DVD Maestro - Async Subtitles

[pacman99]

Hey,
I just started using DVD Maestro and was trying to make selectable subtitles for a certain video. So I converted the original AVI to MPV and extracted the AC3 from the original AVI and added them in DVD Maestro. I fixed the subtitles so they were perfectly synced with the AVI (srt format) and converted them to .stl format (it wouldn't convert to .son properly).
Anyways, what ends up happening is after I import the subtitle file it says "700 subtitles imported" and I continue to compile the project. When I run it on PowerDVD or my standalone DVD player, everything works fine (menu etc) but the subtitles gradually become async. In the beginning they're perfectly synced but as the video carries on, it becomes gradually asynced.
SO I looked at the MPV video length and AVI video length and it seems that the MPV is 2 seconds shorter than the original AVI!! I used TMPGENC 2.5 Plus to encode it. (original framerate: 29.97fps, 4500k VBR 2-pass, 16:9)
My question was, is there any way to either a) re-encode the AVI so the resulting MPV is the exact same length of the original AVI? [keep in mind, when I was extracting the ac3 file through AVI-Mux, it told me the ac3 has around 300 bad frames so the original video in the AVI itself could have some bad frames] or b) re-adjust the subtitles within DVD Maestro? I would do it using subtitle workshop if my VLC player would open my mpv file with an external subtitle file, which it apparently won't. It keeps freezing *sigh*

Thanks~

[Matthew]

Most likely you just need to flag the video as drop frame.

You can do this using pulldown.exe, just make sure pulldown is disabled.

As for the "300 bad frames", sure this isn't just 300 bytes of junk at the start?

That equates to an audio delay of [32*300/(4*bitrate)] ms (which would be a few ms - unnoticeable).

[pacman99]

wow thanks a lot. It worked like a charm!

[pacman99]

actually nevermind..it worked for one file but then i was trying it for another video and the subs are async :( I noticed that where the subs go async, I can see visible blocks as if there was a bad frame or something and TMPGENC had to adjust it accordingly.
Any way to fix this or somehow resync it with it ends up doing that? I need to be able to preview the video though so I can fix it accordingly.

Thanks~

[Matthew]

If the video is screwing up then you are having some sort of decoding issue - assuming the source avi is okay. You should look at trying to solve that rather than fixing badly re-encoded video.

[pacman99]

the video only screws up at certain parts...like maybe once or twice in an hour worth of video so I'm assuming it's the source as this source was downloaded and resumed a few times off the net.
should I maybe try CCE or something instead and see the results with that?

[Matthew]

Once you say something like that the post will be closed if a mod sees it...

If the avi is damaged then I'm not sure you will be able to decode it properly. There are programs such as divfix (or virtualdubmod) which can fix avis, but you may still be stuffed. My knowledge in that regard is very limited though - fortunately I haven't had to deal with avis where the video is damaged.

If you are stuck with manual syncing, then it might be an idea to, at the avi level in the bad segments, replicate the previous good frame to fill in the gaps. That saves fiddling with both audio and subs.

[pacman99]

the audio syncs fine though...but I'll try what you suggested.
The video I downloaded is legal. Nothing illegal going on here just to let you know :)

Thanks for your help.