Hi,

I have an avi that I'm trying to convert. After Tmpgenc (plus 2.5) succesfully creates about 90% of the mpg, the video suddenly freezes, but the sound continues. Also, I don't receive any error messages, the program just continues to finish the conversion, but with the frozen video. I've tried it several times, but it always freezes at the same position. Why is this happening? Is there any way I can fix it?

Thanks,
Waltsdog

It seems that your AVI file is Corrupted at that piont of the Movie, there are Probably a few Bad Frames that Tmpgenc is getting stuck on..you can try encodeing up to were the Glitch happens then use the Source Range to start encodeing a New file just after were the Glitch happens then Join the 2 files together with the "Merge & Cut"...You can also try Frame serveing the File to Tmpgenc with Virtual Dub or AVISynth, this sometimes helps...

You should be able to fix this with Virtualdub or DiVx fix.
Here is a cut and paste fron VCDhelp.com

If you have DivX that won't play in Media Player try to use DivXFix . Run the divfix.exe in the win32 folder and just open the broken DivX and hit Rebuild Index and after the process it should work perfect.
Or try to use Virtualdub and when open you select File->Open and check Popup extended open options and open the broken DivX . A window appear check Rederive keyframe flags and hit OK.It will take some minutes. Select Video->DirectStreamCopy and Audio->DirectStreamCopy and last save the new DivX, File->Save as avi.
Or try to use Virtualdub 1.4.9 or later and open the broken DivX. Select File->Scan Video stream for errors.Select Video->DirectStreamCopy and Audio->DirectStreamCopy and last save the new DivX, File->Save as avi.

ASHY

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/divfix.html

Hi all,

I've been monitoring the board and have gotten tons of info and helpfull tips
from ASHY and minon (and others too). But now I have questions which I
could not find an answer.

I have a widescreen DIVX I wish to convert to a WS MPEG-1 to be burnt
on a VCD to be viewed on a WS TV.

By playing with the various input/output settings, I am able to produce

(1). 4x3 letterbox MPEG-1
(2). WS MPEG-1 with WS movie.

If I burn these onto a VCD, will either of them show up on my WS TV as WS VCD?
I suspect (2) will and (1) won't. (But I've read that they get re-formatted...true/false).

Also, I unlocked (under Video) the size and aspect ratio and changed them.
Yes, I actually changed the size settings to obtain a WS output.
Does this have any side effects? (i.e if the size is not 352X240, will
my dvd player recognize my disk as a VCD).

And lasty, if I have various movies in various WS aspect ratios
(1.85:1, 2.35:1, etc.) will they all show up on my WS TV with the
same aspect ratio as the original movie?


Thanks a bunch

If you want to keep the exact aspect ratio of the source file then try setting the output aspect ratio to 1:1 then the Output will be the same as the Source..You can use Pretty Much any aspect ratio and your Player will probably play it But you generally have to keep the Output resolution as VCD compliant (352+240)..For widescreen Movies the Output resolution is usually 16:9....

Hi,

Thanks minion for the reply. But I'm still having trouble.
I'm new at this so please be patient. (I've read many guide but still have trouble...)

Let me try to explain my problem.

What I want:
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I have a 2.35:1 Divx
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I want to have a VCD with 2:35 I can watch on my 16:9 TV in 2.35:1 (taking up as much of the creen as possible).


What I did so far:
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I can play with the settings to encode the Divx to a 4:3 MPEG-1 with letterboxed picture. Something like this:

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(From what I understand, VCD *MUST* be 4:3, 352x240).


What I don't know:
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Loading it into Windows Media Player, I see a 4:3 format screen with 2.35:1 picture (just like the drawing above). But how will this look on my 16:9 TV?

If I burn this onto a VCD, will it show up as 2.35:1 on my 16:9 or some weird format (such as chopping my 16:9 into a 4:3 with black bars on the left and right side. And then play a letterbox format within this 4:3)?

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Or should I try to stretch everything vertically in a full screen 4:3 and have my DVD player stretch it out horizontally into a 16:9. (I doubt this is the best solution).


I might be totally off track. If so, please give me a step by step on how to obtain a 16:9 VCD from a 16:9 Divx. Don't hesitate to be explicit.

Thanks.

Here's the rub with regards to a 16:9 TV display and MPEG creation.

First, a compliant VCD (NTSC) has a resolution of 352 x 240 as you stated. You can create a non-compliant size but there is no garrantee that any particular DVD player will correctly play it (either test it or refer to vcdhelp.com).

Next, since you have a 16:9 TV the DVD player must be told that.

Now, assuming the above (352x240; player set for 16:9) here are your encoding choices and there effects...

1) Set Video Output Aspect Ratio to 4:3; place the source video onto the output frame and adjust the video size (not the frame size) to yield the correct letter box aspect ratio. (I usually do this manually by calculation with CLIP FRAME/ARRANGE but others let TMPG do it via VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD). The resulting MPEG will play on your 16:9 TV as a 4:3 box surrounded on all sides by nothing (ie black); or,

2) Set Video Output Aspect Ratio to 16:9; place the source video onto the output frame and adjust the video size (not the frame size) to yield the correct, vertically stretched, letter box aspect ratio. (again, I usually do this manually by calculation with CLIP FRAME/ARRANGE but others let TMPG do it via VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD). The resulting MPEG will play on your 16:9 TV as a 16:9 movie. The one thing you should be aware of is that if the source video is 2.35:1 then you will still have some nothing (ie black) above and below the video.

Possible correction to previous post...

I Haven't done VCD for a while so in re-reading my post I don't remember if TMPG will let you set 16:9 for a VCD. I am encoding right now so I can't check it myself. If it does then good. Otherwise you may want to try MPEG-2 encoding which will act as I originally posted.

After multiplexing, I get an error saying "71042 s packets cause buffer underflow. The MPEG file might cause error when it played.". My created MPEG file cannot be played. How can I solve this problem?

This Sometimes happens when Trying to Multiplex a plain Mpeg1 or Mpeg2 file as a VCD or SVCD file or Visa Versa..If you are trying to Mux it as a VCD or SVCD then try Muxing it as a Plain Mpeg1 or Mpeg2 file, then to Put the Proper Header on the File to make it VCD or SVCD Compliant Use the "Merge & Cut" with the VCD or SVCD setting and Just run the File through it...This is a Long way to Mux but it stops the error from Popping up....

Hello. I'm Spanish, so excuse me if my English is not very good, I'm sorry.
I wanna make a question. TMPGEnc is causing me a lot of problems with .divx files, and I don't know why. Can you help me? Thank you very much to all.

We Do Not Read Minds.....What is the Problem????

TMPGEnc don't recognise the video image. It recognise the sound, but not the video, I don't know if I've explained it very well, I'm sorry.
Thanks to all.

My problem is only with .divx files, not with .avi files. Thanks again for your attention.

Dear All,

TMPGEnc is a great product!

The audio of VCDs is very good but sometimes a loud screech or beep ruins the atmosphere of the movie...

Any suggestion about how to get rid of these audio compression glitches?

Greetings to All.

The problem is your disks or your burn speed.

Cheap disks cause read errors which will manifest as blocks or squeals when the disk is played.

Also burning at too high speed will also have the same effect.

Lower you speed. If you can 4x is best if not the lowest your burner will allow above 4x.

ASHY

Please help!

I have edited a programm in premiere 6.0 in PAL 16:9 widescreen. I want to make a VCD in NTSC widescreen and burn it with Nero. What are the settings in TMPGEnc? And do I have to activate US TV in Nero burning software?

Thanks a lot!
Eric

You Can"t...Tmpgenc Does Not Do Proper Pal to NTSC conversions, you have to either use another piece of software to do the "Pal to NTSC" conversion like "Advanced NTSC/Pal Converter" or "ProCoder" or you can use AVISynth to Do the Conversion, ...

1.You need ajust standard 25fps(PAL) to 23.97(NTSCfilm) with VirtualDub(MPEG2) (for example) and saved direct video stream. No any conversion !!! Than you need convert you audio stream to another length with audio editor (timepitch in CoolEditor).
2.Open videostream with 23.97fps as NTSCfilm and open your new audiostream.
3.Clich checkbox in TMPGEnc as 3:2 pulldown.
4.Convert this project as you wants with other parameters.

And member, it was right only for progressive sources and not for interlaced!

>2.Open videostream with 23.97fps as NTSCfilm and open your new audiostream.
>3.Click checkbox in TMPGEnc as 3:2 pulldown.

No, this is no good. There will be awful interlacing artifacts.

AVisynth is the best solution and gives very good results and is free.

ASHY

Well first of all, I've noticed that encoding has become really slow now that I've installed XP on our system, but anyways, my concern is that while encoding, the source postition indicator and file size seem to be in sync with the preview picture shown, but the percent done and reported frame don't seem to be in sync. Anyone else come across that problem?

i don't quite understand the difference between resolution and aspect ratio. Seems that the ratio of the horisontal to vertical resolution would give the aspect ratio.....unless pixels arn't always square and aspect ratio is actual length rather than pixel number. Or is it that the picture is stretched....or....
For example ntsc vcd is 252x240 which is 1.46666 and 4:3 is 1.333 obviously...
I'm must be missing some info..

There are two Aspect Ratios:
DAR = Display aspect ratio
PAR = Pixel aspect ratio

352x288 IS 4:3 also 384x288 IS 4:3. But thye are using different PARs, That's the Trick.
352x288 has PAR 1.092:1 and DAR 4:3
384x288 has PAR 1:1 and DAR 4:3

thanks Racer...does that mean tvs have a intrinsic 1.092:1 PAR ...as in the phosphor dots are not square.....

I'm trying to create an MPEG-2 file to put on a DVD-R to use in a regular DVD player. However, I can't get the DVD-R to play in all players (even ones that appear to be able to read the DVD-R). I'm wondering if I might be using some non-compliant encoder settings. I tried about 10 different DVD players and found that only 2 or 3 of them would play the DVD-R. I also tried about 3 software players, and they all did it just fine.

Here's the encoder settings I used in the project wizard (anything I don't mention I did't change from the preset settings):

o DVD NTSC format
o non-interlaced
o 4:3 display
o Video movie
o MP2 audio
o constant quality (at 100%)
o 10 bit accuracy for DC coefficient

I create a single audio/video file (.mpg). I'm then using Nero to burn this to a DVD. As I mentioned before, it does work on some DVD players, but not on most. However, it has worked on all software players I've tried. My source file is an uncompressed AVI at 640x480 15 fps and 44.1 KHz audio (I assume that tmpgenc will convert the video correctly).

Any ideas as to why this DVD doesn't work in all players, even when the player can recognize the DVD (i.e. can read a DVD-R)?

Thanks in adavance for any info =).

Jonathan Dinerstein
jondinerstein@yahoo.com

There are a Few things that are wierd here..ALL NTSC DVD"s are Interlaced, and to Correct Convert the Framerate with Tmpgenc you would have had to set the Frame rate to "15fps/30fps Internal" or you will get Very Jumpy Playback, and Next You can"t use Nero to Properly Burn a DVD, you Have to Use an authoring Program to Format the Mpeg2 file into a Video-TS Folder then you Can Use Nero to Burn the Video-TS Folder as a DVD, you Might Just be burning the Mpeg2 file to the DVD-R as a Plain Mpeg2 file which a few Players would Play but not many..So to solve your Problem with Getting your DVD Play on Most DVD Players you will have to Author it with a REAL DVD Authoring Program, Nero Can Not Format the Mpeg2 file into the Correct Format for most DVD Players to Read, and All authoring Programs have there own Burning features so you won"t need Nero....

Thanks for the feedback. A couple pieces of additonal pieces of info on my problem and questions:

I forgot to mention this before, but I'm using NeroVision to set up the DVD-R to play video. So while I'm using Nero to burn the DVD, NeroVision is doing all the work to make it a standard "video" DVD.

So, if I understand right, it might fix my problem to interlace the video? By default interlacing is off in the tempgenc wizard, but I don't know if the default DVD NTSC wizard settings are fully DVD compliant or not......

You mention the option "15fps/30fps Internal". Can you tell me where this is? I haven't seen it around and I'd like to try it.

Thanks for the feedback, and any further info/ideas from anyone would be greatly appreciated. Every DVD-R I ruin is a $3.50 coaster, so I'd like to pool some ideas before wasting any more disks =).

Jonathan Dinerstein
jondinerstein@yahoo.com

in settings under the frame rate u can choose various frame rates...like 15fps/30 internal. If the frame rate is greyed out then load the unlock template in the extras folder...

Fix the $3.50 issue. meritline.com sells a disc called "Accu" for 25@$1.15 that even works in a fussy, old DVD player of mine. Most expensive discs I tried do not play as well.

If your source is 23.96 progressive, encode at that frame rate and then use a postprocessing program to add 3:2 pulldown (converts it to 29.97 interlaced). TMPG's function to do this seems buggy. I use PULLDOWN.EXE.

Yes if you Load a 15fps File into Tmpgenc ,then go to "Frame Rate" then in the Dropdown Menu there should be a Frame rate setting of "15fps/30fps internal"..For Some reason Pulldown.exe doesn"t work for me it allways Makes the Video a second or 2 longer or shorter that the Audio which causes De-sync and when I play it on my Player I get bad Combing and Blurring in High Motion Scenes so I am allways Forced to use a De-interlace filter and Rip my dvd"s to 29.97fps, I have tried Many Times to get it fight with Forced film But it never works out...

The easiest way to solve your problem is to just load the DVD NTSC template then 'unlock' the framerate setting by clicking where it says 'Frame rate' then choosing unlock from the menu.
Next change the frame rate to '15 fps(internally30 fps)'

Now just author and burn.

ASHY

P.S. Forget the project wizard. Just load the template from the main screen.

ASHY

Hi there.
I have been converting DVDs to VCDs for Backup purposed (my daughter can be really destructive).

I have followed the instructions to the note on

http://www.afterdawn.com/articles/archive/dvd2vcd_with_smart_dvd2avi_tmpgenc.cfm
though when I go to burn with Nero I always get the message that teh stream encoding is invalid and it has to change it. What is happening?

Thanks

This error Is Probably because the File is not VCD Compliant, which could mean that the Resolution is wrong the Audio frequency is wrong or the File has been encoded as a Mpeg1 file and not a VCD file..If the Problem is the Stream isn"t encoded to VCD but to Mpeg1 then this can be fixed By loading the File into tmpgenc"s "Merge & Cut" and Running the File through with the "Video-CD Non-Standard" setting , this will Put a VCD header on the Mpeg1 file..But you can avoid all of this If you Just use "VCDEasy" to Burn the File to Disk Cuz VCDEasy will accept Plain Mpeg1 files and Plain Mpeg2 files for VCD or SVCD, Pluss it supports Chapters which are very Handy...

How do you get it to overburn? I use Nero 5 and there is no option to select overburn. I have 5 files that's each about 154MB and it all adds up to 770MB in all. They're 12 minutes each, it's just that I have them at high quality. Is overburning of separate files possible?

You Can OverBurn with nero 5.5, open Nero and go to "File" to "Preferances" to "Expert Features" and there you can set the Overburn...If those 5 Files that you have are VCD files or SVCD files then you Can Normally easily fit 800mb on a 700mb 80min CD-R in VCD or SVCD Format so you won"t need to OverBurn, and you can usually only overburn about 15-25mb Max....

What happens when you overburn? Do you lose any information or video?

It just extends the burn capacity of the disk.

ASHY

I have a panasonic DVX100 which records 24p. I use DVFILM software to extract to a native 24p DV quicktime. How can I encode to mpeg with this source? It appears that TMPGENC will not accept a quicktime file. A 24p uncompressed avi is too darn big and there is no avi format that supports 24p avi. Please let me know if quicktime is acceptible.

Thanks...
Marty

You have to Get a Mov Quicktime Plugin for Tmpgenc, you can download it Here: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4942/svcd.html it is called the "QT-Reader"...By the way what is 24p , you say that your Panasonic Records 24p and was wondering what 24p is or means...thanX

24p is a term used to describe 24 frames per second on video. Instead of 60 interlaced fields the camera records 24 full frames per second. This is the same frame rate as film and goes a long way to making your video look like film. In order for this 24p to be displayed on a standard television a 3:2 pulldown is added to the video. However it is possible to exract the true 24 frames per second and encode it with TMPENC. This saves space, makes the encoding more efficient and allows for progressive viewing on a progressive DVD player.

The camera is designed for film enthusiasts that don;t have the budget or maens to shoot on expensive film stock. Do a search on the internet for Panasonic DVX100 and I'm sure you'll find an article or 2!

Thanks
Marty

Well you should have just said 24fps,I don"t understand what you mean that the AVI Format won"t let You make an avi with 24fps progressive film Image,As far as I know Most if not all AVI codecs will Let you Make 24fps Film if your Source is 24fps Film...