Posted this on the dvdrhelp.com dvd author forum but got no responses. Thought I'd try it here:

I've been using TDA for a week or so and have a question about title and track menus and remote controls.

What I wanted to accomplish was making a dvd of my son's 3 dvd videos and to have a simple menu. I wanted the dvd to start up automatically and loop at the end and for the menu to appear if I pressed the menu button on my remote - profound I know.

I used dvdshrink to rip the movies separately and made 3 tracks in TDA. In menu options I chose Main Menu Only and for the tracks to play on startup and for them to loop. I burned it to disk and tried it out on my 4 dvd players.

Everything played ok but nothing happened when pressing the menu button on my remotes. On two remotes pressing Title would display the menu, one pressing Top Menu would display the menu, and my fourth and newest dvd/vhs combo wouldn't display it at all - no title or top menu buttons.

So I made a new dvd choosing automatic with the same play options and hitting the menu button would now display the Track Menu with the same thing as above happening when attempting to get to the main menu.

My awe-inspiring intellect quickly concluded that the Title button only works with the main menu and the Menu button only works with the track menu. I also wondered why my new dvd player didn't have a title button. Stupid new dvd player.

Just for fun I made a test dvd with roxio dvd builder with only a main menu and 3 tracks and when pressing menu OR title/top menu the Main Menu displays. Go figure.

So how do I get TDA to do the same thing? Going into this I natively thought hitting menu would open the menu. Is there something I'm not understanding? Thanks.

well.
there are several different menus on DVDs.
-> title, root, subtitle, audio, angle and chapter.

most dvd-players can only access the title and the root menu directly via the remote.
seems like TDA just assigns a command to the "title"-menu, not "root".

something like that :)

Hi everyone,

I'm using TMPGEnc and the project wizard keeps freezing on me when i load a SVCD. I also tried to load it without the project wizard. I even have PowerDVD installed as a external codec and the VFAPI Cyberlink is set for 0. I made the SVCD with TMPGEnc. I also got the newer version of the program from tmpgenc.net. Does anyone know why it's freezing on me?? Please reply back as soon as possible. Thanx guys..

Those Decoders do not work very well that is why the disconued active support for those Decoders and Now use a Built in one that comes when you buy the Plus version...I found the best and easiest method for encodeing Mpeg2 files as the source file is to Use DVD2AVI to Frameserve the Mpeg2 Video to Tmpgenc ,It is faster than other Mpeg2 decoders and this way you only encode the Video because re-encodeing the audio will just degrade the audio Quality and the SVCD Audio is allready VCD ,SVCD, and DVD Compliant....

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this.

I was trying to load up an .AVI file (Using the NTSC Film template, which I believe to be correct based on the FPS of the .AVI), and I loaded it into video just fine.

When I tried to load the .AVI file into the Audio bar, it said:

"File [Address To File On My PC] can not open, or unsupported."

I then tried to use another .AVI, and the same thing happened.

Both of them use the AC3 Codec for audio purposes.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out?

if you come across a problem with tmpgenc, it has most probably has been covered on previous post, so to save urself time in the future try searching first.

but in answer to ur question in short: U NEED CODECS

if your not sure what video and audio codecs you need for any avi, d/l a program called 'g-spot codec information', it will tell you exactly what codecs you need to be able play and encode the avi

(slaps self)
sorry didnt read ur post properly, yes im blind =p

you need an ac3 decompressor

never mind my last posts if video loads up ok then it aint a codec issue

tmpgenc doesnt support ac3 (not that im aware of), so you must convert the ac3 audio to wav so tmpgenc can recognise it

i think (dont hold me to this) that vitualdub may be able to do this

Get VirtualDubMod. Demux the audio stream with vdubmod. Re-encode the AC3 stream to WAV using Ciler's AC3 Tool. You can get VirtualDubMod, and Ciler's AC3 Tool @ http://www.dvdrhelp.com.
Good luck.

TMPG will decode Ac3 in AVI if you install the AC3ACM decompressor.
http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/AC3ACM/

(slaps self again) =p

i made a 16 minute video which i had to capture with virtualdub because i'm on windows ME and i have that darn 4 gig limit. anyway...when i transfer the avi files to mpeg 2 svcd the files sound fine...but when i joined all the mpeg 2 files together,the joined file now has a beep and pause where the splits used to be. is there a way to get rid of this or make it less obvious?? maybe using the source range to cut out the small pause and beeps?? if so how many frames would be best to cut out?? thanks if any one can answer in advance...sorry if it's a dumb question..just a beginner.

First of all you should capture your AVI's as segmented AVI's to get around the 4GB barrier.
This means that when the file size approaches a predefined size such as 3.9GB the capture program will begin capturing to another file. These files will all automatically link up as one big file in either Virtualdub or TMPG or indeed any program that supports segmented AVI's (I guess you are already capturing segmented anyway).

Rename your AVI's in sequence such as AVI-001.avi, AVI-002.avi and so on.
Start TMPG and goto Option>enviromental settings>general then put a check in the box 'Open sequence files as a movie'
Now load your first AVI and the rest will automatically load.

The answer to your original problem is that you must click the 'Correct' button before joining the MPEGs. This will avoid files being joined at the wrong point in the GOP.

When ever i try to split an mpeg with with the mpeg tools feautre tmpgenc crashes right before it starts multiplexing. Any ideas?

hi i dl ffdshow and enabled the codecs..i can see the video but no sound.. what can i do??!!

thx very much!

also..i have trouble converting it to wav using virtual dub...

can someone guide me in the steps to using virtual dub in converting audio to wav...i think i did the wrong things. thx

Make sure you select 'full processing' under audio options then select PCM as the compression method. Next click File>save wav

can someone guide me in the steps to using virtual dub in converting audio to wav...i think i did the wrong things. thx

when i try to save wav...it says "no audio decompressor could be found"...would should I do?

I dl the AC3 ACM Decompressor but i don't know how to activate it in virtual dub when saving the file

You don't need Virtualdub if you have mthe AC3ACM decompressor. TMPG will decode the audio in the AVI directly once it's installed.

Angel,
Do yourself a huge favor, and download VirtualDubMod from http://www.dvdrhelp.com and use it to demux the audio stream. Then you can convert the stream to WAV. MOST avi's use either AC3 audio, or MP3 audio. VirtualDubMod will give you an exact copy of whichever one the avi you're working with uses, and you can then use another tool to convert it to WAV if that's what you want to do. Other usefull tools: MP3 to WAV - MusicMatch Jukebox, AC3 to WAV - Ciler's AC3 Tool. MusicMatch can be downloaded from http://www.musicmatch.com and Ciler's AC3 Tool can be downloaded at dvdrhelp.com. Good luck.

You don't need another tool to do the Ac3-wav conversion if you have Virtualdubmod or Virtualdub_ac3. Either will convert Ac3 to a wav.

In any case you don't need any third party tools once the AC3ACM decompressor is installed. TMPG WILL decode the audio once it's installed.

Cna TMPGEnc create MPEG-2 TS File?

or support transcoder?

No. You will have to convert it to a TS with something like MPEG2VCR or MPEGcarver.

Just started using the software. I need to save the cut/edited VOBs for future use. Currently, the only way I know how to do it is to author the project, then save the resulting VOBs; and if I have a few cuts, I just separate them into different tracks, they they come up separate VOBs too.

Is there an easier way - meaning, not having to go through the authoring step, like a save clip button or something ?

Just creat a TitleSet without a Menu, that's all.

The downloaded XVID movie is in audio sync. Everytime I process it with either TMPG, virtual dub or easy video splitter, sound goes out of sync. The sound is encoded with VBR, which is causing the problem. I've had this problem before but then I managed to fix it by uncrompressing the audio to .wav, but it isn't working with this file. It's out of sync from the start. I expect I may need to delay video somehow,(it's ahead by about 3 seconds) but how?

Use virtual dub to find out the delay you need then add this to the source range in TMPG.

thanks, i got it working perfectly now. I also ran into a second issue with a stream write error that was fixed by downloading the ffdshow codec.

Well I have managed now to get my TMPGEnc player to read my .mkv files and got them converted fine(this was my last posts problem) but now I have these remaining .mkv files what TMPGEnc plus can not open up. I heard some were these files I have are updated .mkv files and thats why it can not be opened up so I need a plugin(if thier is one) to open these up so I can convert it.

plz I need a plugin what can do that.

>plz I need a plugin what can do that.

you can always make one =D lol

Please help me if its possible. Thanks!

It's an avi, just rename it xxx.avi

Get a copy of VirtualDub from http://www.dvdrhelp.com and use it to split the AVI into two (or more) segments smaller than 74 minutes each (if you're going to burn to a cd. And don't forget to make the split at a keyframe.) If it comes up with the audio being unsupported, (which happens in many AVI's that are encoded using the AC3 audio codec,) get VirtualDubMod, demux the audio stream, use Ciler's AC3 Tool to convert it to WAV (or even MusicMatch Jukebox if it has a VBR MP3 stream). Yes, it takes time. Yes it creates huge files, but hey... you're the one trying to hack an AVI you downloaded from the web to either VCD or SVCD, so don't complain. The effort's worth it. Ciler's AC3 Tool can also be found at dvdrhelp.com, as can VirtualDubMod.

@an-anonymous-doner

I think you need to take a look around this BBS and familiarize yourself with TMPG a bit more. Some of the advice you are posting is pointless and longwinded for no reason.

The steps you mention are unecessary and parts are unadvisable.
Splitting an AVI prior to encoding with TMPG is not recommended. While the AVI itself may be 74 mins when split and fit one disk, depending on the selected output in TMPG I.E SVCD the resulting MPEG may NOT fit one disk.

hello, im trying to convert avi to mpeg, and the trouble im having is that i cant seem to get TMPGEnc to keep the movie at widescreen format. i tried 1:1 vga, 4:3 525 line ntsc 704x280, ect down the line with no differance. the movie is allways streched looking kinda funny. also what is the differance between interlace, and non-interlaced? im sooooooo confused..............

I use 16x9 PAL for such a thing at "video" settings. Don't forget to set the "Video arrange Method" to "full screen" _without_ keeping the aspect ratio under the "Advanced" tab.

Setsuna

ok, but if i use pal, how do i get everything back to ntsc? im missing something

Depending on your output here are the settings you need.

Source aspect ratio: 16:9 display (always use this for any 16:9 footage)

Arrange method: Full screen (keep aspect ratio)<<<important

Output aspect ratio for widescreen TV:
16:9 display for MPEG2
16:9 NTSC for MPEG1

Output for 4:3 TV:
4:3 display for MPEG2
4:3 NTSC for MPEG1

You'd better have a look on google for explanations about interlacing, It would take too much to explain here.

no matter what the seting, the outcome is a stretched video...................):
and i tried google, i sorta get it now.......ty

It seems lime you are craeting a SVCD.
Post your settings here.

You cannot play SVCD files in Mediaplayer or similar. You need DVD player software such as WinDVD.

The aspect ratio will be altered by both WinDVD and your DVD player once burned to disk so the image is correct.