Well first of all, I've noticed that encoding has become really slow now that I've installed XP on our system, but anyways, my concern is that while encoding, the source postition indicator and file size seem to be in sync with the preview picture shown, but the percent done and reported frame don't seem to be in sync. Anyone else come across that problem?

i don't quite understand the difference between resolution and aspect ratio. Seems that the ratio of the horisontal to vertical resolution would give the aspect ratio.....unless pixels arn't always square and aspect ratio is actual length rather than pixel number. Or is it that the picture is stretched....or....
For example ntsc vcd is 252x240 which is 1.46666 and 4:3 is 1.333 obviously...
I'm must be missing some info..

There are two Aspect Ratios:
DAR = Display aspect ratio
PAR = Pixel aspect ratio

352x288 IS 4:3 also 384x288 IS 4:3. But thye are using different PARs, That's the Trick.
352x288 has PAR 1.092:1 and DAR 4:3
384x288 has PAR 1:1 and DAR 4:3

thanks Racer...does that mean tvs have a intrinsic 1.092:1 PAR ...as in the phosphor dots are not square.....

I'm trying to create an MPEG-2 file to put on a DVD-R to use in a regular DVD player. However, I can't get the DVD-R to play in all players (even ones that appear to be able to read the DVD-R). I'm wondering if I might be using some non-compliant encoder settings. I tried about 10 different DVD players and found that only 2 or 3 of them would play the DVD-R. I also tried about 3 software players, and they all did it just fine.

Here's the encoder settings I used in the project wizard (anything I don't mention I did't change from the preset settings):

o DVD NTSC format
o non-interlaced
o 4:3 display
o Video movie
o MP2 audio
o constant quality (at 100%)
o 10 bit accuracy for DC coefficient

I create a single audio/video file (.mpg). I'm then using Nero to burn this to a DVD. As I mentioned before, it does work on some DVD players, but not on most. However, it has worked on all software players I've tried. My source file is an uncompressed AVI at 640x480 15 fps and 44.1 KHz audio (I assume that tmpgenc will convert the video correctly).

Any ideas as to why this DVD doesn't work in all players, even when the player can recognize the DVD (i.e. can read a DVD-R)?

Thanks in adavance for any info =).

Jonathan Dinerstein
jondinerstein@yahoo.com

There are a Few things that are wierd here..ALL NTSC DVD"s are Interlaced, and to Correct Convert the Framerate with Tmpgenc you would have had to set the Frame rate to "15fps/30fps Internal" or you will get Very Jumpy Playback, and Next You can"t use Nero to Properly Burn a DVD, you Have to Use an authoring Program to Format the Mpeg2 file into a Video-TS Folder then you Can Use Nero to Burn the Video-TS Folder as a DVD, you Might Just be burning the Mpeg2 file to the DVD-R as a Plain Mpeg2 file which a few Players would Play but not many..So to solve your Problem with Getting your DVD Play on Most DVD Players you will have to Author it with a REAL DVD Authoring Program, Nero Can Not Format the Mpeg2 file into the Correct Format for most DVD Players to Read, and All authoring Programs have there own Burning features so you won"t need Nero....

Thanks for the feedback. A couple pieces of additonal pieces of info on my problem and questions:

I forgot to mention this before, but I'm using NeroVision to set up the DVD-R to play video. So while I'm using Nero to burn the DVD, NeroVision is doing all the work to make it a standard "video" DVD.

So, if I understand right, it might fix my problem to interlace the video? By default interlacing is off in the tempgenc wizard, but I don't know if the default DVD NTSC wizard settings are fully DVD compliant or not......

You mention the option "15fps/30fps Internal". Can you tell me where this is? I haven't seen it around and I'd like to try it.

Thanks for the feedback, and any further info/ideas from anyone would be greatly appreciated. Every DVD-R I ruin is a $3.50 coaster, so I'd like to pool some ideas before wasting any more disks =).

Jonathan Dinerstein
jondinerstein@yahoo.com

in settings under the frame rate u can choose various frame rates...like 15fps/30 internal. If the frame rate is greyed out then load the unlock template in the extras folder...

Fix the $3.50 issue. meritline.com sells a disc called "Accu" for 25@$1.15 that even works in a fussy, old DVD player of mine. Most expensive discs I tried do not play as well.

If your source is 23.96 progressive, encode at that frame rate and then use a postprocessing program to add 3:2 pulldown (converts it to 29.97 interlaced). TMPG's function to do this seems buggy. I use PULLDOWN.EXE.

Yes if you Load a 15fps File into Tmpgenc ,then go to "Frame Rate" then in the Dropdown Menu there should be a Frame rate setting of "15fps/30fps internal"..For Some reason Pulldown.exe doesn"t work for me it allways Makes the Video a second or 2 longer or shorter that the Audio which causes De-sync and when I play it on my Player I get bad Combing and Blurring in High Motion Scenes so I am allways Forced to use a De-interlace filter and Rip my dvd"s to 29.97fps, I have tried Many Times to get it fight with Forced film But it never works out...

The easiest way to solve your problem is to just load the DVD NTSC template then 'unlock' the framerate setting by clicking where it says 'Frame rate' then choosing unlock from the menu.
Next change the frame rate to '15 fps(internally30 fps)'

Now just author and burn.

ASHY

P.S. Forget the project wizard. Just load the template from the main screen.

ASHY

Hi there.
I have been converting DVDs to VCDs for Backup purposed (my daughter can be really destructive).

I have followed the instructions to the note on

http://www.afterdawn.com/articles/archive/dvd2vcd_with_smart_dvd2avi_tmpgenc.cfm
though when I go to burn with Nero I always get the message that teh stream encoding is invalid and it has to change it. What is happening?

Thanks

This error Is Probably because the File is not VCD Compliant, which could mean that the Resolution is wrong the Audio frequency is wrong or the File has been encoded as a Mpeg1 file and not a VCD file..If the Problem is the Stream isn"t encoded to VCD but to Mpeg1 then this can be fixed By loading the File into tmpgenc"s "Merge & Cut" and Running the File through with the "Video-CD Non-Standard" setting , this will Put a VCD header on the Mpeg1 file..But you can avoid all of this If you Just use "VCDEasy" to Burn the File to Disk Cuz VCDEasy will accept Plain Mpeg1 files and Plain Mpeg2 files for VCD or SVCD, Pluss it supports Chapters which are very Handy...

How do you get it to overburn? I use Nero 5 and there is no option to select overburn. I have 5 files that's each about 154MB and it all adds up to 770MB in all. They're 12 minutes each, it's just that I have them at high quality. Is overburning of separate files possible?

You Can OverBurn with nero 5.5, open Nero and go to "File" to "Preferances" to "Expert Features" and there you can set the Overburn...If those 5 Files that you have are VCD files or SVCD files then you Can Normally easily fit 800mb on a 700mb 80min CD-R in VCD or SVCD Format so you won"t need to OverBurn, and you can usually only overburn about 15-25mb Max....

What happens when you overburn? Do you lose any information or video?

It just extends the burn capacity of the disk.

ASHY

I have a panasonic DVX100 which records 24p. I use DVFILM software to extract to a native 24p DV quicktime. How can I encode to mpeg with this source? It appears that TMPGENC will not accept a quicktime file. A 24p uncompressed avi is too darn big and there is no avi format that supports 24p avi. Please let me know if quicktime is acceptible.

Thanks...
Marty

You have to Get a Mov Quicktime Plugin for Tmpgenc, you can download it Here: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4942/svcd.html it is called the "QT-Reader"...By the way what is 24p , you say that your Panasonic Records 24p and was wondering what 24p is or means...thanX

24p is a term used to describe 24 frames per second on video. Instead of 60 interlaced fields the camera records 24 full frames per second. This is the same frame rate as film and goes a long way to making your video look like film. In order for this 24p to be displayed on a standard television a 3:2 pulldown is added to the video. However it is possible to exract the true 24 frames per second and encode it with TMPENC. This saves space, makes the encoding more efficient and allows for progressive viewing on a progressive DVD player.

The camera is designed for film enthusiasts that don;t have the budget or maens to shoot on expensive film stock. Do a search on the internet for Panasonic DVX100 and I'm sure you'll find an article or 2!

Thanks
Marty

Well you should have just said 24fps,I don"t understand what you mean that the AVI Format won"t let You make an avi with 24fps progressive film Image,As far as I know Most if not all AVI codecs will Let you Make 24fps Film if your Source is 24fps Film...

I can't understand why after burn CD, the TV display can't fullscreen.
Capturing from firewire, render with adobe premiere 6.02 with PAL size 352x288, encoding with tmpgenc fullscreen with keep aspect ratio. I cant find the best setting to make the display full.

Are there Black Bars on the Top and Bottom????? if so you can use the "Clip Frame" settings in the "Advanced settings" to Cuz out the Black Bars and stretch the Image to fill the screen....

When I try coverting an avi file to a MPEG file after going through the wizard, I get the message "can't P3Package". Any ideas?

This is Because you Don"t have all of the Files that come with Tmpgenc in the same folder..All of the Files that come in the Zip File you download have to be extracted to the same folder and the Program has to be run From the Folder you Can"t have the EXE file on your Desktop or somewere else...

I hope you're not annoyed by me. It seems the more I learn, the more questions I have! Anyway, can someone please explain to me the Full Screen, Full Screen (keep aspect ratio), and Full Screen (keep aspect ratio 2) to me please? And also, what is 4:3, 16:9, letterbox, and widescreen?

These settings change the Way the Picture is Displayed in the screen ...and 4:3 , 16:9 , letterBox, are Aspect Ratios, 4:3 is the standard Aspect Ratio for your TV Set, 16:9 is the aspect Ratio for a WideScreen TV...If you Don"t understand Aspect Ratios they are Basicly the shape the Frame is Displayed Like a "4:3" aspect ratio would be 4 parts across and 3 parts down and 16:9 would be 16 parts across and 9 parts down...

TMPGEnc 2.58.44.152
The first problem occures when I load the AVI file using the project wizard. TMPGEnc hangs with 'Judging field order' at 8%. I use the options 2-pass, slow performance of DivX 5.02 in VirtualDub 1.4.8.

Second problem:
After I tried it with the DVD (PAL) template instead of the wizard there was no sound in some parts of the MPEG2 video. In this case I used the following custom settings: 352x576, 2-pass VBR average bitrate 2100, maximum bitrate 3500, minimum bitrate 1700, joint audio 192 kbps. Have you got any idea about the cause of this behavior?
I think everything worked fine as long as I used a 1-pass source file and a mpeg setting with constant bitrate.

I get no audio after i encode a avi to a mpg with TMPGEnc Plus v2.59.47.155.When i had the older beta version of TMPGEnc i could goto kazza download a movie in avi or avi(divx) and encode it to mpg,and when i played the movie back i had a great picture and great sound.Now that i have the retail version of TMPGEnc Plus v2.59.47.155 and i download a movie off of kazza and encode it from a avi to a mpg and when i play it back i get a great picture but no sound what could cause this?Please help!!!

You have to Extract the audio to a WAV file with something like "Virtual Dub" and use that as the audio source..Tmpgenc does not support every audio format..

I have an AVI file that plays fine through Windows Media player, but when I convert it to MPEG in TMPG I get no sound at all.

You have to extract the audio from the AVI to a WAV file with something like "Virtual dub" then use that as the audio source...