Boris
2005-04-13 20:09:30 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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Hi there,
IÃÎ trying to use TMPGenc to create MPG files that are VCD ready so I can burn them and watch them on the big TV. The source files are also MPGs but don't have the right formatting (whether its screen size, bitrate, etc.).
Most of the time these MPGs are transcoded without incident but there are some that end up being transcoded with an error. In the final product of these erroneous files the video freezes but the sound keeps going, often for several minutes, and then the image will change to another still frame while the sound continues. This will go on until about the last few of minutes and then return to normal.
Today I looked more closely at a recently transcoded file and noticed that the intervals are suspiciously uniform. In a 31-minute clip the image first froze at 1 second before the 8 minute mark. The still image was then updated at 1 second before 16 minutes and again at 1 second before 20 minutes. At 1 second before 28 minutes the playback unfreezes and the last 3 minutes run out normally.
I have downloaded VirtualDub and the associated FreezeCheck program and have tested the source and end products and Vdub seems to think both are OK and found no freezes.
Any ideas on what IÃÎ doing wrong? The eerily uniform pattern (8-8-4-8) seems to indicate something but what? I have installed the latest version of TMPGenc on a different computer with the same result (testing the same files).
I used Vdub to convert one such original file to an AVI format and the end result is fine but I canÃÕ burn AVI direct to VCD.
UGH!
Any ideas what I should check next?
Thanks,
blurp
ashy
2005-04-14 01:05:13 ( ID:c9rwdyebxxw )
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I take it the source files are MPEG-1?
You could try increasing the priority of the 'MPEG-1 Decoder' in the VFAPI plugins to top of the list or try de-multiplexing the MPEG first.
If that doesn't work then I'm guessing your MPEGs are not fully compatible with TMPG. TMPG can be funny sometimes with files made with other software. Either that or they do contain errors. Virtualdub isn't too good at detecting errors in MPEGs.
If the above doesn't work then you could try frame serving the MPEG from Virtualdub to TMPG.
Boris
2005-04-14 15:42:14 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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Wow! That's quite a mouthful! I will try all of these things and see what happens. I'm a bit of a newb at the AV stuff but not on computers so I should be able to figure it out. Thefrustrating part is that you don't get to see if it worked for a couple of hours.
Do you think there's any relevance to the uniform distribution of freezes (on near-perfect 8 minute increments)?
Thanks,
Boris
Boris
2005-04-14 19:02:53 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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One other thing... if not TMPGenc then what do you recommend I try if this doesn't work?
In the interest of testing I took one of those un-transcode-able files and coverted to AVI with VDub and got a fully working file. Now I'm using TMPG to transcode from AVI to MPG to see if the problems were washed out in the process. I'll let you know.
Thanks,
Boris
Boris
2005-04-15 15:58:54 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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Ok I tried elevating the priority of MPEG-1 in the Environmental Settings and it made no difference. I had the same problem with another file but it also had the same telltale interval in the advancing of the frozen frame: intervals of 8 and 4 minutes EXACTLY.
What the heck? I've now had this happen on several machines with several different files with multiple versions of TMPGenc. For some reason I think the solution is related to the interval of freezing but I can't figure out what it is. Could it be some form of copy protection? Is there some kind of disruptive system call that happens on these regular intervals?
I managed to change one file to AVI and then recode and THAT worked but I tried it with another file and it ballooned in size from 200Mb to over 2Gb before it ran out of HD space.
Now I've used VDub to save the WAV portion of one of these trouble source files and have told TMPG to use the original MPG file and the new WAV to construct a new MPG file. We'll see if that works, I hope it is what was meant by "demultiplexing".
Any further advice or suggestions would be very welcome.
Thanks,
Boris
ashy
2005-04-15 22:48:05 ( ID:c9rwdyebxxw )
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The demultiplexer is in the MPEGtools section of TMPG. It will seperate the audio from the video and rewrite the headers in the MPEG.
If TMPG worked fine when you encoded the MPEG from the AVI that Virtualdub created then you may have a decoding problem.
You could try using the MPEG2 VFAPI plugin. Yes I know it says MPEG2, but it will decode MPEG1 also just fine.
This codec is highly compatible with TMPG and gives excellent results.
http://www.marumo.ne.jp/mpeg2/m2v_vfp-0.6.51.lzh
Failing all the above then your only other alternative is to use Virtualdub as a frame server to TMPG. Seeing as the AVI you encoded to MPEG turned out fine then the frame server should also work.
First of all play the MPEG in Virtualdub. If it plays OK then that is exactly how TMPG should encode it.
Boris
2005-04-21 14:31:20 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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Thanks, I'll give it a try!
wag
2005-04-25 20:45:01 ( ID:uiad8qrhwqw )
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ashy, I know that this is likely a stupid question but how does one go about installing the above mentioned MPEG2 VFAPI plugin as a plugin in TMPGenc?
ashy
2005-04-30 17:55:56 ( ID:dbjksrmcnog )
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Just put the plugin in the TMPG folder. When TMPG runs it is automatically loaded.
You can verify it is there by looking in the VFAPI plugins list.
Boris
2005-05-04 15:04:04 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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Well I've tried several of these things and now I want to try the earlier advice to use VDub as a frameserver to TMPGEnc. Trouble is I can't get TMPGEnc to pick up the stream. Any suggestions on how to do this? It's probably a syntax issue but I just don't know how to get it to pick up the start of the thread.
I'm using TMPGEnc v.2.524.63.181 and Virtual Dub v.1.5.10.
Thanks,
Boris
ashy
2005-05-04 22:43:03 ( ID:c9rwdyebxxw )
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What do you mean you can't get it to pick up the thread.
What problem are you having? What errors are you getting?
Boris
2005-05-06 22:18:54 ( ID:poqlcgzk2d. )
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It's ok Ashy, thanks for all your help. I've finally had success with the "de-multiplex then re encode" method and all is solved.
Thanks again for all your help in this matter, I really appreciate it.
Boris
ps. Just to resolve my previous post, I was able to start the frame server in VDub but I didn't know how to tell TMPGEnc where to find the file it needed to work on. The interface seemed to require me to specify a file location but there was no file yet. I tried specifying the network address and name of frame-served file but that didn't work. In other words I had the server but didn't know how to point the client at it. Again, I've got it working the other way so I don't need to use this method. I am, however, still somewhat curious as to the answer... how do you tell TMPGenc where the file being served by VDub is?
ashy
2005-05-07 12:39:49 ( ID:c9rwdyebxxw )
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You don't need to specify anything.
Virtual dub starts the frameserver for you. All you need to do is simply give the frame server signpost file a location.
After starting the frame server just click through everything until the final stage where it asks you for a name and location to put the frame server file.
Give it a name and an .AVI extension. Then simply load that file into TMPG as you would any normal AVI.
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