the same results.
Has anyone noticed that before?
Do you have suggestions, any settings combination that I could try?

Thank you all very much in advance for your time.

[JohnnyBob]

Not an expert, but offhand the DVD version looks a little clearer to me. The girl's face is too dark in the MP4. I imagine this depends on the monitor and the monitor's settings.

But of course that doesn't answer your question...why is there a noticable difference between AVStoDVD and other converters? Having no experience with other converters, I can't comment or suggest a reason. Maybe there's a setting in AVStoDVD somewhere that would affect it. One of the brainiacs here such as manolito or Mr C should know more...

However I can comment re MP4 vs DVD format in general. I've always used DVD but the MP4 format is much more compact and with similar quality. For example I converted a 125 MB video clip to MP4 which was only 25 MB. I imagine that's typical. It makes a big difference if you're storing hundreds or thousands of clips/movies. So I'm thinking about converting all of my DVD archives to MP4...so a 1TB drive would suffice instead of a 5TB drive.

[Highlander71]

Hi,
it looks clearer because it is brighter, otherwise the conversion is causing some inevitable loss of quality. The conversion is great, it's almost impossible to spot any quality loss, that's why I really want to keep using this software. But even if it looks better, I'd prefer it to be like the original, instead of making changes by itself.

I have... converted to mp4 and mkv (H264 to be more specific) long time ago. This is something I do for some people who can only use standard dvd player.
Thanks!

[manolito]

Hi Highlander71,

the only thing in AVStoDVD which could do such things is the ColorMatrix command in the AviSynth script. HD and SD video use different coefficients to store the color information. When converting a HD source to DVD AVStoDVD tries to correct this using the ColorMatrix command. But this can be wrong sometimes.

Please have a look at your AviSynth script and see it the ColorMatrix command is there. If is, delete it and see what happens.

Other than that AVStoDVD does not do anything to change the brightness, contrast, saturation or hue unless you explicitly tell it to do so. If the ColorMatrix command is not the culprit then you should try a couple of different players.



Cheers
manolito

[Highlander71]

Manolito, you are a genius!

Disabling the colormatrix in Avisynth worked.

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

[manolito]

My pleasure...

[_MrC_]

@carpler

I cannot replicate the audio issue (MyFilm-new.log). On the 1st audio track the 6ch->2ch downmix function should have not been selected, since there is no reference in the AviSynth script. It would be nice if you could clarify if you have definitively selected 2.0 for both audio tracks in the 1st project. In the 2nd project you did, in fact there is no warning message from A2D.

About the subs issue, could you upload the SRT file extracted from MyFilm2.mkv? It may have a peculiar formatting because A2D chokes during the 'SRT errors fixing routine'.


@steptoe, SD

Yes, the max number of titles currently supported by A2D is 64, to prevent authoring failures.

Public Const MaxTitles As Integer = 64

Anyway a new A2D release, mainly with 3rd part software updates, including BM 1.5, is quite close.

[manolito]

I cannot replicate the audio issue (MyFilm-new.log). On the 1st audio track the 6ch->2ch downmix function should have not been selected, since there is no reference in the AviSynth script.

Out of curiosity I also just tried to replicate this issue, but I couldn't. The source file and all A2D settings reflected carpler's settings, but A2D always correctly downmixed the audio tracks to stereo.

My guess is that carpler must have played with the AviSynth script and probably deleted the downmix command.


Cheers
manolito

[carpler]

Thank you for the answers!
About the downmix: I don't touch the AviSynth script, and I'm sure that I select the downmix for both audio channels...

About the srt problem: I'm not sure what is the right file that give this problem.
I will try and send the file...

[manolito]

About the downmix: I don't touch the AviSynth script, and I'm sure that I select the downmix for both audio channels...

Maybe you can try if you can reproduce the problem yourself:
1. Load the source, select the two desired audio tracks.
2. Click "View/Edit Title Settings", under "Audio" uncheck Automatic. Now change the number of channels and the bitrate, repeat for second track.
3. Start the conversion, cancel it right away and close AVStoDVD.
4. Open the log file and check both AviSynth scripts. Determine if the downmix command is present.

If you can reproduce the problem that the downmix command is only present for one of the audio tracks, it would be nice if you could upload a small sample of your source file...


Cheers
manolito

[GianCist]

Hi,

I need your help. Every attempt to author a DVD fails. I want to convert a Bluray video, which is 25 FPS and have DTS 5.1 24 bit audio. But after the DVD is created, the audio is very async to the video. Any help?

Log-File: http://pastebin.com/FWudYYRz

[steptoe]

Chek the codecs settings, if its NOT set to use LAVFilters but using Microsoft DirectShow change it, if it refuses to change run the util below. Microsoft forces it sometimes and they are well known for giving out of sync video

You'll have to run your encode again, but the codecs shouldn't change once set


http://www.download.hr/go.php?file=w7520&code=b1l4a4f7f7e5x2v2f9r0

Here is the page explaining what it does, and why


http://www.codecguide.com/windows7_preferred_filter_tweaker.htm

[GianCist]

How can I set this up?

[manolito]

How can I set this up?

This post
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/277852-AVStoDVD-Support-Thread?p=2407078&viewfull=1#post2407078
should tell you everything you need...


Cheers
manolito

[jond]

I am having an occasional issue when adding a '.srt' file to a video -- when I add the video (.avi), all is well but when I add the srt, I get an Error 55 pop-up (file already open) after a slight delay.

I've tried nuking the temp directory, renaming the srt, moving the srt to a different volume, but the results are the same.

I've also tried running it through Subtitle Edit (fix common errors) but the results are the same.

It does not seem to matter in which order I add titles -- for example, when adding three titles, the first and third may be okay but the second one gives the Error 55. And no matter which position I add that file, the error occurs.

Note that this occurs prior to launching conversion so I have no logs to show this. However once launched, the conversion will fail when it gets to the title with the pop-up error when it attempts to add the subtitles.

Does anyone have any ideas? I suspect avstodvd is trying to pre-process the srt file and is getting confused but I don't see any way to tweak this step.

avstodvd release 2.8.2, 27 June 2015

Thanks,

Jon

[_MrC_]

@jond

could you please send me (avstodvd@gmail.com) or attach here the SRT file giving you troubles?

Thanks



Bye

P.S. I apologize for the huge delay in replying.

[Tr4ilz]

I am having an occasional issue when adding a '.srt' file to a video -- when I add the video (.avi), all is well but when I add the srt, I get an Error 55 pop-up (file already open) after a slight delay.

I've tried nuking the temp directory, renaming the srt, moving the srt to a different volume, but the results are the same.

I've also tried running it through Subtitle Edit (fix common errors) but the results are the same.

It does not seem to matter in which order I add titles -- for example, when adding three titles, the first and third may be okay but the second one gives the Error 55. And no matter which position I add that file, the error occurs.

Note that this occurs prior to launching conversion so I have no logs to show this. However once launched, the conversion will fail when it gets to the title with the pop-up error when it attempts to add the subtitles.

Does anyone have any ideas? I suspect avstodvd is trying to pre-process the srt file and is getting confused but I don't see any way to tweak this step.

avstodvd release 2.8.2, 27 June 2015

Thanks,

Jon

@jond

could you please send me (avstodvd@gmail.com) or attach here the SRT file giving you troubles?

Thanks



Bye

P.S. I apologize for the huge delay in replying.

I have the exact same issue, the SRT file is included with this post.

Thank you in advance!

[jond]

I have attached a couple of srt files that give the Error 55.

Hopefully, this will be sufficient to determine the cause of the Error.

Thanks!

jon

[_MrC_]

Subs file: The Knight In White Satin Armor.srt

Replace sub #

163
00:09:38,544 --> 00:09:40,546
200
- plus hours of tapes to analyze,

163
00:09:38,544 --> 00:09:40,546
200 plus hours of tapes to analyze,

Subs file: The.Martian.2015.HD-TS.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8.srt

Replace subs #

737
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:14,937
 14.0 %
OXYGEN

738
01:03:14,962 --> 01:03:17,030
 13.5 %
OXYGEN

737
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:14,937
OXYGEN 14.0 %

738
01:03:14,962 --> 01:03:17,030
OXYGEN 13.5 %

Subs file: The.Imitation.Game.2014.1080p.BluRay.X264-AMIABLE.srt

Replace sub #

2
00:01:02,021 --> 00:01:03,981
1951

2
00:01:02,021 --> 00:01:03,981
Year 1951

SRT parsing routine needs some improvements... next release will fix all those issues.

Thanks for the feedbacks



Bye

[Tr4ilz]

Awesome, thanks!

[Cristian2015]

Can I replace HCenc 026beta of AVStoDVD with HCenc 028 (latest)? Any other changes I should make to use HCenc 028? (I set maxbitrate 9600, bitrate 9600, bias 100 for best quality)

[manolito]

HCenc 0.28 works perfectly under AVStoDVD. Just rename HCenc_028.exe to HCenc.exe and replace the older HC executable with it.

Your bitrate settings seem awfully high, but as long as MuxMan does not quit due to buffer underruns you will be OK. If you use the HC 1-pass VBR mode you are asking for trouble IMO with such high bitrates...


Cheers
manolito

[Cristian2015]

Thank you very much, Manolito. I use HCenc 2-pass, I had no problems so far. As I encode 1 hour DV to 1 DVD, these values are ok to fit on the DVD.

[steptoe]

Could these be added some time in future releases. Thanks

Suggestions
A 'Select All' option for copying data from one title to the other titles in the current project. If you use the Copy Setting From Title option, you have to manually select the other titles you wish to copy the settings to. Just takes time if you have a lot of titles, where a 'Select All' option would save some time. This also applies if you are using the DVD menu edior. Again you have to manually select every title you are copying settings to



In the DVD menu editor, the maximum number of titles is 16 thumbnails per page, can this be increased to 18 or even a maximum of 30. This would give a maximum row count of 5 with 6 thumbnails per row (this may seem a lot but if you remove the 'play All' button and menu arrows its possible to fit 5 rows by 6 thumbnails). Just turn on the 'Play All' option so titles play after each other automatically ...... Ideal for children's DVDs that have lots of very short episodes of only 5-10 minutes per episode. Peppa Pig being a good example. Its only 5 minutes per episode

I've tried editing this directly in the .a2d file but running the DVD editor causes a few errors and AVStoDVd quits. I'm building a project for Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. Each episode is about 10 minutes and as its a children's animation not much is happening action wise so an entire series of 52 episodes easily fits on a single DVD-5



If you are copying data from one titleset to another, and choose the 'Copy AviSynth Settings', it doesn't copy all filters. Adding a Deblock filter isn't copied to every title so I have to go through each title one at a time adding it manually to the script, but adding ColorMatrix in the AviSynth filter this is copied to all other titlesets



Thanks for all your hard work

[Mrx15]

I'm getting generally OK conversions of avi mp4 mkv to DVD except with black and white movies. They tend to produce somewhat jerky motion, splotchy scenes on black/dark backgrounds, and the audio may go slightly out of sync. Even some color movies have noticably faded/weak video occasionally in scenes with black/dark backgrounds. Overall the quality isn't as good as I used to get with older versions of AVStoDVD on an XP computer. Now I'm running v2.8.3 on W8.1. What setting(s) do I need to adjust to try to fix this? Thanks.

[steptoe]

Check your codecs filters to make sure they are NOT set to Microsoft, install LAVFilters if you have not already and make sure they are set to LAVFilters. Microsoft have an annoying habit of assuming nothing is better than theirs so refuses to automatically change them and that usually fixes out of sync issues

I have had to use this very small util that forces the codecs to change from Microsoft to your choice of codecs

http://www.codecguide.com/windows7_preferred_filter_tweaker.htm



If you are encoding B&W films or episodes, you will have to manually add a filter to the AviSynth script

Simply add

video = video.greyscale()

just before any resize filter. This will convert your video to greyscale, even if it is already B&W it will make sure it is. This can help with colours creeping in for some weird reason into your projects. It shouldn't slow down your encodes by any amount as its a very fast built-in avisynth filter



Try using the colormatrix option in the avisynth filter section, you will have to untick auto avisynth so you can change the filters. This might help fix colours appearing to be slightly out. Just click the button for colormatrixand click OK twice to enter the default values that will convert the source video to DVD spec colour information

http://avisynth.org.ru/docs/english/externalfilters/colormatrix.htm


Also, are you trying to convert PAL to NTSC. This will lead to jerky motion if not done correctly and slightly out of sync audio with what appears to be blurry and/or washed out colours

Manolito might be better at this than me, there are a couple of avisyth scripts that people have wrote to do PAL to NTSC conversions as best as possible, but they are slow

[Mrx15]

@steptoe
Thanks but you're way above my technical level of understanding. I would have no idea how to perform the tasks you suggest and need simple recipe directions.

I had to install version 2.8.3 on the W8.1 computer, after first trying the portable version which was again too complicated for me to setup technically. Maybe I had it right(?), but was getting error messages and had no idea why, so could have no confidence in it.

I also got some kind of message about the LAV filters after installing v2.8.3, that something wasn't exactly right with the filters, but had/have no idea how to fix it.

I know nothing (zero) about "scripts", nor how to access/modify the avisynth as you suggest.

I live in North America and our TVs require NTSC, so must convert everything to NTSC. If it's PAL it must be converted, like it or not. So I really have no choice. However the problems I suggested in my original post are not related to PAL, because they happened even if the original was in NTSC.

If you can give me some simple recipe type directions, I'll be happy to try them. Otherwise this is far too complicated for me to continue. In that case I'll just forget it. Thanks anyway... Season's Greetings.

[steptoe]

To check the codecs, run AVStoDVD, on the top menu choose Codecs, then in the menu that appears choose preferred DirectShow Codecs Setup. The LAVFilters box should be highlighted. If its not there you need to quit AVStoDVD and try to reinstall LAVFilters

This link should ask you to download the very latest release of LAVFilters. I've just downloaded and installed it so know its genuine

http://files.1f0.de/lavf/nightly/LAVFilters-0.67.0-3.exe


Restart you computers after you have installed LAVFilters and repeat the check for codecs as above. It 'should' now show LAVFilters highlighted. if is doesn't click the link below. This will ask you to download a small piece of software that will force LAVFilters to be the default


http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/Win7DSFilterTweaker/1262732488/1


Run the software, it doesn't have to be installed, in the small window that appears click Preferred Decoders. In the list that appears make sure that LAVFilters has a blue circle next to it. If you are running 64-bit Windows 8.1 then choose LAVFilters for the 64-bit side as well (I've just had to do that as the 64-bit filters were set to Microsoft so its not just you that it happens to)

Now choose 'Apply & Close', then 'Exit.

Restart your computer again, and run AVStoDV, click codecs and again click preferred DirectShow Codecs Setup. That should now show LAVFilters as your default


Try running your project again and check if the audio is still out of sync, in theory it nwo shouldn't be .....



Sounds complicated, but what your doing is forcing Windows to change what it uses to 'read' files and decide what it is and how to process it. You have to restart your computer to make sure that it knows what has just been changed


I had the same issue as you a while back, and wasn't aware LAVFilters were not being used even though they were installed. It caused me endless grief installinga nd reinstalling software and getting close to reinstalling Windows as I needed AVStoDVD. I was told to check using what I explained to you but still had to use the other method to force Windows to accept what I was changing as it insisted it knew better (Windows is annoying like that). All my audio sync problems went away