TMPGenc Plus Join Audio Sync Problems (SOLVED!)

[frailimbnursry]

I'm using TMPGEnc Plus to join two .mpeg files that were ripped from an SVCD. The beginning of the second mpeg contains a few seconds from the first mpeg. In order to avoid repeating I cut out a few frames, picking up the frame after the first mpeg finishes. I chose MPEG-2 SVCD (VBR) from the merge & cut menu, and ran it.

When playing the new mpeg back a couple seconds before before the actual join occurs the sound gets knocked out of sync, it cuts off in the middle of one dialogue and skips to another that occurs maybe a minute (maybe less) later, and remains out of sync for the rest of the movie.

I thought it had something to do with my cuts, so I tried merging them without cutting out any, same problem.

The files by themselves play fine, so it's not a problem with my source files.

[frailimbnursry]

I've toyed around with TMPGEnc a bit more to try and determine where the process goes wrong. It appears to be cutting out the last few seconds of audio on the first mpeg. Near the end the audio just goes silent, I can't yet figure out why.

Any help is appreciated, or recommendations for other joining software. I don't want to install something that only joins, so hopefully it's just a zip of a program (i.e. TMPGEnc, VCDGear), unless it's an entire Video/DVD-Authoring/Editing Suite.

[frailimbnursry]

I've got a single full sync-ed mpg file now. I'll post my solution here to anyone having the same problem.

Problem:

I had an SVCD split into two mpeg files. The second part overlapped the first by approx. 3 seconds. I used TMPGEnc Plus to join the two files unsuccesfully. At some point before the join even occurs the audio gets unsynced by alot. I narrowed down the problem. The first mpeg's audio was being cutoff too early, it ended before the video and was followed by a long silence, which the audio from the second file filled. Luckily I was able to successfully cut off the first 1.5 seconds of the second file without any problem.

Solution:

I searched around the forum a bit and pieced together a few different posts. Credit goes to their authors who I'd name if I could find the post again.

Tools:
TMPGEnc (http://www.tmpgenc.com)
DVD2AVI (http://www.doom9.org)

I measured at which frame the first file ended. I then used TMPGEnc to cut off the first few frames of the second file, so it would pick up the frame after the first file ended.

Then, I opened DVD2AVI and opened the original first mpeg, and the modified (cut) second mpeg. DVD2AVI gave me an error about the possibility of the first few frames being messed up, I previewed the video (F5) and everything seemed to be in order. I clicked,
Audio > Output Method > Demux All Tracks (note: I only had oen track, you may have to select the correct one for multiple track files.)

I then saved the project and let DVD2AVI do it's work. It saved an .mpa of the complete audio. I played the audio (WMP9 works fine) and skipped to the point of joining to make sure the audio flowed well, I didn't want any skipping or jumping. Everything checked out fine and I moved to the next step.

I opened TMPGEnc again, clicked,
File > MPEG Tools > Simple De-multiplex.
For input file, I used the original first mpeg file. Named the output files so they would be easy to distinguish from all of the other files. Let TMPGEnc finish, and did the same thing for the second (modified) mpeg file. I clicked the Merge & Cut tab and used MPEG-2 Super Video (VBR) Type, remeber my source was an SVCD.

I then clicked Add. Unfortunately, I did not see the demux-ed .m2v (video) files. I selected All Files (*.*) in the drop-down menu. Then selected the 2 .m2v files. Selected a distinguishable output file and ran it with my fingers crossed hoping it would work on .m2v only.

I opened my new output in WMP9 and made sure again that the join point flowed correctly, and it did.

I then used the Simple Multiplex tab, entered my new full mpeg file (without any audio) and the .mpa file DVD2AVI, selected an output file and ran it.

Finally, I opened my final file and checked for syncing errors, after thinking I had some (after fast-forwarding), I closed and re-opened it. This time around everything matched correctly, now satisfied I am going to continue with the SVCD->DVD+/-R Guide on doom9. My goal was to put 2 SVCD movies onto one DVD with a menu.
I forsee alot of hard work ahead.

At least this part is over!
:)