Call me dumb, but I've had DVD author 3 for 2 days now, and still can't cut out bits of film I'd like removed. Everytime I click on the scissors icon, it flashes up with the message that this is an impossible operation. Any help would be much appreciated.

Have you set your start and end frames? You will get an error like the one you're describing if the whole clip is selected.

To select your start or end frames, move the playhead to your start or end frame and then use the appropriate button located to the left or right of the scissor icon, bottom row.
The part of your clip selected will be highlighted purple in the thumbnail film strip ; this is the section that will be cut when you click on the scissor icon.

If you're getting a different error message, please let me know what the whole message says and maybe I can help you further.

Fantastic! Many thanks for having the time to help an old git out! It works a treat now! very much appreciated.

No problem ! Glad I could help!

Will TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0 run with Vista 64 bit?
Thanks
MachineGun

Some people have used it on their Vista 64 bit systems with no problems, but it's not officially supported so it's up to you if you want to risk it.

I recommend downloading the trial version first to see how it works on your system.

Thanks for the reply.
I already have bought it for my 32 bit Vista, but I would like to switch to 64 bit when I build my new system.
Speaking of new system would I have any problems installing it on a new computer assuming that I first remove it from the old one?

Thanks
NachineGun

You shouldn't have a problem installing it on a new system as long as you're not installing it multiple times in a short time period.

I'm running Vista 64bit and it works perfect with Xpress 4.5.2.255!

Great, thanks for the info.
MachineGun

I have started making a template like this; Top menu, three chapters - first got four subchapters, second got three subchapters and third only one subchapter.

I got the four subchapters for chapter one showing nicely on the source part of the program but it wont show up in any way under the menu part of the program - anyone experienced this or know what might be causing it?

Thanks alot for any help.

Best wishes
Marcus

What menu template/layout are you using? Some layouts may not show the chapter thumbnails. Also, did you choose "Top and track menu" in the Menu structure settings? You can check this in the "Global DVD menu settings" accessable in the Menu stage or in the Menu Wizard.

Let's also clarify your terminology. By "chapter" I'm assuming you mean track, and by "subchapter", I'm assuming you mean clip/chapter. At least, that's what it seems like you're describing.

Hi,

I have a collection of video clips that I'd like to have played back in a random order each time. Is this possible?

Thanks.

Sorry, I don't think this is possible.

Hello,

I'd like to make a DVD with just a Top menu.
Example of how it would look when run:

Title
_____


Video1
Video2
Video3
and so on

I can't get just 1 page.

In the Menu Wizard when you get to the DVD Menu Structure Settings, choose "Top Menu Only."
(You can also set this in the Global DVD Menu Settings)

That's it!

These would be mpeg-2 & H.264 transport streams.

Some 720p & some 1080i.

Occasionally some TV recordings have weird time sync issues & I'm looking for something I can use to repair them.

I wanted to convert a 720x576 format DVD to a 720x428 format MPEG4 AVC

In "Source" I edited all the 5 clips for the movie to use a crop to remove 74 pixels from the top and the bottom and they showed fine in the program.

In the "Format" I changed the resolution accordingly but the output format is still 720x576, pretty big downer after a 4.5 hour long encode to find out the program screwed up.

Is this a known bug in the free version, or a general bug in both free/paid version? I wanted it to remove the black bars since they take up a lot of space and are useless, especially when viewed in mediaplayer in windows, making the actual movie even smaller when in full screen then when playing the DVD.

Any solutions?

I was just about to buy the full version since I like how it works, but the final trial encode messing up like that is very critical and means no purchase from my side until I have a solution to fix it, so any help is much appreciated.

Same behavior here. I have a registered version of TMPGEnc Xpress 4 and tried different codecs to ensure its not the codecs fault, but TMPGEncs...

I think I found a solution.

In the filter list, select the "Picture resize" filter.

Next, select "Center (custom size)" for Picture position.

Then input your desired output resolution.

In the Encode stage, click on the Preview button to see a sample of how the output will look to make sure it's bar-free.

Actually, I may not be having the same problem as you guys; my output is always at the resolution I set it at in the Format stage.

So your output resolutions are always the same as your source resolutions, even if you change it?

What version are you guys using?

I created a compilation of chapters from few different (non-encrypted) DVD's and burnt it to a DVD (all from the DVD Author tool). When I play the DVD in PS3 with Audio Settings as Linear PCM (under BD/DVD Settings), I am get crackling sound. Feels as if the bass is not getting reproduced properly.

However if I switch the PS3 audio setting to "Bitstream", the audio plays fine and smooth.

Is there any setting in DVD Author that I can tweak so it works fine with LinearPCM mode as well?

Thanks!

You can try changing the audio settings for your tracks to Linear PCM.
In the Source Stage, click on "Settings" for your track(s). This opens the track settings window.
Go to the Audio Settings tab.
In the drop-down for Audio 1 (and Audio 2 if necessary), select "Re-encode as below if necessary" or "Re-encode all as below".
For the audio stream format you can now change it to Linear PCM.

I haven't tested any of this, but it seems like this should work. I'm also not sure how linear PCM audio will work with the bitstream setting on the PS3.

Thanks!

I was sceptical to try the LPCM alternative, as being uncompressed, it would probably have made the file larger.

However upon some more playing around I realized that the crackling was happening because I set the PS3 volume level to max (+2). This affects only the LPCM mode only, as in case of Bitstream the PS3 volume level has no effect. When I reduced the level a bit I wa able to get the sound I was expecting. Actually the base was still somewhat weaker than Bitstream, but that is probably because of different DACs in PS3 vs the Onkyo receiver that decodes bitstream.

My PC Config is-

AMD Athlon Dual Core 4000+
ASUS M2A-VM Mainboard
2GB DDR2 RAM 633MHZ
500GB SATA2 HDD Seagate
Liteon DVD RW

I am using TMPGENC Xpress V.4.4.1.237 for ripping of DVD to MPEG VCD PAL format with default ripping settings.
When I author that MPEG file for DVD with TMPGEnc DVD Author ver.3.1.2.176 with default authoring settings & play the DVD on DVD Players then on some DVD players the Video Flickers.

But if I Author the same MPEG file with NERO VISION Ver.5 then the problem doesn't occurs. The NERO VISION Ver.5 takes long time to author compared to TMPGEnc DVD Author.

What is the reason of the problem.Is there any settings for TMPGENC Xpress or
TMPGEnc DVD Author.

Please Help Me.

My PC Config is-

AMD Athlon Dual Core 4000+
ASUS M2A-VM Mainboard
2GB DDR2 RAM 633MHZ
500GB SATA2 HDD Seagate
Liteon DVD RW

I am using TMPGENC Xpress V.4.4.1.237 for ripping of DVD to MPEG VCD PAL format with default ripping settings.
When I author that MPEG file for DVD with TMPGEnc DVD Author ver.3.1.2.176 with default authoring settings & play the DVD on DVD Players then on some DVD players the Video Flickers.

But if I Author the same MPEG file with NERO VISION Ver.5 then the problem doesn't occurs. The NERO VISION Ver.5 takes long time to author compared to TMPGEnc DVD Author.

What is the reason of the problem.Is there any settings for TMPGENC Xpress or
TMPGEnc DVD Author.

Please Help Me.

Hello I'm new to TMPGenc 4.0 Xpress. First program of this nature I've used. I uploaded a movie left it as it is because I just wanted it to be converted from AVI to Mpeg. However it ran out of space doing the movie because the out put size was 50G!? Is there some way to change that? I mean the original size was only at 700mb. All I did was load the file in and changed the output format to mpeg. any ideas?

What are the attributes of your avi file? Resolution? Framerate? Codec used?

What settings do you see for the MPEG output (in the Format stage)?

That's quite a large leap in filesize, but it's hard to say why it's doing that with so little information.

I have a set of subtiltes (idx & sub ) ripped from DVD.
I read the User Manual that mentioned those messages as below:
List: (Subtitles list)
Contains the current subtitle stream text. Subtitles imported from a DVD-Video are displayed in a graphical format instead of text, so they do not appear in this list.

Import subtitles (I)
Displays a standard file selector where you can choose the subtitles files (*.subtitle) you wish to load in the Subtitles list.

Please tell me how to transfer sub to *.subtitle for TDA, Thanks a lot!

I got it!
Because TMPGEnc DVD Author also supports DVD-Video files (VIDEO-TS.ifo) as input files。
About making a (*.subtitle) file, you can surf this page for details:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=639697&st=135

Nice find! This is really helpful!