I am new to TMPGEnc and trying to encode a complex project a little over 2 hours long with several hundred clips for use by DVDit!PE or ReelDVD. I followed the Rui del-Negro tutorial and used the DVD NTSC settings with 2 passes, average=4200, max=7000, min=2000, highest quality, I=1, P=3, B=2, GOP max=15, output closed GOP disabled, detect scene change enabled and force picture type disabled. On my 2.4 GHz P4 with 512MB memory, the encode time (it's still going!) will be over 50 hours. I have a few questions for the many experts I've seen on this board:
Is this encode time normal?
If not, what did I do wrong?
If so, are there things that can be done to shorten it without reducing quality much?
For a project with lots of clips and scene changes, what settings would likely produce the best quality?
Thanks for your help,

John

Two hours of video encoded into mpeg on your system shouldn"t take more than 6 hours in 2 pass mode,How are you encodeing these several hunderd clips?Are they avi files or are they bmp images?are you encodeing several seperate clips and joining them with the "merge & cut" feature..I have no Idea why it is takeing so long but you can get pretty much the same quality with less than half the encodeing time if you used a "CQ" encodeing method..But try downloading and installing "tmpgenc" again and see if that helps cuz with you super fast system you should be able to encode 2 hours of video less than 6 hours ,hell on my 800mhz system I can do 2 hours in about 12 hours and that is a little long for me.....

Minion,

Thanks for your (encouraging) reply. The program I am encoding was prepared in Premiere 6.01. It consists of a lot of video clips (with audio) put together in Premiere with a large number of transitions. I am using TMPGEnc through the AVISynth frame server from the Premiere timeline. It took Ligos about 9 hours to encode it and it did a pretty good job (though the bit rate I picked produced a file that was too large). I don't know why it is taking so long either but it now says it will be about 54 hours (the time remaining value has been useless - it first said it would take 15 hours and has steadily been losing time!). I am concerned that the combination of the GOP structure and the bit rate made it a difficult combination to encode. I may also have made some other error in the parameters but it does seem to be running normally. Any further thoughts on what I did to make it take so long?

Thanks for your help and advice,

John

I think that you long encodeing times are due to the frame serveing through avi synth,frame serveing allways make the encodeing take twice as long, maybe try setting up your frame server again or try frame serving with virtua dub,but if you can uncompress your avi file and load it directly in tmpgenc you will get faster results and im sure you would save time even takeing in to account the time it takes to uncompress your avi file or compress it into a direct show format or a vfw format..

If you are using the 'Highest' quality setting in TMPG, this is one of the reasons it's taking so long. The 'highest' quality setting always drastically increases the encoding time. You could halve that time by reducing it to just 'High' and it won't make a jot of difference to the image quality.
Really, I have done tests regarding this and the 'highest' quality setting has no image quality advantage over 'high' quality except for the fact it doubles your encode time.

ASHY

Ashy,

Thanks, I'll give that a try. It ended up taking 55 hours and seems successful but the quality was not much different than the Ligos full-version plug-in for Premiere which did it in under 9 hours. I still wonder if there are other settings I made that caused it to take so long.

Thanks,

John

Is there anyway to resume a partially encoded file? My computer has a nasty habit of locking up and shutting down when it sleeps for too long (a problem with Win98se). Being that it takes a long time to encode AVI to MPEG, I never seem to finish a project. I keep restarting and overwriting the last attempt. Is there a way around this?

Also, (this is my first attempt at this, by the way) I noticed that movie length stated by the program just befor I start the encoding is much longer than the actual length of the movie. As stated above, I've yet to complete a project, but is this normal? Does it mean anything?

I'm a novice at this myself, but are you saying that your computer goes on s "standby" mode if the keyboard or mouse is not touched after a set period of time? When I started using napster 2 yrs ago and had only a 33kps modem I was lucky to get even a four minute song before the download was terminated by my system going to "sleep". I had to go into the Windows "settings" and adjusted a couple of things (can't quite recall what at the moment) so that the computer never shuts down automatically.
Sorry if I completely misunderstood... I'm basically here looking for scraps of knowledge myself! :-)

Try turning off your screen saver,if that is what you mean by "sleeping"...

"Is there anyway to resume a partially encoded file? "

Yes, sort of. There may be a more elegant way to do it, but this will get you by for now.

Preserve the partial file by renaming it or changing the name of your output file. Use the SOURCE RANGE feature to find the last frame number of the partial file.
Then use it to find the same frame number in your source file and set that as the start point of the encoding process. Actually you came input the frame number directly into TMPGenc and press the MOVE TO START POINT to check it.
If you need to you can merge the two encoded files later, using the MERGE/CUT feature in MPEG TOOLS.
Also:
To prevent your system from going to sleep mode in the middle of the encoding, go to the Power settings in the Control Panel and change the settings to make sure it doesn't go into standby while you are encoding.
Also, You might also want to change your screensaver. You don't want one that is using your resources. I have mine set to just blank the screen.
You might want to check the settings in your system's BIOS settings to see what the energy settings are set to.

try going into control panel....power options...and set everything on never...this will stop it going to sleep.

had 5 min. of bad video at the very last of the vcd. I cut the bad sectors then took the 5 min from the original mpeg not formatted to vcd however when I finished multiplexing after cutting there was no sound . This is the same mpeg I used to create the vcd.

Why did you need to multiplex it after cutting?If you would have cut it in "mpeg1-vcd" mode you wouldn"t have had to format it to vcd by multiplexing ,cutting does the same thing,it attaches vcd headers to the mpeg file....

Curious? If your source file was already an MPEG then why did you re-encode it?
What do you mean multiplexing after cutting. What did you multiplex, the last 5 minutes with the rest of the MPEG?
If you are trying to join the two together, you should have used the Merge&Cut feature not multiplex. Multiplexing just combines 2 streams into one, such as audio and video stream. I magine twisting 2 pieces of string together, this is what multiplexing does.

ASHY

I think I probably used the wrong term I said miltiplexing because at the end of the merge and cut process tmpg tells you it is multiplexing. I did use the merge and cut .The original file is not a vcd format I used it to create a vcd and there was a crash at the very last ofit . I took the one formatted for vcd and cut the bad sectors , I took the unformatted video and cut out the sectors that I needed to finnish the vcd. however afterusing mergeand cut there was no sound

Okay, so I purchased the 48 dollar key to unlock this program. Where do I enter the key to unlockthe program

First you have to download the "Tmpgenc 2.54a Plus" version ,not the demo version,click on the banner below to download the "Plus" version, Then go to "Help" then "Register".....

I tried to use TMPGenc to convert my AVI files into MPEG files, however when I browsed the AVI files in the video option of the TMPGenc program, it prompts "cannot open file or file unsupported"; the same AVI files can be browsed in the audio option of the program though. My AVI files were taken by a digital camera "Fujifilm z6800", They can be played normally in Windows Media Player... I guess there is no problem with my AVI files? then what's the problem? Why's it not supported by TMPGenc program?? or what can I do to fix it? Please help!! Thank you.

Look at post "8512" for an answer,but if that dont work then it might have to do with a codec if you used a DV codec to capture to your computer,"Tmpgenc" is only compatable with "Open DML Direct Show" formats and "Video Fow Windows(VFW)"formats, so to get unsuported avi files in you would have to de-compress them to uncompressed avi or encode them to a supported format..

I'm a beginner when it comes to encoding, but tmpg was working fine earlier. Now I'm getting format unsupported errors even trying the same files I had encoded earlier today.

Go to "options" to "enviromental settings" to "vfapi plugins" raise the "Direct Show File Reader" to "2" by right clicking on it and selecting, and lower everything else to "0"...

My first attempts at encoding went perfectly, but since then I've had nothing but problems. All encoding has been done using the Video-CD NTSC (MPEG-1 352x240 29.97fps CBR 1150kbps, Layer-2 44100Hz 224kbps) setting.

I encoded two movies on two machines overnight, and ended up with one that had no sound, and one that was horribly out of sync. I think I've managed to find reasonable solutions to these problems.

But my two latest problems are as follows:

1) I tried to encode a 2 1/2 hour movie last night, and when it started encoding the estimated remaining time was 6 hours. But when I got up this morning, the program had stopped with an "Out Of Memory" error, and the Remaining time was just over 88 hours. So I rebooted the machine (700 MHz Pentium/128 MB RAM/Win 98), and started over. It started off roughly the same, but two hours later, TMPGEnc's only managed to encode around 8 1/2 minutes of the movie, and the estimated time is up to just under 36 hours. The small (35MB) file that had been generated seemed fine, and played correctly. Of course, it was only a few minutes long.

2) I've tried encoding another movie (around 95 minutes long) and it resulted in a file 2GB in size. I tried playing the file, and it was around 4 hours long, with no sound. The first 95 minutes of the file were the (soundless) movie, and everything after that was a still shot of the last frame. I think I can fix the sound part, but I haven't been able to figure out why the file goes on forever. I'd rather not encode another 2GB file, if I can help it. :) Also, this isn't the first time this has happened; on a different computer (1 GHz Pentium/128 MB RAM/Win 98) another movie gave me the same problem earlier, and I just stopped it and didn't bother to continue.

Over the last week I've gone through the first 45 pages of the BBS, and I haven't been able to find answers to either one of these questions. I'm hoping it's something easy to solve, and I just missed it.

Usually if the problem is only with certain files then the problem is usually with the file itself,as for the audio not showing up after encodeing ,that is a very common problem and it usually has to do with an incompatible audio format, extracting the audio from your avi to wav usually solves that problem,and encodeing the last frame forever ,there is probably a corrupted frame at the end of the avi from an editing error or something, but you can easily cut off the repeating frame at the end of the mpeg file...

My biggest concern is the memory issue. I've tried two other files, and they've had the exact same problem. They start off fine, but while it takes a half-hour to encode the first 5 minutes of the file, the next 3 minutes take several hours. And by the time it gets to around 8 1/2 minutes in (after, say 4 hours or so), the program grinds to a halt.

Have you tried un-installing Tmpgenc and then re-downloading it and installing it again ?sometimes that can fix mysterious problems...I am surprised that your computer takes so long to encode, a half an hour to encode 5 minutes is a long time,I get about 20 minutes of mpeg1 per hour on a 800mhz system and about 13 minutes of mpeg2..

How do i do if i want to "program" tmpgenc so it converts movie after movie,
So i can leave it running over night for example?

Create project files from each movie then click File>Batch encode and add all projects and run.

ASHY

Thanks

After I encode from avi to mpeg1 or mpeg2 using TMPGEnc it plays on Windows Media Player but when I try to play it on WinDVD I get the sound but the screen is completely pink. I have heard about the angel codec but how do I find out if it is on my system.

Thanks

You mean you don't know yourself whether you installed it or not?
What operating system are you using I will tell you where to look or if want you could just have a look using TMPG.
Just click File>Output to file>AVI file then click the 'setting' button on the right near the video field. A video compression box will pop up. You should be able to see a list of the codecs on your system in the drop down menu.

ASHY

I checked as Ashy suggested and I don't have the angel codec installed. What else could cause this? I am using Windows 98SE with Premiere, exporting as AVI and as I said after encoding the MPEG File plays in Windows Media Player. I can play AVI files on Win DVD but the MPEG files are completely pink with normal sound.

Thanks Simon

Go to Control Panel.
DblClick add/remove programs.
Here you might find the Angel sh...
remove it if it's there

I made 2 SVCD images to burn using VCDxBuild. The first BIN burned just fine but the second one was just a touch too long to burn on an 80-min CDR. I wanted to cut the file down by 30 seconds, but I had already deleted the original MPG file. I downloaded WinISO to extract the MPG from the BIN file but TMPGEnc (which I used to make the original MPG) says the extracted MPG is not a valid MPEG file. Is this a problem with WinISO? What can I do to extract a valid MPEG from that BIN file and use TMPGEnc to cut off the end?

Don't bother extracting at all, just overburn the CD. You should be able to burn about 820mb on most CDR's using overburn.

Both NERO and VCDeasy have this option.

ASHY

I found that VCDEasy will burn only at 1x speed on my burner without causing errors. I use CDRWin 4.0 which works wonderfully, but my burner reports "Won't accept CUE sheet." I'll try VCDEasy, thanks.

I use VcdGear to extract SVCD from BIN files, I have tried CDmage, but it always errors out. You are correct about WINISO, it doesn't produce a valid mpeg layer for some reason. Typically after getting a mpeg out of VCDGear I will use a custom template in TMPGenc to make a XSVCD, that way I can make it fit either way, more or less onto a 80min CDR. You have to create and save your unlocked template so that you can make changes to those settings that are normally ghosted out. I am not sure if I am getting reduced bitrates from VCDGear from what it should be, but by the time I get done using TMPGenc I get goods video.

Try useing "nero" to burn,it is a lot more user friendly than vcdeasy and vcdgear and it wont cause errors while burning, well not for me anyway.....

I downloaded NERO and ran an OVERBURN test. It said I could only overburn 1:05 with that disc (but it only worked in RAW mode). The BIN file is 80:33, but when I ran the overburn it couldn't write the lead out track. I tried this twice. I use an HP CD-Writer 9100. Is this a problem with my writer or is there another brand of media that overburn better? I use Verbatim 80min. Thanks

It seems like you've got a dodgy writer. I've heard many a story about problems with HP writers. I don't think it's the Verbatim disks as they usually overburn quite well. I have had 830mb from Verbatim.
You could use ISO buster to extract the MPEG and then try overburning with NERO.
Nero will allow you to set the amount of overburn you wish in the preferences.

Next time I would do a simulation first rather than waste a disk.

ASHY

I am having audio sync problems after joining mpeg files encoded using TMPGEnc.

Problems.

at each join-point; video pauses for fraction of second; audio continues
my software-DVD player on computer crashes at end of video;
I see that in some scenes, audio follows/behind video by fraction of second.

below steps I followed.

1. Added text to DV-AVI(NTSC?) files and encoded in
DV -AVI-(NTST?) format using VideoWave
-- each piece is about 6-10 minutes; I have limited disk space
2. Encoded each piece to PAL-VCD using TMPGEnc; highest quality;
de-interlace-odd-adaptation; crop-left2-bottom-8;
fullscreen-arrange-keep-aspect ratio2
3. So I get about 10-11 separate mpg files.
4. I combine all mpeg files using TMPGEnc cut/merge tool
unger File->MPEG tools
5. Then I burn my VCD using VCDEasy1.1.1
-- i see some warning saying its okey TMPGEnc signature n times
if i combined n files! and couple of APS warnings
6. I see that when I play the mpeg, after each piece (where it was joined)
video pauses for some time; audio still continues;
and (my software DVD player crashes at the end of the video)
stand alone dvd player-samsung is okey.

Anybody knows how to fix these.. please reply.

This is just a thought but your sync problems could be related to the fact that you are encodeing a "ntsc" file to "pal", the frame rate change between "ntsc" and "pal" would make your audio and video go out of sync..The easy way to fix this is to encode your ntsc avi to ntsc mpeg...but Ashy is the pro when it comes to "ntsc to pal" conversions....

my mpegs look like crap! can i get the flow of the movie as a whole to look better with this program? the movement looks as if the the movie is still being watched on the computor when i burn it onto a vcd. the detail is only good on a scene if nothing is moving. i tried the motion setting and even if i followed through i can justify 33hours for half a movie. is there another way? please help!

Tell us what you are doing so we can tell you what to do differently..The best way to increase quality is to raise the bitrate, the standard vcd template has a bitrate that isn"t going to give you the best quality but it is the standard bitrate for vcd, load the "unlock.mfc" template, then you can change the settings....You said it takes 33 hours to encode half a movie?What are you running a 133mhz?You odviously need a faster cpu,you can get a p4 2.0ghz for $750 in the states and that is the cheapest I have ever seem a cpu that fast..

"..The best way to increase quality is to raise the bitrate,"
Is it really that simple? I am not a programmer nor an video professional. I know that with digital cameras, the greater the number of pixels, the better the picture. Are you saying that the same thing applies with "bitrate"? Does the higher bitrate advice apply to the original filming "capturing"?? of the image or movie, or does it apply to the encoding part, or to both? Can you take a standard avi file of a tv show and improve the quality of the picture by encoding it at a higher bitrate?
I went to the MPEG setting screen of the TMPG encoder and tried to raise the bitrates... seems impossible to change the default. How do I unlock this? Finally... is there any 1 or 2 hard copy books or online tutorial sites that you can reccommend so that I can teach myself some of the basics and not drive you guys nuts?

You really can"t make the quality of your mpeg better than the avi that was the source,mpeg is for video compression not a video enhancement,yes it would be better to use a higher bitrate while captureing that will give you a better result..The higher the bitrate the more the encoded or captured file will look like the original,but you cant really make it look better than the original, you can apply filters and such to clean up the file but to make it actually better is a long shot.Go to "www.vcdhelp.com" they have lots of info on mpeg and captureing and vcd"s and stuff like that,it is a veritable fountain of information.....To change the "bitrate " you have to load the "unlock.mfc" template in the "extra" folder, this will unlock "ALL" the settings in "tmpgenc.