Hi. I'm a newbie to all of these stuff, though I'm working hard trying to learn a bit (I've downloaded - & read - a lot of guides at www.VCDHelp.com , www.doom9.org , etc. - God bless those guys, BTW-), I've installed many programs, BUT...

...I've failed miserably with a "simple task": I've ripped a commercial anime DVD (DVD-9 format, about 7 GB) to edit it (to add another audio track... it's too long to explain), and I need TO LOWER THE VIDEO BITRATE at TMPGEnc 2.59 in order to get a DVD-R (about 4.7 GB, you know).

It seems quite simple... BUT the resulting DVD-R, though it works at my stand-alone DVD player, has CHOPPY, faltering VIDEO (without having changed the frame rate... or I've changed it inadvertently??). I can't imagine WHY this happens, I've triple-checked everything!!!

I've used these parameters:

Project Wizard - NTSC (16:9)
Interlace
Top field first (field A)
AR = 16:9 525 line (NTSC)
Content of video = Film movie (as Pin point Help recommends)
(BTW, it's anime, with 2 AC3 192 kbps audio tracks.)

2-pass VBR
Average 4500, Max. 6000, Min. 1000
DC = 9 bits
Motion search = Highest quality (****ing slow)
Video arrange = Full screen (keep AR)
GOP (default) = 1-5-2-1-18 + Output b. + Detect Scene C.

That's all I've used (no source range, no inverse telecine, no "xxxxx"). That bitrate is more than enough to get non-choppy video, IMHO. Should I try any filters (any kind of "De-interlace" or "Inverse telecine", perhaps)?? Or I've used something I shouldn't have used??

PLEASE, if you're so kind, HELP ME!!! It's a bit frustrating to study those comprehensive guides, to spend MANY hours of encoding time & to spend quite a few $ to get that expensive DVD-recorder... And, after all that, to be completely unable to accomplish this simple task!! I feel a bit stupid...

First of all is this choppy playback happening on both the DVD player and the PC or just DVD player and is it regular or intermittent.
Have you used these disks before? Choppy playback can be caused by cheap disks and using too high speed. Not all DVD-R are the same. Maybe try 1x if these are cheap disks.

Check your MPEG with Bitrate viewer to make sure it conforms to the specs and is the same frame rate as the original and look for bitrate spikes.

Have you tried changing the field order?

Not that this will affect the playback but the 'Highest quality' setting is unecessary. There will be no difference between it and the 'High quality' setting except for the dramatic increase in time and is especially not required for DVD encoding.

Finally why not try DVD2ONE, this will fit your movie on to a regular 4.7 gb disk in about 20 mins.

ASHY

Well, firstly, THANKS for your efforts, ASHY. And, about the choppy playback: it happens on both the DVD stand-alone player and the PC DVD-ROM, and it's almost regular ("almost" because it's much more noticeable at high-motion scenes, & a bit less noticeable at the PC).

The DVD-R are brand disks (Verbatim) burned at 1x speed; I think they're at least of fair quality... though I'm not 100% sure, I'm just beginning with this madness of burning DVD-Video disks. Do you recommend me any other brand??

Anyway, YOU WERE RIGHT: Bitrate Viewer says that the ORIGINAL video file is:

DCT precision: 10
DCT type: Field
Scan type: Alternate
Frame type: Interlaced

& my NEW video files are quite different:
DCT precision: 9
DCT type: Frame
Scan type: ZigZag
Frame type: Progressive

BUT... I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY'RE SO DIFFERENT!!!
- Should I NOT use the NTSC-DVD template at Project Wizard??
- Is it wrong to select "Film movie" as "Content of video"?? (though Pin Point Help recommends it instead of using "Video movie")
- And: Does it matter the different DCT precision??

&, about DVD2ONE: I'm sure it's REALLY useful, but I need more control than just copying disks: you know, I'm ADDING AN AUDIO TRACK (from another source), & that means re-authoring the DVD (& a lot of hard work, BTW).

THANKS A LOT and, PLEASE, post any other suggestions that you have.

I can already see your problem.
You didn't post the framerate of the MPEGs in the info that bitrate viewer gave you, but I will guess your original movie is 29.97 fps and your encoded movie is 23.976 fps.

It is the frame rate difference which is causing the problem. The reason your frame rate is different is because you have chosen 'Film movie' as content of video. This has caused the framerate to be changed to 23.976 and the '3:2 pulldown when playback' option to be invoked.

The only time you would use the 'Film movie' setting is when your movie is a 23.976 progressive movie not a 29.97 interlaced movie.

The movie you have created is a 23.976 fps progressive movie instead of an 29.97 interlaced movie.

You have 2 options:

1. Re-encode the movie correctly not using the 'Film movie' option

2. Use DVD2AVI and the 'ForcedFilm' option to strip the RFF flags from your movie to make your movie into a 23.976 progressive movie then use the 'Film movie option'

My advice seeing as you are new is to use option 1.

ASHY

>You didn't post the framerate of the MPEGs in the info that bitrate viewer gave you, but I will guess your original movie is 29.97 fps and your encoded movie is 23.976 fps.

Your movie probably states as being 29.97 fps in bitrate viewer but it's true frame rate is 23.976. This is because of RFF pulldown flags and is why Iam referring to it as 23.976.

ASHY

Hi again, ASHY.

Sorry for not having answered before, I had too much work ("real-life for-getting-food work", I mean). Anyway, better now than never: THANKS A LOT!!!

...You were 100% right, I've re-encoded a little piece of the file & it works. Perfectly. & Bitrate Viewer is really an awesome program.

You've been really helpful. THANKS & GOOD LUCK!!

i ripped some VOB files and wanna convert them to VCD MPEG1 - can I input them in TMPGenc or do I need to do something else?

You need DVD2AVI.

ASHY

Hi:

When I try to cut some mpeg video files after edit the video file TMPG tries to cut the file but never does it and I see a error message: "Illegal MPEG Video Stream". I want to know why I have this problem and if there is any solution.

Thanks

What did you use to edit the MPEG? Whatever you are using is creating an illegal MPEG stream.

ASHY

I just tried making a XVCD per 03/05/03 episode of TechTV I downloaded all the software recommended and made my first mpeg file using their template. The 42 min. video made a 828mb file. I tried dropping the quality down (from 70 to 60)and the file size increased. The latest file made was 818mb and that was when I increased the quality to 80. What else can I do to drop the file size down to fit on a 700mb cd. I've tried to make a SVCD before but was not satisfied with the quality. This template sounded promising, but I can't get the file size down to fit. HELP!

Lower the Bitrate....

Well it's no wonder you weren't happy with the quality of SVCD if you are trying to fit it all on one disk even VCD looks shite on one disk.
It is just NOT possible no matter what friggin template you use to get any decent quality on just one disk.

As for your file size 818mb. This will fit on an 700mb disk as long as you overburn it. If not just demultiplex the audio then re-encode it to a lower bitrate then remultiplex with your Video. There is no need to re-encode the Video.

Make sure when creating XVCD that the 'stream setting' is set to 'MPEG1 VCD(non standard)' then just drop the bitrate to make it smaller.

ASHY

Can anyone help me how to burn a vcd to play on sony ns315, tried everything but nothing happens, how to setup options in nero or vcdeasy
Thaks!

Your Player Plays VCD"s fine So it must be that you don"t know how to burn them Properly..With Nero it is So simple a Monkey can figure it out..Just follow the WiZard and choose Video-CD then when you get to the Main Screen just find your Mpeg file and Drag it from the Right side over to the Left side of the Window and Burn it..If it gives you an error saying that your Mpeg file is Not VCD Compliant then you probably did something wrong when encodeing the Mpeg file.Maybe explain EXACTLY what the Problem you are Haveing is and we could give you a More detailed answer to your Problem..

When i'm converting avi to mpeg2, i get an error:
"Index of Scan Line is out of range(304)"

-What does this mean?
-What can i do to fix it? since it stops the conversion.

i Have already extracted the sound into wav from the avi.

thanks

Bad frames somewhere in AVI. Most likely you have downloaded it. Try frameserving from Virtualdub or fixing and resaving.

ASHY

I am trying to covert Mpeg2 (and divx) to Mpeg1 VCD. I have done this about a 100 times and I am fluent in knowledge of how to do this process. Recently, everything that is Mpeg2 or divx and put it on a disc as a VCD, it is choppy is certian areas when I play it on my DVD player. When I play it on my PC it works perfectly. But I know my DVD player works fine cause all of my old stuff works perfectly. I need help if figuring out if there is possiblity that there is covertion problem or a burning problem. And by the way, it is NOT a bitrate or framerate problem, I have checked. PLEASE HELP!! Thank you. - Jonah

What speed are you burning at. Too high a speed causes this. 4x is best but try higher and see the results.
Have you changed your disks recently as cheap disk can cause this also.

ASHY

Can anyone tell me how to cut a mpeg file? I can use the Mpeg tools to merge files but don;t know how to cut. Please help this newbie, thanks a lot!!!

Merge&Cut, load file, click edit, set cut points, click run.

ASHY

Dear Ashy

Please forgive my ignorance and teach me how to set cut points? Use the { } signs? can i set multiple cut points? how to name the resulting clips?

Thanks,
William

Follow these steps.

First part:

1. Load MPEG into Merge&Cut

2. Set stream type to 'MPEG1 Video CD' if MPEG1 or 'MPEG2 SVCD(VBR)' if MPEG2

3. Click Edit

4. Click { for the beginning of the cut and } for the end of the cut.

5. Click OK and name your output then run.

Second Part:

1. Click edit again

2. copy the figures from end cut point box into the beginning cut point box.

3. Move the slider to the end and click } then OK

4. Rename the output and click run.

ASHY

Thanks a lot!!!!!!

I have been trying to convert an .avi file of mine to a .mpeg, but the end product always comes out extremely choppy. The picture on the converted file is made up of a lot of blocks and as I said very choppy. Does anyone know a remedy to my problem? Do I need to change the settings or anything else? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Ususally when someone describes there Mpeg file as "Choppy" it means that they have Probably encoded to the wrong Frame Rate, Check the AVI file for it"s Frame rate and make sure that is the frame rate of the File to are encodeing to..But Blockyness is Usually due to a Low Bitrate and/or low Quality source files, this is Common with VCD"s cuz a Standard VCD"s Bitrate is Quite low..

It keeps saving the files as .mcf. files Am i supposed to have it on a certain setting to make sure that it saves as an .mpg file?

You are Deffinately New to this Cuz you seem to be Pretty Lost, MFC Files are Templates and if you are Makeing Templates instead of Mpegs than you are Going about this all wrong, and you need More help that I can give,Go to here:"http://www.dvdrhelp.com/" and you will find a few step By step guides on how to use Tmpgenc and there is lots of usefull info there ...good Luck..

i used to have this problem a while ago when i was using the wizard
when u get to the final page of the wizard and u can change the output filename to wotever ur film is...ie...matrix cd1 in this box u will notice it gives u the file extenstion name...ie ".mpg"
when u rename it matrix cd1 u are changing the ".mpg" file extenstion so by default it uses the tmpg template extenstion hence ".mcf"
so on the last page of wizard instead of changing filename straight away....click browse then change filename from there....then encode

I am trying to demux an XVID .avi with the following ID in GSpot:

Audio: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3

I highlighted NO compression in Virtual Dub, Full processing mode but could not
get the extraction to .wav accomplished. Virtual Dub shuts the window down without extracting the .wav file. Anyone got any ideas as to why?

i sometimes get this an have to extract the wav with a proggie called "avimux"
run avi mux then set the preroll to 100 and interleave to 100 then set output name
finally press go....hope this helps

Use AVImux.

>set the preroll to 100 and interleave to 100 then set output name

This isn't necessary with mp3 audio only in certain cases with Ac3.

ASHY

Where can I get AVIMux??? I found a GUI version but cannot figure out how to do this. Do I need to decompress the .wav file?

You got the wrong one. You need this one then search this board for info how to use it. http://www.divx-digest.com/software/avimux.html

ASHY

The GUI Version Works Just Fine also, This is the Version that I usually use...

>The GUI Version Works Just Fine also, This is the Version that I usually use...

How? The GUI version doesn't work. It has no option to extract to wav.

ASHY

When I'm using TMPGEnc to convert d2v to mpeg, I keep getting the same error message when the convertion is about 30% complete. I tried unistalling and installing the program over and over but nothing solves the problem.
This is the message I get: "Read error occured at address 01AA6B07 of module 'DVD2AVI.VFP' with 0277D710".
Does anyone knows why this happens?

Try raising the priority of the d2v reader on the VFAPI plugins. If that doesn't help itould be a problem in either the D2v or the VOBs themselves. creat another d2v, if you get the same problem re-rip the VOBs.

ASHY

Try raising the priority of the d2v reader on the VFAPI plugins. If that doesn't help it could be a problem in either the D2v or the VOBs themselves. creat another d2v, if you get the same problem re-rip the VOBs.

ASHY