recording as SVCD/VCD

[amer]

I've seen discussions on this forum about issues with people recording onto SVCD, but I can't seem to have any success with it.

I record using SnapStream at Fair quality (with my hoped destination of VCD, the 2171kbps of fair seems sufficient). Under Advanced Settings for the "Fair" quality, I see
Audio: 48000 Hz, 22400 bits per second
Video: 29.97 FPS, 352x240, 2000000 bits per second
Bidirectional (Interpolative) Frames Per Group: 2
Predictive Frames Per Group: 4
Video Noise-Reduction Filter: not enabled
Motion Precision: 1%

Playing with WinAmp doesn't work (video running at an extremely high speed, totally not right), but with Windows Media Player, it plays perfectly.

I've tried importing into VirtualDub (with the fccHandler patch) for cutting, but the audio was out of sync and seems to be not just out of sync but with a different speed than the video.

Using TMPGEnc Plus 2.59 with the MPEG-2 VFAPI mentioned on this board, the audio has the same issue as VirtualDub. This applies to the MPEG Tool editor as well, audio out of sync.

The only editor I've had any luck with at all is the boilsoft.com cutter/joiner, but that's presumably because it doesn't re-encode.

Using Nero is also a failure at VCD (not VCD format, refers to a stream encoding error) as well as SVCD (requires some kind of MPEG-2 plug-in which is not available on the Nero website.)

Does anyone have any advice to throw my way? I'm pulling my hair out!

thanks!
amer

[RobertH]

you might want to check out the dvd authoring thread on this forum (should be stiky at the top) just select the vcd/svcd profile instead of selecting the dvd profile all steps would be the same up to the point of authoring the disk.


what device are you recording with?

the encoder format problem that nero gave you is because VCD is encoded in MPEG1 format not MPEG2, snapstream only record in mpeg2 and wmv format.

[amer]

I'm recording with a Hauppauge WinTV USB (and it's old). I don't know if this is a related issue, but it seems that absolutely nothing I do can change the recording dimensions from 320x240. I've tried changing the Fair profile to 480x480 as well as Best profile and it still records as 320x240.. Is this perhaps my issue?

[amer]

Okay, just tried following the instructions in the DVD Authoring sticky.

I set the MPEG-2 VFAPI options to match (I checked MMX and SSE and set aspect ratio to Ignore). the VFAPI was already priority 4 (I had set that after reading some of your other posts).

I started TMPGEnc and selected the VCD profile. I selected the input file, didn't change any parameters, didn't mess with the cutting of commercials (for now), bitrate options were greyed out and wrote out an output file. I played it in Media Player (this is my "test" since the original file works fine in Media Player) and the audio and video were out of sync and the video ended before the audio did (it's like the video is running at a higher speed).

I then did the same thing with SVCD profile. I didn't change the bitrate option, even though it was a choice (left it at 2520 kbits/sec with auto setting checked). Wrote out the file, played in Media Player. Again, audio/video out of sync, with same issue (audio lasts longer than video).

I don't know if this is of any relevance, but post-TMPGEnc, it is 1013 frames (33.800s) long, but before TMPGEnc it is 931 frames (31.064s) long. Why an 82 frame discrepancy? Or is it? VirtualDub can't play it properly either (audio/video out of sync, but it stops playing when the video stops, there is more audio left when VirtualDub stops).

[RobertH]

yeah the wintv usb is limited to only capturing at 320x240

one thing you might want to do is to change the recording quality in snapstream and adjust the audio to record at 44khz instead of 48. vcd uses 44 khz while dvd and svcd use 48khz this can cause the audio to "act" as if it were faster.

if your into usb and have some change to spare you might want to look into two options:
- Currently in beta testing they have added initial (VERY INITIAL) support for the wintv usb2 pvr device
- There is full support for the Adaptec VideOh! Media Center USB2 device (check the product support page for the specific model)

[psionic]

actually the SVCD spec says 44.1kHz ... so for maximum compatability, you should stick to the spec. Some DVD Players will handle the 48kHz, while others will just screw up the audio or just not play it.

Originally posted by RobertH

vcd uses 44 khz while dvd and svcd use 48khz this can cause the audio to "act" as if it were faster.