GUI for DVDAuthor buffer under-run error

[jman98]

I have done a laserdisc capture of Disney's old _Snow White_ special edition. It has some special features that they never put out on DVD or BD. Not many, but there are some. I was trying to author a DVD and one file I've got just gives GUI for DVDAuthor fits. It keeps complaining about buffer under-runs. I do not understand what that means so I am absolutely baffled as to how to fix this.

Basically the problem file is on the laserdisc as an analog audio track. Since the video it goes with has nothing to do with it, I created a 720x480 JPG and put a message on it explaining what the track was. I used AviSynth to generate a video file of the same length as the audio file so I can play the frame on my DVD. Yes, it is ugly as hell to do this, but I gave up trying to get GUI for DVDAuthor's audio only file option to work for me. I did the exact same thing for a shorter (about 3 minutes) similar audio only file and it is fine. GUI for DVDAuthor has no problem with it. I just want this track burned to a DVD. I created a test DVD with just one item in the menu. It is supposed to play my created audio and video files but it fails to make the DVD. I am including the output below. Can someone please explain to me what exactly a buffer under-run is and why that is bad? And does anyone have any idea what is causing this problem? If I understood what was causing the error, maybe I could fix it.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

h:\snow-white\temp>Time: 5/3/2012 1:48:32 PM

(shrink and) mux video and audio files
INFO: [mplex.exe] mplex version 1.9.0 (2.2.7 $Date: 2006/02/01 22:23:01 $)
INFO: [mplex.exe] File h:\snow-white\Premiere-still.m2v looks like an MPEG Video stream.
INFO: [mplex.exe] File H:\snow-white\Primiere-Dec21-1937_track2_eng.ac3 looks like an AC3 Audio stream.
INFO: [mplex.exe] Video stream 0: profile 8 selected - ignoring non-standard options!
INFO: [mplex.exe] Found 1 audio streams and 1 video streams
INFO: [mplex.exe] Selecting dvdauthor DVD output profile
INFO: [mplex.exe] Multiplexing video program stream!
INFO: [mplex.exe] Scanning for header info: Video stream e0 (h:\snow-white\Premiere-still.m2v)
INFO: [mplex.exe] VIDEO STREAM: e0
INFO: [mplex.exe] Frame width : 720
INFO: [mplex.exe] Frame height : 480
INFO: [mplex.exe] Aspect ratio : 4:3 display
INFO: [mplex.exe] Picture rate : 29.970 frames/sec
INFO: [mplex.exe] Bit rate : 7000000 bits/sec
INFO: [mplex.exe] Vbv buffer size : 229376 bytes
INFO: [mplex.exe] CSPF : 0
INFO: [mplex.exe] Scanning for header info: AC3 Audio stream 00 (H:\snow-white\Primiere-Dec21-1937_track2_eng.ac3)
INFO: [mplex.exe] AC3 frame size = 1792
INFO: [mplex.exe] AC3 AUDIO STREAM:
INFO: [mplex.exe] Bit rate : 57344 bytes/sec (448 kbit/sec)
INFO: [mplex.exe] Frequency : 48000 Hz
INFO: [mplex.exe] SYSTEMS/PROGRAM stream:
INFO: [mplex.exe] rough-guess multiplexed stream data rate : 7612896
INFO: [mplex.exe] target data-rate specified : 10080000
INFO: [mplex.exe] Setting specified specified data rate: 10080000
INFO: [mplex.exe] Run-in delay = 9009 Video delay = 9009 Audio delay = 12012
INFO: [mplex.exe] New sequence commences...
INFO: [mplex.exe] Video e0: buf= 0 frame=000000 sector=00000000
INFO: [mplex.exe] Audio bd: buf= 0 frame=000000 sector=00000000
++ WARN: [mplex.exe] Stream e0: data will arrive too late sent(SCR)=9069 required(DTS)=9009
++ WARN: [mplex.exe] Video e0: buf= 123512 frame=000000 sector=00000061
++ WARN: [mplex.exe] Audio bd: buf= 0 frame=000000 sector=00000000
INFO: [mplex.exe] Scanned to end AU 43169
INFO: [mplex.exe] STREAM e0 completed
INFO: [mplex.exe] STREAM bd completed
INFO: [mplex.exe] Multiplex completion at SCR=162035273.
INFO: [mplex.exe] Video e0: completed
INFO: [mplex.exe] Audio bd: completed
INFO: [mplex.exe] VIDEO_STATISTICS: e0
INFO: [mplex.exe] Video Stream length: 999103414 bytes
INFO: [mplex.exe] Sequence headers: 3598
INFO: [mplex.exe] Sequence ends : 1
INFO: [mplex.exe] No. Pictures : 43170
INFO: [mplex.exe] No. Groups : 3598
INFO: [mplex.exe] No. I Frames : 3598 avg. size157529 bytes
INFO: [mplex.exe] No. P Frames : 10793 avg. size 6347 bytes
INFO: [mplex.exe] No. B Frames : 28779 avg. size 12641 bytes
INFO: [mplex.exe] Average bit-rate : 4438800 bits/sec
INFO: [mplex.exe] Peak bit-rate : 6982000 bits/sec
INFO: [mplex.exe] BUFFERING min 26 Buf max 235543
INFO: [mplex.exe] AUDIO_STATISTICS: bd
INFO: [mplex.exe] Audio stream length 100830464 bytes.
INFO: [mplex.exe] Frames : 56267
INFO: [mplex.exe] BUFFERING min 35 Buf max 3395
**ERROR: [mplex.exe] MUX STATUS: Frame data under-runs detected!

h:\snow-white\temp>Time: 5/3/2012 1:48:44 PM

[manono]

I used AviSynth to generate a video file of the same length as the audio file so I can play the frame on my DVD.

I haven't used GUI4DVDAuthor, but it's not necessary to create a video of a still frame the length of the audio. You can mux for DVD using just a 720x480 BMP (which gets turned into a very short M2V) and the audio. The resulting DVD will last as long as the audio. I know you can do this using Muxman (as I've done it many times) and since I believe you have the choice of using Muxman as the muxing engine in GUI4DVDAuthor, it should be possible there are well, I think.

Buffer underruns occur when the combined video, audio, subs (if any) and overhead go over the max 10080 Kbit/s. I don't see that happening in your case so perhaps the author or someone else will show up and explain it.

I'd suggest first switching to using Muxman as the muxing engine. Then I'd next try making a very short one or two frame M2V from your still image. DVDAuthorGUI can easily do that, but I don't know if GUI4DVDAuthor will, or if you'll have to do it yourself. At the very least it should solve your buffer underrun problems.

Or, author it separately in Muxman using the BMP and the audio and then stick it into the finished DVD later on, adjusting the menu commands if necessary.

[jman98]

Thanks, manono. I'll give your suggestions a try. You hit on what just baffled me - I have no subs and my video+audio are well below the max allowed so the error just seems non-sensical to me.

[borax]

That's an old and known error of the multiplex program (mplex) used by the dvdauthor package (if dvdauthor is selected as engine). If your streams are 100% DVD compliant just use Muxman as engine, then it should be ok.

[jman98]

Thanks for the advice. I finally had time over the weekend to deal with this and switching to muxman as the engine indeed fixed the problem. I appreciate the suggestion, manono and borax.