I have been using TMPGENC for a little while now encountering and solving problems using this board. I am trying to convert an AVI to SVCD for playing on a DVD unit. I have done this with several other movies but I am now encountering problems with 2 that I can not solve and does not look like have been encountered before. The encode process seems to go well but when you play the MPG I will get AT MOST a fraction of a second of video (if any at all) but sound for the entire mpg. The particulars:
My steps...

1. I extract an uncompressed WAV from the AVI using Virtual Dub.
2. Use the SVCD template and encode.
16:9 NTSC
Bit rate 2100
3. Test using WinVideo Platinum


Audio

Audio Format - MPG Layer-3
Bit Rate - 95kbps



Video

AVI (divX) 344032 KB
Frame width - 352 pixels
Frame height - 152 pixels
Play length - 1:08:31
Frame rate - 29 frames/sec
Date rate 83 kbps
Video compression - DIVXMPG4 V3

Any help would be GREATLY, appreciated
On

Try raiseing the Priority of the "Direct Show File Reader" in the "Vfapi Plugins" to "2"...This should make the Image show in the Mpeg file the next time you encode it....

Minion,

Thank you very much, this has worked perfect. Is this particular issue tied only to this version of the mpeg encoder that was used or is this a "Feature" of TMPGenc?

Thanks Again,
On

Sometimes if you do not have the "VFAPI Plugins" set to certain Prioritys tmpgenc can not read certain File types, This is a Common Problem and a Common Solution...

Hello,

I have a Panasonic DMR-E30 which is a consumer DVD recorder that records onto DVD-R or DVD-RAM. tmpgenc can demux the M2V and AC3 components from VR_MOVIE.VRO (which is apparently similar to a VOB), and it can also read them to encode a new output file. No problems there.

However, if I try to use mpeg tools->merge & cut to try to cut out part of the M2V, tmpgenc complains "Illegal MPEG video stream"

I guess that with mpeg tools tmpgenc interprets the contents itself, but reading in an m2v to encode it uses the codec.

Has anyone else experienced this? I can send a sample to tmpgenc support if they like. (I am a paid owner of tmpgenc plus)

Thanks...

Just a followup, I think I may have found what tmpgenc is choking on. It looks like video on DVD-RAM appends multiple video recordings into a single file. tmpgenc was getting confused because there were two recordings in VR_MOVIE.VRO. I deleted one of them with the DVD recorder, and tmpgenc now cuts from the extracted M2V without complaint.

Maybe a future edition of tmpgenc could support splitting of multiple DVD-RAM video recordings? :)

Just try to demux and mux the Video, than cut it. But i never tried that with AC3-Sound, maybe TMPGEnc is not able to cut such Videos.

BTW: TMPGEnc DVD Author can cut Videos with AC3-Sound!

I have been able to Mux and de-Mux mpeg"s with AC3 but not edit, Mpeg2VCR would be a Better editor for AC3 audio Mpeg files...

Kika - the problem happens when I demux to an M2V. It's a single file, but it actually has two (or more) separate recordings in it. If I erase everything but a single recording using the DVD recorder, then tmpgenc can successfully cut the extracted M2V file.

As for the sound, I use ac3dec then encode to mp2 using tmpgenc... after that I can cut both the vision and sound components together.

Make sure you use the De-multiplexer and not the Simple de-multiplexer. You should then be able to see and extract ALL of the individual streams without having to delete one first.

By the way here is a program that should be able to cut your files without the need to demultiplex or re-encode the audio first.
http://www.digital-miner.com/chopperxp.html

I'm a newbie to TMPG (and video edit/manipulation in general) so forgive me for any obvious things I may miss.

I'm trying to convert an avi (3 of them actually) into mpeg for VCD (preferribly SVCD) burning.

I used virtualdub to separate the audio/video and used TMP to create the mpeg.
For starters, all variations I used with the mpeg was insync and of decent quality.

My problem is the output size of the file.
If I try to burn a SVCD I get anywhere from 717-8xx mb (which is obviously way to large).
If I try to burn a VCD I get around 400mb.

I don't want that big of a cut in my resolution (and I don't really want to waste nearly half of my 700mb cd).

The video is already cut (that is why there are 3 AVIs to convert) so I don't really want to cut more.

Any suggestions?
Am I stuck with a VCD?
(The original AVIs are all around 2xx mb)
(I have done some searches on the forum and found some answers but nothing that has helped me get the size closer to 7xx without overshooting)
(Most settings set to default in both SVCD and VCD modes using the wizard at all times, only setting changed is to "full screen with aspect ratio")

Thanks.

The Filesize depents on two things: Playlenght of the Video and used Bitrate for (S)VCD. The Filesize of the AVI does not matter.
On a 80 Minutes-CD-R you can put 797 MByte of Video in (S)VCD-Mode.

You should get a "Bitrate Calculator" it will tell you what "Bitrate" to use for how long the file is so it fits on a 700mb(800mb)80min CD-R...

If you want any sort of decent quality then you will have to put a regular movie on 2 disks. VCD is in my opinion crap so I only do high quality SVCD's using VBR on to 2 disks.
It's no hardship to swap a disk halfway through a movie and is far more preferable than watching a full movie on one disk which is awful in quality.
Many amateurs like youself soon become dissatisfied with the quality of VCD and learn that SVCD on 2 disks is the way to go.
Oh and by the way you can fit 820mb of MPEG on to an 80min disk if you overburn.

I'm definitly a rookie on this, conversion and burning stuff, i got the TMPGEnc freeware, but i am having some problems, when i set over the directions to convert AVI to MPG, starts doing its job apparently very well, but the image on the preview screen doesn't appear at all. When it has done its conversion, i'd try to watch its results on the WMP (Windows Media Player) and just the sound was ok, BUT with no image!!!, please help me out, what am i doing wrong? any help will be appreciate.

Try this, Go to "options" to "enviromental settings" to "Vfapi Plugins" and Raise the "Direct show Multi-Media File reader" to "2", this should get the image to show the next time you encode...

This product is exactly what I've been looking for to edit my many DVD Video_TS folders. The ability to add DVD Video is a nice step in the right direction along with the editing of the DVD. Having been playing in this area for awhile, to make this really attractive to the DVD Editing-Authoring community I wanted to send a couple suggestions your way.

1. Review many of the capabilities of IfoEdit when dealing with DVD Video.
1a. Split into 2 DVD's if greater than 4.7Gb.
1b. Strip only the audio streams you want.
1c. Export and Mux m2v stream for TMPGEnc re-encode.
1d. many more ifoedit features....

I just think if you are going down the path of editing DVD's, why not go the extra mile :)

good stuff!

My life is complete, I was able to successfully remove Jah Jah Binks (spelled wrong) from Star Wars I thanks to TDA! The DVD's work beautifully.

Hello!

I'm thinking of buying the Plus version, but this one thing I'd like to know first. So, if I buy the Plus version, will I get free upgrades?

I bought it a little more than a month ago and upgraded with the new revision yesterday. No cost. The question becomes: will I get free updates FOREVER?

I have a film that is 14.98 fps.....can you encode this? I have decompressed the file and ran it through virtualdub to extract the audio, however when i put it into tmpgenc i get an error and have to close the progam down.

Yes you should be able to encode that file accept that you will have to use the "14.98fps(29.97fps Internally)" Frame rate setting, What is the error you are getting???

caused an exception 10h in module mp43dmod.dll at 0167:073e5c5d


that is on another pc, however i guess what i am asking is what template would i be using to encode 14.98(internally 29.97 fps) to make this work?

Well that error is with the Mpeg4 codec used to decode the file, It could be because there is something wrong with the file like it could be corrupted or something ,These types of problems seem common with files downloaded off the net.You might consider Installing the "FFDShow Mpeg-4 decoder", it might stop the error from happening..There is no template that will use that Frame rate setting (Unless you make one),you have to set it to the "14.98fps(29.97fps Internally)" setting Manually..You just go into settings under the Video tab and select the setting from the Drop down menu next to "Frame Rate"...

Admin my apologies once again for a double post, I JUST don't understand WHY this is happening, and I only press submit ONCE. I have set a password on some posts in the event that I noticed it happen again and yet when I enter the password to either edit a typo , or delete an unintended double post, even after i enter the password, the page just loops back to the enter password screen, please check this as I believ ther may be a problem there. Thanks

Stop refreshing the page after you have posted and you won't double post. To refresh the page click the 'View article' link at the bottom and no one can edit their posts not just you.

Thanks ashy, was wondering why that was happening, thanks for clearing it up for me :)

I'm converting an avi file into mpeg2 and the final mpeg file is just a little to big (5 GB) to burn to a dvd.

How can I set a limit on the file size?

If I use the project wizard then I can set 'Make file size xx % of disk capacity' but since I have made my own template I'm not using the wizard and I don't see this possibility anywhere in the main window.

Can anybody help?

Cheers

Thank you for all your comments and requests. This is just to let you know that we are listening to what you are suggesting and we will try and inprove the product in accordance with your suggestions.

Yesterday we released an updated version, which will have changed the following things:

TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.0.10 (1.0.10.36)

07Added: The Create menu functions include "Motion menu".

07Improved: Renewed version of the "Sofdec" MPEG decoder.

07Changed: A Multi_PGC_Title that some authoring software creates can also be read when reading a DVD-Video.

07Added: An MPEG file can be used as background in the menu.

07Added: Audio can be played in the Track preview window, the Edit clip window, and the Thumbnail picture selection window. (AC3 audio cannot be played).

07Improved: Better quality when performing audio sampling rate conversion, and higher processing speed.

07Added: When outputting a DVD folder it is not only possible to save it in a child folder named "Volume xxx" but also in a folder named "Volume xxx (project name)". (Selectable in Environmental settings)

07Added: Now supports using DVD video recording standard (VRO) format, recorded in VR mode on a DVD-RAM recorder, etc. as input. In order to use this function, it is necessary to have a PC system that includes drive, device driver, etc. that corresponds to the object media. If the file cannot be copied in Windows, you cannot use this function. Whether or not your system will be able to read such files is determined by many different factors, and we are therefore unfortunately not able to answer any questions how to solve this.
The VRO files written below are different from the DVD-Video standard and cannot be used.

*VRO files with changing video bitrate such as Advanced VRO.
*Files with other resolutions than 720x480, 704x480, 352x480, or 352x240.
*Files where the audio format has not been standardized to LinearPCM, MPEG-1 Audio Layer2, or Dolby Digital AC-3.

07Changed: The project file format has been changed. Project files created in this version cannot be used in previous versions.

07Changed: Various minor things.
07Updated the Help file.

Yeah, very nice. But without a chance to try the new features without restoring an old Windows-Image to reset the Test-Time (30 Days).
Nothing against the 30 Days-Rule, but if you have new features, you should give the Users a chance to try them without "hacking" windows.

Great to hear of improvements. How do we update our trial versions?



>Thank you for all your comments and requests. This is just to let you know that we are listening to what you are suggesting and we will try and inprove the product in accordance with your suggestions.
>
>Yesterday we released an updated version, which will have changed the following things:
>
>TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.0.10 (1.0.10.36)
>
>07Added: The Create menu functions include "Motion menu".
>
>07Improved: Renewed version of the "Sofdec" MPEG decoder.
>
>07Changed: A Multi_PGC_Title that some authoring software creates can also be read when reading a DVD-Video.
>
>07Added: An MPEG file can be used as background in the menu.
>
>07Added: Audio can be played in the Track preview window, the Edit clip window, and the Thumbnail picture selection window. (AC3 audio cannot be played).
>
>07Improved: Better quality when performing audio sampling rate conversion, and higher processing speed.
>
>07Added: When outputting a DVD folder it is not only possible to save it in a child folder named "Volume xxx" but also in a folder named "Volume xxx (project name)". (Selectable in Environmental settings)
>
>07Added: Now supports using DVD video recording standard (VRO) format, recorded in VR mode on a DVD-RAM recorder, etc. as input. In order to use this function, it is necessary to have a PC system that includes drive, device driver, etc. that corresponds to the object media. If the file cannot be copied in Windows, you cannot use this function. Whether or not your system will be able to read such files is determined by many different factors, and we are therefore unfortunately not able to answer any questions how to solve this.
>The VRO files written below are different from the DVD-Video standard and cannot be used.
>
>*VRO files with changing video bitrate such as Advanced VRO.
>*Files with other resolutions than 720x480, 704x480, 352x480, or 352x240.
>*Files where the audio format has not been standardized to LinearPCM, MPEG-1 Audio Layer2, or Dolby Digital AC-3.
>
>07Changed: The project file format has been changed. Project files created in this version cannot be used in previous versions.
>
>07Changed: Various minor things.
>07Updated the Help file.

Just download it from our website and run the installation.

When will it be possible to play AC-3 audio in the edit/monitor window? Is there and external codec that can be used?

I'm using the product mostly to import files from my Toshiba RD-X2 via DVD-RAM with AC-3 audio.

>Added: Now supports using DVD video recording standard (VRO) format

Is it possible with this to create dvds from dvb-s recordings without reencoding?

One last question,

Is it right that it's not enough to rely on the VideoCD template, or on the wizard, to convert DV-AVI to VideoCD-MPEG?

If the source video is 720x480, the source aspect ratio is in fact 704x480. In order to convert it properly to 352x240 and preserve the aspect ratio, the source frame must be clipped by 8 pixels from the left, and by 8 pixels from the right: 720-8-8=704.

It's the same in PAL conversions, from 720x576 to 352x288.

Those 8 pixels in the left and in the right wouldn't show on the TV, anyway. It's more important to have a video in the right aspect ratio; or, it shouldn't be converted to a 4:3 format.

Shouldn't the default settings do this clipping, if the video is 720x480, but the source ratio is 4:3 <-> 704x408? Ditto about PAL/576.

Best regards,
Cosmin

That's right. To convert 720 -> 352 you have to clip 16 Pixels. An other Way is to resize 720x576 -> 352x280 without cropping, letterboxing to 352x288.
In NTSC-World, you can do it this Way: Resize to 352x236 without cropping, letterbox to 352x240. But this isn't realy good, because of the strange Resizing. The best Way is to clip always to 704.

Thanks for confirmation.

This is another suggestion for Mr. Hori - that 720x480/720x576 video should be clipped by 8+8 pixels by default, when converted to any format that maintains the same pixel aspect ratio, and the frame fills a 4:3 rectangle (such as VideoCD, or 640x480, or 320x240, etc.)

I've seen a couple of VideoCDs, converted from VHS or TV capture, that have black vertical margins and an incorrect pixel aspect ratio (i.e. people appear "too tall".) I believe the users of TMPGEnc who did the conversion didn't know that they were doing it wrong.

I don't know if my suggestion is better handled in the program, or in a template.

That's incorrect. Well for your information the authors of TMPG have already compensated for this.
TMPG automatically adjusts the aspect ratio to acount for the difference in pixels.
You will notice that when resizing from 720x480 to 720x240 that image is not only compressed by 8 pixels either side vertically, but TMPG also compresses the image horizontally by the right amount of pixels regarding the aspect ratio to compensate and just fills the rest in with black.

If you clip 8 pixels either side your image will infact have the wrong aspect ratio or if you resize the image vertically so it's a few pixels short.

If you don't believe it just play the original in media player and put your thumbnail on the top or bottom edge of the image then without removing your thumb play your resized clip. You will noticed the image is also compressed a few pixels horizontally to compensate and maintain the correct aspect ratio.

>You will notice that when resizing from 720x480 to 720x240 that image is not >only compressed by 8 pixels either side vertically
Sorry this should read: You will notice that when resizing from 720x480 to 352x240 that image is not only compressed by 8 pixels either side vertically

>That's incorrect. Well for your information the authors of TMPG have already compensated for this.
>TMPG automatically adjusts the aspect ratio to acount for the difference in pixels.

I am glad to know this, although it doesn't happen in my version of TMPGEnc (2.59.47.155). I am sure about it, because I tested it with a 720x480 video that has 8-pixel-wide black margins on the left and on the right. If I don't clip anything, those margins appear (albeit narrower) in the encoded video (they shouldn't).

Maybe a newer version of TMPGEnc does it properly. When I'll have time, I will download the latest version and test it.

Huh, what Ashy said is right, but, there's a big reason, NOT to use this Resizing-Feature in TMPGEnc (and other Programs): It is called the Nyquist-Effekt. It's a theorem about Resizing and it is exactly what i meant with "Strange Resizing".
I must appologize, but my english is not good enough to give you an Explanation about the Nyquist-Effekt, but it exist and can be noticed. It results in unsharp mixing of Pixels, and it does not happen, if you do the Cropping to 704.

704 / 2 = 352
480 / 2 = 240

If you use the Resizing-Feature for the 720 Format, the division Factor is not 2, it is a foating-Point Opperation.

Sorry, that's al i can "stutter" about that in english. :(

About Aspect Ratios: 720 and 704 do have exactly the same ASR, that's because the 720 Format do use an Motion Area of 704.

I still don't understand this statement of Ashy:

>If you clip 8 pixels either side your image will infact have the wrong aspect ratio or if you resize the image vertically so it's a few pixels short.

Say I have to convert from 720x480 to 352x240.
The 720x480 source has 704x480 of its pixels to fill in a 4:3 rectangle (this is why the "source aspect ratio" is called "704x480 4:3"). Therefore, the entire source frame is actually wider: it's not 4:3 = 1.3333..., but it's (4:3)*(720/704) = (4:3)*(45/44) = 1.3636...

For example, if you play a 720x480 video in full screen, you will see thin, horizontal black bars at the top and at the bottom. If you play a 352x240 video or a 704x480 video in full screen, that occupies indeed the entire screen. The video looks higher, but also wider, by the proper amount necessary to preserve the aspect ratio.

Therefore, if you clip 8 pixels on the left and 8 on the right, you will get a narrower video, which occupies a full 4:3 rectangle, and preserves the correct aspect ratio at the same time.

Ditto with 720x576 --> 704x576 / 352x288 in PAL/SECAM countries.

Cosmin

It's me again,

The "No motion search for still picture part by half pixel" option is on by default in the VideoCD templates. However, I noticed in other MPEG encoders that they enable motion search by half pixel by default, and recommend using it because they claim it's better. In fact, the MPEG committe included half motion in the standard in order to increase quality.

My very subjective impression with TMPGEnc is that half-pixel motion search gives slightly better results, either if it is a movie shot with a camcorder in the hand (which has fast and slow motion, but almost no stills), or on a tripod (which has also stills, at least in parts of the image).

Am I right, or is the template right, or is it simply the fact that "you can't tell"?
It's true that I didn't have frames with "complete stills", only "still background, moving subject". But even in this case, half-pixel motion search was better, so I had to override the TMPGEnc template.

I am using TMPGEnc version 2.59.47.155

Best regards,
Cosmin

Half PEL search is good if you have good Source (sharp, clear, less Noise). You should aktivate it.
But if you have Captures from older Tapes with flickering Object-Borders, it's better to deaktivate Half PEL Search. That's because the encoder gives the Borders too much Bitrate and too less on now motion Parts into a picture which results in strange Effekts.

Thanks, Kika, for the answer. Yes, my source is Digital Video, which has some noise indeed, but it's very little. It's good to know that this kind of video is better compressed with HalfPel search enabled.

As a suggestion: I think that many people convert their digital videos (or other kinds of high-quality video) to MPEG, and I doubt that they know HalfPel search is better the source is DV; probably, they will just use the defaults. It would be a good idea to mention this in the "tooltip" message associated to the HalfPel checkbox setting.