Creating a vdc at 25 fps from an avi file at 29.97 fps

[Swin]

Hi,

I am a very green newbie of few weeks or so at this so please excuse my ignorance or missing information. I have been reading the forums for weeks now and so have gone a little "forum blind" and just need a little help.

I have had a little trouble creating a PAL VCD from an AVI file at 29.97 frames most of which I seem to have curcumvented but now I end up with a finished MPG with an aspect ration of 16:9 rather than 4:3 as speciifed in AVI2VCD.

For other newbies I will explain what I have done so that it may help them! Firstly, the main problem I had come accross (once the standard VCD settings had been applied to DVD2SCVD and the NTSC to PAL box was checked) was that the resultant MPG had been extended with the effect of slowing down both video and audio. After a little research (and some excellent posts from Xesdeeni - even if I don't understand them fully yet) I left off the NTSC to PAL converstion but selected the "Edit as Part of Video Encoding" option on the Frameserving tab and added the command ConvertFPS and altered the resize line (for correct PAL resolution) so the AVS script then read:-

LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\DVD2SVCD\AVISYN~1\Mpeg2dec\mpeg2dec.dll")
AVISource("C:\Stuff\Mov~2.AVI",False)
ConvertToYUY2()
ConvertFPS(25)
BicubicResize(352,288,0.0,0.6)

After this the video encoded properly - at least with the correct frame rate and movie length. However, I am stuck with the final video in 16:9 aspect ratio rather than 4:3. Just as a mater of course I have also tried converting with no NTSC to PAL conversion and no AVS script editing; an alternative AVS script based on Xesdeeni work that doubled the frame rate then reduced it (this gave an interlaced effect but I do not think is suitable for VCD from what I read); and of course the standard NTSC to PAL conversion tick box checked. ALL of these still encoded the final MPEG as 16:9 rather than 4:3. The really odd thing is that the video stream LOOKS ok in Virtual Dub and plays ok in Real Player (i.e. approx right aspect ratio) but in Media player Boders are added and AVI Codec indicates that the aspect ration is 16:9. I must admit I haven't burt a VCD disk yet so I'll give that a whirl and see what happens.

AT a later point I will try different resize methods and effect to try and regain some of the quality possibly (LanczosResize, smothers etc) but i will do yet more reading before I get on with this.

Anyhow here is the DVD2SVCD log file

WNASPI32.DLL 4.6.0.1021
--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 03:51:03
- AVI to SVCD Conversion
- AVI2VCD ver. 1.1.3 build 3 BETA 7
--------------------------------------------------------
Initializing
Initializing finished.

--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 03:51:06
- Free on drive C: 4347.27 mb
- AUDIO Extraction
--------------------------------------------------------
Audio extraction finished.

--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 03:51:16
- Free on drive C: 4320.21 mb
- AUDIO conversion
--------------------------------------------------------

Converting MP2 to WAV. Filename: C:\Movies\Extracted_audio_1.mpa
Executing MADPlay (mp2 to wav). Commandline:
"C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\MADPlay\madplay.exe" --quiet --output=wave:"C:\Movies\Encoded_audio_1.mp2.wav" "C:\Movies\Extracted_audio_1.mpa"
Conversion (mp2 to wav) of C:\Movies\Extracted_audio_1.mpa finished.


Encoding Audio. Filename: C:\Movies\Extracted_audio_1.mpa
Executing BeSweet. Commandline:
"C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\BeSweet\Old\BeSweet.exe" -core( -input "C:\Movies\Encoded_audio_1.mp2.wav" -output "C:\Movies\Encoded_audio_1.mp2" -logfile "C:\Movies\Encoded_audio_1.log" ) -ota( -g max ) -shibatch( --rate 44100 ) -2lame( -e -b 224 -m s )
Audio conversion of C:\Movies\Extracted_audio_1.mpa finished.

Audio conversion finished.

--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 03:56:46
- Free on drive C: 3948.05 mb
- Video Encoding using TMPGEnc
--------------------------------------------------------
- Editing AVS script file
- Encoding C:\Movies\AviSynth_Script_file.avs
StreamSectors: 834285788
AudioSectors: 50516788
VideoPAPO: 12141000
ScanOffsetBytes: 0
SeqAligningBytes: 0
DVDBytes: 0
VideoEndHeader: 4
SubtitleSectors: 0
EmptySectors: 238.00
PictureSectors: 0.00
PureMPEGStream: 771627996.00
Seconds: 1780.04
CalcMPEGStream: 771627996.00
Frames: 44326
CDSize: 800.00
Number of CDs: 1
Cut point 796.00
Executing TMPGEnc. Commandline:
"\\Gandalf\Software\Other\Download\Video Stuff\TMPG\TMPGEnc.exe" "C:\Movies\TMPGEnc_Project_file.tpr" /Encode /Close
Video Encoding finished.

--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 04:48:25
- Free on drive C: 3704.87 mb
- Converting Pictures from ES to PS
--------------------------------------------------------
Saving bbMPEG settings: C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\bbMPEG\default.ini
--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 04:48:28
- Free on drive C: 3704.86 mb
- Converting Pictures from ES to PS
--------------------------------------------------------
Saving bbMPEG settings: C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\bbMPEG\default.ini
--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 04:48:30
- Free on drive C: 3704.86 mb
- Converting Pictures from ES to PS
--------------------------------------------------------
Saving bbMPEG settings: C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\bbMPEG\default.ini
--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 04:48:33
- Free on drive C: 3704.86 mb
- Multiplexing and cutting
--------------------------------------------------------
Saving bbMPEG settings: C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\bbMPEG\default.ini
Offset in Seconds: 0
Executing bbMPEG.
Variable Settings:
Movie offset: 0 seconds
Cut point: 796 mb

Executing RunbbMPEG. Commandline:
"C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\bbMPEG\RunbbMPEG.exe" "C:\Movies\bbMPEG_Muxed_File.mpg"
Multiplexing and cutting finished.

CD-Image creation finished.

--------------------------------------------------------
- 12/06/2003 04:50:15
- Free on drive C: 3410.51 mb
- SVCD Creation finished!
--------------------------------------------------------

Many thanks for any help forthcoming.

Swin

[gerti67]

Hi Swim,

seems all very well in here - no problems so far. Means, you did it all correctly. How are the properties of your source AVI (width, height)? And don't trust MS Media Player it can terribly mess up things in every which way. ;) Just see if the aspect is correct when playing on your standalone. Or watch the VCD with a software DVD player app - they're usually far better at it than Media Player.

HTH,
Gerti

[Swin]

Ok, burnt off a copy of the MPEG using VCDEasy and sure enough the video played at the correct resolution in my stand alone DVD player and in Power DVD. Weird. I don't understand why AVI Codec reports the the wrong aspect ratio then?? The resolution of the original was 512x384 which works out at an exact 4:3 aspect ratio.

Still, I suppose it dosen't mater.

BTW, using the ConvertFPS(25) line in the AVS script seems to work much better than either the ChangeFPS(25) command or running the AVI through TMpeg on it's own to reduce the frame rate. The jerkyness of the picture in the latter two encodes did my head in.

So many more questions to ask but first I'll see if I can improve the VCD quality or try out the XVCD/XSVCD/KVCD specs to see if they work a little better.