Now it's my turn to ask for some help...MPEG-2 to MPEG-1 conversions

I hope tthat someone had this problem before. The problem is this: I need to convert a MPEG-2 movie to MPEg-1, because I want to subtitle it and Virtualdub needs MPEG-1 files.
If I use TMPGenc + the .M2V plugin, the result, even with motion search precision = highest quality (very slow) has a quality of the output movie less than average, and less than the original movie.
If I use Womble VCR, saving the MPEG as 'MPEG-1 Video-CD' (setting 'quality high and low speed') much often (2 times on 3 total I tried this) the output movie had some part of the video cut from the original movie; I mean, the sound is OK (and is 1:1 with the written subtitle I can test this with BSPlayer) but if the movie is [bold]60'[/bold] long and on the 'MPEG-1 Video-CD' screen I read [bold]estimated length=600 MB[/bold], the result often is a movie shorter (es. [bold]50' instead of being 60'[/bold]) and a corresponding length less then the estimated oe (e.g. [bold]500 MB instead of 600 MB[/bold]).
The consequence of this 'video cutting' is that the sound isn't more in-sync with the video of the movie, sice the sound seems 1:1 bt the video isn't.
Therefore I'm with this dilemma:
1. bad final MPEG-1 quality of the output movie with TMPGenc + .M2V plugin or
2. cut movie and, therefore, useless, with Womble VCR

 

Maybe the reason for Womble not converting the file well is that the MPEG-2 resolution in 640x480 instead of being 480x480.
I don't remember the resolution of the old MPEG-2 file I managed to convert well with Womble MPEG-VCR, but probably this is the reason.

 

when i get an mpeg2 file, i automatically follow these steps to convert to mpeg1.
1. open the mpeg2 with dvd2avi
2. click audio...output...demux(ac3)
3. click audio...dolby digital...dolby surround
4. click audio...48->44khz...off
5. from File...Save As...new file with extension .d2v
6. run tmpgenc tools to multiplex the .d2v (as video input) and the .ac3 (as audio input) to create the mpeg1
i hope this works for you.

 

Thanks a lot. Before I read this, I found an alternative method similat to yours, that seems to work:

- run MainConcept MPEG encoder
- load the MPEG-2 with it

settings
=========

- MPEG Type: MPEG-1
- Stream Type: Elementary Video
(it creates a .m2v which can must be loaded by TMPGenc + m2v plugin (and, if needed, resized) joining it to the audio using as 'audio input' the input MPEG-2)

press Details to choose some extra settings
-------------------------------------------

size: as the input movie (I'll resize it with TMPGenc+m2v later, no problem now)
search method: 15 (exact; maybe putting a lower number gives a good result in less of the time)
search mode: 17 (default)

Converting it, on a Pentium III it will need about 3.5 hrs for a SVCD movie 830 MB long (1 CD). After that, the TMPGenc's movie "m2v + the sound from the MPEG-2 file" is good and almost correct even with motion search precision 'high quality (slow)' and NOT 'highest quality (very slow)' when a direct conversion with TMPGenc + the m2v plugin gives a lousy movie even with motion search precision 'highest quality (very slow)'.

The problem is, alas, that people does things without knowing the basics so you can find SVCD movies (standard: 480x480 - NTSC or 480x576 - PAL) 640x480!!!

Usually a standard MPEG-2 movie is converted by Womble MPEG-VCR in half of the time that MainConcept MPEG Converter, with excellent quality, but it locks with such non-standard movies!!!

Thanks anyway, this was a very difficult issue. I don't think you should be classified as the default 'newbie'!