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Sorry, I posted this earlier as a "reply" but title is vague, might get lost...
I am encoding from a QT file to MPEG-2 for NTSC DVD. My QT file was exported from a Mac-based Avid Meridian Media Composer using the Avid codec on "Same as source, 4x3 non-square pixel" setting. The source tapes that went into the Media Composer and were edited together for the final output are all 29.97fps DigiBeta. However, one of them was a standard 4:3 aspect ratio with source footage originally shot on 35mm film and telecined to tape. One was shot on Sony's 24P High-Def 16:9 camera and downconverted to DigiBeta 16:9. And another was shot on a Sony 24P 16:9 NTSC camera. So all of the original source material was 24fps (film or video) before it got onto 29.97fps DigiBeta.
There are several settings in TMPGEnc. Plus regarding 3:2 pulldown, inverse and otherwise. There is also a choice between Video Movie and Film Movie. I have experimented with various settings and gotten an acceptable picture quality with most of them, however the resulting MPEG-2 file invariable "stutters," an intermittent tendency to hesitate (dropped frames?) when viewed either through Elecard MPEG player on a Dell 1.8Mhz PC or from DVD on a reasonably expensive JVC DVD player.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone regarding the 3:2 issue (proper settings) and the overcoming of the jerkiness. The DVD will be playing in a constant loop and will never be "searched" or looked through frame-by-frame.
Researching in this forum, it appears the jerky problem may be caused by a bitrate/VBV buffer mismatch resulting in dropped frames. Anyone who could email me a TMPGEnc. template they think appropriate would be an immediate hero over here. Thanks.
I've now looked at several of my MPEG-2 output files through Bitrate Viewer and see that it reports VBV Buffer at 112 even though the setting in TMPGEnc. is "locked" at 224. Who's right or does it make any difference? Thanks.
I need you to clarify something.
You say the you have a QT file. Is this file 24 fps with 3:2 pulldown added or is it true 29.97 fps.
If it's true 29.97 fps then there is no need to apply IVTC as this will result in jerky playback.
Your jerky playback is the result of changing the frame rate incorrectly not dropped frames.
As far as I know you can't perform IVTC on a true 29.97 fps source as this would mean having to remove frames which are actually part of the movie itself thus causing stutters where the frames have been removed.
If the original source material was telecined to tape then it would make it true 29.97 fps.
If it is true 29.97 fps then simply choose the DVD NTSC template without IVTC and encode and your stutters should be gone.
I've now looked at several of my MPEG-2 output files through Bitrate Viewer and see that it reports VBV Buffer at 112 even though the setting in TMPGEnc. is "locked" at 224. Who's right or does it make any difference? Thanks.
Thanks, Ashy for your quick response. No, my QT file is 29.97fps NTSC. The source tapes were 29.97fps. The acquisition footage, from 35mm film and 24P video, however, was 24fps, so I'm assuming 3:2 pulldown was used to get the 24fps material onto DigiBeta.
I've tried with and without IVTC and still get stutters in Playback. Any thoughts on why BV reports VBV 112 when TPMPEnc is set to 224? Thanks
I don't know why, but bitrate viewer always reports half of what it actually is. Don't worry it's bitrate viewer which seems to be wrong as it happens with other encoders too.
You must keep the output framerate the same as the input framerate.
Assuming that your source plays smoothly at 29.97 then choosing the output at 29.97 not 23.976 SHOULD solve your problem.
It's unlikely to have anything to do with the buffer if it doesn't play smooth on you PC.
Ensure that your output remains at 29.97 when you choose a template.
Incidentally are opening the QT file directly with TMPG using the the QT plugin?
Yes, the QT converter is working transparently. I had to install Avid's QT codec for PC on the Dell that's running TMPGEnc, otherwise TMPGEnc's QT converter doesn't recognize Avid's proprietary "faster loading" QT format.
As for frame rates, I'm keeping both input and output set at 29.97. We had an MPEG-2 of the piece encoded from DigiBeta tape at Sunset Digital this morning and I'm going to be comparing that to the output of TMPGEnc. Incidentally, Sonic's MyDVD, which came with my Firewire card, choked on Sunset Digital's MPEG-2 file, which has a .VBS extension. I'm having to author the DVD in DVD Studio Pro. MyDVD had no problem at all with TMPGEnc's MPEG-2 file and it's a very easy way to get something simple onto DVD. In your experience, is there any difference in the quality of a DVD output by MyDVD and DVD Studio Pro? Thanks.
How do you mean quality?
I doubt there would be any visual difference in quality at all.
Once the MPEG is encoded, it's quality shouldn't be influenced by the software which authors it.
Regarding the VBS file. I seem to remember somewhere that support for this kind of file was removed from Win NT/2000/XP and requires a registry patch to allow Media player to play it using whatever codec you have installed.
Maybe this is something to do with why MyDVD is having a problem.
Just a thought.
The MPEG-2 file professionally encoded at Sunset Digital in Glendale, CA ran flawlessly after authoring in DVD Studio Pro and writing to Apple DVD with Toast.
By "Quality" I suppose I mean Quality of Playback rather than actual picture quality seeing as I'm reading so much in these discussions about the effect of off-brand disks, the inability of certain set top boxes to handle different authoring systems' output, etc. It is true, then that no authoring system (DVD Studio Pro, MyDVD, etc.) is going to change the actual "Picture Quality" but the way in which the TS_Video file is burned to disk, and the brand of disk used, can affect "Playback Quality"? Thanks.
I wholly agree.
The way the software burns can have an affect on compatibility with some players and the brand or type of disk used affects the out come tremendously.
I have used many mant different brands looking for that perfect disk at a reasonable price, but I almost gave up and resigned my self to the fact that if you want quality then it ain't gonna come cheap.
Some of the cheaper disks I have used, and here I am referring to ordinary CDR not DVD, would cause jerks, stutters, blocks, drop outs, sound problems just to name a few. Usually when using a better brand the problems where gone or reduced.
Then I decided to try one last cheaper brand which I had always thought that were bad and amazingly these disks play flawlessly even when burned at speeds I could never have burned with more expensive brands.
Who makes these disks?
Well RITEK amazingly enough.
Apparantly RITEK have improved the quality of the grade A disks they manufacture and are aiming at the professional sector now and I agree these disks definitely are Grade A and are quite cheap to boot.
Is there a way to grab different parts of a single AVI and encode them into
one single mpg? Reason: I want to convert a TV show into a single mpg, and
edit out all the ad breaks. Can TMPGEnc do that?
Yes:if you use the "source range "feature ,but you will have to join all the parts together with the "merge & cut" feature,so you can encode to the first comercial for one part, then from after the comercial to the next comercial will be another part and so on.......
1>what is the difference with VCD ntsc and VCD ntsc film ????
NTSC stands for National Television System Committee, which devised the NTSC television broadcast system in 1953. This is the committee that established the standards for North America. fixed vertical resolution of 525 horizontal lines stacked on top of each other, with varying amounts of "lines" making up the horizontal resolution, depending on the electronics and formats involved. There are 59.94 fields displayed per second. A field is a set of even lines, or odd lines. The odd and even fields are displayed sequentially, thus interlacing the full frame. One full frame, therefore, is made of two interlaced fields, and is displayed about every 1/30 of a second.
NTSC/NTSC Film
Video CD(VCD):1150 kbit/sec MPEG-1 352 x 240 pixels
VCD ntsc = 29,97 frames/second
VCD ntsc film = 23,976 frames/second NTSC Film
Audio: 224 kbit/sec MPEG-1 Layer2
2>what is the difference 24 fps and 30 fps ???
6 Frames..lol ok and 24fps is smoother on the computer.
NTSC is interlaced where Film is progressive. In interlaced the 29,97 or 30fps are actually 59.94 fields displayed per second or 60fps ;o) since its acounting for interlace.
Hope that helps you out if not feel free to email me ~NewtronX
is there a big difference if i make vcd with ntsc instead of ntsc film
and i dont understand that much with the frames thing but its ok !!!! :o
thanks for the help
Albino
The difference is if you use the VCD NTSC FILM template to encode, your movies won't play correctly.
DVD players need a framerate of 29.97 fps otherwise your movie will stutter and jerk because your player will convert the 23.976 fps framerate internally to 29.97 fps, so DONT encode using the VCD NTSC FILM template.
ASHY
Thanks for the info maybe thats why I had some video stumble with my DVD player, before I found out I needed to encode with 30fps NTSC. I had just assumed it was the DVD player until I tried 30fps I still get some lag so I think its the players ability to read CDR as well.
My Living room DVD player (Mintek 2110) played NTSC and NTSC film perfectly however. But my bedroom player (Samsung S222) had more difficulty playing Film.
albino_79
fps or frames per second are actually what makes up a picture. A movie is nothing more than still images (frames), one after another. The number of pictures (frames) in a second is important as it helps make a movie seem smooth the more frames the smoother. Especially for high action scenes where their are many things happening in a second. The only down side with frames is that the more frames, the bigger the file size. Also the more frames the more frames your computer needs to process and that means your CPU needs to be quick enough to Process them or you get bad video playback. Thats why FPS for video cards are a big deal for gamers since they want the best Video representation for thier action games..Hope that helps a bit more let me know if I can further assist. ~NewtronX
NewtronX are your films originally 23.976.
If they are you need to add a 3:2 pulldown to them to make them play correctly in your DVD player.
3:2 pulldown just changes the framerate to 29.97. To do this just use the SVCD(NTSC Film) Template and encode to MPEG2.
If you are using DVD2AVI. Click the preview button and note what it says as the framerate and type. If it says it's 29.97 FILM or Film 95%> Progressive then you should be using DVD2AVI's Forced FILM option and then encoding your movies with 3:2 pulldown as above.
Thanks ASHY
What about VCD as thats what I typically make. My sources are all NTSC 29.97 interlaced DVD? I use DVD2AVI and TMPGenc. By the way you seem extremly knowlegable on this stuff might I say. How long you been encoding? Your help is greatly apreciated as these are the fine details I needed to know to better encode my Movies/VCD. Thanks ~NewtronX
Well if you are encoding to VCD all you need worry about is interlacing.
Just find the right field order then use the even field de-interlace option and your movies should come out fine as long as you encode to the same frame rate i.e. 29.97.
As for the knowledge well to be honest I have only been encoding for around 2 years, but what you must understand is Iam a perfectionist.
I have literally spent days at the PC with hardly any sleep trying to figure the best ways to encode.
I read indepthly about all the small details of what things do and why they do it and then try all these things out to see what the effect is.
It's not enough for me to simply choose a template and blindly encode. I need to know what is happening 'behind the scenes'. If there is a feature in a piece of software no matter how insignificant it seems I need to know why it's there and what it does.
I have a very technical mind which is constantly hungry for information and Iam very determined to do something once I set my mind to it.
If I have a problem I will exhaust every avenue before finally giving up and resigning that it can't be solved.
As far as I'm concerned the more I know about what Iam doing the better I can encode and believe me Iam learning all the time and finding new ways to improve.
My encodes are far far better with this knowledge now than what they where when I began encoding and my intention is not to show off, but to help others out of a struggle just like I needed when I began.
You both got something going on
i think you people have alot in common
this is Net Meeting LOL
Just joking you guys both of you's are very smart thanks for the help
Albino
PS You two should meet anywere around the world where ever you are...
Hi, ive just started using tmpenc, to convert avi films to mpeg format, the problem im getting is that after 12 % the following error message appears :
write error occured at address 0048541e of module Tmpenc.exe with 0279e000
actually I had this problem over and over...it could be the avi...but I repaired the file...and it happened with every avi file....The problem is mismatched memory.... I guaruntee you have 2 or more sticks of ram in your machine... I reccomend only leaving oe...or getting a matched pair....it fixed all my problems and should fix all yours!!!!!
I'm glad you have said that IRCGOD as I suggested to someone else that it was a memory problem and they should try removing one of the sticks or swapping with a borrowed one, but somebody shammed that advice.
See this article regarding the matter:
Question - Now!!! Application error????? No.20870
When I try to use merge/cut to split a TMPGEnc encoded svcd it will only work for the first segment. When I try to cut out the second segment, Say from 35minutes to 70 minutes it gets through "producing video stream" and "producing audio stream" but then just freezes right when it would change from a blue ! to a red check and start multiplexing. Other programs respond but I have to end task out of TMPGEnc. I'm new at this so any help would be appreciated. I studied the FAQ and the other posts and couldn't find a thing.
Win 98 SE
GA-7VRXP
Athlon XP 1800+
512 ddr
nVIDIA GeForce 4
if any of that matters ;^)
This is the reason I don"t use the cut feature,about 1/2 the time it will freeze on me just the same way as you and there is nothing you can do about it accept get a different app for editing your mpegs..but what works better ,for future referance ,is to use the "source range" feature and just encode your movie in parts you can fit on a disk,I actually make my d2v files in parts so I don"t have to split them later cuz I learned my lesson after encodeing a bunch of movies but not being to fit them on a disk.
The EXACT same problem was being experienced by someone else in another post.
After trying everything possible and nothing working, they just downloaded another copy of TMPG and it worked absolutely fine.
So try downloading another copy and see what happens.
See this article: Question - Merging and Cutting an MPEG No.20135
You have to raise your direct show filter,first go to "options" then to "enviromental settings" then to "vfapi plugins" then raise your "direct show" to "2" and this should work...
Thanks to ASHY and Minion for the help. You are the best!! But I have a litle question.....How long does it takes to convert from avi to mpg-2 ? Im running XP on a pentium III, 128MB RAM..... Ive just started enconding and the remaining time is 3 hours....is that normal?? the avi file is 156MB big.
You can not resume an encodeing session after it stops...meaning if you get an error, or you have to stop encodeing for some reason you can not restart the encodeing again, but you can pause the encodeing session to do something else with your computer like check your e-mail or run another application ect.To do this you just click "stop" and when it askes you if you want to quit encodeing just don"t answer and do whatever you have to do then you can come back and just click "no" and then you can resume encodeing.But if you get an error or something and you can encode the part that wasn"t encoded when you stoped encodeing and join the two parts together with the "merge & cut" feature..
Here is what I am working with. It is an MPEG with a FRAME size of 352*288, however, the ACTUAL VIDEO takes up only 352*192 (48 pixels above and below form a black border).
Now, can I change the FRAME size to 352*192 (cropping 48 pixels off from above and below)? Will this reduce the file size slightly? I have tried using TMPGEnc but the best I've managed is to remove the borders and have the video stretched to fit the 352*288......which defeats the point!
I am NOT trying to create any standard file type (VCD, SVCD, etc)......all I need is a file that can be played on my PC, so I am not fussed if the settings are not standard. I am mainly doing this for practise and experience.
Please note, I do not want the final video to be stretched, just the same original MPEG without the black border above and below.
I do a Q though. The bitrate of the MPEG is 1150 (CBR). If this remains unchanged will my movie be of the same size irrespective of wether or not the frame size has changed?
Let me clarify. I have 2 possible ideas about how this works.....could someone tell me which is correct - if either?!
1. Changing the frame size from 352*288 to 352*192 reduces the number of pixels by (192/288 = ) 2/3 of the original amount. This would mean the file size should drop since there are less pixels.
OR
2. Although changing the frame size reduces the number of pixels, this will not change the file size because the BITRATE was kept the same before and after (here it is at 1150kbps). In a crude way the difference can be thought of as simply meaning that the bitrate is now spread across fewer pixels (a lay-man's analogy). So, to reduce the file size I can reduce the BITRATE to (192/288 = ) 2/3 of it's original size (ie. from 1150 to approx 766kbps). This will keep the video quality the same since the BITRATE PER PIXEL is the same as before.
Actually the bits go where they are needed,very little bits go to encodeing the black borders , some go to creating the picture and some go to the complex part if the picture,so cropping the black off won"t decrease the size of the file very much, and decreasing the bitrate will just decrease the quality...I hope this clears things up a bit....
Minion is right. Very little of the bitrate is allocated to the blackborders, so you won't see a marked reduction in filesize.
I always crop out the black borders before I encode, this is just to reduce the enocoding time as there is little point in re-encoding the black borders.
You are also correct that if the bitrate is the same before and after cropping, the file size will remain the same.
Reducing the bitrate will also have detrimental effects on the quality.
If all you are trying to do is reduce the file size while mantaining quality and plan to play the file on your PC only. Then my advice would be to encode your movies to DIVX 5. This will maintain the same quality at smaller file sizes.
i just wanted to know if this program can get rid of subtitles when you encode for vcd.this program is awesome i do all my movies to vcd and they work great.if anyone knows how to make the picture sharper when encoding a movie that would be nice to know thanx!
If you want to make your VCD sharper then double click the 'Sharpen edge' filter under advanced.
If you just want to increase the overall quality then just up the bitrate.
DVD2AVI 1.76 tells me this:
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frame Rate 25.000 fps
Video Type: PAL
Frame Type: Progressive<<
Audio Format DD 3/2 448
TMPEnc 2.54.37.135 tells me this in the advanced tab when I load up the .d2v file:
Video Source Type: Interlace<<
Field order: Bottom field first(field b)<<
Source Apspect Ratio 4:3 625 line PAL 704x576
I get the three possible answers! The big question is "Is my VOB interlaced or not and if it is, is it top field first or bottom?"
Generally speaking all dvd"s are interlaced,but to find out you just have to look at the movie it self..just load your d2v file in tmpgenc and go to the "advanced settings" to "de-interlace" and scan through your movie especialy at high motion parts and look for "interlace "lines, you will know them when you see them ,it will look like there are lines jutting out of the regular outline of the movie,but with dvd2avi ,if you were to make a avi file from your vob files, some codecs have the option of makeing the frames of the movie progressive.....
Sorry minion, but there are no interlacing artifacts on a PAL source. This only happens on NTSC sources which have 3:2 pull down added.
Actually all DVD's are progressive it's just that pulldown is added to make it an interlaced source.
So both Bitrate viewer and DVD2AVI are right, but it's strange that DVD2AVI has reported progressive if it's a PAL DVD as it usually reports 'Interlaced'
TMPG usually detects whether it's interlaced or not but doesn't usually detect if it's top or bottom field first.
If you want the definitive answer trust Bitrate viewer for your answer as it's usually always right.
This is the real output format.
In any case seeing as you are converting a PAL source these settings won't make much difference to the output and are really only necessary to worry about when converting NTSC sources. (What a joy to live in the PAL world)