Audio "Drops"

[JayCee1]

I have been trying to rip a 'good' VCD for about 4 months now, and I occasionlly get audio drop outs on some of them. I get a beautiful picture, but those annoying drops. Anyone have any advice? I'm running all of my programs on Windows 2K.:confused:

[jggimi]

You'll get better advice if you tell people what encoding tools you are using, and what parameters you chose.

[JayCee1]

:stupid: Forgive me!! I'm running the Gordian Knot 0.21b software downloaded from Doom9, Pentium 4 Compaq PC, Windows 2K, sometimes I use the DVD Decrypter, also!

[jggimi]

I'm glad you've shared some information about what you are doing. Here's what I know so far: You are not creating VCDs, as you originally posted.
You are creating .avi files for play back on a PC. VCD is an MPEG1 format for playback on standalone and some DVD players.
You are using an old release of Gordian Knot -- the current release is 0.26.1.
That older version of Gordian Knot is for SBC (DivX 3) or DivX 4 video. If you are using DivX 4, you are using an old video codec.
Your PC is modern enough that your hardware should be fast enough to play back video and audio smoothly. Here's what I don't know: What audio codec you are using. You might be using Dolby Digital (.ac3), you might be using constant bitrate .mp3, you might be using variable bitrate .mp3, you might be using other formats.
What video codec you are using. This shouldn't matter, except that playback "post-processing" settings may consume excessive CPU. I don't know how fast your P4 is, and you may have W2K services running in the background that also consume CPU.
What audio-video interleaving settings you are using. The Gordian Knot default is 2-frame interleaving, if I remember correctly. Interleaving settings can effect audio playback, and produce your symptoms.
What .avi player you are using. Some players might produce your symptoms. The most famous is "The Playa" -- DivX network's first .avi player. It did not support variable bitrate .mp3, which is something of a default for GKnot. That player has been replaced by a new program. I mention it, only because you seem to be using back-level software.

[JayCee1]

You're Right ...on most counts!!! Actually, on the 'what I don't know' side, I got rid of the "playa". I'll get the updated version of G-Knot also! I also shut down the background stuff goin' on in w2k. All of the other stuff.....HUH??? Until I figure out all of the other stuff, I'll use DVD Decrypter, DVDx, and VCD Easy. Any recommendations that you have, I'll certainly try!:stupid:


Thanks for all the advice!!

[JayCee1]

Oh, by the way...Using the other formats, burning them on a CD-R worked, except for the audio drops. Every once in a while, I get a terrible burn...with bad picture and sound. I just do it over again!

Thanks!:)

[jggimi]

You've managed to confuse me. I no longer have any idea where you have problems, and now you seem to be using both .avi and VCD formats.

Which is causing the difficulty? I can't tell, reading your questions, if you're getting the audio problems on VCDs created with VCDEasy, or on .avi files produced by Gordian Knot.

Based on your opening comment, it appeared to be VCD, then, based on your second comment, it appeared to be DivX .avi; now, with your latest updates, it appears to be both.

Assuming you have audio problems with both types of files....

VCD:

Since I don't even know if you're using a standalone player or not, I'll assume you *might* be. If the VCD plays fine on a software player on your PC, but has trouble on a standalone DVD player, it could be the media, or, possibly, the particular VCD format, such as SVCD or XSVCD. Many DVD players cannot play VCDs from CD-R or CD-RW. Some can only play CD-RW. My Toshiba can't play either, and can only play commercially manufactured VCDs.

If the problem occurs in a standalone player, look up the player by make and model in the DVD player database at www.vcdhelp.com, where you can see what formats and media the player can accept, as well as comments from others with the same make and model.

DivX AVI:

I asked you what you might know about the audio of .avi files, since .avi supports many different types of audio codecs and audio formats, and can interleave video with audio with a great deal of flexibility.

If you were following Doom9's guide for Gknot, step by step, then you would be creating variable bitrate (that's a format) mp3 (that's a codec) audio, and using Gknot's default interleaving.

I'd wanted to know what player you were using with the .avi output, since switching players (or releases) might alleviate your problem, and, there have been known problems in the past.

I'd wanted to know about interleaving, since sometimes using improper values -- and sometimes defaults -- can produce your symptom. It is fairly quick to re-mux the audio and video together, in case the interleaving value was causing the problem.

I'd wanted to know your DivX codec playback settings -- called "post-processing" settings -- as these can also cause playback problems. It's been so long since I've dealt with DivX 4, I can't remember exactly how to make permanant setting changes. I think you can see the settings from Microsoft's Windows Media Player 6.4 (mplayer2.exe), by right clicking on the video and selecting "properties". But I may be wrong. If you can get to these settings, set all sliders to minimum, and see if the trouble goes away.

-----

If you need any additional help, please try to tell us 1) what format is actually having the problem, the software player and release you're using if a software player has the problem, and 2) what settings you chose when you encoded.

[JayCee1]

:stupid: Sorry for the confusion!! I was using Both to see which was better! Gordian Knot totally confused me, so I stuck with the VCD format. I have 2 standalones that I use: a Daewoo and a Sony . VCD'd seem to work fine on both players, except for the drops. The DIVx stuff that you were explaining, I have to study that a mlittle more!! The DVD Decrypter sometimes works better than the SmartRipper, then I use DVDx and VCD Easy, or VCD Imager and CDRWIN. That seems to work for me also! Whaddaya think????????
By the way, your advise is GREAT and VERY HELPFUL!!! Keep it comin'!!

[jggimi]

Well, now that you've provided more information, I don't think I can help you any further, since I've no knowledge of DVDx or VCD Easy. Perhaps someone else can....