Hey guys,
I have an HD camcorder that records in AVCHD format. I have been usin TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress to convert the AVCHDs into a single .avi video file converted in divx format. When you do the converstion you can set many options to enhance quality sound etc... but it also allows you to set a resolution you want your .avi to come out. The avchd that i record is set to 1920x1080 on my camcorder which is too big of resolution for most normal TVs and Dvd players. When i did my trial conversion I set it 800x600 ... and that didnt work. dvd said doesnt support resolution. So can anyone help me out and tell me what the right resolution to set it to, to make .avi playable on my divx dvd player???

THANKS

Here is some thought i have put to this

Since the original resolution is 1920x1080 = 16:9 aspect ratio,
so i would downsize that to 720x405 = 16:9 which is still same aspect ratio,


or should i switch to 4:3 aspect ratio? and if i do, do i lose any image due to letterboxing?

so i figured best optimal size is 720x480 ... NTSC at 3:2 ratio.

How are you setting the 3:2 ratio?

If it's widescreen NTSC, I believe the pixel aspect ratio should be 40:33.

Are you using the DivX template or the AVI template in the Format stage?

Im using the divx template but it tells me to set the resolution.

720x480 is a 3:2 aspect ratio (720/3=240 ... 240x2=480)

40:33 aspect ratio would crop out a lot of the footage.

I'm talking about pixel aspect ratio, not the ratio of the resolution dimensions.

Changing it to 40:33 pixel aspect ratio will not crop anything; it will stretch the image to the correct 16:9 aspect ratio of your source file. Obviously, 720x480 is not a 16:9 ratio, so the DVD format(or in this case, the DivX format) stretches the pixels themselves to obtain the correct aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9.

So in the DivX format options, you'd set the Size to 720 x 480, and the Aspect ratio to "Pixel 40:33 (NTSC 16:9)". I'd use profile type "Home theater".

I have been transcoding? my home movies that were taken in 1080. I have been using the Divx encoder via the TMPenc 4.15 Xpress program. I am however at a loss as to why there is a 4 Gigabyte limit. Maybe someone can explain this. After all why do HighDef in Divx if there is a 4 Gigabyte limit?

Thanks,
Kerry N

Vista Quad Core 2.66 each
6 GB RAM

I think its probably because you're drive is formatted as FAT32 rather than NTFS. FAT32 only allows 4gb max files.

If you are encoding to DivX, then the DivX format itself is the limitation. DivX files can only be less than 4GB.

Will your programs get suport for the new MS mediacenter format wtv?
so I can use it to cut out comercel brackes after upgrade to?
Or shold one try not to get anything in that format (have not found anything that suports it yet.)
thanks for great program.

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!!!

Sorry, never had this issue. What are the source file formats for the ones that end up corrupted? Are they different from the ones that come out OK?

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?

It could also be that the source file is corrupt.

I saw the "available upon request" for the CUDA beta version of Xpress, but the company's mailbox is always full now! lol

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?

Hi,

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 :)).

Thanks in advance!
Sarge

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!

Thanks!

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.

Good luck!

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?!

Thanks!

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.

Any ideas please?

Thanks,

Martin

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 would buy TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress at once -- if it would be able to copy AC3 5.1 from source to target video (AC3 stream copy).

So there is no way for any TMPGEnc product to convert DVD with AC3 5.1 audio tracks to MPEG4/H.264 AVC with AC3 5.1 audio.

It's a great pity. :(

TMPGEnc, please... I will take a look at this forum in the next few days... please help - please answer.


Fucust
(A Fu-ture cust-omer?)

* if I buy xpress 4 now, upgrade to CUDA version is free ?

* why does not "mpeg editor 3" use in "xpress"

I think idiot forced to purchase 2 software, while xpress could very well allow use the "mpeg editor 3"

what is more "mpeg editor 3" is not available in French (though by its simplicity it is not a problem)

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.

How do you pronounce TMPGEnc
Thanks
MachineGun

I usually just say Tee Em Pee Gee Enk.

I refer to it is as "tee m-peg encode" in my mind - never had to speak it to anyone. :)

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.

/teɛmpejeɑ̃k/

very nice concept to use this software
very very friendly and easy method to use. so i am very happy about this software
well done keep it up

god bless you