1. MyDVD-4, when it comes time to burn, gives an error message that the data rate is too fast for DVD. I adjusted the bit rate down to 5000 and I still got this error message. Any suggestions?

2. Also, do you agree that TMPG Enc. is the best software encoder? If I were to encode the video and audio together in TMPG, would that be a tragedy? I am doing home movies only.

Thank you.

To avoid any quality tragedies, encode at a high bitrate for making archival files and then re-encode down to DVD bitrates. At 12+ Mbs, TMPG is pretty much lossless, even with Hi8 source. Data storage quality DVD-Rs are cheap.

DVD-Video can support over 9 Mbs video + audio. But there is no need to push things that much. For a program to reject the file when loading, the nominal bitrate setting of the file may be to high. Use bitrate.exe (google search) to see what the setting is and whether the file peaks too high.

Make sure the max setting for VBR is below 9. This gets recorded as the nominal bitrate in the file (I believe)

You are Probably getting that error about the Bitrate being to high even when you set it at 5000kbs because Tmpgenc has terrorable Bitrate controll so even though the bitrate is set at 5000kbs the actual bitrate can spike Much higher than that at at times and there isn"t much you can do to get tmpgenc to obey the Bitrate setting you choose, even with CBR encodeing Tmpgenc will spike Much higher that you set it..And Is Tmpgenc the best Mpeg encoder?? Well that is a Matter of opinion but I think for the Price and for all the Options it has that it is the best Value, but for Plain Mpeg2 encodeing Quality I still Think CCE SP is a Superior Mpeg2 encoder,But Tmpgenc is definately the Better of the two with Mpeg1 encodeing Quality.....

Thanks for your responses. Btw, I went ahead (against many's advice)and encodee video and audio, elementary stream - - thus producing an m2v and mp2 file. I am doing home movies, so I don't need studio quality (unless there's another issue I'm not realizing).

I burned a 15 second stream on my DVD-RW disc and it seemed to work OK. I then proceeded to test a longer stream. I re-encoded the same file, deleted the previous video and audio file from the MyDVD desktop, overwrote the previous files on my hard drive (did name them the same), and erased my DVD-RW disc in order to burn a new stream. The wierd thing is that my DVD kept on playing the same 15 second stream over and over - - even know the longer stream I encoded and wanted to test, and thought I had burned, was around 7 minutes!

Does anyone know why this same 15 second stream keeps on playing?!

Thanks.

Minion:

I believe the fact that I saved the new, longer files under the same name might have triggered a temp file. And, that is why it keeps burning the same 15 second clip.

Anyway, with CCE software, is the basic version better than TMPG Enc. as well?

Thanks, Mike.

Can you explain the rate control and quantisation algorithm used in your software?

we learnt logrithms at school 20 year ago but forgot them now

teacher said theyd come in handy ....bugger

Hi !
I have been converting from DV-AVI (created using Windows Movie Maker2) to DVD - quality MPEG2, using the options suggested in "Configuring TMPGEnc for high-quality, DVD-compliant MPEG-2 © Rui del-Negro 2003" article found at http://dvd-hq.info
After some 5 hours of work, I found out that the created file doesn't play in my "Mediamatic DVD Express" (I use this to play DVDs). Also, Windows Media Player 7 is not able to oen the file. However, it opens and plays in DVD2AVI (I do the preview).

What could be the issue in this case ?
Thanks,
Gin

P.S. I used the latest version of TMPGEnc

It would help if post the stats of your MPEG.

ASHY

I don't get it....
I can't seem to make this work for some reason....here's the problem,
I can encode the file, I can then transfer the file on to a CD (making it a VCD)using NERO burning rom.....AND.....it works Perfectly....BUT !!!

when I play it back on the DVD player....I get some type of weird movements after a character moves (I'm trying to make anime VCD's). I think you call em ghosts or something like that. I used the option of "ghost reduction" in the "settings" menu....but that didn't really make a difference.

Then after that, I put the "motion search precision" to HIGHEST, in the settings --- > Video tab. That made some difference...a good considerable one, however, they still appear. You can still notice them. Is there any way I can get rid of them....

~~ PLZ HELP !!!!!!

P.S. - I also set the "Directshow Multimedia File Reader" to level 2

Sounds like you have set the field order wrong. You can run this file through a program called pulldown.exe and it's GUI to change the field order or just encode again using the opposite field order.

ASHY

I don't get it....
I can't seem to make this work for some reason....here's the problem,
I can encode the file, I can then transfer the file on to a CD (making it a VCD)using NERO burning rom.....AND.....it works Perfectly....BUT !!!

when I play it back on the DVD player....I get some type of weird movements after a character moves (I'm trying to make anime VCD's). I think you call em ghosts or something like that. I used the option of "ghost reduction" in the "settings" menu....but that didn't really make a difference.

Then after that, I put the "motion search precision" to HIGHEST, in the settings --- > Video tab. That made some difference...a good considerable one, however, they still appear. You can still notice them. Is there any way I can get rid of them....

~~ PLZ HELP !!!!!!

P.S. - I also set the "Directshow Multimedia File Reader" to level 2

You Might be seeing Interlace Artifacts..Does it mostly happen around the edges of poeple and objects especially when they are movieing or the camera is Panning???If so you might want to check that your Field order is set correctly in Tmpgenc and if it persists you might consider useing one of the De-Interlace filters to see if that clears it up..I know with My DVD Player and TV I have to use a De-Interlace filter every time I make NTSC format SVCD because I get really bad interlace artifacts....

There isn't really any option suggesting a De-interlaced filter.
All I can pic is either interlaced or non-interlaced filter in "Video Source Type"

AND YES !!!! --- The problem is EXACTLY how you described it

PLZ Help Me Out ...THNXZ

Well you Didn"t look Very Hard, there are 16 different De-Interlace Filters to choose from in Tmpgenc..Click "Setting" then go to "Advanced" and in that list there will be a "De-Interlace Filter" Put a Check Mark in the Box next to it then Double Click the Filter and a Window will pop up with your Movie displayed in it and a Drop Down menu with a Bunch of different Filters, Use The Slider to Navigate to were the effect is Really Bad then Try some of the Filters in the Dropdown List, Usually either "Even Field" or "Odd Field" will work best...There are Many Filters in the "Advanced settings" that you can try but they do slow down the encodeing depending on the Filter used and the amount of filter used...

i managed to convert 2 x avi files yesterday, OK

now when i try a new avi file i get the message "file.....avi, cannot open or unsupported'

now i get the same message if i try and convert the avi files that worked yesterday!

i've tried reinstalling, any ideas?

chris

Go to "Options" to "Enviromental settings" to "Vfapi Plugins" and Raise the "Direct show Multi-Media File reader" to "2"...Now the file should load...

failing that try installing ur codecs again

i realised that i had uninstalled my DivX viewer - this must have removed the codecs, as i re-installed DivX and now it works again!

thanks people - just curious, how would just reinstall codecs into tmpgenc without reinstalling DivX?

I just tried the new version of Cinemacraft Basic, which sells for $58.

The encoding function is very fast and it might do a better job at low bitrates, but managing your work is FAR less efficient.

There are no status bars or reports after encoding (I had to time jobs with a stopwatch!). There is no computer shutdown feature. I don't think there is even a pause and continue. A preview window to catch mistakes (filter errors, wrong file, etc.) during encoding was not evident. Lining up filter frameservering for multiple job runs is extremely cumbersome.

Maybe theses features are all buried, but that would indicate a poor design.

TMPG is only slower on the step that runs overnight, while I am sleeping. The CCE user interface would increase my actual work time and then burn more power by not shutting down the system after running its batch job. The best news: TMPG saved me the $58 I was itching to spend after seeing the CCE Basic announcement.

P.S. CCE Basic does not do 4:2:2P@ML format.

I haven"t tried the New "Basic" Version yet But from what I have read it is Just a Knock off of the CCE 2.64 Lite version which came out over a year ago and retailed for about $250 accept that it has a GUI and a Few new features but still useing the same Encodeing engine as the Lite version and it wasn"t a very good Encoder and it seems that CinemaCraft doesn"t have much faith in it either cuz they are only chargeing $58 for it when there next product up the line is $2000, but I"ll probably give it a Try at some point..The New version of CCE SP that just came out(CCE SP 2.67)Has a Slightly Differant encodeing engine with a Bunch of new encodeing Options Like Multi-Pass CBR and One Pass CBR, and Now it has a Setting were it just encodes the First pass and makes a VAF File then stops so you can make changes in the Bitrate and the Q Matrix, you can even change the Bitrate from Frame to Frame if So Inclined, but it can come in Handy when encodeing Low bitrate movies cuz in action parts of the Movie you can set it so the bitrate is raised for just the Parts you want like Action and Movement Parts so this way you can avoid the BlockyNess that happens with Really low bitrate movies when there is any Action..and CCE Now Judges the Field Order for you and they have taken the Field order setting away, the New encoder engine seems about 5-10% faster than before and has slightly improved Quality, and with this little program called ECL-CCE you can now Save ECL Files in the new Demo versions of CCE, It is still My Favorite Mpeg2 encoder even though it is not very versitile like Tmpgenc but it sure has it"s advantages.....

I am working on archiving large numbers of small clips so monitoring and versatility features are key. Now that DVD-Rs are $1, I just use 15Mbs for all archiving and have a very streamlined process.

Maybe the $58 competition will help focus some effort on speed improvements to TMGPEnc.

Well the Main reason why Tmpgenc is so slow is Because of the Code that it is written in, It is written in Delfi code, They could get Much better speed by useing the Newer and Faster MMX and SSE Routines that are supported in C++, But that would mean rewriteing the whole Program and haveing to speend a Lot of time working out all the Bugs of a New program, i guess they will eventually have to rewrite the whole program if the Competition gets to hot But i guess they are sticking with what works for now, There are supposed to be a Lot of improvements in the Up Comeing Tmpgenc version 3.0, But who knows when that is going to be out, probably within a Year, They are supposedly working with Dolby Labrotories to Put a AC3 audio encoder in Tmpgenc some time in the Future, and a real Frame Rate/ NTSC/Pal converter and Multi-Pass encodeing and Beter Editing..But So Far it just seems to be Talk...The Future will tell...

And also hopefully TMPG will accept do direct YUV decoding which will speed up the encoding even further, but never the less until TMPG can match the quality of CCE I will stick to the unmatched quality of CCE for MPEG2.

ASHY

>And also hopefully TMPG will accept do direct YUV decoding which will speed up the encoding even further, but never the less until TMPG can match the quality of CCE I will stick to the unmatched quality of CCE for MPEG2.

And also hopefully TMPG will accept and do direct YUV decoding which will speed up the encoding even further, but never the less until TMPG can match the quality of CCE I will stick to the unmatched quality of CCE for MPEG2.

ASHY

Can somebody please help me with the meaning of the following phrase - "Index of scan is out of range" By the way, I'm trying to convert an Avi file to SVCD and after 56% of completion it just stops...

Thank you very much

have u tried raising the direct show,go on tmpg enc without the wizard.go on the options and raise the direct show.but u do not use the wizard becouse that uses the default settings works

This error is caused By a Corrupted frame usually from Downloaded Movies, there isn"t much you can do about it Accept Find out at which frame the error happens then use the "Source Range" setting to set up Tmpgenc to start encodeing again a few frames after were the error happens, then after encodeing the last part just join the 2 parts together with the Merge & cut or with an Mpeg editing program like Mpeg2VCR, if done correctly you will hardly be able to see the Part were the 2 parts are joined....

what do I do when I author, or burn, the DVD? For instance, with MySonic, do I placed both files in the project before I burn?

When Authoring a DVD useing Wav as the audio format you are required to Add the Audio and video into the Authoring program seperately, But make sure your Authoring Program supports Wav as an audio format cuz some of the Older and/or cheaper authoring programs only support Mpeg files with Mpeg audio..I"m sure if you looked through the help files for whatever dvd authoring Program you are useing there will be info on how to load seperate audio and video files into it....

Minion: you really seem knowledgeable about all this, so I hope you're OK with me posing a couple of additional questions to you:

1. MyDVD-4, when it comes time to burn, gives an error message that the data rate is too fast for DVD. I adjusted the bit rate down to 5000 and I still got this error message. Any suggestions?

2. Also, do you agree that TMPG Enc. is the best software encoder? If I were to encode the video and audio together in TMPG, would that be a tragedy? I am doing home movies only.

Any idea's?

I ripped xxx using "DVD Decrypter" and have 4 .vob files and the ifo file in my "video_ts directory as well as a text document. Power DVD plays all these vob's OK & I can see all the Film on the PC. I used the Mpegtools in Tmpge and succesfully split & converted to Mpeg the first vob file, but when I do the same steps for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th vob file it gives me an "illegal Mpeg file" error message.

I got the DVD2AVI software and tried to convert 4 .vob's into a single file. This gave me .d2v file and .ac3 files, I then couldn't get TMPGE to open these files. How do you use TMPGE to re-encode these files? I tried simple multiplex but it couldn't read the .d2v file - it kept saying the file wasn't a vaild mpeg format? I tried to open the project as well but still the same reply

Any idea's what I am doing wrong?


Please help!!!

Thanks

What are you doing wrong??!!
Absolutely everything! You need some serious advice.
Firstly you don't load the Vobs into the MPEG tools.
Secondly you don't use DVD2AVI to create an Ac3 file. It should be a wav.

Neither do you load any of these files into the simple multiplexer.

I think it would take me far to long to post any help for you so I will direct you somewhere that you can get some.

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/sefy/?id=frameserv1.html

If you can't get your d2v loaded then consult the trouble shooting link on the above page.

ASHY

I´m using windows XP. I download the lastest tmpgenc and i want to encode a matrox avi dv (about 40 minutes = 8 gigabytes). It works fine but only encode 9 minutes, then the frame still and the encoding continues to the end, but the image freeze. The preview is the same, the DV file is cut. Why?

It sounds like the 2GB file size limitation. 2GB is a bit over 9 minutes, so there you go :) You can try to create an AVISynth script file where you would join all your files together and then frameserve it to TMPGEnc through VirtualDub.
Hope that helps.

Thanks! but i have windows XP. It was working fine, but...i format disk c and since then all was wrong!
¿How i could configure the disk to avoid that limitation? i have one disk, with 3 partitions, C: (NTFS) E: (FAT32) f: (NTFS) and an external disk fireware.
Thanks!

You would need to encode to a NTFS Partition or Format your Fat32 to NTFS, But that Might not be your Problem, try this and see if it helps go to "File" to "Enviromental settings" to "Vfapi Plugins" and raise the "OpenDML(AVI2)File Reader" to "1" or "2" and then see if the File still stops at the same spot when encodeing..But if it does then reformat the Fat32 partition to NTFS and see if that helps....

When I finish encoding a avi file, there is no sound. This doesnt happen to every movie but some movies dont have sound.

And I would just like to add that before encoding the avi (divx) plays sound.

u need to extract the sound from avi to wav form ...seperatly using virtualdub
then insert the extracted sound in tmpg along with avi

Ok im gonna try that , thank you.

Many DIVX movies now come with Ac3 audio which TMPG can't handle properly nor does Virtualdub.
You need to use AviMux 0.4 (Not AVImux GUI) to extract the audio to a wav.

ASHY