Captured VHS .mpg out of sync after DVD Authoring

I'm trying to digitalize all my old VHS tapes to DVD. After capturing a full 2h 30m worth of VHS material with the Hauppauge USB2 External tuner, the file is 5.73Gb.

I realize it's too big for a 4.7Gb dvd, so when I did the authoring for the DVD with TMPGENC DVD Authoring, I cut the section to be authored in DVD Authoring to fit a 4.7Gb disk, which is around 1h 47m. I put the whole MPG file into one track, split into 21 chapters.

After TMPGENC DVD Authoring finishes authoring the DVD, I find that the first quarter of the video plays fine, but the last 3 quarters of the dvd plays out of sync - the audio is BEFORE the video.

In the VIDEO_TS folder, I realize that TMPGNEC DVD Authoring has split my large MPG file to 4 ~1GB VOB files. Can someone tell me why it does that when the dvd is authored? Could it be possible that the audio went out of sync while these 4 VOB files were created and split up?

Thanks.

 

Splitting your 5.73 GB .mpg into 4 separate 1 GB .VOB files is normal. If you look at the .VOB files on any store bought DVD you'll see the same 1 GB file size for each .VOB file.

Rather than editing the large .mpeg file inside of TMPGEnc DVD Author, which may be where it went out of sync, try either of these techniques first:

When capturing a long movie the best thing is to set the bit rate low enough so that the captured .mpeg file will fit on a 4.7 GB disc when authored. You can use a bit rate calculator to help you find the right bit rate, or...

Take your 5.73 GB .mpeg file, author it with TMPGEnc DVD Author but when TMPGEnc Author tells you it's too big just click "Ignore". After it writes all the DVD files to your hard drive open them with DVD Shrink and Shrink can compress them to fit on a DVD.

 

Thanks for the two tips, but the thing is, I'd prefer higher quality, spanning over more dvds than reducing the quality, since the VHS tapes in question are childhood memories, etc. AFAIK, WinTV2000 won't let me choose the bitrate, rather, it only lets me choose preset options, and apparently, as the manual suggests, the lower preset jumps from 2.4mb of my current config to 0.9mb.. not very good.

I'll give DVD Shrink a try though. I've used it to backup some not-so-amusing DVD-9's, and actually I was quite surprised with the quality that it was able to keep. I'll be needing to add a few more chapters to my tape now though

 

If you want to maintain the highest quality capture, and you're willing to span over 2 disks then go ahead and capture at the best settings your Hauppauge device will capture at. You'll end up with a large .mpeg file as you've noticed. Author it with TMPGENC DVD Author and click "Ignore" when TMPGENC complains that it won't fit on a DVD.

Then, with DVD Shrink open the files. Instead of compressing to fit on 1 DVD, use Shrinks reauthor mode to set start and stop points in the video. Shrink will let you pick exactly which frame in the video to start and stop. You can burn one half of the video to one DVD and the second half of the video to another DVD keeping the original quality of the video and not resorting to compression.

 

Almost forgot, here's how to set up custom preferences in WinTV2000:

In WinTV2000, Menu, Configure, Preferences, Movies, Advanced, highlite one of the presets which is close to what you want, click the Video tab, enter your desired bitrates, click the Audio tab, enter desired bitrate. Click the Configuration tab. In the "Save New Config" window enter a name for your custom settings. Click the "Save New Config" button, click OK.

 

By the way, so you think that it went out of sync because I set the "end of clip" thing in TMPGENC DVD Author within the middle of the clip? Is that possible? Somehow I have a feeling that it starts going out of sync after the first VOB file and the beginning of the second VOB file, but since it's natural, it really shouldn't do that.. Honestly, this is the first time I've fed TMPGENC DVD Author with such a huge MPG file (5.73 GB, usually only ~400-500mb but sometimes ~1G), so I don't know if the program itself can handle it properly. Anyone have experience in this field?

 

I'm just suggesting TMPGEnc DVD Author as the most likely culprit in your loss of audio sync. I don't know for sure. TMPGEnc DVD Author is good for authoring but I'd be reluctant to use its cutting and editing options.

If you need to cut and edit an .mpeg video you're far better off using a good .mpeg editor like Cuttermaran or VideoRedo.

Author your original 5.73 GB .mpeg file through TMPGEnc DVD Author without doing any editing in TMPGEnc DVD Author. Then check for audio sync.

 

I just tried authoring the 5.73Gb mpg file, but the sync problem is still there after around 30mins. into the playback. I guess TMPGENC is the culprit, but the solution isn't within it.

I had a look at VideoRedo. Unfortunately, it seems like it's a paid software. Cuttermaran looks promising, but supposedly it requires .Net framework, which, I've heard, will slow down your computer. Any other suggestions? I've tried Easy Video Splitter before, but it says it doesn't support the type of mpeg that I fed into it.

 

Yes, VideoRedo Plus is commercial software but it has a free trial:

http://www.videoredo.com/

Open the .mpeg file in VideoRedo Plus. Check for AudioSync there. If you notice a sync problem then under Tools, try Quick Stream Fix. This re-calculates the time stamps.

 

What are the limitations to the free trial?

 

I don't think there are any functional limitations to the trial, only a 30 day usage I think. Enough time to check out this problem .mpeg file. Also, sadly for me, I have to head out to
work in about an hour so I may disappear for a while
But just some final thoughts for the moment...

Does the original captured .mpeg file play without sync problems but only develops sync problems after going through TMPGEnc DVD Author?

If the original .mpeg plays OK then apparently TMPGEnc DVD Author is messing up this file, in which case I'd try a different authoring application.

If the original captured .mpeg has audio sync problems then that's more difficult. I'd start by going back to square one with another capture from the source tape. Does your USB capture device use hardware compression? If not then that may be a problem. The bandwidth of USB 2.0 isn't sufficient to capture uncompressed video without dropping frames on the average PC. You'd need an exceptionally fast CPU and lots of memory. Hardware compression on your capture device really is a must, especially if it's a USB device.

Try the capture again. Free up as much memory as possible and make sure no other applications are running. If there are still problems then you might want to consider a capture card that does utilize hardware compression, the Hauppauge PVR-150 for example.

 

Yes, my capture has HardPVR. The original ripped MPEG plays no problem, so as you suggested, it's TMPGENC screwing up. For that sake, I might as well give DVD Labs a try, or are there even better authoring programs that are userfriendly? I remember using DVDLab before but it proved to be more complicated to use compared to TMPGENC so I never used it, but that was over a year ago.

 

I'd try DVD-lab PRO first, very good quality. You could also try Nerovision Express 3, which is part of the Nero Suite. It's not the best authoring software around but it may get you past this problem file. I haven't used Ulead but lots of people like it.

Also, you may still want to run your captured .mpeg file through VideoRedo Plus. Mpeg editors can sometimes do magic with time stamps. Open your original .mpeg, then save it, then try authoring the output file. Try the Quick Stream Fix feature as well.

 

I just tried DVD Lab Pro, didn't work. Sync problem is still evident. I didn't bother trying Nero, because I've used that before and the options there are extremely limited.

I've finally installed VideoRedo, and tried QuickStream Fix. I'm guessing this would fix the problem (hopefully), as the results in fixing 2 video frames and 400+ audio frames. Right now, I'm refeeding the new fixed MPEG from VideoRedo into TMPGENC DVD Author, hoping that it was a conflict between the MPEG file and the authoring software that caused the problem, and not the authoring software itself. DVD Lab Pro is too complicated for me to use, once again. I like using templates more

 

Good news. It seems like it really was a compatability issues between the MPEG file and the software. TMPGENC outputted the VIDEO_TS structure which played fine without sync problems. Thanks moonrocks and VideoRedo!

 

Hey, that's great. Glad you got it working!

 

Moonrocks I have a question since I have a similar problem. I use WinFast 2000/XP tv tuner capture card. I can capture my home movie onto my harddrive w/o any problems. I then use DVD Lab to author my movie and burn it. My problem that I notice is when I watch the DVD in my player the audio is out of sync later in the video. I see you wrote about the bitrate. I followed the way to do it but I do not see the menus you were asking to go to to change it. I see a setting to change the audio bitrate but I don't know how to keep it where it will stay in sync. You mentioned a bitrate calculator how does that help? The video is 6000kbps and audio is 224. Is that ok? tHANKS

 

WinTV2000 comes with standard settings like "DVD Standard Play", "Mpeg1 VCD" etc. You can certainly set up custom profiles and tweak your own settings to suit your needs but most times you'll be fine if you just use WinTV's default settings. I use "DVD Standard Play" all the time and it's fine for most projects.

Also, the bit-rate of the video or audio will affect the quality of the image or sound but that's not where audio sync problems come from. I don't know much about the WinFast 2000 XP so I don't know if it uses hardware compression. Without hardware compression, you need a very fast PC otherwise you get dropped frames and audio sync issues.

I would make sure you free up as much memory as possible, and have no other applications running when you do a capture. Also, if you watch your captured video on your PC before authoring is the sync OK all the way through? It only loses sync after authoring? You may want to try running the video through an .mpeg editor before authoring.

 

I don't see the setting standard dvd? Do the settings need to be setup correctly when I tweak it? Meaning what should I have the video and audio rate set to?

 

My mistake. I read your post too quickly. I saw "WinFast 2000/XP" and my brain was thinking WinTV2000 capture software. Sorry.

I'm not familiar with the WinFast 2000/XP capture software so I can't help you set up settings there. It should have some standard capture settings which you can use if you want to burn to DVD. But I don't think that's the source of your audio sync problems. Did you play your captured file on your PC to check for audio sync?