Is the 'mpeg tools' in TMPGEnc the reason for my sync issues?

[Will Hay]

I use Virtualdub for capture but that's as much as I know about the program
I've captured some tv shows using the PicVideo Mjpeg codec and then ran them through TMPGEnc at dvd compliant mpeg2 3000kb/sec.
They all looked fine but when I burnt them the last episode (the sixth) is very slightly out of sync, and I wonder if it's because I used the 'mpeg tools' function in TMPGEnc to join them all after I encoded (I did this as each of the six episodes were split in two - and if I'd have used Ulead Movie Factory to author I'd have got two chapter buttons per episode - I didn't want that).
By joining the mpegs will this perhaps be the cause of the sound and video being slightly out of sync, and if there's a quick way to simply join the avi's in virtualdub (before encoding) will this maybe solve my problem?
Thanks in advance,
Will

[Flying dutchman]

Definitely yes. TMpeg's cut&paste functions gets audio and video out of sync. Even a simple remultiplexing with tMpeg slightly shifts audio versus video. You can correct the offset if you use BBMpeg (freeware) for multiplexing.

[Will Hay]

Hello, and thanks for the post.
Rather than join all as one I ran two at a time through TMPGEnc tools to join and create each episode so that I had six seperate mpegs.
I'm burning as I type so hopefully that'll cure it.
I played the last clip using my video player (not WMP!) and there seemed to be no sound issues so hopefully 'll solve it.
Thanks again.
I appreciate I should join before encoding - I use Vdub for capture so I can do that there, right?
Will

[landrover]

Yes, you can and I was going to tell you, but unfortunately I'm not at my own system so I don't have Vdub at hand.

With your system it should be no problem at all. Just open the first file you want to process in Vdub and choose "append file" or "append segment" or something like that. In this way you can create a large video stream which you can either frame serve to TMPEnc, or save as one single AVI, which can be converted into MPEG the traditional way.

VirtualDub has no sync issues when joining files. As long as the original files are lipsync, so should be your joint file.

[Will Hay]

Re: Is the 'mpeg tools' in TMPGEnc the reason for my sync issues?

Originally posted by Will Hay
.......when I burnt them the last episode (the sixth) is very slightly out of sync, and I wonder if it's because I used the 'mpeg tools' function in TMPGEnc to join them all after I encoded

It was indeed a flaw within TMPGEnc.
I used the join function for the 1st and 2nd part of each episode and created six mpegs rather than one large one and sure enough they sound/video sync issues were gone.
I'll still be going down the Vdub "append file" or "append segment" idea though, think it's best to edit before encoding, no matter how trivial the editing.
Thanks for all the posts folks, much appreciated.
Will Hay

[Will Hay]

Hello landrover,

Originally posted by landrover
...In this way you can create a large video stream which you can either frame serve to TMPEnc, or save as one single AVI, which can be converted into MPEG the traditional way.

As I mentioned in my earlier post my knowledge of Vdub is limited so with that in mind...
...I was assuming I could import each captured avi, join them in a relatively quick process and then open up with TMPGEnc for encoding.
You mentioned 'frame serve', does this mean I can append in Vdub and then have TMPGEnc run from within Vdub?
Thanks,
Will

[landrover]

In short, yes. If you choose "start frame server" in the Vdub pulldown menu, you will be prompted to save your file as *.vdr, a virtual video file. In this way your AVI will be presented frame by frame to an external encoding program, in this case TMPGEnc.
Back in the FAT disk structure days, this was THE way to transfer video files to MPEG encoders, without having to save them first into one large AVI, which would by far exceed the critical 4GB limit.

[Flying dutchman]

For frame serving in Virtualdub to work, don't forget to run the "auxsetup.exe" program that comes with it once. It sets up Virtualdub as a kind of video codec so that the "vdr" file format is associated with it.

[Will Hay]

I'm struggling a little with this frameserving
I installed the handler, did I test capture and then went to 'start frame server'.
I got a prompt to setup the frameserver and a frameserver name as desktop (this is shaded) then the name of my capture, ie 'test.avi' and a start button.
When I pressed 'start' I get a message 'save vcdr. signpost for avifile handler'.
I got a bit lost here so simply selected the desktop, but nothing appeared to happen.
I then opened TMPGEnc and then tried to import the file created by Vdub but TMPGEnc just crashed.
Is there something glaring I've not done?
Thanks,
Will

[Flying dutchman]

Save your signpost as "c:\test.VDR", not AVI.
Open this c:\test.vdr file in tMpeg.

[Will Hay]

There is no option to change the signpost from .vdr to avi - I've always saved it as a .vdr file.
Do you mean change the frameserver setup from avi to vdr?
If so, this produces the same crash in TMPGEnc
I'm leaving Vdub open, right?

[Will Hay]

I've also tried to save it as test.avi in the signpost part - still a crash.
Will