Hi. I have two questions about aspect ratios and video arrange methods.

1) I'm making a PAL SVCD from some captured videos. Source resolution is 640x480 (so source aspect ratio should be 1:1). I set output aspect ratio as 4:3 (620 lines) PAL. Now my problem is this: video looks good, but the video is subtitled and the subtitles are 'cut' on both sides of the image (left & right). It's like it doesn't fit on my tv screen or something. This only happends using Full screen modes. My question is, which full screen mode wouldn't make it happen?

2) When converting the same video to a PAL DVD I get a similar problem. Image is a bit off-screen on bottom and left side. Should I use 'CENTER <CUSTOM SIZE>' and enter 720x540 for example? I say 720x540 because it's the closest resolution to full screen with 1,33333 aspect ratio like the original, so I suppose it will fix the 36 remaining pixels with black bands, right?

Thanks in advance

Use Center (Custom size) with 688x560 or 672x544.
And use 704x576 als Target Size, NOT 720x576 which isn't PAL 4:3 (1.333).

'Use Center (Custom size) with 688x560 or 672x544.
And use 704x576 als Target Size, NOT 720x576 which isn't PAL 4:3 (1.333).'

I don't understand it. 688x560 and 672x544 don't have a 1.333 aspect ratio, how is that going to work? And why the 704x576 as Target size? According to the templates a PAL DVD is 720x576. I'm just trying to know the 'why' of your answers cause I like to know the reason to do something so I can understand it. Thanks for your help.

> I don't understand it. 688x560 and 672x544 don't have a 1.333 aspect ratio

Sure they have. ;)

> And why the 704x576 as Target size?

Because your Video has the AR 4:3 and this Resolution has the AR of 4:3.

720x576 is the same than 704x576 with an Overscan of 16 Pixels.

Your Source is at a PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio) of 1:1, MPEG do use 1.092:1, so the rest is simple mathmatics. In "natural speaking": MPEG-Pixels aren't square, they are Non-Square, which means:
768x576 square is the same than 704x576 non-square
786x576 square equals to 720x576 non-square

PAL DVD knows the following Resolutions:
720x576 with a Motion Area of 704x576 (ITU-R 601)
704x576 with no special Motion Area (CCIR601)
352x576 which is called Half-D1 (CCIR601)
352x288 (Quarter D1, CCIR601)

They all use the same PAR: 1.092 on 4:3 AR.

I have a DVD here which is 114 minutes long, a bitrate of 9800KB/S and a total file size of 4.33GB.

I can't understand how this works. According to my calculations the file size should be 8528GB. My sums have gone wrong here but TMPGenc would seem to (roughly) agree with me, can anybody help?

Cheers,

Bob.

That size is about the correct size TMPG will create if you use the wizard.
TMPG will adjust the bitrate accordingly to fit a regular DVDR(4.37GB)
I doubt the bitrate is 9800 Kb/s unless you set that yourself as CBR.
Most DVD's say 9800Kb/s as the max bitrate not the constant bitrate. DVD's are VBR encoded which means the bitrate varies to save file size usually between 2000Kb/s - 9800 Kb/s

Hello would apretiate anyones help on this I am trying to make a karaoke vcd to play on my dvd player with tmpge. I know it can be done because I did it once and now I must be missing a step somewhere because I keep getting a message cannot open or unsupported message when I try to input the bin/cdg file as the video file?

You don't have a clue of what you're doing huh? Get daemon tools at http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php, install them and try to mount this bin file. You just learned something new ;O)

TMPG does not accept BIN files.
You have your answer above.

Thanks but I don't understand how to use daemon tools and I have made one mpg without it so there is a way to do it Is there anyone who can help me furthher?

Man, haven't you heared of google? You could have been ready days ago if you searched google!! I found this in a flash: http://www.powerkaraoke.com/src/prod_powercdg2avi.php

Make it yourself easy. USE GOOGLE

I captured 104mins of video this morning and the resultant 4GB file played on any windows player correctly. After putting it through TMPGenc however, the audio was out of sync by about 1.5 seconds by the end of the clip. It did not matter whether I used merge/cut, demultiplex/multiplex or encode the result was the same. I solved the problem by extracting the audio and time stretching it using cooledit before remuxing it in TMPGenc.

Is the following explanation feasible?

That the VHS tape I encoded the video from is rather old and has stretched. When TMPGenc gets hold of the created MPG it interprets the video as 25fps exactly but interprets the audio exactly as it comes off the tape. As the tape has stretched, there will be a difference and that's where the loss of sync comes in.

I can't think of any other explanation or solution other than modifying the audio track. Since the entire operation took about 9 hours any better solution would be welcome for next time.

Cheers,

Bob.

I just finished capturing an hour from an old tape and downloaded VirtualDub-MPEG2 with which to check it. The result bears out my theory.

So if I have a file that is 24.7fps is it possible to convert this to 25fps (changing the bitrate along the way) and keep audio sync without using another program to change one or the other?

For some reason I can only capture at 8MB/S (any lower and the capture fails) and I have a project where I want to create a DVD of 2.5 hours (requires 4MB/S). So I want to use TMPGenc to do the conversion.

I have the feeling there is no easy answer to this. Am I right?

I think it's unlikely a stretched tape problem, even if it is a little stretched, however your video player should compensate this and output at the correct frame rate regardless by speeding up or slowing down the rate it plays at.
All video players do this constantly even with new tapes by using an electronic feed back mechanism to maintain the correct speed.

Your capture software is probably crap. Any software that doesn't stick to the standards when set should be binned. If you set your capture software to 25 fps it should stay as 25 fps not vary.

TMPG will automatically select 25 fps as the framerate if you choose PAL therefore speeding up the frame rate and shortening the video causing A/V desync.
You must select 'Do not frame rate conversion' from the advanced options or you will experience jerky playback.

I'm afraid you will have to shrink the audio with cooledit to match the video.

Thanks,

After more tests today, shrinking the audio track doesn't seem to do the job. The 'raw' MPEG I have claims 25fps and is perfect when played through any media player it's only after it's been through TMPGenc that the audio sync is out.

I'll report back when I've learned what the problem is, but the file is 2.5GB long so TMPG takes about an hour to process each test.

Cheers,

Bob.

Perhaps I have another (better) explanation for bad audio sync:

Investigation proves I am capturing a number of empty frames. The capture file contains these empty frames and the resultant padding means that media player maintains audio sync when playing.

Am I right in thinking that TMPGenc will discard empty frames with the result that the resultant video becomes that much shorter and therefore more sync is lost the longer the video lasts?

If so, could TMPGenc be configured to keep the frames as they are?

Cheers,

Bob.

I think that it is your capture software that is causing the problem, not TMPGEnc.

Did you try another software capture package? I have used the Ulead products to capture real time mpeg without any problems. They offer a free trial version that works for a month. If you have an ATI capture card you might what to download the latest drivers and mpeg capture software.

Those empty frames you talk about might be dropped frames from you capture program or maybe a failing VHS tape. If its the VHS tape you could try a time based corrector but thats a bit expensive. It would sit between your vcr and your capture card. If you have DV camcorder, most have a built in time based corrector. So you would plug your vcr into the camcorders inputs and capture it to the computer using firewire.

Hope this helps.

At present I am only aware that the problem exists (and I note that others have had the same or a similar problem) and I'm trying to identify the cause. Once I know what the cause is and what the respective programs can and can't do I can derive a solution.

I'm not blaming any product as yet; I just need to know exactly what they do.

Bob.

Update:

The capture software is to blame. If I manually stop the capture the problem is as I have described; if I let the recording run on to a predefined time limit so that the capture software aborts the recording there are no sync problems after re-encoding the file through TMPGenc.

I shall take it up with the manufacturers of the capture software.

Thanks everyone for your help,

Bob.

I have this old movie, divx. I downloaded it.. and its got two audio streams. english, with german dubbed over(i think) anyways.. I'd like to get rid of one stream. Will this program do it? If so, how do I go about doing it?

mark

You probably have English on one channel and german on the other.
You choose either channel in Virtualdub then just resave the AVI using direct stream copy.
In Virtualdub select 'Audio' then 'Full processing' then Audio>Conversion and select either left or right channel depending on the track you require and then just resave using direct stream copy for the video and audio.

Tried it, I did exactly what you specified.. only ran left channel and only output mode.. came out with two streams. Right Channel the same. does it work that way? or do i have to actually do the whole conversion to see if it came out right?

I've now got mcutter and avi-mux and i'm toying with them. I tried the splitting of the two channels didnt work. I did find two channels but they are the same. same length.. everything. Any way to split them up? or am i out of luck on this one? another thought.. maybe splitting high/low freq. seeing what happens.. haven't a clue how yet, but i'm learning.

get mmswitch.ax (google). place it in your windowssystem32 dir and run regsvr32 mmswitch.ax

You obviously have 2 stereo channel streams, not 2 mono streams in the source.

If you load the AVI into AVImux04 it will let you extract the streams you want by unchecking the unwanted streams.
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/avimux.html

First don't install any other codec packs other than the ffdshow decoder. this is all you need. Yes, subtitles supported. Get you latest version at http://www.ligh.de/software/mirrors.phtml

Lately I started using mainconcept mpeg encoder but the principle is the same with TMPGEnc. Don't use any filters or resize thingies from TMPGEnc. Just use TMPGEnc as a encoder (I use the MoleVCD 2.6 templates, look them up with google)

After installing ffdshow click in you start menu ffdshow -> Configuration. First select Tray -> turn on all switches. Then Postprocessing -> Presets MAX.
Then Select Blur and Noise Reduction (NR) -> Gradual Denoise (40)

Now select resize and Aspect -> 352x288 for PAL.

Now we have to save these settings. Select Image Settings -> new -> from selected. rename -> PAL.

Now select resize and Aspect -> 320x240 for NTSC.

Now we have to save these settings. Select Image Settings -> new -> from selected. rename -> NTSC.

For TMPGEnc 2.5 the color space should be 24 bit RGB. Select the Codecs (or Output in later versions) and only leave RGB24 on.

Open the movie you want to convert in TMPGENC and select Preview. The ffdshow icon should appear in the system tray. Select the PAL or NTSC profile.

Good luck.

Hendrik - The Netherlands

That's all fine and dandy, but those settings aren't ideal for every movie.

For a start maximum post processing is overkill and using noise reduction may not be necessary.
With good clean sources such as DVD rips not many optimizations are required as they can infact reduce the image quality not improve it.
Enabling to many optimizations will only slow things down and if they are not required then there is no point.

That may be right. Find out the best settings yourself. It´s the method of conversion I try to point out here. Just want it to share with you guys here.
Now I´m into it you must give the audio filter a try. It can handle AAC and AC3 among others. Check the Mixer box and select your desired audio output. I haven´t tried it with TMPGEnc.

And: don´t forget to give the directshow a higher prio in TMPGEnc. Else it won´t work.

Cheers

That may be right. Find out the best settings yourself. It´s the method of conversion I try to point out here. Just want it to share with you guys here.
Now I´m into it you must give the audio filter a try. It can handle AAC and AC3 among others. Check the Mixer box and select your desired audio output. I haven´t tried it with TMPGEnc.

And: don´t forget to give the directshow a higher prio in TMPGEnc. Else it won´t work.

Cheers

It's not recommended to use the audio filter as yet in FFDSHOW as it is buggy and has some problems.
I have been using FFDSHOW and TMPG for a long time. I find FFDSHOW an excellant filter which usually works better than the actual codecs themselves and I have been recommending it here for a while now.

It is constantly updated and very rarely causes problems. In fact it solves many XVID problems with TMPG. It also fixes the latest problems with the new RC3 XVID codec which people have been having problems with such as jerky playback due to the new way it handles bitstreams.
The latest version is available here: http://athos.leffe.dnsalias.com/

help tryed every way possible to convert divx to vcd but no joy tried ripping audio off with virtdub then re-encoding with wav(dont work)still out of sink
tryed every frame rate 23.97.25.00 29.9 non work tryed dvd2vcd tnpegencplus
xingmpeg
all my codecs are installed
the original avi file has a vbr
so i did what it say rip the audio to wav use tmpeg input video then the audio wav set the load to vcd ntsc burn still no good sound out of sync

so i thourt its the avi file corrupt ???? no i downloaded 6 movies final destination 2 matrix 2 pluse more ever file after conversion is out of sync
some wok ok ate the start then go off sync towards end then outher go off sync all togeter

why in hell dont divx tell you how to do this proply
tryed all the avi to mpeg converters still the same
tryed procoder still the same
tryed tmpegenc free still the same
tryed avi to vcd still the same
tryed easy x video convertor still the same
tryed dr divx still same

what do i do

i start tmpeg
project wizard chosen ntsc film (23.97)
video file chosen o/r avi file
audio file chosen wav i ripped via virtudub
video type non interlace

Using virtual dub, check the file information. Then using video/frame rate check to see whether you have incompatible video and audio lengths. Check that the frame rate is the same as you will get after running it through TMPGenc (i.e. 25fps or 29.97fps)

If the AVI frame rate is not the same as TMPGenc is going to produce, your sound will end up out of sync. If TMPGenc changes the frame rate then the video will play back at a different speed but it does not alter the audio.

To correct this, you will need to either change the rate of the audio of video track. The audio track can be changed with cooledit, the only program I know of which will change the video frame rate without losing sync is winvideo - which is a Windows 3.1 product and has been obsolete for years but is a very good product and I still use it - I'm not sure if it will work with DivX files.

Bob.

I have used TMPGEnc, along with a few other programs, to rip .m2v files from a DVD, for use in making anime music videos. However, when I attempt to use the files in Adobe Premiere 6.0, I'm told that it's not a file type that the program can use. This happens even when I rename the .m2v files to .mpg. I would appreciate any help that you can give me, so that I can make these .m2v files into a file that Premiere can read. I can give more in-depth information about what programs I've used and other specifications if necessary. Thank you.

Mr. M

I believe 6.5 and higher will allow you to import MPEG2.

You may also just need an MPEG2 codec installed.
The moonlight MPEG2 codec is supposedly to work.
http://www.moonlight.co.il/cons_plugins.php

If that doesn't work you can always use DVD2AVI to produce a project file and then import that into the VFAPI converter to create a dummy AVI.

Thank you very much, Ashy! The plugin worked perfectly, and now I can finally get to work. I appreciate your quick and very accurate answer. Thank you again!

Just tried converting PAL AVI to NTSC Mpeg2 file, but just keep getting this message
can't load "P3Package.dll"
Any Ideas<<

Thanks...Pete, New Zealand

"Any Ideas<<"

Yes, use the search.

i downloaded a movie from internet gpot syas its a xvid 943kb/s fps 23.97

audio in gspot says this
0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3

--> {Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (advanced)}
--> {Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (professional)}

bite rate 129 kb/s (64/ch, stereo) VB
f/s 48000 Hz

the problem is i tryed every guide for tmpgenc non seen to work the audio is out of sync to the video

at the start of the movie the audio is fine the part way though it gose off sync bye about 3 sec i tryed ripping the audio decompressing it then saving it to wav exacly how the guide say locate avi(xvid) file the the audio file i ripped (wav)start it off conversion compleate's play the move smae again works ok for part movie the starts to go off sync please someone tell me what to do
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Your AVI has corrupt frames.
You can try using Virtualdub to scan for bad frames and fix them, but don't hold out much luck.

The only way to deal with it is to cut just after the point where it goes out of sync then resync it with Virtualdub. After that join the 2 pieces together.

Hi,
I tried to combine 10 mpeg-1 files into one DVD, after author conver all mpeg1 file, then it gave the error: "divided by 0". All mpeg1 files are stardard NTSC format. What does this error mean?

Thanks,

Jack

I had this problem using the ac-3 plug-in. You have to convert your mpg-audio to wav (PCM). Then the problem won't occour.

By the way: to author a dvd you have to use MPEG-2 video files. I don't think you can use mpeg-1 files!!

Just tried converting PAL AVI to NTSC Mpeg2 file, but just keep getting this message
can't load "P3Package.dll"
Any Ideas<<

Thanks...Pete, New Zealand

Read this post.

http://bbs.pegasys-inc.com/bbscgi/ebbs/board.cgi#topic27247

Forget that. Read the second post below this.

Thanks Ashy.... It works fine now....when we installed the programme, we dragged the tmpgenc programme icon onto the desktop...obviously a no no

Cheers
Pete

what message...i cant see it.

i need help on this problem too