audio / video sync issues with MPEG1 VCD

[WhipHubley]

hi - I've got a VCD MPEG1 file (NTSC, 352x240, 29.97FPS) that plays fine.

however, when I try to author it to DVD using TMPGEnc DVD Author, the audio and video go slightly out of sync.

I decided to demux the audio and video, and noticed that the video file was 2 seconds longer than the audio file.

so I then decided to use TMPGEnc to chop off the last 2 seconds of the video file to make them the same length. I then muxed the two together.

however, the sync issue is still there, so I'd now like to try and shift the audio along the video slightly.

can anyone recommend any tools that would help me do this?

thanks very much.

[oddyseus]

U can use an audio editor that can handle mp2 files and add the required silence at the start of the file in order to push it to the desired position. I think that cool edit pro is able to open mp2 files.

[mudda_t]

If the mpeg plays fine try editing it in that form.
*if possible*
Trim a couple seconds off the beginning with tmpgenc or mpg-vcr, whatever works. Do this before you demux.
.
Just a little trick i use when some play out of sync.

[WhipHubley]

Originally posted by mudda_t
If the mpeg plays fine try editing it in that form.
*if possible*
Trim a couple seconds off the beginning with tmpgenc or mpg-vcr, whatever works. Do this before you demux.
.
Just a little trick i use when some play out of sync.

nice one - good point. I'll give that a go.

any ideas where I can find a tool that will give me the exact length of the mpeg and mp2 file (in terms of minutes, seconds, and frames)

I can have info on the minutes and seconds at the moment, and being the filetype that it is, this means I have 30 different tests to do :-)

thanks again for your help.

[WhipHubley]

can you believe it - I take the original file (which was always in sync) and this time try authoring it using sonic mydvd (ugh!) and it comes out perfect. no sync problems at all.

I'm quite gutted, actually. might contact pegasus about it. I was well pleased with TMPGEnc DVD Author up until then...:-(

[ukb007]

Hmm, that's a good recommendation for sonicDVD. I've found, more often that not, that mp2 audio on VCDs are less than perfect, and, quite often, are real headaches.

Although you have solved your problem, you might take a look at the audio synch issue discussion by Nicky Pages. although a little dated, it contains valid basics, and is written well.

Regards.