What is the best method to preserve audio sync?

[phædrus]

I've been using GK 0.28.7, and the audio sync is sometimes OK, but most often offset by 2 frames. Still, there seems to be no consistency. So I am spending a lot of time after the video encoding is done jiggering the audio back and forth. It is starting to drive me a little nuts.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my reading leads me to believe that this sync problem is often, but not always caused by the DVD2AVI/mpg2dec3 combination used in 0.28.7. These haven't been upgraded in 0.28.8, have they? It didn't appear to me that they had. I know DG wrote some mods to these he called DGIndex and DGdecode, but they haven't been integrated into 0.28.8, as near as I can see from the programs listed in the download, otherwise I would have upgraded.

No matter the cause, what is the most reliable way to preserve the sync as it is on the original DVD? I'm not as advanced as many of you, so I need a relatively simple solution. AutoGK?

If this problem continues, I need a tool where I could visually compare the audio waveform versus running time on the original versus the final encode -- then I'd be able to see exactly how many milliseconds I needed to adjust the offset.

[manono]

Hi-

Make sure that you get the audio from DGIndex, and not from DVD Decrypter. Make sure that you have the latest version of DGIndex. You can find it here:

http://neuron2.net/fixd2v/decodefix.html

Remember that you'll need both DGIndex and the DGDecode.dll.

I've seen audio asynch in 2 previous versions. I don't know which is included in your GKnot (you might upgrade your GKnot also), but it must be one of the bad ones.

...but they haven't been integrated into 0.28.8, as near as I can see ...

The latest is 0.32 now, and they have been integrated.

[phædrus]

I tried integrating the DGIndex and new .dll files into my GK routine. Either they don't work well with 0.28.7 or I made an error somewhere. I renamed the new files to match the old file names. I thought that would work, but it didn't.

Yes, I knew they were up to 0.32. Maybe I'll try it out. That's a beta. I see 0.29 alpha is available.

As soon as I finish the series of programs I'm working on, I'll try something new. Thanks for the help.

[manono]

Hi-

I thought that would work, but it didn't.

It's most likely because the new GKnot uses the DGDecode.dll, and your version uses the MPEG2Dec3.dll

So, at the top of your .avs, you'd edit it to change from:

LoadPlugin("C:\Path\To\Mpeg2Dec3.dll")

to:

LoadPlugin("C:\Path\To\DGDecode.dll")

But once you upgrade, everything should be fine.

[phædrus]

You know once you start focusing on sync, it is possible to start getting anal about it. A few times I've noticed that when I adjusted the soundtrack back or forward on the .avi file, I'm getting better sync to the actors lips than the original DVD (as viewed on WinDVD). It's tricky, though. You have to learn to recognize a scene that used the original sound (recorded when the scene was filmed), not a scene where the dialogue has been looped (i.e. actors re-recorded their lines afterwards in a recording studio, attempting to lip-sync to their previous performance on film). The looped dialogue is inevitably just a hair off in spots.

Still, I'm convinced that, at least with some versions of WinDVD, the sync is not as good as it should be. Whether this is a playback issue, or whether the sound is not synced optimally on the original DVD, I'm not sure. It could be carelessness on the part of those who authored the DVD originally.