HI tkrave and anyone else who can help,

I have been sucessful is converting MKV with .h264 video USING the x264 Encoder by selecting MPEG-4 AVC format profile and then selecting MPEG Output.

But when I goto TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4, it always shows as full rendering instead of smart rendering.

1. How do you get TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 to convert MKV with .h264 video stream to compliant DVD MPEG USING the x264 Encoder (not the stadard TMPEG encoder) so that TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 can have Smart rendering enabled instead of full rendering? The output is MPEG-2 Program file but always shows full rendering.

I would just like to use the x264 encoder instead of the standard encoder to encode to compliant DVD output for TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 (smart rendering). Is this possible or is x264 encoder only reserved for Blu-ray and not DVD?

2. Is the x264 encoder that much better than the standard encoder as far as image quality?

Thank you for your help, mike23

x264 is only for MPEG-4 AVC video output and that is not DVD compliant.

All you're doing is putting it in a MPEG-2 Program container, but the actual video is still MPEG-4 AVC which is why TAW4 is not smart rendering the video.

To make it DVD compliant, you have to change the stream format to MPEG-2, thereby not using the x264 encoding engine.

x264 should be able to make a Blu-ray compliant MPEG-4 AVC stream, but note that TAW4 can't output MPEG-4 Blu-rays, so even if you do have a compliant H.264 stream, it will re-encode it to MPEG-2.

From 200+ MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4 karaoke video files I want to author karaoke DVD's containing approximately 30 songs each.

1. Will all of these file formats work with TAW4 or is conversion necessary?

2. Please describe with some detail how I can create a menu in TAW4 that will contain a listing of all 30 songs on one page.

Thank you.

TAW4 will be able to import your files. TAW4 will convert video that isn't DVD-Video compliant, so your MPEG-4 files will be converted to MPEG-2. If the resolution, framerate, or anything else is not DVD compliant, it will also be converted by TAW4.

In the Menu Wizard, there is an option to create a custom menu and set how many tracks are listed on a page. You can have up to 32 tracks per page displayed as thumbnails or text links. Just select the option for 30 thumbnails.

Thank you for your response tkrave. After making several unsuccessful attempts to author DVD's using TAW4, I realized that I had several questions and needed serious help. Therefore, I posted the following Support Request to Tmpgenc:

I recently purchased TAW4 and I am inexperienced in using this type of software. After consulting “Help” and the “Tutorials” numerous times without success, I am turning to you for support with this product.

I have approximately 400 MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4 karaoke video files (songs) and I would like to author DVD’s containing between 25 and 50 songs per 4.7 GB NTSC DVD.

1. Do I need to create a clip proxy editing files? I don’t believe that any editing is necessary -- just menu creation.

2. Should I create a separate track for each song (50 tracks?), or if not, how many tracks and chapters/track should I create for a DVD with 50 songs?

3. Is MPEG4 compatible with TAW4 or is conversion necessary?

4. If I put 50 songs on a DVD, I need your help in explaining how to compress the files, if necessary, in order that they fit on the DVD.

5. I would like to fit the menu on one page or as few pages as possible. For a DVD with 50 songs, a paper hard copy will associate a number with each of the 50 song titles. The menu selection will contain the numbers 1 through 50 -- To choose a particular song title, select the number associated with the song title.

6. I get the message “Track 1 does not contain an audio stream that conforms to the DVD-Video standard requirements.” Since the DVD will be played on a variety of Karaoke DVD Players, I want to maximize the compatibility of the DVD. The Help instructions state the following: “When authoring a NTSC DVD-Video, each track should contain at least one Dolby Digital or Linear PCM audio stream.” The Stream Format of Track 1 is “MPEG-1 audio layer II” and it is greyed out (cannot change). How do I change it to Dolby Digital or Linear PCM, if necessary?

I will really appreciate your help in providing step-by-step instructions to author a 4.7 GB NTSC DVD based on the above listed criteria.

>Thank you for your response tkrave. After making several unsuccessful attempts to author DVD's using TAW4, I realized that I had several questions and needed serious help. Therefore, I posted the following Support Request to Tmpgenc:
>
>I recently purchased TAW4 and I am inexperienced in using this type of software. After consulting “Help” and the “Tutorials” numerous times without success, I am turning to you for support with this product.
>
>I have approximately 400 MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4 karaoke video files (songs) and I would like to author DVD’s containing between 25 and 50 songs per 4.7 GB NTSC DVD.
>
>1. Do I need to create a clip proxy editing files? I don’t believe that any editing is necessary -- just menu creation.

No, proxy files are more for HD video, but even then it's not necessary to create them, especially if you have a fast computer.

>
>2. Should I create a separate track for each song (50 tracks?), or if not, how many tracks and chapters/track should I create for a DVD with 50 songs?

Yes. Put each song in its own track. If they are in the same track, they will play one after the other as if they were one long movie.
How many tracks you should have is up to you, but there is a limit of 99 tracks per DVD. You'd also want to consider the quality of the video. The more tracks you have, the more you might need to compress the video to make them all fit on one disc. You can see how much room you have on the disc by looking at the remaining space display at the bottom of the window. Once you go over, you'll have to reduce the quality to get it all to fit. This can be done easily with the transcoding settings in the Output stage. More on that below.

>
>3. Is MPEG4 compatible with TAW4 or is conversion necessary?

MPEG4 can be imported by TAW4, but MPEG-4 is not a DVD compliant file type, so TAW4 will re-encode it as MPEG-2 when you output your DVD. So yes, conversion is necessary, but TAW4 will take care of that for you.

>
>4. If I put 50 songs on a DVD, I need your help in explaining how to compress the files, if necessary, in order that they fit on the DVD.

There are two ways to do this.
The easiest way is to use the Transcoding settings in the Output Stage. Simply select the size of your target media (4.7 DVD in your case) and TAW4 will adjust the quality of your videos so it will all fit on the disc.

The other, and more time-consuming method is to lower the bitrate for each track via the track settings. If you have 50 tracks, that will take a while.

>
>5. I would like to fit the menu on one page or as few pages as possible. For a DVD with 50 songs, a paper hard copy will associate a number with each of the 50 song titles. The menu selection will contain the numbers 1 through 50 -- To choose a particular song title, select the number associated with the song title.

I made a mistake telling you that 32 tracks can be displayed per page; that's only true for Blu-ray menus. For DVD menus, up to 15 tracks can be displayed per page, so you'll have to have multiple pages if you have 50 tracks. The track names are editable so you can number them.

>
>6. I get the message “Track 1 does not contain an audio stream that conforms to the DVD-Video standard requirements.” Since the DVD will be played on a variety of Karaoke DVD Players, I want to maximize the compatibility of the DVD. The Help instructions state the following: “When authoring a NTSC DVD-Video, each track should contain at least one Dolby Digital or Linear PCM audio stream.” The Stream Format of Track 1 is “MPEG-1 audio layer II” and it is greyed out (cannot change). How do I change it to Dolby Digital or Linear PCM, if necessary?

In the Source Stage, click on the "Settings" button for the track. A tracks settings window will open.
Click on the "Audio" tab to see the audio output settings.
Here, you can change the output audio to Dolby Digital. I don't suggest using Linear PCM since that will require more disc space.

Fantastic response -- Thanks

tkrave -- thanks for your previous detailed help, everything is fine now except that I am still having a problem with menus, and I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

To keep it simple, let's say that I am authoring a DVD with 14 videos, which are MPEG Karaoke songs (files). When I insert the completed DVD into the DVD Player, the first thing I want to see is a menu with 14 song selections on ONE page. I can't seem to make this happen. Instead, I get a menu page with ONE song.

Can you please walk me through the menu creation process one more time, so that the first thing I see when I load the DVD into the DVD Player is a menu listing the 14 songs that I can select from on one page. If I happen to author a DVD with more songs than will fit on the first page displayed, then I want to be able to click an arrow that will take me to the next page, which will provide me with more song selections.

While I am waiting for your response, I will keep trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. Thanks

tkrave -- I got it working! The solution for me was to put all of the files in one clip. Thanks.

I should have said that the solution for me was to put all of the clips in one track.

Does the next song play when the selected song is finished in your current setup (all in one track)?

I was going to suggest keeping them in separate tracks; that way it can go back to the top menu once a song is finished.
Then, for the menu, I would choose the "Top menu only" option and select a layout for the top menu that has 14 thumbnails.

Basically my requirement is multi mode which i've found in this software.
Currently using trial version and it fulfill all my requirements except in multi mode there is no next/previous fame button on the right/left video. By placing this button help me to sync the video easily. It is difficult to sync video using seek bar. I hope in future developers include this feature in upcoming versions.

NOTE: Kinovea is a nice freeware software which support multi mode. The Drawback is it's performance. Anyhow it is an excellent software.


thanks...

I am receiving an error message when trying to install the latest version of Video Mastering Works (version 5.1.1.52). I receive the following error message:

Windows cannot find
'C:\Users\(user name)\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp00000000\check.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Note: I uninstalled Video Mastering Works and was able to install an older version?

Try re-downloading the file; might've been a bad download.

HI,
I am unable to install under Windows Server 2003.

It gives error cannot install in Windows Server 2003 after I click on setup program.

Please HELP!!! and thank you, James

Windows Server 2003 is not a supported OS.
Supported OS: Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP SP3.

5.1.1.52 update is a problem here as well.when I started the program a pop up appeared with the following--the executable is different from the original.I couldn't go back to an older version,its probably the update itself,I'll get back to you all when I get answers.

I resolved the issue by downloading
Update for Root Certificates [October 2011] (KB931125)

LS,

We've got multiple licenses here at our university but we can't use them with multiple accounts. The machines that have VMW5 installed authenticate against our AD and we'd like every domain user to be able to work with the software. We are using Windows 7 and we've tried a lot of options like copying the key to the default profile, login scripts to copy the license file etc. It just doesn't work. Anyone in a similar situation that might has a solution?

Thanks in advance,

Jeremy

Can I bump this request? We still have this problem.

Thank you for the DNxHD fix!

Hi George !
(we met already on the Liquid & MC forums...)

I'm not sure what this fix exactly does ...I had the following problem:

"TVMW5 is compressing the luma range when converting DNxHD to MPEG2 (SD > PAL),i.e. when the input video Y range is within the broadcast limits (RGB > 16-235) in the MOV(DNxHD) file, the MPEG-2 (PAL) output generated by TVMW5 is constrained between approx. IRE 10 and 90 (RGB 24-220).
It looks like TVMW5 is assuming that the input video uses the full RGB gamut (0-255), and hence, converts to ''legal'' video (RGB 16-235)."

Do you believe this is the problem addressed by this fix, or is it another issue, like a gamma problem ?

Hmmm, after a quick test, unless I did something wrong, my problem (described above) is NOT addressed by 5.1.1.52...
I currently have 2 issues about luma expansion/clipping with TVMW5 and mov(DNxHD), one at import and one at export, both of which require me to use other products to do my job :-(

Actually, things are WORSE than what I originally though:

For me, the "DnxHD fix" in 5.1.1.52 introduced a regression bug !

In both 5.1.1.52 and 5.0.5.32, MOV(DNxHD120) clips converted to mpeg-2 (or any other format apparently) exhibit reduced luma range.
In 5.0.5.32, applying a color correction filter with Luminance = +2 and Contrast = +42 would exactly compensate for this problem.
But in 5.1.1.52, this is no longer the case; it appears that 5.1.1.52 DNxHD conversion introduces some luma compression (different than with 5.0.5.32 !) but also some chroma distortion (apparently enhanced saturation for SOME colors, apparently in the green-magenta axis).

(George, are you seeing this as well ?)

Hi

after starting the program the error:


"Application error: EAccessViolation occurred TMPGEncVMW5.exe-module / 689E99E9. 689EA9E9 At address, Loading error occurred against 689EA9E9 address."

And then:

"FastMM has detected a GetMem FastMM call you after you uninstalled FastMM"

In the task manager process occurs TMPGEncVMW5.exe and its CPU load is almost 100%. Let me add that I have uninstalled and then re-installed the program but it did not help.

Please help.

Hello

what your processor model and RAM ?

I am also seeing the error "FastMM has detected a GetMem call after FastMM was uninstalled." After upgrading to Windows 7 64bit, I was running find with version 4 of DVD Author. Then, about a week or so ago, I tried to launch the program and got this FastMM error. When I went to the web page, I found that version 4 was no longer supported, so I upgraded to version 5. I have tried an upgrade installation and a full uninstall / registry clean / full installation of the program and still get this error. Any idea what is going on?

I forgot to specify my system configuration.. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Intel Core I7-920 CPU. 6 GB RAM. 3 TB disk. AMD 6970 video card.

The quality of a divx is not as good as the older version of express or authoring works. I am using the same settings but when I play the movie it is blocky. i am using 2500, insane quality and still not a clean conversion. What am I doing wrong?

What are the settings you used before and what are the settings you are using now? Are you using the same source file for both conversions?

SAME OPTIONS BUT WIT HVIDEO 5, I WACH THE VIDEO AND ITS NOT SMOOTH. ALMOST LIKE IF THERE ARE SHUTTERS WHILE I AM WATCHING VIDEO

I was wondering what the max size of a divx file. SOme of my movies are being broken down into two files if they are bigger than 2.0g

I believe it was an old AVI restriction (which is what DivX is based on). Newer versions of the DivX codec can have larger files I think. Try downloading the latest DivX codec and use the AVI output format and select the DivX codec (i.e. don't use 4.0 XPress' preinstalled DivX output format). That should work.

Hello,
I want to ask a question.
I want to make as an AVI video ,but there are so many encode options.
What do i choose for video(cinepack,intel 5....) and audio (56kb 22000hz....)settings?
Also is this sharp filter really works?If my video is blur will it make it clear?

Thanks

It's really up to you which one you choose. What is the intended use of the video? That can help inform what codec you should use. If you're not sure, you may just want to use the DivX codec.
Does it have to be AVI? MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 output might be another format to take a look at.

Settings are also up to you and should really depend on the intended use of the video and the quality/format of the source file.
What are you going to use the video for (portable device, viewing on computer, etc.)? Is file size an issue (does it need to be small, or does it not matter)?
What is the source file's characteristics? Use a program like MediaInfo or GSpot to check the file.
Are you changing anything about the video? Resizing it? Changing framerate? Etc.

I am just curious if any of the tmpgenc programs can utilize all of the services provided by a Quad Core processor or if it can only work in the dual core or lower environment.

The more recent products are optimized for multi-core processors; not sure about TMPGEnc 2.5 though.
However, I think the level of optimization depends on the encoding engine being used. For instance, in Video Mastering Works 5, if I use the x264 encoding engine, it will use all 8 cores on my i7 processor. However, I've heard from other people that VMW5 doesn't use all cores for other output formats/encoding engines. I'll try and test other encodes later when I have some time (QuickTime, WMV, etc.).

You can also toggle MMX, MMX-2, SSE, SSE-2, SSE-3, SSSE3, SSE4, 3D Now! and Enhanced 3D Now!.

When running TMPEng video mastering 5 is it normal to be using 100% cpu.
I'm running windows ultimate 7
2gb ram
core2quad
any reason for 100%cpu which overheats the computer, I get the overheating buzzing noise.I installed a program called speed fan which stops computer shutting down.
This is the only program I have this trouble with.
Please help.

Most people complain when it doesn't use 100% of the CPU (they want it to use 100%). Encoding is CPU intensive and the more of the CPU it uses, the faster the output will be.

Anyway, try lowering the CPU priority and run it in the background.

Speedfan is a program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips. Do you know the temp of CPU ? It's perhaps a cooling problem...If the CPu Temp temp for a COre 2 Quad is over 70°C you have a problem if they are at 89°C the system shut down...I had the problem with my "old" Core2Quad 9450 when the CPU fan had a paw broke...

Thanks for your responses.I will lower priority and I will check the fan out.

you seem to have a cooling issue with your CPU, I have a AMD phenom X6 and when ALL 6 cores are running at 100%, my CPU temps only reach about 48c with the stock cooler. You should REALLY look into fixing this problem as multiple overheats will reduce the life of your CPU. Check your BIOS setting to make sure the the voltages are set correctly for your CPU. You can also try to "undervolt" the CPU, will really reduce the temp, if those things don't work, it's time to get a better CPU cooler