TMPGenc thinks video is shorter than it is

[Spiny Norman]

This is a problem I've encountered twice.
I want to cut off the black bars (top & bottom) with TMPGenc (Plus 2.5). Usually this works fine, but for two vob files it came up with a total time of 20 seconds or so. But the videos were much longer than that. Both came from VHS.
It's strange, as if something in the stream signals "stop, end of video" long before it should. Does anyone have a clue how I can get tmpgenc to read the full length?

I like working with TMPGenc, but if someone has another solution, let's hear it.
The goal is to crop the frame to 16:9 while keeping it suitable for DVD (TMPGenc would've given me m2v which I was going to make into a DVD with TMPGenc DVD author 3).

Thank you.

[manono]

Does anyone have a clue how I can get tmpgenc to read the full length?

Probably not what you want to hear, but create a D2V project file using DGIndex before frameserving into TMPGEnc using an AviSynth script file.

[sanlyn]

Standard MPEG2 DVD is encoded as 720x480 (or 704x480 or 352x480 -- make the '480' a '576' if it's PAL), regardless of display aspect ratio. It appears you are describing a VHS of a wide-screen letterboxed image. If so, that video from VHS would encode as 720x480 and display as 4:3 (letterboxed). Keep in mind that movies are not produced in 16:9 image size; the only movies or programs produced in true 16:9 are made for TV. Without a short sample of your video, it's impossible to advise about the crop and resize.

You didn't describe your working video's format except that it originated as letterboxed VHS. IS this a capture from VHS to AVI, or did you capture to something like a DVD recorder and get an MPEG?

[Spiny Norman]

Standard MPEG2 DVD is encoded as 720x480 (or 704x480 or 352x480 -- make the '480' a '576' if it's PAL), regardless of display aspect ratio. It appears you are describing a VHS of a wide-screen letterboxed image. If so, that video from VHS would encode as 720x480 and display as 4:3 (letterboxed). Keep in mind that movies are not produced in 16:9 image size; the only movies or programs produced in true 16:9 are made for TV. Without a short sample of your video, it's impossible to advise about the crop and resize.

You didn't describe your working video's format except that it originated as letterboxed VHS. IS this a capture from VHS to AVI, or did you capture to something like a DVD recorder and get an MPEG?

VHS to vob was the step before I got them on DVD, and I can't redo that part because I don't have the source. One is indeed a tv special and the other has time codes top and bottom. Apart from that it's not really the point whether it's wise or not, it's the fact that I can't. The sample would be very short indeed, that is what's the problem.

[sanlyn]

You're reading these VOB's directly off the DVD disc with TMPGenc? Standard DVD has several VOB files, each 1GB or less. So if you load VOB #1, that's not the whole video (unless one VOB is all you have on the disc).

If your idea is to crop and resize in TMPGEnc, you're definitely going about it the wrong way. To maintain any level of quality for crop and resizing, those VOB's should be combined into a single MPEG2, then decoded to lossless AVI with something like DGIndex and Avisynth (and Lagarith for lossless compression). If the video portion that you want is really a 16x9 TV broadcast (not a movie) recorded to VHS, the video is interlaced and shouldn't be resized in that state. Deinterlace with QTGMC, then crop off the black borders. Resize with something like Spline36Resize to 854x480. Load that cropped/resized AVI into TMPGenc Plus and encode at 720x480 with 16:9 display ratio and a high bitrate.

[Spiny Norman]

One of the files was below 1 GB, and using dvdshrink I turned the other item into one VOB file > 1GB. On hard disc, otherwise it would take ages. You'll have to trust me that they are best presented in 16:9.
But if I end up using tmpgenc plus anyway, what is the value of the extra steps you recommend? For me they mean a lot of new tools I'm unfamiliar with, are you sure it's worth it?

[sanlyn]

It is if you want a 16x9 displayed image, properly encoded for a DVD-compliant disc.

[Spiny Norman]

It is if you want a decent 16x9 displayed image, properly encoded for a DVD-compliant disc.

Video VOB files aren't larger than 1GB. The video will have to be encoded and then authored for DVD. You can't just burn a VOB file to a DVD disc and expect it to play on a DVD player. Folder and file structure of a DVD disc: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#structhttps://www.videohelp.com/dvd#struct

Technically you're wrong there (but not by most standards I admit). You can make a VOB file of any size you like by deliberately changing default settings. It's my preferred way of getting one file I can convert to whatever. I use dvdshrink to copy, with "Split VOB files into 1 GB size chunks" disabled.
Of course it won't play back properly if you leave it at that. It's only good for editing further. Tmpgenc plus and dvd author will accept it for input. (They won't accept the audio by the way, but an audio stream copy with super encoder gives me the audio separately so I can add that again later.)

[Spiny Norman]

Ah, stream copy in super encoder did the trick (vob file to dvd file). It must have removed the thing which made tmpgenc plus think the video ends earlier than it does.

But I AM weak on the subject of (de)interlacing. So if I'm doing something deplorable to my videos now, then please give me a clue.

[sanlyn]

? LOL ! You've been cruising this forum since 2005 and don't know interlacing? Oh well, you're not a party of one. Try this old web page: http://www.neuron2.net/LVG/interlacing.html. Some of the fixes suggested in the lower part of that page are dated, but the principles still apply. Ways of handling interlaced video nowadays are very much improved.

You still have a VOB. You could have accomplished the same thing from your original disc with the free VOB2MPG utility, which combines VOB's from a DVD into a single MPEG with audio and zero loss. There is not some mystetrious "thing" in TMPGenc that tells it your video isn't longer. TMPGenc will read VOB #1. Period. It won't go to VOB #2 because it doesn't know other VOB's exist. That information comes from the DVD support files that your DVD player knows how to read.

[Spiny Norman]

? LOL ! You've been cruising this forum since 2005 and don't know interlacing? Oh well, you're not a party of one. Try this old web page: http://www.neuron2.net/LVG/interlacing.html. Some of the fixes suggested in the lower part of that page are dated, but the principles still apply. Ways of handling interlaced video nowadays are very much improved.

You still have a VOB. You could have accomplished the same thing from your original disc with the free VOB2MPG utility, which combines VOB's from a DVD into a single MPEG with audio and zero loss. There is not some mystetrious "thing" in TMPGenc that tells it your video isn't longer. TMPGenc will read VOB #1. Period. It won't go to VOB #2 because it doesn't know other VOB's exist. That information comes from the DVD support files that your DVD player knows how to read.

VOB2MPG would do that too, but DVDshrink also does it lossless.

And pardon me but I did not imagine this, there CAN be a thing in the stream that misguides tmpgenc. For one, even a 1 GB vob file should contain a bit more than 5 seconds (or maybe it was 20 seconds but that's about it). Also, give me some credit for coming here since 2005.

[sanlyn]

Of course, thanks for showing up. TMPGEnc was not designed to read VOB's, so you can expect problems. It's native input is uncompressed AVI. True, a VOB is an MPEG "in disguise", but not exactly. The header info in individual VOB's looks different on a DVD disc, and doesn't "look like" MPEG to many apps.

[Spiny Norman]

Yes; but it works well most of the times. There must be something in that header.
And using VOB2MPG will probably avoid the issue, now that you mention it. It's not a solution but an easy, perhaps even obvious workaround.

[sanlyn]

However, you still have to crop off the letterbox border and get a 16x9 image. Usually the letterbox on a 16x9 image inside a 4:3 frame has 46 pixels of black, top and bottom each. Crop that off in TMPGenc and you'll have a 720x388 frame, which is about 1:89:1 -- not exactly 16x9, but you have to crop YV12 video (which is MPEG) in even numbers (multi8ples of 2). With interlaced YV12, it should be multiples of 4.TMPGenc won't let you widen it beyond 720. You'll also have a letterbox border again, even if TMPGenc lets you encode a non-compliant DVD frame. Other MPEg editors that let you resize (there are also a few free ones around) will re-encode the entire video; unless you resize, you'll have a non-compliant DVD frame size. If you tell the editor to deinterlace before resizing, you can prevent some damage but their deinterlace and resize would be inferior to what you could get otherwise. And if they re-encode, you might not care for their encoder.

So you should take Manono's advice: get a complete MPEG and use DGIndex and Avisynth to get a lossless (with Lagarith lossless compression) AVI and proceed from there, get a good 16x9 image, and re-encode from there. Otherwise you'd likely end up with something that looks as if it was ruined by UTube. Others here might have alternate suggestions. But I think that if you browse this forum for the dozens of other posts about exactly the same process, you'll find a wealth of good (and bad) ideas.

[sanlyn]

It is if you want a decent 16x9 displayed image, properly encoded for a DVD-compliant disc.

Video VOB files aren't larger than 1GB. The video will have to be encoded and then authored for DVD. You can't just burn a VOB file to a DVD disc and expect it to play on a DVD player. Folder and file structure of a DVD disc: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#structhttps://www.videohelp.com/dvd#struct

Technically you're wrong there (but not by most standards I admit). You can make a VOB file of any size you like by deliberately changing default settings. It's my preferred way of getting one file I can convert to whatever. I use dvdshrink to copy, with "Split VOB files into 1 GB size chunks" disabled.
Of course it won't play back properly if you leave it at that. It's only good for editing further. Tmpgenc plus and dvd author will accept it for input. (They won't accept the audio by the way, but an audio stream copy with super encoder gives me the audio separately so I can add that again later.)

They will accept it for input, but the O.P. wants a full-screen 16x9 image. I wouldn't try that with lossy compressed VOB.