i have a project for PC viewing only, what would be the ideal specs to use? My format is MPEG1, what frame resolution do i use? it should be big enough that if the viewer changed the setting to full screen it wont affect the quality of the video i.e. blockiness/pixelation. Also, since it will be viewed in a PC monitor should it be square resolution i.e. 400x400 or 640x800? I've been using 29.97fps how low can i go to avoid choppiness? any more tips will help thanks?

If it is For only PC Viewing then Do Not encode it at all, leave it in the Format that it allready is in Cuz encodeing it to Mpeg will Just degrade the Quality..There are Very Few reasons to encode your Project to Mpeg, one is if you are Makeing a VCD/SVCD or DVD..Another Possible reason is if you are going to be streaming Low Bitrate and resolution Mpeg1 format across the Net but if you are going to do that there are Better formats than Mpeg for that Like ASF/WMV or Mpeg-4..But If you have to Compress your Project you would be better off useing something like a DivX/Mpeg-4 format, you would get the same or Better Quality and Smaller File size ...

Hey Minion, the thing is this video project will be distributed to other people as well, that's why i want to use a more acceptable format, like MPEG1, w/o them installing some more codec. Also, using uncompressed format i.e. AVI will not fit in the CD-Rom, thus i need to compressed it.

You mentioned using ASF/WMV format i never used that codec before, does TMPGenc support this.

>Also, since it will be viewed in a PC monitor should it be square resolution i.e. 400x400 or 640x800?

Don't you mean Square Pixel Aspect ratio. The resolution has nothing to do with whether it is displayed on a PC or not it is the pixel aspect ratio that counts.
400x400 or 640x800 would give you strange distorted image. 640x480 at a 1:1 pixel ratio will give you a correct 4:3 image on your monitor.

ASHY

thanks Ashy, for straightening this PAR thingy... it's just one of those info overload.

If you want the File to Be compatible with a wider range of Computers then WMV is the way to go,Cuz any Windows Media Player will play this file..WMV is Windows Media Video, and if it the Most compressed Format there is so in general you should be able to Compress the file to a Smaller Size while maintaining a better Quality standard..It is Probably the Most Popular streaming format out right now so any Windows Computer will be able to play it, Tmpgenc can not encode to this Format but you can download a Program from the Microsoft Web site called "Windows Media Encoder"..But I guess if your Project is less than say 40 minutes you should be able to get it on a CD-R in mpeg1 useing a Fairly high Resolution and Bitrate as to maintain fairly good Quality..

I'm suffering from the no audio / no sound bug, which so many other people seem to have problems with.

Outline of problem:
TMPGEnc will encode perfectly the video from a *.avi file..... but won't encode the audio, nor can TMPGEnc detect the audio. Even though the *.avi has been encoded with TMPGEnc before.

This bug is curious. As it can occur at anytime with no obvious explanation (Hardware/software changes etc) I used to be able to use TMPGEnc fine on this computer.... but strangely.. not now :(

Also......I used to have to select the *.avi twice (once for audio, once for video) during the wizard. Now however, I only select it once (for video) and TMPGEnc automatically includes it in the audio box too.

My computers specs:
Windows XP SP1
Directx 8.1

Athlon XP 1800+
Asus Deluxe Nforce2 mobo
SBLive!
512MB's Crucial DDR RAM
GF4 ti 4200
120GB 8MB WD HDD
Asus DVD-ROM

Solution.. anyone?
Now is the time for me to ask if anyone has found a solution to this problem without the use of extra software. After all, I know I can encode video and audio from the *.avi's I have... since I've done it before with TMPGEnc.

Any help/thoughts/suggestions welcome.

Thanks,

Firejack.

If you have encoded the AVI files before and it worked Fine then why are you encodeing it again???? The reason why the audio is Not Showing up is Probably because the audio in the AVI File is either AC3 audio of VBR MP3 audio which tmpgenc will In most cases Not encode..You have to extract the audio from the AVI file to WAV format and use the WAV file as the audio source..This is NOT and Bug Report Cuz it is Very well known that you have to Extract the audio from avi files that use these Audio formats...

I'm encoding it again because I lost the encoded file. I copied it onto a CD-R that didn't work :( Luckily I still have the source.

The *.avi is not using AC3 or VBR MP3 audio....... guess that does make this a bug report :P

Sorry I agree with Minion, this is NOT a bug and neither are 99% of the so called reported bugs in this BBS.
These problems are all usually related to system configuration problems.
So many people just go installing all sorts of different types of codecs and codec packs and software without even giving a thought to how this can affect your system.
Many of these problems are caused by rogue codecs, conflict problems and incompatible software such as Media player 9.
These sort of problems never happen on clean systems. I know cuz I hardly ever have any of these problems on my system and I have been using TMPG for years.

Find out what the audio is in your AVI then download the appropiate codec, clean install your system, install only the codecs you need and not one these crappy codec packs which cause nothing but problems then mantain your PC with good houskeeping and you will have less problems.

ASHY

Thanks for the reply.

For the record..... I am no computer newbie ;) I know what I'm doing and how to maintain a computer. I clean installed my computer yesterday in fact, so I could try out different combinations of hardware/software and codec installation. My main motivation for reformatting my computer was to get rid of Windows Media Player 9 that has caused me so many problems. I believe it may have affected TMPGEnc as the codecs installed with Windows Media Player 9 seemed to cause havoc with my MP3 ripper - Intervideo Winrip.

So guys and girls. Has anyone got any helpful tips on what may be causing this problem?

Thanks.

It would help if you give some idea of the format the audio is in.
If it's Mp3 what decoder are you using for this?
The best one I have found and rarely causes problems as far as decoding is concerned and this is agreed elsewhere is the Radium mp3 codec.

In any case it always seems best to extract the audio to a wav file anyway.

ASHY

Wahoo....... it seems to be working now. Not sure why exactly.... but hey :D

I think the problem may arise between some sort of conflict between TMPGEnc and one of my other programs that uses the MP3 codec - Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec - on my computer. I'll have to play around and see if I can reproduce the problem.


ASHY - FYI, The audio was in CBR MP3. Not that it matters now ;) . Sorry for taking so long to find out exactly what format the audio was in. I had to get a friend to check how he'd created the *.avi file.

Thanks for you input.

Later,

Firejack.

What the hell do they mean with "Analysing"????


Everytime i make a cross at "do not frame Conversion", it says "analysing" for like 6 hours, and the total time is 15 Hrs.

Can someone, PLEASE, tell me what i'm doing wrong?

//NeZ

the Reason why it says "Analizeing" is Because you have chosen to encode useing the "2-Pass VBR" encodeing Method which analizes the File in the First Pass then encodes in the second Pass, it has absolutly nothing to do with the "Do Not do Frame Rate Conversion" Setting...Useing that setting is Useless in most cases, unless you know exactly what it is For and Know exactly when to use it so unless you know what it is For then Do not Check the Box...

Hello. I Really Need Help!

Now, i'm pretty new at this, so, don't be to mean! :D

I have a pair of DVD Screeners, Coded in XviD, and i use the TMPGEnc tool, and i wanna convert to VCD/SVCD. Now, it works great converting, but when i watch it, it kind of lags, and i've chanced the bitrate and everything, and i wanna have it in PAL, and the best qualtity as possible, and i also want it to look, well, maybe impossible, but just as the real copy.

Now, how do i do?

Really apriciate, or how it now spells, every kind of advice.

observe: My Computer is an P3 800 MHz, 384 MB SDRam, GF 2 32 MB.

Maybe That's The Problem?

Thnx... //NeZ

first off converting from a standard VCD 1150 bitrate to a svcd WILL NOT IMPROVE quality at all the quality will stay the same as the original even though the file will be much bigger.

In my experience I was surprised most xvid and divx files have a bitrate of 900-1100 bitrate so making a mpg/vcd of them will give the same exact video with no quality loss.

You should only make an SVCD when you have the original DVD file which can be 300 bitrate or so and then you would want to make an SVCD of 2400 bitrate or so as to not lose any quality.

But if you have a screener etc. no matter how good the quality looks it is only a maximum of about 1300 bitrate for divx/xvid and in my opinion a vcd will look almost exactly like the original divx at least my previous encodes do.

as it has been said before "garbage in->garbage out" but pretty much it will never really benefit you or improve a video file if you raise the bitrate over what the first/original video file bitrate is when converting the file.


So you can see for yourself try encoding a small part like a minute or so of the divx file into a vcd and an SVCD so you can see if there is a difference in quality. Preferably a high motion scene.

Also post your questions as questions and not as a bug report

AVi Bitrates and Mpeg bitates have absolutly no corelation to each other, so saying an AVI/Divx file with a Bitrate of 1100kbs encoded to Mpeg at 1100kbs will have No Quality loss it Totally Wrong!!When encodeing Any file to Mpeg no matter what Bitrate you use will ALLWAYS have some Quality Loss, That is the Nature of Compression..Most compression Methods are Lossy so no matter what you do you will have a Loss of Video infomation..So if you have a Standard VCD and you want to make a SVCD out of it, the SVCD will allways have less Quality than the original VCD, so you are Better off keeping the VCD as it is...

Yes, don't post questions as bug reports! This is your error NOT the programs.

>Now, it works great converting, but when i watch it, it kind of lags, and i've chanced the bitrate and everything, and i wanna have it in PAL

What do you mean? Are you referring to a jerky motion when played back?

This is because you have tried to convert the original fram rate to a new one with TMPG. TMPG will not do this correctly and will give you jerky results.

It can be done but not with TMPG.

ASHY

I downloaded the new version 2.510.49.157.

I am trying to create a DVD format file from a MPEG. I specified the Video & Audio file.

After I click on Start, The program is closing itself after 10 min.

I even ran defrag before I started.

Any help is welcome.

Hi
Love TMPGenc, but recently been getting a quartz.dll error at different points while encoding .avi to mpeg. No idea where to start !
TIA
Jo

What sort of file are you trying to encode? Is it XVID?
What operating system are you using?

ASHY

Hi Ashy
I got it sorted, d/l and installed new quartz.dll file, turned off all power settings and background programs, and didn't touch machine while it encoded it worked perfectly. Only taken me a month with various problems but very happy with finished results!
Jo

I am confused as to which setting I should use under "source aspect ratio" and hoping someone can help. The help file didn't give me much help and searching the sources on the web gave no final answer either.

My source material is 4:3 DV Avi at 720 x 576 PAL. I want to create SVCD and DVD-files (Mpeg-2).
Using the wizard, TMPGEnc automatically selects "4:3 625 line (PAL 704 x 576)", but I'm wondering if "4:3 625 line (PAL)" is the correct setting for my material?

How much of a difference will setting "4:3 625 line (PAL 704 x 576)" or "4:3 625 line (PAL)" make on the Aspect Ratio on the final Mpeg?

/Mia

Tmpgenc will usually analize the Source file and set the "Source Aspect Ratio" for you so if it automaticle sets it to that then that is Probably what the source aspect ratio is, Just encode it and see if it looks the way you want...

My source files are 720 x 576. Not 704 x 576. I don't know what the AR difference is between these two resolutions. But it can't be too much.
I have encoded two files, one using "4:3 625 line (PAL 704 x 576)" and the other with "4:3 625 line (PAL)" and I could not see a difference with my bare eyes. I'd like to know for sure which one the author of TMPGEnc intended for use with 720 x 576 PAl files, though...

Generally speaking there is very Little Differance, and it is Mostly a Matter of Preferance, so if it looks good to you then go for it,..

Thanks.
But which one is correct for 4:3 PAL DV material at 720 x 576?
If there is a difference, there must also be one setting that is right and one that is not..

You should choose 4:3 625 line (PAL) for 4:3 720x576 sources not 4:3 625 line (PAL 704 x 576)

TMPG always seems to choose the wrong setting for this, but this causes a slight aspect ratio problem when encoding to VCD/SVCD because an 8 pixel padding region is added to either side of the video.

I don't really want to go into detail why, but for encoding 720x576 to SVCD/VCD 4:3 625 line (PAL)is the correct setting.

ASHY

Sorry I need to correct myself here. I got this sorted out a while ago and I've got myself a bit mixed up.

I've just done some tests and what I just told should be the other way around.

If TMPG chooses 4:3 625 line (PAL 704 x 576) for your 720x576 source then this is correct not 4:3 625 line (PAL).

It is 4:3 625 line (PAL) which causes a slight aspect ratio problem when encoding to SVCD/DVD because an 8 pixel padding region is added to either side of the video.

You can see this effect in mediaplayer 7/8.

Encode 2 small test mpegs, one using 4:3 625 line (PAL 704 x 576) and the other 4:3 625 line (PAL).
Play your source movie in media player 7/8 at full screen and mark with your finger the edge of the image.
Now play your test encodes.

You will notice the first setting should more or less create an image exactly the same width as your source, but the latter setting creates a slightly narrower image than the source. To be exact 8 pixels either side narrower.

Hope this hasn't confused you cuz I nearly got myself a little confused with it.

ASHY

I know the quality of the encoded mpg can never be as good as the avi, but i was wondering if there is a way other than increasing the bitrate, making the mpg as smooth as possible. I've tried messing about with the VFAPI settings, and that hasn't helped a great deal!

Could you please tell me possible methods of making my mpgs smooth. The mpg will be burnt to vcd, and must be playable on a PAL system.

Thanks

What do you mean by "Smooth"?? Does the File Play sort of Jumpy?? Make sure that your Source file is a Pal File cuz you can"t use Tmpgenc to encode a NTSC file to a Pal Mpeg file, doing so will cause your File to play Jumpy...

Don't throw all of Mpeg into the VCD bitrate catagory. The standard covers quality levels which far exceed any common AVI formats (high definition, etc).

It is a shame that even video professionals cling to the myth that DV is higher quality than Mpeg. This has hindered the development of a 4:2:2 consumer camera format which, at 15Mbs, would be better than 25Mbs DV.

I just encoded an avi file to mpeg. I even selected the option shut down after finised encoding. Reason, I previously encoded the same file and when I tried to play it I could not get it to start. It seemed to be stuck on the last frame at the end of the movie but recognizing it as the start point. I know the entire movie was encoded since the final output size is 695 MB, but it will not start. I was using version 2.58.44.152, I just downloaded the upgrade v2.510.49 hopefully this is the fix to this problem. Can anyone tell me what happened or who I can fix this problem?

Thank You

When i try to convert from avis acquired by my pinnacle DV500 i get a lot of error windows like:
(X) at address xxxxxxx, read error occurred against address xxxxx
^ big white X in red circle background :D
Then program crashes.

What can i do to avoid this? Do you think it will be useful to install canopus DV codec?
thank you!

i have been trying to get an mpeg to burn properly for weeks now, it plays fine on the pc but keeps pausing when i burn to disc and play on the dvd player.
VCDEASY tells me its a non-mpeg1 audio stream (48000hz should be 44100)
also not the correct PAL format.
so i demuxed and put the audio and video in the source windows and went to settings/video and resized the pixels, went to audio and changed it to 44100 then hit start and nearly 4 hours later played it on the pc and it looks great.....except the video seems to lock up 10 minutes before the end while the audio keeps playing....WHY !!!!!!!
I cant understand why i cant burn something to disc (SVCD) that plays perfectly on the PC
Help please

If you just want to play it on your PC then why Make a SVCD??? if you are just going to watch it on your PC then you would be better off keeping it in the Format that it is allready in...and Usually Problems with the Frames freezing in the Mpeg file are due to Problems in the Source file not tmpgenc, and you will probably say that "the File plays fine on my PC so there can"t be anything wrong with the AVI file" but that doesn"t really matter, Media Players are made to skip over errors in Files were the encoder analizes every single frame and all it takes is one Bad frame and it can lock up on that one frame...

o.k thanks for reply, i tried to check it with mpeg corrector but it left an mpeg that i could do nothing with (realplayer told me i had no memory, vcdeasy wouldn't load it)
what would you recommend i check/fix it with ?
i don't want to keep it on the pc

o.k thanks for reply, i tried to check it with mpeg corrector but it left an mpeg that i could do nothing with (realplayer told me i had no memory, vcdeasy wouldn't load it)
what would you recommend i check/fix it with ?
i don't want to keep it on the pc

Well then Just Burn the AVI to a Disk, and when you want to play it Just put it in your Disk drive and Play it..There is Nothing you can do to Fix the Mpeg file, You can try to Re-Encode the AVI to Mpeg if you want but there is No gaurantee that it will work this time either..

Can some please help me!!!!
I installed this encoder and get the fucken thing to work. This piece of shit computer I have might be the problem. I been working with it for 2 days now and still cant get this fucker to work! Any help would be fucken good cuz I lost hope. Sorry if I sound mad but im pissed off with all the fucken time I wasted trying to get this shit box working so I can fucken encode a file.

Some info on what the Problem is would be nice , that is if you want help...And I hope you don"t kiss your Mother with that mouth ,Foul language is NOT allowed here pissed off or not...