Using TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress
From the [format] tab, which output template should i use to convert avi to mpeg-2?
the mpeg-2 format will be played on my ReplayTV unit (DVR)

Hi, choose "DVD Standard MPEG File". Use a lower Bitrate (like 6000 or less).
Ludi

I am trying to create a menu system, where the first page has the choices "Play All" and "Episodes", and then ONE page with 5 episodes. No matter what I try, I always get 5 pages. Both pages will be text choices.

thank you,

MovieMaven

In the Menu stage, click on the "Launch the Menu Wizard" button.
Choose "Create a custom menu by choosing layout and items." Click "Next..."
Checkmark the box next to "Create a Title page in the Top menu." Click "Next..."
For your Top menu, select a layout with 5 choices (choose the one without thumbnails if you just want text).
Select your other layouts, buttons, etc. Click "Next..."
For the DVD menu structure, you can select "Top menu only." This will produce a menu with two pages only.
If you want chapter pages for each episode, then choose "Top and track menu."
When you're finished, you can edit the text to your liking.

That should be it!

hi! do i need a player that support divx-ultra so that srt subtitle can be display?
i have a player that indicate divx support, and sadly subtitle doesnt appear.

Yes, I believe you need a DivX Ultra certified player for subtitle support.

then what subtitle format i need for divx?

How to I add a batch list of clips. I have a load of mpeg2 files I want to author to dvd. I want to do them as all seperate dvds.

When I add them and go to output it tells me target size is too large which tells me the software is trying to merge all the clips together.

I just want to add the 25 mpeg2 videos and let the software author them into 25 separate standard dvds.

You have to create each DVD separately. So if you want 25 DVDs, you're going to have to make 25 DVD project files.

When you start a project, that is a single DVD. So if you put 25 clips into it, it will put them all on one DVD (if they can fit).

There's no batch tool, so you have to just create each DVD separately.

I love what this application can do (on trial). I need to know if it's possible to tweak the encoding settings on the PS3 panel. My Xbox360 can play back H.264, but need to tweak so it will play the version for PS3. TMPGENC Xpress 4 is able to do this, but I like that this program will automatically encode from a directory. Any assistance is appreciated.

You can tweak it to a certain extent.
You can prioritize encoding quality or encoding speed and you can select the output resolution and bitrate from a predetermined list. Resolutions include 320x240, 320x180, 640x480, 640x360, 720x480(4:3), 720x480(16:9), 720x576(4:3, max. 25fps), 720x576(16:9, max. 25fps), 1280x720, and 1920x1080. You can also set it to output at 24fps (this is "cinema mode") and you can adjust the audio quality (normal, high).

Hi
New to the program...bare with me...
I am trying to clean up and redo my High School video yearbook for a bunch of friends. I graduated in 1989 so the video is 20 years old. I have captured the whole thing to an avi file. Now would it be best to use tmpg to clean up the source as much as possible before I bring it into an editor to re-edit?

What filters should I use? Should I keep the output as an avi file for easier editing? Any and All suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

It really depends on the condition of your video, so without seeing it, I can't say what filters you should use. You might want to take a look at Ghost Reduction, Color correction, and Video noise reduction to see if that helps. You can also play around with the sharpness filters, but I personally tend not to use them.

Be sure to click on the "Edit filter list" button to see all the available filters since they are not all visible by default.

Thanks for the response, i was wondering if maybe I could send you a quick snip of the video so you can recommend what filters to use?
Thanks!

Does anyone know what the cost would be to upgrade from "TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator 4" to "TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress"?

Before spending the extra money for "TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress", I would like to try "TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator 4" first. Unfortunately there is no trial version of "TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator 4".

You can't upgrade from DVD Source Creator 4 to 4.0 XPress. However, there is a user discount you would be eligible for which lowers the cost of 4.0 XPress to $79.95 (assuming you buy DVD Source Creator).

Why not just download the trial version of TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress? You'd be able to try out everything that DVD Source Creator does and then some.

I got error code 0x80070017 after uploading dvd in tmpgenc 4.0 xpress. Any idea what this means?

further info..... The error reads "Data Error(Cyclic redundacy check)" then lists error number 0x80070017

Only just purchased this program and i am not of to a good start .What ever file i try to convert i keep on getting Could Not Open The Video Part - Only Audio .Has any one found out what the problem is.If i can not find a fix will i be able to recieve a refund or is that it just get on with it.Will not be happy if i can not get a full refund.

You are missing the codecs that the original movie was encoded in. Install some codec pack (KLite, blah blah) or install ffdshow. Personally, I prefer ffdshow, its open source and one stop for everything.

try the newest version that was recently released (4.6.2.266).

I was having the same issue -- video not opening, only the audio could be opened -- and thought that meant my satellite-PCI-tuner-card recorded TS MPEG2 files were corrupted and I had to transcode them wtih VLC to clean them up enough for TMPGEnc to load them.

so far all seems to be good with my previously thought corrupted files. 266 seems to have fixed something and now I'm able to open those files I thought were corrupted just fine. I"m quite happy that I don't have to lose some quality with the VLC step anymore!

I am having the same problem with TMPGEnc Express 4.6.3.268, when I try to open an mpg file made with a Hauppauge capture device. However, TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 3.0.7.81 can open the file. I bought TMPGEnc Express 4 so that I could edit and re-encode with one application, instead of having to use two.

I'm trying to convert several MPEG2 clips, that were shot with a miniDVD camera, into AVI clips, so I can import them into Avid Xpress Pro. On some of the clips when I add them to TMPGEnc 4.0, only a part of the clip is showing up in the source window. For ex. I have a clip that is 40 min long and when I import it into TMPGEnc the duration only shows up for 8 min and when I encode the clip to AVI, it doesn't encode the whole clip. This is like this for several of my longer clips. Does anyone know why this is happening, and have any solutions? Thanks for your help.

I have the same problem.
My clip is 3.5 hours long and the software is only recognizing 37 minutes.

Hi
Can I use TMPGEnc on my Mac Pro Machine ?
Chandna

I'm curious about this as well.

I suppose it's possible if you have a Windows emulator, but I've never tried it since I don't have a Mac. If you do have a Windows emulator, then you can download the trial and see if/how it works.

Yes it is running with Parallels and Bootcamp. Have both running. Works fine.

Ludi

What is correct Letterbox/pan and scan setting when authoring a 16:9 format DVD. I have been using the letterbox/pan and scan setting and at playback on some tv's there are bars on either side. It works fine on my sets with the DVD's set to 16:9. My sister called and said it did now work on her 16:9 set. It was corrected by setting the dvd player to 4:3. I am confused

The letterbox/pan & scan setting allows your 16:9 footage to be either letterboxed or full-screen (with the sides chopped off) when displayed on a 4:3 tv/monitor. How they display on a 4:3 tv is dependent on your DVD player settings (most DVD players let you choose 4:3 letterbox, 4:3 pan & scan, and 16:9). This setting in DVD Author 3 simply tags the video so your player will know how to display it depending on its settings.

If have 16:9 footage, a 16:9 tv, and your DVD player's video settings are set to 16:9, then everything should look normal.

It sounds like you have 4:3 footage since you say that bars appear on either side on certain tv's. Do you have 4:3 footage and 16:9 footage on your DVD?
It's best to separate your footage so that all of your 4:3 footage is in one track, and all of your 16:9 footage is in another. You can then set the 4:3 track to display at 4:3, and the 16:9 track to display at 16:9 letterbox/pan&scan.

If you can give me more info about your footage aspect ratios, and what type of tv's you plan on viewing this DVD on (16:9, 4:3, both?) then I can give you a better answer on what's going on and what you should do.

The original footage is TS (transport stream) files in 16:9 format pal to be played on both 4:3 and 16:9 in both PAL and NTSC versions.

this is what message I received regarding the dvd I created with the setting at letterbox/pan and scan. there are a couple users who made coments

-Can't seem to produce a pan-'n-scan image. When I tried, I just got a distorted 16:9.

-Plays perfectly on my upconverting 1080i dvd player

-My DVD player normally reads the ratio of the content by default but it didn't in this case. plus If I set it to 16:9 I just get stretched 4:3. I could only set as letterbox 4:3 for the complete image.

something weird - widecreen on PC but only comes out 4:3 on TV, even if I set the TV to 16:9!

>The original footage is TS (transport stream) files in 16:9 format pal to be played on both 4:3 and 16:9 in both PAL and NTSC versions.
>

I see. If all of your footage is in 16:9, then setting it to letterbox/pan&scan should work.

>this is what message I received regarding the dvd I created with the setting at letterbox/pan and scan. there are a couple users who made coments
>
>-Can't seem to produce a pan-'n-scan image. When I tried, I just got a distorted 16:9.

Sounds like this guy has a 4:3 tv but his DVD player is set to 16:9. If he sets his DVD player to 4:3 pan&scan mode, then it should produce the pan & scan image.

>
>-Plays perfectly on my upconverting 1080i dvd player

This player might simply be "smarter" and be able to detect what aspect ratio it should use. It could also just be set to 16:9 by default since it's a 1080i upconverting DVD player.

>
>-My DVD player normally reads the ratio of the content by default but it didn't in this case. plus If I set it to 16:9 I just get stretched 4:3. I could only set as letterbox 4:3 for the complete image.

This person must have 4:3 tv, which is why setting his DVD player to 4:3 letterbox worked. If you have a 4:3 tv and set your DVD player to 16:9, then the DVD player automatically thinks you have a 16:9 tv and fills the entire screen. Thus, it would look normal on a 16:9 screen, but on a 4:3 screen the image would appear stretched (vertically).

>
>something weird - widecreen on PC but only comes out 4:3 on TV, even if I set the TV to 16:9!

I use PowerDVD on my comp and I've found that it just doesn't work the same way a physical DVD player does. It's much smarter and will not pan & scan even if that's what you set in DVD Author 3.
It's strange that it would appear 4:3 on a 16:9 tv. If you have a 16:9 tv, then you should keep the TV's settings at 16:9. The only thing I can think of is that the DVD player is set to 4:3 letterbox mode. This would produce normal 16:9 video but shrunk down with black bars on all sides. I don't have a 16:9 TV where I am right now, so I can't do full tests at the moment.

Your sister's situation is the most puzzling though. If the footage is 16:9 and her tv is 16:9 then it should display correctly when the DVD player is set to 16:9. It's possible that she switched the DVD player to 4:3 pan&scan mode and since her tv is 16:9, it is simply showing what would normally be cut off on a 4:3 tv.
It's also possible that she set the DVD player to 4:3 letterbox mode, and her tv can automatically crop the black bars and stretch the image for a full screen 16:9 effect.

In any case, there are three things we need to pay attention to:
1) The aspect ratio of the DVD footage
2) The aspect ratio setting of the DVD Player (this is probably the most important thing)
3) The aspect ratio of the TV and any pan&scan or fitting settings it may have.

The DVD player should simply be set to whatever aspect ratio your TV is. As long as you set the track settings to "letterbox/pan & scan" in DVD Author 3, the DVD should display correctly depending on what setting is chosen in your DVD player in terms of 4:3 tv's.
If there is any distortion, then the DVD player is probably not set to the right aspect ratio.

I'll see if I can test this out more when I get home.