I have the video clip, and now I want to expand the frame with black border, how could I do it with TMPGEnc? Thanks so much

Please clarify what you mean and what you want to acheive.

Ok, I am trying to encode a file using the latest free version of TMPGEnc to DVD (4.7) in NTSC.

Here is the file info from AVIcodec:
File : 699 MB (699 MB), duration: 0:59:05, type: AVI, 1 audio stream(s), quality: 70 %
Video : 509 MB, 1206 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 640*352 (16:9), DIV3 = DivX v3 ;-) MPEG-4 (Low-Motion), Supported
Audio : 189 MB, 448 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 5 channels, 0x2000 = AC3 DVM, Supported

I had Xvid installed (along with the ac3 codec) but that was giving me problems so I installed Divx 3.11 and I was able to open the file fine. I extracted the ac3 and I was set to encode.

Using the wizard: DVD NTSC, Noninterlace-1:1-Film Movie, Page 3 was left default, 2pass VBR, Motion Search: Highest Quality, FIle Size: 95%.

It goes through the first pass fine, but at 50% it stops and gives the error: System Error 6: The Handle is Invalid.

It also does this for the second half of the movie. Any idea what I can do to fix this?

Thanks
P4 3.4, 1024 ram

A few things to try in order:
Raise the priority of the 'Directshow file reader' in the VFAPI plugins to 2 and make it top of the list.

Install FFDSHOW and ensure DIVX is checked in the settings.

If that don't work try frame serving from Virtualdub.
Finally try re-installing TMPG.

Tip: don't use the 'Highest' quality setting. It will severly slow your encoding time and gives no gain in quality at all as has already been proved on this board. Use 'High'

okay had this happen before and got it fixed... but can't seem to fix it this time.

im converting xvid and divx to mpeg2(svcd) and losing the sound. directshow is at 2. have not changed codecs or anything only things i have installed since it quit working is games: praetorian, alpha centuri.

also now when i do the project wizard and select an avi it only puts the avi in the video box and not the audio box even tho it has audio in it, its doing this with movies that it used to work with...

and in the batch encode list it reports not compatible or unsupported but again these are files that have worked previously and i know them to be good.

Is it AC3? Do you have the AC3 ACM decompressor installed?

yea i have the needed codecs and all. this is the second time this has happened to me... last time i had to uninstall everything i could(codecs, autogk, tmpgenc+, etc..) and reinstall for it to start working again... didnt work this time. its not the movies and it shouldnt be any of the codecs im using the same stuff i always have and never had a problem till now...

anyways to give you an idea of what i have heres a list of installs...

TMPGEnc Plus 2.524.63.181 w/ Core version 2.04.169
AC3Filter
AutoGK
AviSynth 2.5
DivX Pro 5.2.1
ffdshow
Morgan Stream Switcher
VobSub
XviD 1.0.3 Final
DVD Decrypter
VCDEasy
Cyberlink PowerDVD
RealPlayer(never use just always been there)
Windows Media Player 10
Lame
tooLame(which i am going to try using for my audio in tmpgenc)

And this is how TMPGEnc Plus is in Enviro Settings
General:
Enable multiplex with "mux.....
Open sequence files as a movie....
Enable reading referrd format avi....

CPU:
all enabled
prefetch at 16
analyzing result is at 4000 MB

Audio Engine:
mpeg-1 layer II - use built-in
mpeg-1 layer III - do not use
sampling at high quality

VFAPI:
Directshow 2
AVI VFW compatibility reader 0
AVI2(OpenDML) 0
CRI Sofdec MPEG Decoder 0
Microsoft MPEG-1 Decoder 0
Wave File Reader 0
TMPGEnc Project File Reader 2.525 0
ReadAVS.dll "file cannot be loaded" unchecked
DVD2AVI.vfp "file cannot be loaded" unchecked
BMP/PPM/TGA/JPG File Reader -1 unchecked
QuickTime Movie Reader -1 unchecked

And to Encode I normally use the wizard...
Super Video-CD, NTSC, VBR standard format
browse for divx/xvid, shows up in video and audio, content is video movie typically.
Source Ranger, Move to End, Set End, Next
Expert, Video VBR Setting, Max 2500, Min 600, 2 Pass
CD-R 80min, Makes file size 200%(or 100% if its a smaller one but normally 200%), next
thats it encode or batch(normally batch)

pretty straight forward XViD/DivX to SVCD and when I convert from DVD to XViD/DivX using AutoGK first followed by TMPGEnc to SVCD

I'm letting it run again while I sleep to see if the gremlin is gone... but I doubt it.

almost forgot I installed the gordian knot codec pack...

which installs
XviD 1.0.3
AC3Filter 0.70b
Morgan Stream Switcher 0.99
Huffyuv 0.2.2.1 cce-patch
ffdshow alpha 2004-10-12
OGG filter 0.9.9.5
Core Vorbis 1.0
Matroska splitter 1.0.2.4 & muxer 1.0.0.9
VSFilter (subtitles) 2.33

From what I can see you don't have the AC3 ACM decompressor you only have AC3 filter.
This doesn't always work.

Install the AC3 ACM decompressor and that should solve your problem.
http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/AC3ACM/

Actually sorry i forgot to list that It was installed, reinstalled it tho, still no luck even let toolame do the audio, still quiet... i dont know whats going on, might just be that time to blank my drive and start from scratch...

Try raising the VFW reader to top priority. The AC3ACM decompressor works with VFW not Directshow.

okay I really am lost now... can't even play the svcd mpeg's anymore, bsplayer/wmp sees them as audio files tries to play them as such and fails... also now tmpgenc is telling me some files are unsupported and others are... im on the verge of giving up on this program.

The way I see is that you've made a pigs ear of things on your system installing every codec under the sun.
Seen it before on many occasions.
I only ever install the bare essential codecs and never have problems like this.

My advice is to remove all the codecs you have on your system and start afresh.
Oh and another thing, installing Windows mediaplayer 10 is another sure fire way of fooking everything up.

any advice on the "bare essentials" for xvid/divx to svcd should/would be. oh and thanks for all your assistance thus far.

Remove all your DIVX and XVID codecs and install FFDSHOW.
If you need a suitable MPEG2 codec for TMPG then use the one below:
http://www.marumo.ne.jp/mpeg2/m2v_vfp-0.6.51.lzh
http://divxstation.com/softwaredownload.asp?download=123&version=964

okay i don't know whats goin on.. prior to reading your message I uninstalled everything I could leaving ony TMPGEnc and DivX Pro 5.2.1, DVD Decrypter. Reinstalled AC3ACM and Xvid, reset the enviro settings in tmpgenc and let it run on a movie, well i open the svcd movie this morning and its all there... gonna reinstall AutokGK and only the necessaries without reinstalling divx or xvid or any other codecs and do another one and see if we are still go.

It appears everything is working again, can hear sound through tmpgenc plus for xvid with ac3 or mp3 sound and divx with ac3 and mp3... and so far xvid's ive converted last night/today only had ac3 but there is an mp3 xvid working now and i put a divx with both in list after that... but anyways i can hear the audio in the audio edit and see it in source range again which tells me things are working again.

My enviro settings are like this again:
DirectShow 2
avi2(opendml), bmp/ppm/tga/jpg, cri sofdec, ms mpeg-1,wave file reader, tmpgenc project file reader 0
avi vfw compat reader -2

internal mpeg-1 layer II, no layer III, high quality

Only programs I know of being installed are:
TMPGEnc Pro 2.54, AC-3 ACM Decompressor, WinAMP 5.08d, DivX Pro 5.2.1, XViD 1.0.3, DVD Decrypter. WMP9 is on the system but havn't setup, removed WMP10.

Well i'm gonna get all these things converted so I can install AutoGK and continue.

I really appreciate your assistance ashy and hope what we did here will help someone else.

i have downloaded the TMPGEnc 2.5<p>

i start off with an avi. i want to convert it to a mpeg 1 for a vcd. i clip off the head and tail for size and then i want to make an adjustment to the bitrate, but the settings in the video tab are greyed out. why is this?

second, what would be the settings, if i want to creat a DVD with letterbox? thus maintaining the 16:9 aspect ratio?

last, what is the xpress 3.0 version?

thanks, paul

Answered...

what?

Please add the ability to select the Track Preview Audio from the Main Menu. I put a 15 sec clip of the movie on this thumbnail, and it would be great to hear the audio along with the video. I ususlly disable the background audio and just have a silent main menu with the movie preview. Having both the video and audio would be much better.

If I have more then one track on the main menu, the "highlighted" one should have its audio played.

Thanks,
Brian

Has anyone encountered the same problem: I have an avi file, and TMPGEnc will let me upload it as an audio source and convert that to mpeg, but won't let me select it as a video source. It says file can't open, or unsupported. Any resulting mpeg file only has sound, and no visual.

Answered....

Good morning,

I have imported a DVD in Xpress, encoded it and exported the chapter information as a keyframe file.

It would be nice if there was an option in DVD author where I could import the keyframe file so I didn't have to manually recreate the keyframes.

Is there such an option in DVD Author? If not: Would it be possible to log this as an enhancement request?

Any help appreciated.
By the way: Great software.

Arnd.

Hi!
My TMPGEnc will not open .avi-files for convertion. That is, it opened and converted the first file, and it worked perfectly, but after that, it has not been able to open any files, not even the one it had already converted. I get the following message after selecting file for conversion. "File "[...]" can not open, or unsupported." Any ideas on how to avoid this problem?

Erik

Answered...

here is my problem, we have just started downloading and burning movies, and anything widescreen comes out as a very thin strip in the middle of the screen... someone has suggested that i can fix that with this software, but i dont even know how to use this software yet... can someone please advise me whether this software will do that? and how? i have spent weeks getting certain movies to download, only to find that i cannot watch them!!

That's just it, widescreen shown in a 4:3 TV is a thin strip of video in the middle of the screen. If you are picky about it being too thin, then TMPGEnc DVD Author is not where you do this.

You do it in TMPGEnc Plus where you have to re-encode your video. Can you please tell me what settings you used?

If you don't want widescreen altogether, then you must make it full screen in TMPGEnc Plus but that would mean cropping the video.

I have heard this program can be used to strip Tivotogo files to unencrypted MPEG-2 files. Could you please provide directions.
Thank You

could you please advise me what to do if this error message comes up?
-Index of scan line is out of range-
I double checked avi file but nothing seems wrong.

Try frame serving from Virtualdub.

>could you please advise me what to do if this error message comes up?
>-Index of scan line is out of range-
>I double checked avi file but nothing seems wrong.

I had this problem. I fixed it by setting dirct show multimedia file reader to highest priority in vfapi plugins in environmental settings. I am pretty sure it's because my file was xvid yet I do not have the codec, relying on direct show to render it using ffdshow. Maybe your problem too??

I was trying to encode some mpeg files together into a DVD-PAL file structure, however when i start encoding I get an error right at the beginning and then the encoding aborts. The error is "character-string '%.2f'". Can anyone help me with why this is happening and point out to me how i can resolve this. Let me know if you need to know any information about the files. I have not changed any default settings in the software. Thanks in advance.

DO NO USE ANY SPACE OR SPECIAL CHARACTORS LIKE & IN YOUR FILE NAMES.
YOU CAN REPLACE SPACE WITH _ IF YOU NEED SAPCES FOR READING IN FILE NAMES