This forum is for users to exchange information and discuss with other users about a TMPGEnc product.
In case you need official support, please contact TMPG Inc.
TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress BBS [ Sorted by thread creation date ]
Any render I do from Xpress 4.0 results in a corrupted mpeg file. Sometimes I render a file that plays (plays in Windows media and Author 3.0) but 80% of the time the file is corrupted. I submitted a ticket on this issue but Tmpgenc support is horrible and they didn't help except for asking ovbious questions. I'm suspecting that the mpeg encoder is conflicting with some other encoder/application. I do have installed in my PC, Media Concept Mpeg encoder, Cinema Craft Basic and Nero. Has anyone experiencing the same issue? I'm completely frustrated by the lack of support from this company but I do love the results (when it works) from Xpress.
My OS is XP with SP3, Xeon based machine. Please help!!!
The sources are mostly avi (using Cineform codecs) and also uncompressed Quicktime. The files range from 10 to 15 mins and the final output 1:45 hour. I tried smaller files with no luck. Every single file is corrupted and not even Mpeg editor will open it. I installed the updates with no luck. Once in a while it produces a viewable files. If it wasn't for the superb quality i would not bother with this product.
Can your source avi files play in Windows Media Player?
Also, what do you mean by corrupted? They just don't play, they play but it's black, garbage artifacts or what?
You can check to see if your Cineform codec is being recognized by 4.0 XPress by going to Options-->Preferences-->AVI settings. If it doesn't show up in the list, then 4.0 XPress doesn't see it. There may be a codec conflict as well, and you may need to uninstall your codecs and reinstall them one by one to see if it shows up.
Have you tried encoding it to other formats other than MPEG?
I am interested in how to make the best quality from Windows Media Format movie file to Apple TV format using TMPEnc4.0. I tried encording to MPEG4 which works but the quality sucks. At this time I am streaming windows format movies to my XBox360 which is great but I want to the same to my AppleTV. Is there a better version other than MPEG4 to watch AppleTV in good quality HD format which TMPEnc can do?
I am trying to convert my digital camera produced avi's as well as some unencrypted DVDs I have to .MPG or .MP4 format so I can load them on my PS3 and play from there. Space is not an issue - I just want the best possible quality for both audio and video. Can someone please recommend optimum settings for this?
Btw, I had dowloaded the MovieStyle trial version and generated sample.MP4 from it using the PS3 profile (and some tweaks), and I found the .MP4 files it generated were quite good. However when I did same from Xpress, the .mpg files were good but not quite as good, and were bigger as well. So if I could get settings that would mirror the quality I got from MovieStyle I would be happy (of course if quality gets better, I would be even happier :)).
You should be able to get the same results with 4.0 XPress; i believe they use the same encoding engine. Did you tweak the settings in 4.0 XPress to match the ones in MovieStyle? I'll try and run some tests of my own if I have time.
I don't remember the exact settings (movie express trial period had expired by then), but I did try to make the settings as good as I could and still got the above results.
If you do happen to try this out, it would be very helpful!
I have been making MP4's for the PS3 for awhile. I find the best setting is to go for AVC mode for the MP4 with a level of 3.1. The level you use is dependent on how much resolution and frame rate your movie has. Level 3.1 is just fine for regular 720 by 480 video at around 30 frames per second. I use double pass encoding with an average bit rate of 4000 Kb/s which is probably a bit more than is needed, but space isn't an issue for me. A standard definition unencrypted DVD uses about 8000 Kb/s, but you don't need all that bit rate with the compression that MP4 offers.
Be sure to pay attention to the final size of the video since MP4 won't support file sizes over 4 GB. I had to drop to 3000 Kb/s for 2.5 or 3 hour movies to get them under the file size limit.
Thanks for the help fuzz. The settings worked quite well! I did tweak them a bit more (e.g. used level 4 and some others and went with 4500kbps bitreate - I discovered MovieTime encoded them at 4000kbps and 48khz, 160kpbs for audio). The 4 level didnt seem to increase file size so just used the higher level. Any idea what the levels stand for, and how to decide which one to use? Couldnt find much on google.
Also, I am interested to see if someone has suggested settings for mpeg-2 format as well? While the MP4 is better for compression, it is not that flexible for editing if I want to reedit later. SO I am leaning towards converting all my video to mpeg-2, as these would play in PS3 as well. Am I on the right track, or do you recommend a different format for archiving and playback?!
Also wondering if I should then hold on to my source AVIs, or can I delete those. How big is the impact if I want to edit them later?!
Lastly, what tool would you recommend to join MPG2 or MP4 files after they have been created?! I know I can join them DURING creation, but what if I have some files already that I want to join without reencoding. Is that doable?!
I'm having lots of problems with TMPGEnc 4 Express when encoding MPEG-4. I'm finding that although the input video (MPEG-2) is fine, when I encode, the audio and video are out of sync by 1/4 second or so.
The only setting I've found so far that doesn't gives this problem is to use MPEG-4 AVC format, and set the video size and rate, and audio details the same as the original MPEG-2 file.
I really want to produce an ISO MPEG4 file, but no matter how I try, this always seems to result in a file with audio sync problems.
If you can figure out around how much audio offset there is in milliseconds then you can put this offset into the encoding in the clip editor at the bottom left side of the screen. I had to do this a few times and just made a minute or two test clip with a bunch of different offsets until the audio appeared to sync up.
I tested the trial version of TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress. I really like the MPEG-2 video conversion quality. However, two BIG features are missing and that prevents me from buying it:
1. Lack of good subtitle support. The current support is very poor. I imported H.264 TS files I recorded from HD TV source with embedded subtitles. The program should be able to pickup the embedded subtitles when converting to MPEG-2/DVD with DVD Author 3.
2. Lack of Dolby 5.1 support. The 2nd audio track of my HD TV recording has Dolby 5.1 and it is not supported.
Currently, I use ConvertXtoDVD. It has all of the above. However, MPEG-2 encoding quality is not as good as TMPGEnc.
Any plans to add these two features into future version of TMPGEnc?
I *think* the CUDA update will be free. Don't quote me on that.
MPEG Editor 3 isn't an encoder so it doesn't use TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress' encoding engine.
Why doesn't 4.0 XPress have MPEG Editor 3's smart rendering? I don't know, but it's probably because smart rendering seems to be for MPEG video only.
I assume the cuda version will be like any normal free update, especially since it has been implemented so fast already and the version number is currently .257 (meaning no real major changes other than cuda support settings).
I would love to see Xpress some day be able to edit all formats (or at least avi and wmv) with smart rendering, or at least offer the function of a non-reencoding avi joiner for same-spec avi's.
I do still not logical buy "mpeg editor 3" extra "xpress 4" just to have the "transcoding"
is a little too easy to inflate the bill to increase the software at pegasys.
not counting that multiplies software then one would both have a 2 software with similar interface
MPEG Editor 3 is more for DVR users, HDV camcorder users, or anyone who works primarily with MPEG video. It handles video completely differently than 4.0 XPress.
Just because it has a similar interface to 4.0 XPress doesn't mean it's the same thing. It'd be like saying Photoshop and Illustrator are the same just because they look similar.
lol, that's good you've never had to speak it; people usually don't know what I'm saying so I guess I'm just used to spelling it out.
Come to think of it, I usually just leave it out when I'm talking in person to someone, and just say 4.0 XPress or DVD Author 3 instead.
I downloaded and installed the newest trial version of TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. Now the problem. When I import an avi file (divx or xvid, it's the same result) into a program I can't see a thing where I should be able to see the edited frames (image). Also when I click to play/preview it, it remains black even tho the slider moves and time is progressing and there is also sound present. I was playing a bit with avi splitters on my pc and disabling certain splitters (so other avi splitters could "kick in" in the decoding process) cause I was assuming that tmpgenc doesn't like certain splitters/decoders but no result. Other players on my PC (BSPlayer, WMP, DivX player) can play these divx and xvid files. Funny thing is that when I install this trial tmpgenc on the other pc in the other room it works perfectly. But I really need tmpgenc to work on this machine.
Make sure your installed codecs are showing up in TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress' AVI Settings. Go to Options-->Preferences-->AVI settings to see what codecs are active and if they can decode and encode.
The codecs installed on your machine is most likely the problem. Try uninstalling them and then reinstalling the same ones that you have on your working machine.
Thx for the quick reply. I did check these avi settings before and there were listed both divx codecs, divx single cpu codec and divx decoder. Also I reinstalled the newest version of DivX and no change. Still can't see the imported material in tmpgenc. Wth is going on...
I noticed another oddity. If I check Magnifier... voila, the image is there, in the Magnifier window, magnified, distorted...but there. But still, I'd like to see a normal image in the "edit" window.
Problem solved. I was accidentally playing in tmpgenc and I right clicked in the movie window. Menu appeared and at "Overlay mode display" there was a check mark, after unchecking it the image appeared in the main movie window.
Thx again tkrave for your time and effort. Hope this (mis)adventure of mine helps others.
Yes program needs MKV input, I want to output to AVI (DivX or Xvid) with either AAC or AC3 5.1 sound, MKV's are too large and I want to play them back on my Xbox first gen, or via my external media portable box which doesn't support MKV.
i just read, that this beta is available upon request. does it include customers to get their hands on that? i would love to accelerate my conversions :(