DVD Track Transcoding

[Paul]

Its my pleasure to thank you merobs for your really really valuable experiment.

You have cleared my doubt apart from a little bit confusion :

My audios are in mp2(correct), but the standard is PAL

Here is the mediainfo :

General
Complete name : M:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_2.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1 024 MiB

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 120 Kbps
Width : 352 pixels
Height : 288 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.222
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.442

Audio
ID : 192 (0xC0)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -232ms

I think its also happning with PAL. (1. What you think about it ?)

After this i have some topics :

2. Does this bug has some solutions ?
3. I used handbrake & it converted all the 5 tracks of the dvd sucessfully.
4. Is this bug going to be fixed soon or later because i don't like handbrake,i require this feature fully fixed in MC only.

Thanks !

[meRobs]

By the way, my comment about MP2 and PAL/NTSC was that the specs for DVDs state that the MP2 is allowed for PAL but not NTSC.
This merely indicates that PAL discs will play in standalone players if the audio is MP2 (or AC3 or PCM) whereas, NTSC DVDs may not.
This restriction has no bearing on whether MediaCoder will work.
I pointed this out because I had trouble finding DVDs with faulty Add Track responses (MP2) and that this was due to my use of MP2 when creating DVDs some years ago, before I changed over to using AC3 for audio (in Adobe Encore) for all PAL and NTSC DVDs.

The result of our findings is that MediaCoder's Add Track feature has a bug that gives faulty behaviour when the VOBs have MP2.

Now that I know your source files also have MP2 audio, I will try and find a work around.

But, a question: do you want each Track to be transcoded to a separate file or all into one output file?

[meRobs]

After more experimenting in build 4740:
When an authoring App is used to create a DVD from a number of titles/clips, they may all be placed on the same Timeline and each linked to a separate menu item. Then, the DVD will contain just one VTS group, VTS_01, governed by the one IFO file, VTS_01_0.IFO, with all the video material in a group of VOBs, up to 5 for a DVD-5.

Alternatively, each source clip/title may be placed on its own Timeline to give its own VTS group.

For the single large VTS, assuming it has AC3 audio, the IFO will play in MPlayer and show the duration of the full Timeline/VTS. Similarly, MediaCoder will play (blue button) the entire DVD for a single VTS. This single IFO will converted in MediaCoder with all content. If each of the source titles had been placed in its own VTS group, its IFO would also convert correctly.

However, when the DVD has MP2 audio in its VOBs and there is only one large VTS group, the IFO will play only the first title in MPlayer and when converted in MediaCoder, the output will contain only the first title. Since, Add Track has problems with MP2 audio, it may well be that MPlayer is involved in interpreting the IFO.

I was unable to find a direct work around in MediaCoder.

Fortunately, a DVD with single VTS group may be quickly converted to a VIDEO_TS folder with all titles separated into their own VTS groups. To do this, open the VIDEO_TS folder in DVDshrink (a freebie found with a Google), switch to its Re-author mode and drag each Title from the R panel to the left (or just drag over the ones you couldn't convert previously). Then, Backup the result to another VIDEO_TS folder. Each new IFO will then convert successfully in MediaCoder to its own title.

[Paul]

Thanks for your helpful solution.
Now I'll try the DVDShrink in association with MC for the faulty DVDs.

But, a question: do you want each Track to be transcoded to a separate file or all into one output file?

I use MC to transcode each Track to a separate file & never to one output file.

Another topic is :

Vlc can play almost 99% of videos available in the internet perfectly.
I noticed there is vlc client which was being used by MC earlier but it is not downloadable now.(Any suggetion !)
If MPlayer is making problems, then MC should use VLC instead & it is often updated.
Is their any away to integrate VLC in place of MPlayer ?(Any suggetion !)
Can we use VLC as a AUDIO/VIDEO source or encoder ? (Any suggetion !)

Thanks !

[meRobs]

Since MPLayer seems to be the problem, I tried Add Track in MediaCoder builds 4582 and 4640. They all worked: the Properties had full detail and all tracks would transcode.

However, on copying the EXE file for MPlayer from build 4640 over to 4740, there was only mixed success, the properties were all correct but most conversions failed with the message " MEncoder missing". Hence, possibly an incompatibility issue with the older MPLayer and the latest MEncoder!?

So, Paul: you have three options:
(1) use the extra DVDshrink step, which would take more time
(2) install build 4640, maybe on a separate HDD than your current version (or replace it)
(3) wait for a new build of MediaCoder, which may include a better version of MPlayer (Stanley will not know until we test it)

[Edit] later, when I tried to convert 6 tracks from an NTSC disc (AC3) directly in build 4740, only 4 were successful. I then converted the other two using Add Tsack in build 4640.
Hence this problem is not confined to MP2 and, once agian, the MPlayer in 4640 did its job.

[meRobs]

Because of this Thread and subsequent experiments with more recent builds, I changed the method of testing the Add Track function in the regular Report on builds: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9611