I have a Project in the Mix.

The Project has 40 Tracks.

Each track has clips arranged in order 1 2 3 4 5 6

When Playing Track 1.... I would like track 1 to play as follows

Track 1 Clip 1
Track 40 Clip 1
Track 1 Clip 2
Track 1 Clip 3
Track 40 Clip 2

All without repeating to add each clip to each track.

If the Clip is already recorded on one track and I would like to add it to another track also. Is there a way to insert it into the movie without adding to the bulk of the disk.

To give an example : Series Shows start with an INTRO episode. The it goes to the Theme of Show. Show plays and then End Credits appear.

Would like a way to Schedule track to play different order of Tracks and clips to create a movie from all the Tracks/Clips on disk without repeating.

Track Play Card would make this happen.
Select which clip would play first. Usually first clip any but for ease just like first play on DVD Author. Play Card would contain all clips from track.
You could then arrange Play card to play any sequence you want. You could even add another track/clip anywhere in the play card to play once and return.

Example: Track 1 Play Card
Clip 1: Play Next Clip : NFA <- No Further Action
Clip 2: Play Track 40 Clip 1 : Return to play next clip
Clip 3: Play Next Clip : NFA
Clip 4: Play Next Clip : NFA
Clip 5: Play Next Clip
Clip 6: Play to end of track

I understand it may be nessesary to only have 1 clip per track. That would not be a big problem but it would create a nightmare for the menu. Making the number of tracks to correspond to the Menu is much more easier than created 100's of tracks for each clip and having the system jump back and forth.

Even with very expensive Software that's a trick, which isn't easy. There are only 2 Programs, ehich are able to do such things:

Maestro and Scenarist

Background picture is loaded.. You are allowed to Zoom in on the picture to fill the background but you cannot shrink the picture to fit into the safe zone for the TV. Numerous pictures I have used required that I reduce the picture in Photosuite to enlarge it slightly in DVD Author. Want to ensure no picture is not displayed properly on TV. Mechanism is allready in program. Should be allowed to resize picture to ensure it fits TV Safe Zone.

These are more enhancements to program to ease creation.

Create Project to allow the insertion of Jpeg Slideshow and create a DVD based on pictures like Kodak Picture CD on DVD

Program works great on grand scale but would be nice to allow multiple menu for each track allowing multiple depth.

For Example:

Main Menu - Normal (First Play)
Track Menu - Normal (Allow you to select Play or goto another menu.)
Each Track should be allowed to goto Main Menu, Track Menu or another track menu.

Would benefit program greatly is being able to select what happens after each clip is play in the track. You are allowed to add as many clips as you want into each track but you cannot select whether to return to the main menu or track menu or any place else for each clip.

You can make these as enhancements and leave the program as is on default.

I totally agree.
I have been trying to customise my main menu to select two track menus and have a third option to start playing a track.
Other than that - Great software!

When a selection of # of Track Menus are made. The only background that is cloned for each additional track is Track 1.

Would like a template that allows different background pictures for each track. The only way to create that is to save it in the project file and keep changing the files.
For Example:

Main Menu : Background Picture - Mov or Jpeg for Main Menu is ok
Track 1 : Background Picture - Family Pictures
Track 2 : Background Picture is repeated in Theme from Track 1 due to Theme setting -- Want Background Picture to remain Picture of Family Member.

It would be great if Theme would tie a brackground picture to each track as seleted by Theme Menu. If 24 track menus are selected. You can select 24 background pictures 1 for each track. If no background picture was ever selected defaults to track 1 background

Need a setting to enable/diable Autotext formatting for Title in main & Track Menu. When using a background Picture with Title already there. There is no need for the Title Box or the autoformat for the size font. Made a template for the associated theme but am unable to shut off the autoformat.

Create Menu windows-> Etid bouton -> set font for all page
or
Set font color for all page
Haha, autoformat!

I recorded a DVD-R on my Panasonic HS-2. I imported the dvd into TDA. I now have a single track DVD on which I used TDA to insert chapters. I would like to be able to create a menu that would go directly from the main menu to the track menu to select scenes, as there is only the one track on the DVD. Is this at all possible to do with TDA?

Yes, it is. Just click on the Button "Menu display settings" and choose what you want.

Thanks

That does it, but I already burned by christmas gift discs. :-(. They'll have to navigate through the gack.

Dennis

I installed DVD author on my laptop to add chapter points to a dvd-r during my breaks at work. It is a 1.1ghz p3 running XP. I transfered the VOB files from the DVD to my hard drive. Scrolling and playback are very slow. Also the audio is greyed out. The thumbnails, when enabled, update very slowly.

Also when in the menu editor, it seems that onscreen text and graphics are updated as they are being changed in the dialog box. This tends to slow things down as well. Maybe not change them on screen until ok is entered.

OK, this might get long, but I want to put it all out there to avoid guesses posing as answers.

(Hardware: 1700gig Athlon, 512megs ram, SIS AGP video with 8mb ram, I know, I know.)

The good experience: I have a number of 8mm analog tapes, basic 8mm, not Hi-8. Based on a bit of research, I determined that the quality level is 352x240 and about 2400 bits/sec, like VHS. I played the tapes in my Sony D8, output to AVI (what a waste!), edited in Studio 8, then used TMPBEnc to convert to MPEG 1's and 2's. If I used a CBR of 3000, I got pretty decent VHS quality files. I also used Auto VBR @50%. Both Audio specs were set to 48k sampling and 128 bits. No Dolby originals here!

Generally, I was VERY pleased. The CBR's file size averaged about 11% of the AVI, and the Auto VBR's, less than half of that! In fact, I got almost 5 hours of video with some room left over onto a DVD-R using Ulead DVD Movie Factory. For just duplicating family video "snapshots", the quality was adequate. And I kept the CBR's on two DVD's as basic data files.

AND NOW FOR THE HEADBANGING! So, now I want to do the same thing with my DV tapes, except I would like to keep most or all of the quality that DV gives me. I had played around with MPEG2 renderings in Studio, and all I got was lots of jaggies with panning or action. You oughtta see a hula hoop! So I selected a clip and started experimenting with TMPGEnc. Essentially, the same thing. I tried a lot of bit rates, Auto, CBR, just about everything. High bit rates helped somewhat, but did not cure the problem. If I went back to my old 352x240, no problem. And the detail level, while less, wasn't catastrophically so. I should add that everything was played back on Zoom Player or my standalone Apex 1200.

I've searched this forum and www.dvdrhelp.com without much genuine insight. One responder to a similar question on this forum said it was a matter of interlaced (TV) vs. progressive (computer) output. If I render "non-interlaced" I just get a strange colored video - with jaggies.

A related question is this: DV has a bit rate of 3745 kb/sec or so. There are never any jaggies or other motion related problems when playing as a tape or AVI. Why would anyone use a greater bit rate? You can't increase what isn't there, right? Something I'm not getting? Do I have to burn many platters to test every quality variation on the standalone?

Any resident TMPGEnc geniuses out there with genuine answers? Is all this related to inadequate video ram? If so, does that mean a cheapie standalone DVD player has more video ram and better processing for $50, less than a better video card?

I know this is a lot to cover, but it seems variations of my question comes up all over the forums and usenets.

Gracias, pzo

PART 1:

>Generally, I was VERY pleased. The CBR's file size averaged about 11% of the AVI, and the Auto VBR's, less than half of that! In fact, I got almost 5 hours of video with some room left over onto a DVD-R using Ulead DVD Movie Factory. For just duplicating family video "snapshots", the quality was adequate. And I kept the CBR's on two DVD's as basic data files.

If you want better quality vs file size then you would be better of using the 'CQ' method of encoding NOT 'Auto VBR' or CBR

>I had played around with MPEG2 renderings in Studio, and all I got was lots of jaggies with panning or action. You oughtta see a hula hoop! So I selected a clip and started experimenting with TMPGEnc. Essentially, the same thing. I tried a lot of bit rates, Auto, CBR, just about everything. High bit rates helped somewhat, but did not cure the problem. If I went back to my old 352x240, no problem

What resolution are your DV's, 720x480?

This seems most likely an interlacing and/or resizing problem.
If your DV's are interlaced then you should encode to interlaced, as for the jaggies DO NOT rely on what you see on your monitor for judgment.
Monitors CANNOT display interlaced material correctly and will almost always invariably result in these type of artifacts. You will most likely NOT have the same problem when viewed on a regular TV.

You will not experience interlacing problems with material that has a resolution of 352x240.
At this resolution you are only viewing half of the lines in the video, the other half is discarded therfore there will be no interlacing problem to speak of.

>One responder to a similar question on this forum said it was a matter of interlaced (TV) vs. progressive (computer) output. If I render "non-interlaced" I just get a strange colored video - with jaggies.

Encoding to 'non-interlace' will NOT automatically give a de-interlaced output from an interlaced source.If you intend this material to be viewed mostly on a PC then you should either de-interlace the material prior to encoding and then encode to progressive (non-interlaced) or encode to 'interlaced' and use a software DVD player to view the material which will bob de-interlace on the fly while playing.

Also you should encode to MPEG2 for max compatibity and quality. MPEG1 does NOT support interlaced material.

Cont...

PART 2:


>For just duplicating family video "snapshots", the quality was adequate. And I kept the CBR's on two DVD's as basic data files.

This is just a pointless waste of a DVD. You should author this DVD properly. Not only will this make it compatible for all set top players AND PC players, but it will also allow you to fit slightly more data on the disk.
Ordinary data uses more space on disk due to parity data being added, this data is not required with MPEG data.

>A related question is this: DV has a bit rate of 3745 kb/sec or so. There are never any jaggies or other motion related problems when playing as a tape or AVI. Why would anyone use a greater bit rate? You can't increase what isn't there, right? Something I'm not getting? Do I have to burn many platters to test every quality variation on the standalone?

You CANNOT compare bitrates between different compression methods, different methods use different algorithms and AVI generally has a better compression ratio than MPEG.
Just because an AVI uses a bitrate of 3745 Kb/sec it does not mean you can obtain the same quality using this bitrate when encoding to MPEG. In fact you will probably have to double this bitrate to acheive the same quality when using MPEG 1/2.

My advice to you is to de-interlace and re-size this material with AVIsynth and then encode this material as MPEG2 progressive frames. You will need to use a decent bitrate if you wish to maintain the quality of the original DV. Use the CQ method and don't use a min bitrate below 2000 Kb/s, at least a max of 6000 kb/s, Q - 65-80 and a resolution of 720x480 (depending on whether your DV is full res), but even then you may experience some macroblocks. In that case you will need to raise the max bitrate.

Don't even contemplate fitting any more than 2 hours per DVD if you want to maintain the original DV quality.
5/6 hours per DVD will just require such a low bitrate that you will degrade the quality to like VCD.
Author this DVD properly as Video not data.

>Any resident TMPGEnc geniuses out there with genuine answers? Is all this related to inadequate video ram? If so, does that mean a cheapie standalone DVD player has more video ram and better processing for $50, less than a better video card?

None of this is related to either your RAM or your video card, but you will almost always get a better quality output from a standalone DVD player than a PC.

Check this out:
http://www.100fps.com/

Ashy, you are a bloomin' genius! And that link you referred to, wow!

I'm just absolutely appalled that all these software vendors, Ulead, Pinnacle, TMPGEnc, etc. just pretend like this problem doesn't exist. Even the latter defaults all the rendering to a 720x480 NTSC size. It's sort of like saying that if you choose to make your car go faster you must understand chemical engineering for the gasoline and the Otto cycle for the engine.

From what I gathered on that link, rendering into 352x240 is as good as it gets unless one is willing to sacrifice lots of time and file size to get near DV quality without mice teeth and motion problems. So my digital 8mm is worthless in quality unless I use it as tape directly to the TV. Unreal.

Again, thanks for your insights.

pzo

No prob.

Hoping this is a simple question, but I didn't find a direct answer (yet).

What would be the best path to comvert a series of computer-generated bitmaps to an MPEG-1 VCD file. I see that I can use JPEG or BMP as source files, but I haven't found an example, or any tips on the best way.

Can I take a series of images: frame1.jpg, frame2.jpg, etc. and convert it this way.

Heck, I guess I should just try it, but I was hoping someone had done it already and had some handy pointers.

Thanks,

--arne

To do this you just name all of your Pic Files Like this "Frame-001.jpg, Frame-002.jpg, Frame-003.jpg, Frame-004.jpg Ect"...Then Run Tmpgenc and go to "Options" to "Enviromental Settings" and put a Check in the Box next to "Open Sequence Files as Movie",(You might not need to do this with JPG files but check it just to be sure) Then Just Load in "Frame-001.jpg" and the Rest of the Files will load into Tmpgenc sequentually as you have Numbered them...And then just do your setting and Encode away....Cheers

If these are indeed computer generated then using the CG/Animation setting under the 'Quantize matrix' tab should give better results.

Hi, is there anyone that can tell me which is the best configuration for encode cartoon. For example, the gop?????
Usually I make SVCD VBR high quality. If I active the filter anti-noise, the time is very higher.

I hope that anyone can help me, bye and thanks!

Generally you should not touch the GOP structure unless you really Know what you are Doing, I usually use a 12 Frame GOP which seems to produce better Quality than say a 18 frame GOP but there is a Slight increase in the File size ....As for Filters Like the Noise Filter it is better to Not use the Tmpgenc Filters and use Filters Like the Ones in AVISynth or Virtual Dub and Frameserve the File to Tmpgenc, this is a Lot faster than useing the Tmpgenc Filters ....Good Luck

The parameters for cartoons would be the same as for any other movie. It is motion video and should be treated as such.

You don't say what your source is, so I can't say whether it is worth you using the Anti-noise filter or not.
If it is captured video then using one of AVIsynths or Virtualdubs filters will speed up the process and give better results.
Flaxen's VHS virtualdub filter generally gives pretty good results with captured video.
It depends on your source whether you use filters or not. If it's already pretty good quality then there is no point in using filters which may infact degrade the quality of a decent source.

If your source is DVD then no filters are required.

As for GOP level changes, I wouldn't touch these and I'm not sure about using 12 frames in a GOP either compared to 18 as this would only make the file size larger.
In my experience if you can handle the larger file size then increasing the bitrate will yield better quality than using a smaller GOP as this will increase the quality of ALL frames not just I frames.

Hi there. Can anyone please help me. When i encode a large video file at around 83% i get an error message "Index of scan line out of range". Does anybody know what this means and if so how could i get around it.Thanks very much. :)

I'm terribly sorry. I had no idea i had put it under "bug report" i meant it just as a question. I am new to this....obviously.

Usually this error pops up when encodeing Downloaded files, I think it is Due to Corrupt Frames or Corrupt Index in the Source AVI file...Usually it should have a Number after "Index Scan Line is out of Range" Like "Index Scan Line is Out of Range 240" You Might be able to Fix the AVI file by rebuliding the Index, You can use a Program called "DivFiX" to Strip the Index and then Rebuild the Index then the File should Work..You can also Use Virtual Dub to rebuild the Index or even Just Frameserve the File to Tmpgenc useing Virtual Dub should work cuz Virtual Dub should automaticly fix the corrupt index and take out Corrupt Frames.....Good Luck

i have an avi movie i did in adobe premier and i am trying to convert it to mp2 so i can get it on a dvd. i have never done this before. when i try to put in the video source/audio source in the free download it says it is unsupported. what am i doing wrong? i thought it could do avi files. do i have the wrong software?

Go to "Options" to Enviromental Settings" to "Vfapi Plugins" and Raise the Priority of the "Direct Show File Reader" to "2"..This should get your File Loaded....Cheers

ok, i got it to load. now the problem is, i am trying to burn it to a DVD. why is it so hard? i have tried using sonic my dvd with the same movie saved as an .avi, .mpg, .tpr, .m2v and every time it is almost finished the blue screen comes on and says that there's some sort of problem and i have to reboot. is there an easier way to burn dvds? i bought this thinking it would be like a cd burner (naive).

This seems like a system or software problem not an encoding problem.
What operating system are you using and do you have plenty of free space?

Have you tried a different authoring program?
Give TMPGenc DVD author a try. It is simple to use and guaranteed to work with TMPG's own files.

How did you create the MPEG files? Did you use a template or the wizard and what where your settings?

You should have 1 or 2 main files when TMPG has finished encoding depending on the method you chose.

If you have 1 file with an .MPG extension the this will be a combined Video and Audio stream which can be imported directly into some not all authoring programs.
If you have 2 files then you will have one with an .m2v extension for the video and one with a .wav extension for the audio, both of which can be imported into an authoring program.