I was wondering how the "Open sequence files as a movie" works? Can you please tell me step-by-step? I have 2 files named respectively:

amgpart1.avi
amgpart2.avi

If I check off that option, which file do I select for "Browse"? And when it finishes converting that part 1, will it automatically go on to part 2 even though I haven't selected it??

I would number your files like this amgpart001.avi, amgpart002.avi and so on then just open the first part and TMPG will do the rest.

I don't know why but the end result is a bit weird. Since my computer does not support playing an M2V and AC3 files together, I have to test it on my DVD player. So after I burned it, at the point where it joins, the DVD stops working. It just stops playing. Should I try converting the video segments separately, then join them in MPEG Tools? :( Or maybe the video is corrupt? It doesn't seem likely because the entire film looks ok to me.

What do you mean your computer doesn't support playing AC3 and M2V files together?

All you need is the right codecs.
For Ac3 you will need AC3FILTER : http://ac3filter.sourceforge.net/
For M2V you need an MPEG2 codec : the LIGOS one will do :
http://download.divxmovies.com/mpeg2codec_installer.zip or simply use Videolan player which will play almost any format.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

P.S. if you have any more codec problems don't go installing any crazy codec packs, these things WILL trash your system just go to the link below.
http://dshow.narod.ru/codec.htm

I have the right codecs to play them separately. But since they're separate streams, how do I play them together? TMPGEnc does not support AC3 and Virtualdub won't take in M2V.

Also, about the DVD stopping at the point in the joined M2V file where the second segment starts. Is it because the lengths of the AC3 and M2V don't match? The length says 01:46:25 (HH:MM:SS) for audio and video in Virtualdub. When I open the M2V in an MPEG editing program (MPEG2VCR) it says it is 01:46:18. When I try to cut the M2V to make the length 01:45:35 in that program, the output becomes 01:44:41 or something like that. The output never matches. I don't understand what can be wrong here.

I also tried converting the 2 separate AVI segments in TMPGEnc Plus separately. After joining the 2 M2V files using MPEG Tools Merge & Cut, it gets the same effect where the length is 01:46:18.

Actually, I downloaded my AVI on another computer. On that computer, I have a bunch of codecs and the file plays well in VDub. But when I transferred it to my computer, I only have the Xvid codec installed as well as ffdshow, in VDub, it shows a lot of color glitches at the bottom. I know it's the codec problem because when I convert in TMPGEnc, the glitches aren't there. How do I remove the glitches so I can join it in Virtualdub and then frameserve to TMPGEnc? Another forum user said that they did that and it worked but I can't do that since the glitches will frameserve into TMPGEnc as well. :(

Don't use the XVID codec. Uninstall it and use FFVFW. Virtualdub needs a VFW codec. You can download FFVFW from the same place as FFDSHOW.
After install make sure you configure FFVFW to decode XVID AVI's.

As for opening M2V and AC3 in Virtualdub you need VirtualdubMod. However you will need to install the AC3ACM decompressor first to decode AC3.

http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/

After I uninstalled the XviD codec and then installed FFVFW, everything crashes. When I try to load my movie in WMP Classic, it closes. In Vdub, it says:

VideoSourceAVI error: An unknown error occurred (maybe corrupt data) (error code -100)

And then when I try to quit VDub, a crash message comes up saying VDub has crashed. Do I have to deselect XviD in FFDSHOW? Also, for Decoder in FFVFW, I checked only XVID. Under Generic, XVID is not checked.

Actually, I downloaded a newer version of FFVFW and the crashes have disappeared. The movie AVI plays fine in WMP Classic but in VDub, it acts weird. When I only use the scroller, the video shows up fine. But when I click Play, the colors turn neon and unusual.

Click the second play button in Virtualdub not the first.

Ok, I merged them and saved as an AVI using VIrtualdub. WHen I converted that merged AVI, the result is the same. In the DVD, it stops at the area where part 1 ends. Why is this?

What are you using to author the DVD?
Does the MPEG play OK on your PC?

I'm using DVD Author GUI. Since it has a subtitle stream, TMPGEnc DVD Authoring wouldn't work for me. On the PC, it plays fine. However, the video and AC3 streams are separate. I didn't bother merging them because DVD Author GUI accepts them separately, not MPG.

How do you install a plugin. I have installed codecs in my system including the divx codecs both encoding and decoding, but they don't show up on the selection for conversion to AVI?

They aren't listed individually they are listed as Directshow plugins.

Everytime I try to decode/encode a long video file my XP system reboots. It starts fine but within 10 minutes or so it reboots with no warning. I thought maybe someone else had the same problem with hopefully a solution.

I'm figuring it's either some bad codecs or something running in the background. I have it down to just my HP DVD Writer helpers, Mouse stuff, and Nvidia stuff. I'll try to kill those and see if it's any better.
1. I've done a virus scan and checked for trojans.
2. It seems to happen no matter which video software I use!
3. Everything else on my system works fine, and for as long as I want.
4. I can play the videos fine, for as long as I want.
5. My system only reboots when trying to decode/encode video.

Kinda strange.
Any help appreciated..............Sam

It sounds like a CPU/memory problem. I've had something very similar. A couple of programs to download and try:

memtest-86 will test your memory thoroughly. Long video processing uses quite a bit of memory.

prime95 will test your whole system thoroughly. Make sure you have closed everything else down before prime95 because if your PC has a problem encoding video it will almost certainly crash, freeze or reboot with prime95. A healthy PC should be able to run it, but there are numerous reasons why it won't such as inadequate PSU, not quite compatible memory, PC running a little too hot are examples. Some games, internet access, word processing etc will not cause a problem even though there is one lurking in the background.

Do you know what motherboard/CPU/memory combination you have?

Bob.

Well, in an attemp to fix the rebooting while converting videos, I burned what I think now is the wrong bios to my motherboard. Oops! It was toast. So I decided to upgrade to a new motherboard (MSI K7N2-L) and while I was at it I picked up a 450W power supply.

Now I can convert videos all day long with no problems. I think my former power supply (300W) just wasn't powerful enough. Either that or I had a quirky motherboard. In any case it all works now. It certainly wasn't the software.

Moral: You can fix anything if you throw enough time, effort, and money at it!

I've played with both TMPGenc and the DVD Source Creator software downloaded from the Pegasys site. I thought that DVD Source Creator was simply a dumbed down version of TMPGenc 2.5 but it seems to be a separaate program.
I have found that some avi files just won't open in TMPenc, but DVD Source Creator doesn't have a problem with the exact same files and works perfectly.
Does anyone know why this might be? I'd think they both have access to the same codecs, etc. since it is on the same machine. Anything suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

Dumb newbie!
If I'd searched the forum I would have found out about raising the priority of Direct Show files (Options -> VFAPI)
But I didn't...

Promise to save the forum to ask about less easily found answers.

Regards

I'm not blaming any product for what it does and my apologies for going on about it, but I'm determined to derive a sensible solution to this without spending any more money which means no more buying new products to cover deficiencies in the ones I have already bought.

I have two questions which would help me if anyone knows the answers:

1) Can TMPGenc be configured to mask empty frames rather than ignoring them?

2) If not, is there a freeware product that will do so.

I can't leave the empty frames in the MPEG and avoid encoding it for two reasons. Firstly, I need to change the bitrate to get the finished MPEG to fit on a DVD and secondly any VOB encoding software will remove any empty frames and cause loss of audio sync.

Thanks,

Bob.

I have a clip in a project that is fully recognized by TDA (from start to finish, video and audio). And I have created a bunch of chapters in it. The chapters are recgonized and I can click to the last chapter and last frame in the editing screen.

However, when I author the clip to DVD, the last chapter is #50 and the title ends. The help file says 99 chapters are possible.

What could be the problem? I have started from scratch twice, there is nothing wrong with the orignal clip, TDA "sees" it ok, it's just the authoring that goes bad.

Thanks,
Owen

Maybe the problem comes from your DVD player...
What are you using?

I'm using my stand alone player, which plays every other disc I've authored using TDA. I must have re-authored this project 5 0r 6 times already, and I'm convinced it's the clip itself and not TDA.

Anyone know a good format checker for VCD files? Illegal frames, bit rates, etc?

Thanks,
Owen

Hello, I've seen folks say they were able to use TMPGEnc to create DIVX movies from a stack of bitmaps. Can anyone point me to tips on how to do this?

Thanks.

Once the Divx encoder is installed, it will appear in the compressor list for any application that uses Directshow compression plugins in a "Save As" dialog.

TMPGEnc is meant to control its own mpeg encoder. It has a "Save As AVI" mode but other apps are better. A good one is VirtualDub. It can load numbered BMP sequences directly.

Search for: VirtualDubMod_1_5_4_1_All_inclusive.zip

(There might be a newer version. The "mod" version reads mpeg files and has a better "Save As" dialog.)

I am also using TDA to make back up copies of DVDs for my friends. So this is what I did:

1.Create New Project
2.Add DVD Video
3.Select DVD drive; VIDEO_TS
4.Double-click on first title
5.Uncheck reading chapters
6.Check copy to HDD
7.Ok

For some reason, near the end of the progress, it said "Stream write error" or something like that. Last time I did this, it worked and there were 3 outputted MPEG-2 files in my folder. What I'm trying to do is extract the videos from the DVD, and then load them back into TDA to burn to a DVD+R. Last time it worked, but this time, I'm getting all sorts of errors.

Hello, I was wondering if there was any way to create your own menus in TDA? Or at least provide your own backgrounds?

Have you looked at the product at all? There's a lot of editing you can do with the menus. From the "Create Menu" screen, you click on "Edit Menu Theme" or the "Edit" button to specify background images, change buttons, etc.

No, I meant to make my own backgrounds in Photoshop and use it in TDA. I don't really like their default backgrounds.

I always produce my own Backgrounds. Where's the Problem? Just klick on the Background, a PopUp will show up where you can choose your own Pic.

Cool, I never knew you could right-click it! Thanks!

What does the error:
"invalid pointer error" mean?

When do you get this error? Could you provide more info like can you open your avi file. Or do you get this when you just open the program?

Video Guy

i get that message sometimes when splitting files using the source range

I really like this product, but it would be nice to have an UNDO button on the editing screen as well as a SAVE button so you could save it after a lot of edits in case something goes wrong.

A couple of times, I have somehow made an incorrect CUT and an UNDO button would have saved me a lot of work. A SAVE function would be very useful after you have made a lot of edits and you could save it without getting out of the EDIT function.

Mike Halvorsen

The UNDO is in the EDIT MENU under the EDIT CLIP screen.

I just purchased DVD Author and am having a problem importing a DVD I have copied to my harddisk using DVD XCOPY. It plays with no problem in my software DVD player (PowerDVD).

On the ''Source Setup'' screen, I click on ''Add DVD Video'' and point to the VIDEO_TS folder where the files are located. In the ''Select Title'' screen, it shows the title I want to import correctly. In this case, Title 4 which is 5hr20min13sec and 6477mb.

When I click NEXT, on the ''Options settings'' screen, I click ''Copy the clip video data to the HDD'' and point to a folder, however, there is a message in red below the ''destination folder'' box that says ''3453 mb of video data has been copied to this folder'', not 6477mb as shown in the previous screen. The endpoint in the imported clip is not the end of the movie, because it apparently didn't copy all the data.

Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug? Can it be fixed? I purchased this product because I liked the simple interface and it did exactly what I wanted, however, it is not much use to me if it doesn't copy the entire movie.

Thanks,

Mike Halvorsen

Hi! If you want to rip DVD movie, try to use DVD shrink. It's an excellent program to that purpose. Than you can author it using any program you like the most. Also you must specify a drive that can support a large amount of data. On the other hand, you HD has to have enough free space to handle it. The best way is to have one drive for all systems and one for only DVD transfer (ripping), I mean, 2 HDs.