TMPGEnc + IFOedit--someone help before I shoot something

[fubarduck]

OK, so for a long time I followed the guide on Doom9 for IFOEdit + TMPGEnc. For me, it is a good balance between quality and ease of process. Lately, however, this process has become problematic. Whenever I would re-mux my VOB files with the .M2V file created by TMPGEnc, everything would be out of sync, it was like TMPG was cutting off too short. When I would try to seek with PowerDVD with the completed VOBs to end parts in the movie, it would not work. When I would burn the VOBs to a DVD-R, they would not read on the standalone either. So, new plan.

I upgraded my TMPGEnc and IFOEdit to the newest version(s). TMPGEnc now creates .mpg files rather than .m2vs. I made an .mpg file with TMPGEnc (using Doom9 settings of course) and now, when I try to re-mux it with the VOBs using new IFOEdit, I get the error "Synchronization Error on MPeg file"!

Needless to say, I am totally confused now. I have a set of programs I used which suddenly stopped working normally (I have backed up many DVDs beforehand using the exact same method). The only difference now is I'm encoding NTSC 16:9 DVDs (movies) instead of NTSC 4:3 DVDs (Animes); I changed the settings accordingly. The only setting I wasn't sure of was the VBR control--I use 2 pass to control output size, but there is an 'old type' and a 'new type' now. Perhaps someone can educate me on these features? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. And, if you're reading Doom9 (hopefully you are) an updated TMPGEnc + IfoEdit guide would make my day, it hasn't been updated since March and I believe this to be a very useful combination! CCE may be better quality but it is easier for me just to do a few clicks and calculations and have a near perfect quality DVD transcoding.

Please reply, and thanks for reading,
--fubarduck

[Commander XJL]

It would be best if you brought your m2v file and ac3 file into Maestro, and used it to create your vobs. This method has been foolproof for me for so long now I can't remember. I tried the Ifoedit method with TMPG and got sync problems constantly, and I bet Ifoedit is the cause, since I've used TMPG for years now to create MPEG files and they are always in sync

[fubarduck]

OK, I tried to use Maestro but as soon as I tried to open the .mpg file created by TMPGEnc using "Import Media Assets" I get a "Format Not Supported Error". Can anyone help now?

Additionally, I am not interested in creating menus, etc, I only want the movie to immediately start. Is there a simple way of doing this in Maestro, once I fix my problem?

Thanks,
fubarduck

[Commander XJL]

You need to encode the original m2v file only, not the audio. Maestro will bring in your new m2v file and the original ac3 file seperately, and mux them together perfectly when you author the DVD. Just encode the video, not the audio. Maestro is so easy at doing just the movie you'll crap. You can set the movie to play when you put in the DVD under the connections window, just make the movie or the first chapter the first play item. To get the original files use Smartripper, go to stream processing, select the ac3 file and hit demux to extra file, do the same for the m2v file, under settings select maximum file size and set it to 8000 (8 Gig) so the whole file will rip and not be cut short

[Hairy_Wookie]

I had the exact same Problem as you fubarduck, I searched the forums a bit and found some other people had the same problem, the way to fix it is use ifoedit 088 when you create the Tmpeg i-frame text file, the new version has changed the way it creates the file.
Do this, and it should work perfect.

I basically follow the Doom9 guide, I use dvd-decryptor to rip the dvd, get rid of subtitles, other languages, menus etc using Ifoedit, and then create the Tmpeg txt file, then use dvd2avi, then i use Tmpeg and do a 2 pass vbr, then use ifoedit again to remux etc, then burn it using nero. works perfect. (pal 16x9)

[fubarduck]

OK, now I am using Maestro to mux everything.
The movie I'm attempting now (Shaolin Soccer) ALMOST worked great, but the end result was a very choppy file on my standalone DVD player. The frames looked very weird, it was like they didn't match. Maybe pulldown was done incorrectly? Any suggestions on the best way to do pulldown, settings to change in TMPGEnc if I do it differently, and ways to verify that pulldown should indeed be done?

Thanks,
fubarduck