Thats too much time, so I am forced to encode using "estimate" in Motion Search. Then, using "estimate" search, I can encode a 50 minute movie and it takes only about 2 hours. I've used TMPGEnc before on "High" and it took only about 6 to 8 hours, but now with my new HHD, it says it will take 20 hours. I've never let it go ahead and encode at "high" because I don't want to wait 20 hours. I'm using:

TMPGEnc Plus 2.58.44.152, Core 1.90.140
For DVD MPEG2 NTSC compatible:
MPEG-2 720x480 29.97fps CBR 8000kbps, Layer-2 48000Hz 384kbps (with error protection)
DVD+R disks

When I encode with "estimate" search and author using DVD Workshop 1.3 with "Do not Re-encode", I get a good DVD movie disk that plays on my stand-alone DVD player, but the vidio is a bit jerky, not real smooth. I've tried 2-Pass VBR (8000, 6000, 5000) with "High" motion search, but again it says 20 hours or about, so I don't go ahead and encode it... too long time.

QUESTION: why so long time on "High" motion search? Or, is the program not telling the truth and it will, if I go ahead, only take 8 hours instead of 20?

You should Be able to get good Results just useing the "Normal" setting..But stay away from the "Highest" setting Cuz that will take forever...If you wait for a While the encodeing time should go down a Bit, But if you want to encode fast then use a Faster encoder..

There are a few things that will effect how fast you can encode. On the hardware side is the cpu speed (the faster the better and P4s are the better choice of the intels), ram (more the better), disk access time ( SCSI U320 probably the best single drive but raids of scsi is better and ide raids are good, Single ide start at ata 133 and go down as well as rpm and buffer size play a role. Software, if the drive supports DMA make sure it is turned on, shut down software that runs in the background such as Nortons System works or other virus software that might be monitoring the system constantly. I only encode SVCDs from Dvix and average 2 hours for every hour of movie at the highest quality setting. I have a 47" widescreen and that higher setting does seem to help. Hope this helps.

Rick

I doubt that the 'Motion search' setting is in any way connected to your jerky playback problem.

There is more likely something else causing this.
Have you set the 'Field order' abd 'Frame rate' correctly?
What are the details of your source file?

Secondly '2 pass' is not a good setting for encoding DVD.

If the source is reasonably good quality you will get better results in a much faster time using the VBR method 'Constant quality(CQ)'.
This is also similar to the VBR method CCE uses and, as anybody who knows anything about encoding will tell you, you can't beat CCE for quality.

The 'Motion estimate search' setting will give you good results if not identical results to the 'High quality' setting as long as the source is decent and shouldn't affect the playback.

Also I don't think it is necessary to set the Minimum bitrate so high.

ASHY

I was trying to convert a Window Media Video file (.wmv) to mpeg.
The video is encoded with Windows Media MPEG-4, which can processed by TMPGEnc successfully. But the audio is encoded as
Windows Media Audio V8
20 kbps, 22 kHz, stereo,
which cannot be recognized by TMPGEnc.

What shall I do? Any help will greatly appreciated!

One way is to Download "DB Power AMP" with the WMA Codecs from http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ , then Re-Name the WMV file to WMA then you will be able to encode the audio to WAV with DB Power Amp ,then you can load the WAV into Tmpgenc, after extracting the audio to Wav you can put the extention Back to WMV...

I am converting an Xvid (I think) AVI file to MPEG1. The AVI file is 24 minutes and 4 seconds long and is 29.97 fps. After I burned it onto VCD using Nero 5, the image quality is very bad, blocky. I did not multiplex it non-standard VCD! Below are the exact steps I took to convert the video.

1. I clicked on Load and seleced "VideoCD(NTSC)". Then I went back there and clicked on "Unlock".

2. In Settings, the Stream Type is MPEG-1 Video. Size is 352x240 pixels. Aspect ratio was automatically set to 4:3 525 line(NTSC), I didn't know what it was so I didn't change it. Frame rate is 29.97 fps. I set the Rate Control Mode to Constant Quality (CQ), the maximum bitrate is 2520 kbits/sec, minimum is 0. Quality is set at 50. P picture spoilage is 0 while B picture spoilage is 20. VBV Buffer Size is 40KB. Motion Search Precision is set at normal.

I did not extract the WAV from the source file and I did not multiplex it into a non-standard VCD. Anyway, I'm trying to make the quality a little better when I'm trying to fit 3 24-minute-4-seconds files onto 1 700MB-80MIN CDR. Also, can someone please explain to me the differences between the options in Rate Control Mode? Thanks!

Well it's no wonder your output is rubbish with those settings.

Firstly 352x240 is low resolution, so the image will look crap anyway no matter what bitrate you use.

Secondly 2520kb/s isn't too high either, but then reducing the quality to 50% will just cause the bitrate to average out at much lower than this, probably even less than standard VCD quality.

You are right using the (CQ) method, but your settings are not going to give you good quality.
Try these:

(CQ)Method: Max- 3000 Min-1200 Quality 80%

Audio bitrate- 128

Your VBV buffer setting is too low, it should be at least 112 for the bitrate usage.

Set 'Motion search' to 'High' not 'Highest' or 'Normal'

Multiplex or stream settings need to be 'Non standard VCD'

The settings above should improve the image abd allow you to fit all three movies on 1 disk (maybe with a little overburn), but to be honest you are asking a lot to fit three 24min movies on 1 disk with good quality.

You would be better off putting just 2 and encoding to XSVCD. With higher bitrate settings.

ASHY

Sorry the Minimum bitrate above should be 300kb/s not 1200kb/s

ASHY

Thanks! If not 352x240, what resolution should I use? That's the default for VCD NTSC.

You should encode to MPEG2 and use the default SVCD resoulution. This will greatly improve the image, but I would advise increasing the bitrates to Min-1800, Max-4000, Quality-65, Audio-128

To fit all three movies you will probably have to use the bitrate settings in the previous post.

ASHY

I don't think my DVD Player can play SVCDs. It comes out trashed in the past...

Does anybody know of software that is similar to ulead dvd workshop but free?

No... Not For Free But you Can Use DVD workshop for 30 days with Full Functionallity, E-Mail Me and I"ll Try To hook you Up with Something that should work Simular to DVD Workshop....

Is there any way a Rotate feature could be added I use TMPGEnc to convert video down to use on my Pocket PC it has a nicer output than anything I've used to date, but my Pocket Pc plays better if the video is prerotated 90 degrees instead of doing it on the fly, could this feature be added as a filter?

I doubt It will Be added as a Feature Cuz there is No Real Purpose to it Accept for maybe what you want it for, You can Use V-Dub to rotate the image and Frame serve it to Tmpgenc...

Hello,

After have enough of dazzle dvc. I plan on purchasing the Osprey-220:
http://www.viewcast.com/products/osprey/osprey220.html

This will enable capture to raw avi via VirtualDub greatly increasing my video.

I am curious about the "breakout box" at the bottom of the above page. The cards ships with the 'breakout cable'. Why would you need the 'breakout box' if you have the cable?

My first card, and need some advice.

Regards
Fess

The breakout box is for professional video environments where everything is mounted in racks. Equipment is connected and disconnected very often and that would place too much mechanical stress on cable connectors.

A quick look at their literature shows no mention of 720x480 capture capability. They seem to be geared to web applications with W=640. W=720 is required for DVD.

In any case, this is a pretty expensive solution for non-pro use.

Oh, and the Osprey cards do not even have a tuner!

I believe you can get a tuner card that for less money that also works great for capture. Can any TV Wonder, Hauppauge, etc, owners vouch for this? (I have capture built in to my ATI graphics card.)

I use a BT878 Capture Card(Ati TV Wonder) Which Is Pretty Good For analog Captures, I usually capture from My Digital Cable Signal to AVI at 720+480 then encode the captured files to SVCD and they Turn out Quite well..I believe The Osprey Card is More Geared Toward Web Streaming as Opposed to Analog AVI Captures, But then again I don"t know what "Fess" will be useing it for???

I own a Hauppage WinTV GO capture device. I can capture at 768x576 and the quality is excellant almost DVD quality from sources such as DVD through the composite inputs.

ASHY

Hello,

The osprey-220 will work with VirtulDub for sure. I don't know if other cards will work because dazzle's crap does not work.

wvpaul, you stated that this card does not have a 'tuner'. That will allow you to watch TV on your computer right?

Anyway, my story is.....I'm an internet programmer an a "1 man show". I want to learn every aspect of this field. Right now its video editing and avi/mpeg creation I'm interested in. I picked this card to capture from analog (s-video/etc.) to make web clips and edit with Adobe or Ulead...then convert with TMPEGEnc to MPEG-1. (Was using VD to make avi's but folks seem to have codec problems with MPEG-4)

I've never had the impulse to create a DVD before or at least not yet. I'm too busy with work and school to try it for now...

I will look into these cards, do they work with Virtual Dub....?

BT878 Capture Card(Ati TV Wonder)
Hauppage WinTV GO

wcpaul,Minion, ASHY....thank you for the input

Regards
Fess

Being a TV watcher, the tuner has come in handy for me. If you are not a reality show junkie, this might not be useful.

The best strategy with analog is to capture and edit with DVD quality AVI (Huffyuv codec) and then encode to MPEG-2 with "lossless" settings. This creates archival masters which can be re-encoded to the streaming media format de jour. To save painful rework, lossy conversions should be at very the END of the chain, not the start.

Hint: use the brightness/contrast settings along with histogram display in Virtualdub to make sure light and/or dark detail is not being lost during capture. Video signals from tape vary wildly.

Hint: You should learn as much detail about Microsoft drivers and the DirectShow architecture as you can handle.

Huffyuv codec huh? Interesting.....

As for "tuner" needs. I'm 1000% sure I don't need it because I hate watching TV. Rather read or bang a chick ;O)

I found this url on DirectShow architecture, wow....lots of info:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wcegmm/htm/_dxce_dshow_directshow_architecture.asp

Thanks again wcpaul...
Fess

Using TMPGEnc I am trying to encode a vcd file to make vcd from dvd.

When I play back the captured audio file alone it is fine....when doing a test encoding the audio is choppy.....kinda like it is under water.
I am using a wav file as the audio source as suggested.

Any help would be great!

Thanks

Joe

You don't really need to re-encode if the format is MPEG1 VCD.

This can be imported directly into your authoring software and burned as as an MPEG1 DVD.

http://www.vcdhelp.com/vcddvdr.htm

ASHY

I am having problems converting avi files to mpeg -- there is no sound. I put the audio settings at 400% but still noting. What am I doing wrong???

I'm getting the same problem...I also noticed that after the conversion, an AVI file that apporx 90mins long, becomes 300+ mins long. But the rest of the file after the 90 mins is just blank. Please help.

Could it be because it is a DVIX coded mpeg? Does TMPGEnc not handle that properly?

extract the audio from the avi file to a wav file... using"virtualdub"then insert the avi movie into tmpg and the wav file u extracted.

I have a question concerning the AVISynth method of converting AVIs to MPEG-2 (using AVISynth as a file server between Premiere 6.0 and TMPGEnc) that I found posted on vcdhelp.com and I was wondering if anyone could help me.

I followed the instructions to the very end. When I viewed the MPEG-2 file (which is of superb quality) there are portions of my video where it pauses on a single frame for 2 to 3 seconds. This happens 4 or 5 times in my video causing my audio to lose sync with the video. Do you have any idea how this may have happened or what I can do to eliminate this problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,
I'm trying to cut & merge some mpeg2 files but the output files never contain any audio stream. When demuxing, tmpgenc labels the audio stream as: "private_stream_1 (0x80) Dolby AC3 48000 256 kbps".
Any idea what's going wrong?
I'm using version 2.58.44.152

Sorry your out of luck TMPG just will not do this in any version when using the Merge&Cut. You will always lose the audio part.

ASHY

Thanks for your input, ashi.
In the mean time (2 hours later), I did found a method however:
1. Convert ac3 to wav using dvd2avi
2. converted wav to mp2 with tmpgenc
3. muxed mp2 with m2v into mpg file using tmpgenc
4. cut mpg file with tmpgenc
A bit complicated but it works!

Thanks for your input, ashi.
In the mean time (2 hours later), I did found a method however:
1. Convert ac3 to wav using dvd2avi
2. converted wav to mp2 with tmpgenc
3. muxed mp2 with m2v into mpg file using tmpgenc
4. cut mpg file with tmpgenc
A bit complicated but it works!

To convert VOBs to wav files use VOB2AUDIO. Much faster and better at it.

ASHY

In the later versions of TMPGEnc, there is a Cut Editing button on the source range page. What does this do besides changing the range and resolution of the slider positioned underneath the preview pane. Am I missing something? It would be nice if I could create two batch files using something like this rather than having to set up the files for the first and second half of the movie separately or converting as one movie and using the MPeg Tools to split it into parts that will fit onto 800 Meg CD's. Anyone have any better ways to do this?

You don't have to set up the cuts seperately. Create your first cut in the source range. Then click File>Add current project to batch list>MPEG file then name it and save it. This will be added to the list.

Do the same for the second cut then click 'Run'

ASHY

The Cut editing Function is Really handy for Captured TV Shows Cuz you can use it to Set up Tmpgenc to just encode The Parts of the file you want it to encode and not encode Comercials...

I try to split up a MPEG2-file of 850 MB in TMPEGenc 2.59. I set the in and out-point and have to hit the OK-button afterwards. But when hitting the OK-button the programm freezes up and I have to Ctrl/ALT/DELETE to stop the programm. It is not responding anymore. What is going wrong ?

Thanks,
Danny Geysen

I don"t have any Idea Why,If the File was not made By Tmpgenc then it is Not supported By the editor But the Editor Is Buggy at times and there aren"t any special setting that will solve your Problem so I would sugest Getting a Real Mpeg editor...

Is this file high resolution? If so just wait, go and have a coffee or something.
Still problems?

Re-multiplex the file and try again.
If that doesn't work.
Just completley delete TMPG and re-install it then re-install your MPEG2 decoder or codec.

If that doesn't work then try MPEG2VCR.

ASHY

Thanks for your replies.
Danny Geysen