Losing Quality Within Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD

[Opv]

I am encountering a problem and would like to determine if there is something I am doing wrong, or failing to do altogether. I have read through the online Womble support and have searched through the built-in help within the MPEG Video Wizard DVD program itself and haven't found anything that addresses this issue.

My problem is that something appears to be degrading the quality of the output at some point after I import the raw video into. When I first import my rather large VRO file, I can open it in the Input window and it looks great, the audio is in sync and everything looks fine. However, after I split the file one or more times, add transitions, modify the brightness/contrast, etc., and then go to view the results in the Monitor window, the audio is all of a sudden out of sync. It is particularly noticeable when I go to a full-screen mode, as well is the fact that the flow of the video is grainy and not as smooth. I can delete the clip from the timeline and start all over with a fresh clip from the raw VRO file and it all looks great but when I start the editing process again and go to view it in the Monitor window, the same problems described above surface again.

I've attempted to export several short edited clips and then burned them to DVD, only to find that the exported file reflected the same issues as I noticed in the Output window. Yesterday, I went through the process of converting the entire VRO file to an MPEG2 file to see if that helped but I got the same end result after editing.

Also, I scanned the VRO and MPEG files with the MPEG MBS Scanner and obtained no exceptions.

Any thoughts on what might be causing the audio sync issues? (There are no noticeable audio sync issues with the initial raw video. The issue only occurs after various edits are applied, as described above.)

[Baldrick]

Does this happen with all your vro recordings?

[Opv]

Does this happen with all your vro recordings?

Actually, this is my first experience with digital video. This was my first video from my first digital video camera. I recorded about 2.5 hours from a church reunion. So, I have no other experience to use as a comparison.

[guns1inger]

I can certainly imagine you getting these issues in the preview window if you are applying filters and transitions etc. I would also suggest that if you recoded the entire 2.5 hours in one hit that it is probably recorded at half D1 resolution, and is being resized to full D1 when it is re-encoded. This would also account for a lot of the quality issues.

None of it accounts for the audio sync issues though.

[Opv]

I can certainly imagine you getting these issues in the preview window if you are applying filters and transitions etc. I would also suggest that if you recoded the entire 2.5 hours in one hit that it is probably recorded at half D1 resolution, and is being resized to full D1 when it is re-encoded. This would also account for a lot of the quality issues.

None of it accounts for the audio sync issues though.

Well, the audio sync issue seems to only occur when I go to full-screen viewing of the output. So long as it's left in layout view, I don't notice the audio sync issue.

I don't know about the encoding resolution. This is all new to me. If there is a way to convert any or all of it to make it more usable, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks

[PuzZLeR]

First of all, preview modes on most editors usually look like crap, so take them as an idea, not the "real" thing.

As for Womble, I too tend to experience similar problems with edits, transitions, etc, after exporting. Whenever I playback the result on VLC, the video is shaky and off. Once in a while there's a sync issue. Your video has not lost quality, just needs to be "fixed" a bit.

Here's what you can try:

Run the video through Womble's MPEG GOP Fixer. Experiment with the options and whether this is necessary before or after editing.

If that doesn't work for you, I have personally have had 100% success fixing this with other apps (not free):

Before using Womble, run the video first with one pass with VideoReDo with Tools -> QuickStream Fix (lossless). This can correct the stream before editing.

Or, after editing, you can run one pass with TMPGEnc MPEG Editor (also lossless). This has been very effective for me.

What happened probably when capturing from sources like cameras, DVRs or even DVB, etc, the time stamps, GOP headers, etc are displaced. This is easily fixed with multiplexing and recalculating headers, etc.

[Opv]

First of all, preview modes on most editors usually look like crap, so take them as an idea, not the "real" thing.

As for Womble, I too tend to experience similar problems with edits, transitions, etc, after exporting. Whenever I playback the result on VLC, the video is shaky and off. Once in a while there's a sync issue. Your video has not lost quality, just needs to be "fixed" a bit.

Here's what you can try:

Run the video through Womble's MPEG GOP Fixer. Experiment with the options and whether this is necessary before or after editing.

If that doesn't work for you, I have personally have had 100% success fixing this with other apps (not free):

Before using Womble, run the video first with one pass with VideoReDo with Tools -> QuickStream Fix (lossless). This can correct the stream before editing.

Or, after editing, you can run one pass with TMPGEnc MPEG Editor (also lossless). This has been very effective for me.

What happened probably when capturing from sources like cameras, DVRs or even DVB, etc, the time stamps, GOP headers, etc are displaced. This is easily fixed with multiplexing and recalculating headers, etc.

Thanks for the tips. I'll give them a try. Aside from this glitch (for which I can hopefully find an acceptable work-around) I am otherwise enjoying the Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD product.

[mazinz]

for sync issues, Womble has two sync options you can try. Go under tools (button right next to the "dvd" button on the top right), click audio options. The default for womble is to "insert silent audio frames" this works on preview, but sometimes after export you will loose the sync. Your best bet is to check this option instead "continuous play, ignoring audio pts jumps".

Womble's out display will show you artifacts and other crap that are NOT there upon final output, so do not get too worried.

Womble's re-encoder is god aweful. If your exported clip has to have video re-encoded, your best bet is to have it frameserved (yes womble dvd author can do this) into better apps such as tmpg, etc.

[Opv]

for sync issues, Womble has two sync options you can try. Go under tools (button right next to the "dvd" button on the top right), click audio options. The default for womble is to "insert silent audio frames" this works on preview, but sometimes after export you will loose the sync. Your best bet is to check this option instead "continuous play, ignoring audio pts jumps".

Womble's out display will show you artifacts and other crap that are NOT there upon final output, so do not get too worried.

Womble's re-encoder is god aweful. If your exported clip has to have video re-encoded, your best bet is to have it frameserved (yes womble dvd author can do this) into better apps such as tmpg, etc.

Thanks. Something is going on (as best I can tell) within Womble itself. My source file plays perfectly before I apply edits. It's only after I split the file into multiple clips, apply filters and transitions between clips that the output monitor starts showing grainy an out-of-sync video. I tried actually burning a small portion to DVD just to make sure, and got the same results in the DVD. I'll keep trying different combinations of steps in hopes I chance upon something that works. Thanks again!

[mazinz]

it would also help greatly to run your clips through the gop fixer first. You do not need it to have the full gop fix for dvd standards (because if it is off it will try and re-encode your clip which you do not want womble to do), but have it do the first 3 choices and save. It will also help your clip and usually eliminate any kind of sync issue

[Opv]

it would also help greatly to run your clips through the gop fixer first. You do not need it to have the full gop fix for dvd standards (because if it is off it will try and re-encode your clip which you do not want womble to do), but have it do the first 3 choices and save. It will also help your clip and usually eliminate any kind of sync issue

Thanks, I'll give that a try.