converting VOB->MPEG1, audi sync problem, simple solution

[hustbaer]

Hi!

I'm trying to convert some (ok: many) short VOBs (music-videos) to MPEG1 format.
Works fine as long as there is no "break" in the stream, where by "break" I mean something where the video-stream stops for some time or similar.

The problem is, some of the VOBs have this problem, and so the audio/video sync is off by as much as 1-2 seconds.

I use TMPGEnc as MPEG1 encoder and DVD2AVI 1.76 (tried 1.77 as well) as the decoder/frameserver.
I found a note concerning the problem on the DVD2AVI homepage, saying if such problems occur one shall set the begin-/end-points in DVD2AVI by hand and then encode since DVD2AVI only does audio/video-sync once for the first frame.

Now, what I'm looking for is a way to frameserve/decode a VOB file including audio so that I can feed it into TMPGEnc - and, most important, with "no-user-interaction-needed-correct-audio-video-sync".
I'd go crazy if I had to check each and every file that i encode, and, if I find there is a sync-problem, start all over for those files *yack!*.

Temp-space on HDD is no problem, the VOBs are short and I have 20G+ free, so even decoding the whole VOB to uncompressed AVI would be fine.

So, if someone could help me with this, I'd be very happy.
Any comments/ hints/ whatever appreciated.

Thanks,
--hustbaer

[morey]

try using mainconcept encoder, i find that cos it extracts both audio and video directly from the vob then it always ends up in sync .

[barryland]

You could try Canopus Procoder.
Rip the Vobs to your hard-drive. Use stream processing during ripping so that you only rip the video file and one audio track. (I find DVD Decrypter great for this)
Rename the files from ".vob" to ".mpg".
Import into procoder and set output. "Mastering" level quality takes a long time but the results are worth it.

PM me if you want to know where I got Procoder.

[hustbaer]

hi again!

well, first of all, thanks a lot!

is one of this programs batch-enabled?
can i setup 10, 20, 50 jobs and then process them without further interaction?

how's the quality of the encoder?
can i link them to the tmpgenc, cinemacraft or panasonic encoder?
and can i do so in batch-mode?

i'd like to use one of the mentioned encoders because i know their quality is ok.
i'd tmpeg prefer tmpgenc, but if the solution is working well the price (e.g. CCE for $2 grand) wouldnt be a big problem...

bye,
--hustbaer

[morey]

mainconcept is batch-enabled you just load the vob in both audio and video and select add to batch list.
the quality is spot on, i have tmpg,cce,and mc but mainconcept is my encoder of choice , i used tmpg before but its alot slower and i have to let it encode overnight (or 2 ) . mainconcept is very quick and very very good quality.
Having said that i havnt quite grasped cce yet and im running a pretty low spec computer but the quality im getting with mc is amazing.

[hustbaer]

well, thx a lot!

just to prevent a misunderstanding here...
you are talking about MPEG-1 quality, VCD (not MPEG-2!) here, right?

because some high-quality MPEG-2 encoders are lousy MPEG-1 encoders, and of course the other way round...

i looked up some tests on CCE, well, *hmmm*, i think i won't buy it - muxxing seems to be bad, layer 2 audio as well, only video rocks.
thats a schame for a program that costs $2k!

again, thx a lot,
bye.
--hustbaer

[hustbaer]

hi again!

ok, i have just downloaded the demo version of mainconcept encoder...
i can load the VOB for video, but not for audio...
it's a stereo AC3-track...

and i'd need support for
* AC3 (2ch, 5.1ch)
* MPEG audio
* PCM

any way to get AC3 support with main-concept encoder?

thx,
bye.
--hustbaer

[morey]

the first time i used mc i couldnt load audio but if you try loading audio first
before video it does eventualy find the audio, or try it set as dvd output and then change back to svcd.(i dont know why it does this directx9 maybe?)

[hustbaer]

nah!
don't work.
i tried video first, audio first, with DVD preset...
tried to disable the MPEG input plugin, disable the DirectShow input plugin - no success

i'll post to the mainconcept forum - they should know!

thx anyway,
bye.
--hustbaer

[morey]

looked on the mc site myself ,er maybe there isnt support for ac3 (according to a post i read though it was in german)
i tried a vob like you had the pr0blem with , ie broken video streams and made the mpg with video only in mc.I used the gui with besweet to extract the audio to ac3 then remuxed to vcd with the mpeg tools in tmpg.
perfect

[hustbaer]

hi again!

i read the thread on the mainconcept site too, i even posted my question there.
didn't have a second look 'til now, i'll post here if they tell me some way to go.
the mc+besweet+tmpgenc "solution" is no way for me to go, since i need a scriptable, at leas batch-enabled solution.
and that wont do well with distinct audio & video processing.

the other thing is, i did some tests with the mc encoder...
my findings:
* VCD encoding is incredibly blazing fast (~1.5 times realtime on my athlon 700)
* VCD quality is far worse than tmpgenc's output
* SVCD is encoding very fast too (2-3 times realtime)
* SVCD quality is ok, but tmpgenc still looks better...

Just to mention it, i had the motion-search all the way up - so there should be no possilbe setting giving more quailty in mc.
Always compared to tmpgenc with motion-search "high" - takes 3x as long, looks much better

MC looks a little like bbMPEG

Puls, i found a very simple way to decode mpeg2 video.
the "graph-editor" stuff...
just render the file in graph-editor, cut off the video & audio renderer, connect the output pins of the video & audio decoder the the AVI Mux filter, and the AVI Mux to the file-writer filter.

I just have to write a small program that does all that automatically...
The uncompressed avi (or huffyuv lossless-compressed avi) can then be encoded with almost every encoder - and sync is also perfect since the "AVI Mux" filter accounts for the "droppen frames"... (i've done it by hand for one of the broken VOBs and output is perfect)

so, that's all for now,
bye.
--hustbaer