General Help..

[sixdsix]

I'm fairly new to the VCD scene, although I have been around for quite some time backing up games...
That said, I could use a good jump start on creating VCD's.

I d/l about four movies (Shrek, Fast and Furious, Hidden Dragon, JP3 and Legally Blonde). All are AVI's which need to be encoded to MPEG. I use TMPG version 13a to do this conversion. The later version will not read my AVI's. I even tried to de-compress the audio, and it still wouldn't take.

Anyway, once I have my encoded MPEG, I tried to use EZ CD Creator and get an error under "System Clock Reference" It is "X"'ed out. I did some searching on forums, and decided to try Nero. When using Nero, I get an audio error, that it is not compatible. I said "**** on it" and tried it anyway. When it played on my DVD player, it was choppy as hell, video and audio. Unwatchable.

Basically, I need a spring board here from you guys/gals. Any insight would be great. I would be willing to trade info for products. DC CDI's or whatever you need.

Thanks in advance.

[aldus4]

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On 2001-07-30 05:30:22, sixdsix wrote:
I d/l about four movies (Shrek, Fast and Furious, Hidden Dragon, JP3 and Legally Blonde). All are AVI's which need to be encoded to MPEG. I use TMPG version 13a to do this conversion. The later version will not read my AVI's. I even tried to de-compress the audio, and it still wouldn't take.
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I presume that these movies are in DivX format. Have you actually been able to view them on your PC? If not, download the codecs. Using TMPGEnc 13a??? I presume typo and you meant 12a - nevertheless - how do you proceed in encoding or trying to encode your files? What are your source files, settings etc.?

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Anyway, once I have my encoded MPEG, I tried to use EZ CD Creator and get an error under "System Clock Reference" It is "X"'ed out. I did some searching on forums, and decided to try Nero. When using Nero, I get an audio error, that it is not compatible. I said "**** on it" and tried it anyway.
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Nero will always tell you what it didn't like about the mpeg feed you gave it. This is important, so please take the time to report what the error message said - you can leave out the part what it should be like...

Try to anwser these questions and I'm sure there will be a way around your problems.

[sixdsix]

I do believe these are DivX... I can view them fine on my PC, so I know the codecs are ok...

And thanks for pointing out my typo... It IS 12a..

After reviewing more forum posts, when I encode the AVI, I use TMPG. Before I never used a template. I am wondering if this is one of my problems. Before, I simply loaded the AVI and encoded it. The only setting I would change would be the aspect ratio.

I am in the process of loading the SVCD NTSC template in TMPG, and encoding it that way. Do you think this was a problem? Since I am familiar with DC backup and the such, many templates and settings are irrelavent.

I do appreciate your feedback.

[aldus4]

Getting a little confused now....you want to make a VCD and are using the SVCD template?? If you are using a template now that is good , cause otherwise god knows what you are actually building.

Processing mpeg feeds settings are really important - otherwise you're going to encode hours on end, just to find you've made crap!

The best thing to do is always encode a few mins and see how the end result is.

Extra info:When you have loaded the template - either SVCD NTSC or VCD NTSC - change the "motion search precision" to "high quality - slow"

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: aldus4 on 2001-07-30 07:09:12 ]</font>

[sixdsix]

Haha... Yea, I think I am sometimes just talking from my a$$. I AM trying to copy using SVCD, although I should probably check and see what the FPS is, right? (I'm at work now, and let it rip this morning before I left)

I would imagine though, if possible SVCD is more preferable than VCD? I think I am heading in the right direction thanks to your help.

On a side note, why do rippers put the files into AVI and not MPG? lol.. Guess it filters out newbies like me, eh?

heh

[aldus4]

It's always good to talk...through which orifice is up to you

In terms of quality SVCD is generally seen as better than VCD. FPS (NTSC will always be 29.97 no matter what you encode) has actually not much to do with it, more important is the so-called bitrate.

New Confusion: Rippers? Are you talking about the people or the software. If I understand yuo correctly you mean why do people put films on the net as avi's? If I understood you correctly, the answer is because the avi in these cases are mostly in DivX format, which offers a higher compression ratio that neither mpeg1 or 2 could give you. So instead of loading/downloading a 1.2GB file you only have to download a 500MB file (example figures!)

[sixdsix]

Thanks Aldus.. Really do appreciate you help, and for reading my mind... Make sence about the compression stuff.

Hopefully, all will work out and tomorrow will be viewing VCDs perfectly.. lol

I will post or email you just so you know I didn't pull a hit and run. If I can supply you via FTP with DC backups or moview, please let me know.

[aldus4]

Look forward to hearing about your success story...

Thanks for the offer, but honestly don't need anything. Glad to help...and it counts towards my community service Ha ha

[relic13]

I'm having similar problems so am posting here instead of a new topic. Hope that is ok.
I have several avi files which would not play w/ Win Med Player and were not recognized by TMPGen when I tried to convert to mpeg. (I/m trying to create a VCD to play in standalone DVD player). I downloaded a couple of codecs which enabled 1 of the avi's to play on PC and have pointers to codecs which may help the other files play. My questions are:
1. will the same codecs that fix the win Media Player play problem also enable the avi to be recognized by TMPGen or is there something else I need to be able to convert to mpeg ?
2. more general question, is there some way to tell if an avi file is "good" either before of after downloading it ? By good, I mean able to be recognized by the encoder software?
3. if I rip my own movies direct from DVD will that solve the "unrecognized format" and "decoder not found" problems since the files will now all be a known format ?
I really appreciate all the great help here !!

[sixdsix]

One last thing Aldus..

If given the option of AVI or BIN/CUE, which do you prefer? I heard that you can take a BIN file and burn it directly with Nero. If this is true, would that eliminate the timely need for encoding? And does the quality suffer if I do a straight burn BIN to VCD?

[aldus4]

I don't have preferences actually - These days you have to be flexible <grin>.

Anyhow a standard VCD,SVCD without chapters or other fancy do dars etc. cannot be burnt, as we found out, via bin/cue in Nero. A normal video feed however in bin/cue format can be burnt in Nero.

Letting Nero convert an avi to VCD (or later this year the MPEG2 plugin will be available) I'm not too happy with. Somehow you never know what Nero is actually converting (meaning at what settings). Therefore being the controlfreak I am, I prefer to do it myself, via TMPGEnc or Panasonic MPEG Encoder for VCD's.

I convert everything into VCD (mpeg1) or (X)SVCD (mpeg2) streams and burn in Nero.

[sixdsix]

Again. Thanks a bunch. I have the bin/cue of "Planet of the Apes", and am going to try to load it directly into Nero and burn to see what happens.

In the meantime, I will take my AVIs from other movies and encode them (making sure I use a template! ), and give it a go.

Right on!

[blackman20]

i am experiencing the problem where i go to convert my avi's into vcd mpeg i am given a message that it can not read or is unsupported, i am new o this so maybe i am making a simple mistake can you help me out please. I a using tmpenc

[aldus4]

@blackman20

You should actually start a new post, but as you've started here we'll continue.

Have you been able to view your avi files on your PC?

[blackman20]

no i have not i am in the current process of downloading the windows media codec

[blackman20]

after i do this will i be able to view on my pc...

i am currently transfering at a dsl speed but i am having problems because i have not been able to efficiently download a whole movie.. Is it better to download movies from the divx format than mpg and avi

[aldus4]

That's probably why you can't encode them either. Best thing to do is try again after installing the codecs. Also its better if you de-mux (split the audio and video) the source file before tying to encode. If you still have problems then, start a new post...otherwise sixdsix will be receiving emails all the time that he has responses when they are actually meant for you.

[blackman20]

ok i will remember to start a new one..but how would i split the audio and video

[aldus4]

In TMPGEnc - go to File>>>MPEG Tools>>>De-Multiplexing.