Is there a simple way to convert a 20 fps avi file to VCD format? Do I have to worry about audio sync?

I'll give you the simple answer, no.

It involves a few steps and two other pieces of software. Virtual dub and Cooledit.

But it's not really that much of a big deal if you really want this conversion.

ASHY

THanks. I do have the two software packages. I would reall appreciate any help you would be willing to give. Thanks again.

The only way is to change the framerate of the original AVI.
First you will have to extract the audio to a wav file using virtual dub.
Load the AVI file into virtualdub and extract the audio to a wav.
Next change the framerate to the one you want. When you do this note the time in the box at bottom right exactly and then convert it to seconds. WRITE THIS DOWN, you will need it later.

Close Virtualdub and download Cooledit 2000.
open Cool edit 2000.

When the program opens you will be presented with a box allowing you to choose 2 options. Choose options 1 and 3.

In the program click file>open and open the wav you created earlier.
Wait for it to finish then click 'Edit' and untick 'enable undo' then click 'select entire wave' next click 'Transform' and choose 'Time/pitch' from the drop down menu then click 'stretch'
In this box tick the following options:

Low precision
Time stretch (preserves pitch)

In the box that says 'Length' type in the exact figure you got in secs from Virtualdub for e.g. 4802.360 then click ok.
Wait for the program to do it's stuff then when its finished click 'file' then 'save as' and name and save your file as a wav.

This should give you a Wav file which will be the same length as the movie in the next step. Close Cool edit 2000.

To change the framerate of an AVI all you need is this program.
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/avifrate.html

Change it to the framerate you want then load your AVI and your new wav into TMPG and encode as normal using the VCD PAL template.

Note: you may check that the audio is in sync with AVI by multiplexing the files with Virtualdub first.

ASHY

Note to the above.
The suggestion of the VCD PAL template is only for use if it is relevant to your TV system. If not choose whichever template suits your system.

ASHY

Many thanks! - I am anxious to give it a try.

I ripped a DVD and have an audio and video file. I checked the audio file and it is complete. When I encode the movie it doesn't have any audio. Audio+Video system is selected.

Another point to note is that when I go into settings and edit audio I can't get any audio there either.

Anyone come across this before? DVD was ripped with CladDVD xp.

Have ypu ripped the audio to Ac3 or a wav. TMPG doesn't support AC3, so you should rip the audio to a wav file.

ASHY

Have you ripped the audio to Ac3 or a wav. TMPG doesn't support AC3, so you should rip the audio to a wav file.

ASHY

Hey there!
I have a problem when converting AVI-files to VCD-mpeg files using TMPGEnc.

The audio sounds overdriven or distorted when I play the mpeg-file (and the VCD) like the volume is way too hig. AVI-file I used as source sounds perfect.

I have tried using TooLame for the sound in TMPGEnc but that seems to make no difference at all.

Does anyone know how to get rid of the distortion?

Thanks a lot in advance
Soren Kristiansen

What is the original samplerate of the audio in the AVI?
If it is different from the standard vcd samplerate this may be yor problem as the samplerate converter isn't to good in TMPG.
Try using SCMPX or toolame as the samplerate converter if that doesn't work use virtual dub to change the sample rate of the audio in the AVI to 44.1 khz, make sure you check the 'high quality' check box when you do this.

You can also use Virtualdub or TMPG to reduce the audio if the distortion really is due to the audio being driven to high.

ASHY

Thanks a lot!
It helped - BUT I'm still having problems.
The AVI was 48 KHz. Now I save the sound as a 44.1 KHz wave-file using VirtualDub (and checking High Quality), and then encode the video from AVI-file and the sound from the wave-file in TMPGEnc.

The distortion is gone and for a while I thought everything was fine.

But now I have "clicks" whenever the sound is loud. These clicks are NOT in the 44.1 KHz wave-file that I made in VirtualDub.

Do you know how to get rid of the clicks?

Thanks
Soren

I think I've found out how to get rid of the clicks myself.
I tried the MPEG-file in my other computer which has the same motherboard but another sound card and here the clicks are gone.

So I guess I just have to find another driver for the sound card in the first computer, a SB 128 PCI.

Soren

I think the clicks are due to the audio being to high and is causing distortion which has the effect of causing your sound card to clip the audio. Some sound cards are more tolerant of high volume which is probably why it works better in your other machine.

I would use virtualdub again but this time reduce the audio by 50% and see how it sounds. I'm pretty sure this is your problem as encoding wavs to MPEG audio doesn't involve using your sound card. It's just that MPEG audio is less tolerant to high volume than wav audio thus causing the distortion.

ASHY

I have found that a Pal encoded mpg file does not correctly cut and join in TMPGenc. If I convert the file to NTSC, it works correctly.

Thanks

Jeff

People,

Everytime I encode lately I get a errormessage saying: -537403781 82320
When I click the OK button it continous encoding again, and 5 sec later it pops up again. Any idea what this is? TMPG has been working before I statred getting these messages......

/Diper

I deleted the tmpg files, unzipped them again into another dir.....and VOILA....it works.......

/D

i have an SVCD image, but i dont wanna burn it and watch it,
i would rather extract the mpeg file with cdmage and watch that
mpeg file... and here is what happens - if i watch it with windvd
(windows media player wouldnt play it) it would give me a black
screen, no sound and the movie time would pass so quickly as if
i fast forward it :( what's the matter?

You didn"t give us much information to go on,so have you actually watched this svcd/mpeg2 file before? or did you encode it and now you are haveing problems watching it?Or was it a svcd and you extracted the file off the cd-r and you are haveing problems watching it?If you encoded this file your self and have never watched the file before then I suspect that the file is blank,just a black screen, but with out anymore information it is hard to give you an answer so post back and someone will try to help....

SVD files do not play in Windows Media Player v 7. You will need a DVD player such as PowerDVD to play a Super VCD movie. The first alternative is to encode the SVCD into VCD using tmpgenc and play it in Media Player, the second is to get a copy of Powerdvd or Windvd that will play vcd/svcd/dvd files. I hope this helps.

Your problem is most likely CDMAGE. Sometimes CDMAGE doesn't extract MPEGs correctly.
Try ISO buster if that doesn't work, download Daemon tools and then load your SVCD image into the virtual drive it creates.
http://www.daemon-tools.com

ASHY

more info:
it's an svcd movie i got from internet,
i didnt burn and actually dont want to.
so i extracted mpeg file from the image
using cdmage and watched it with windvd4.
what happened - see above.
as for using isobuster - i have actually tried
this on 2 movies - both time - same result..
do u think that cdmage would extract mpeg files
incorrectly 2 times in a row??
i mean, what's the diff between extracting an mpeg
file or any other?

It depends on the MPEG. I have had this problem many times. The only way to do it correctly and almost guaranteed to work is to download Daemon tools. It's free, quick to install and will solve your problem.

ASHY

I'm having problems cutting a 1.28 GB mpeg into smaller pieces for backing up onto cd, using MPEG Tools. It is a MPEG 1 constant bitrate video, and when I enter 56 minutes as the end time for the first piece, it usually stops it at 40 minutes. When I go from 40 minutes to the last frame, it only gives me like 2 more minutes, then ends the file. The original movie is 2 hrs 10 minutes and 5 seconds. Is the length of the movie a problem? Any recommendations as to the best way to cut mpegs into smaller pieces if MPEG tools won't work?

Thanks
hucker

The mpeg tools seem to crash or freeze or have no audio output or other some sort of problem, I usually encode my movies in parts to I don"t have to edit , but if I have to I use a different mpeg editor like m2-edit pro or mpeg2vcr, you can download demo"s of them at www.apachez.net, or at there respective web sites....

I am trying to do batch encodes and tmpgenc keeps shutting down completely after encoding only the first two or so files in the batch. When it shuts down it also clears the batch list. The last attempt it did this with was a batch of 4 files and it only did 2.

I am doing inverse telecine on 29.97 fps material by prior to the batch operation instead of during. Creating SVCD files using the included NTSC Film wizard template.

This is very frustrating. Any information as to why it is happening and what to do about it is most welcome.

MrSmith

Hi,
I am a newbie, so please excuse my question if it has
already addressed :)

When I use the MPG files from TMPGEnc and authored it by
Ulead Movie Factory to DVD, I cannot seem to fast forward
the DVD. Is it something wrong with parameter I set with
TMPGEnc or is this a function of the authoring Software?

Thank you for your help

Sonny

I think you need to put in chapters when authoring to get it to skip forward properly, or it could be the author ware or even your dvd player, I usually put quite a few chapters in so I can skip all over the movie if I need to....

What make of player do you own. Make sure you include a sequence header before every GOP when you encode.

ASHY

Minion,
I don't mean skip to the next chapter, I mean fast forwarding 2x, 8x, etc.
I can do it in the PC player, but not on the home DVD player. When I capture
direct Mpeg then I can do it, but I could not do it with any file that TMPGE encodes.

Ashy,
My home player is Panasonic RP56, and if you're talking about Input Sequence
Header then it is set to 1.

Sonny

Don't know about software DVD players, but hardware players use the IFO files for info on the VOBs. I have the same problem when I back up a DVD onto two DVD-Rs using IFOEdit, I completely lose the ability to navigate on the second DVD.

When you author your DVDs, as minion suggests, try putting in a few evenly-spaced chapters; this way you should be able to both fast-forward and rewind, and also quickly navigate.

Griff

After working through some of the 'encoding time' issues, I finally got to see the fruits of my labor. It was a SVCD of a DVD rip using 2 Pass and very high quality settings. I also did some testing with a short clip using 2 pass and CQ along with the different settings.

The picture quality is amazing. That is until motion is introduced and the quality becomes horrible. For me, it's almost unwatchable. Is there anything I can do to improve the blurred motion? Is VCD similar in that regard? If so, I may just keep it PC only and just make DViX files.

Thanks for any input on the topic.

Russ M.

That motion blurryness is probably caused from "interlace lines".If your source is interlaced you should use the de-interlace filter there are a whole list of different interlace filters in the de-interlace settings so you just move the slider untill you get to a scene where it looks bad then go through the filters untill you find the one that works best.You don"t get this issue with vcd/mpeg1 because mpeg1 is progressive, if you are useing 23.97fps ntsc film then that is progressive also.....

Is there a way to take out the blockiness or at least decrease it after I convert an AVI file to an MPEG1. It's most noticeable when I play the VCD's on TV.

I've been reading through the posted messages in this BBS, but everybody seems to have different opinions in going about the problem.

The best way to reduce the "blockyness" or "macro blocks" is to raise the bitrate,raiseing the bitrate solves a lot of quality issues but your mpeg file will be larger so you will get less minutes on each cd-r but if you use a "CQ" encodeing method this will reduce file size,but if you want good quality vcd"s I wouldn"t put more than 50-60 minutes on each cd-r.....

I have found that using 2 pass VBR with
min 1150
av 2000
max 2300

gives you around 45 mins per 700 meg CD

I suspect the "blockiness" you are refering to, is caused by your tv resizing the picture. There's not much you can do here , whatever the bitrate, VCDs are a quarter of the resolution of DVD's (which are displayed at your tv's native resolution) and whilst they are supposedly around the same resolution of VHS, I would prefer to watch a VHS movie than one on VCD any day.

If your DVD player can play SVCD, you sould try this method. VCD's take a lot more space (since they're about 2/3 the resolution of DVD) but then cd-r's are still a lot cheaper than dvd-r's.

Griff

You can create SVCD's or if your DVD player wont play them (like mine) you can create XVCD's - non standard VCD's

The XVCD's I create have the same res , virtually the same bitrate as SVCD's . Quality is great

Mind you ..I only ever convert from DVD rips

I have installed the new version and am now having problems with frame serving from vdub (I have done is succeffully several times prior to upgrading). I get the normal newbie problem "file unsupported". I have adjusted the vfapi environment setting, raising it as high as 4 and still unsupported file or cannot open. Has anything changed in the process or the program. Also, what is the new feature which allows you to save the audio and video as different files? (The new version does seem to be more stable)

Just curious,
Moviebuff

Did you raise the 'AVI VFW reader' and lower the rest.
If that doesn't help try uninstalling the Virtualdub frameserving client then re-installing it.

ASHY