AVI to DVD Program Problem

[Art Vandelay]

I read the guide in this forum for avi2dvd and it says you can select a wmv file as the source. However, the program won't allow it. The button for select input file says avi/ogm/mkv/wmv, when I select the wmv file the program won't allow it.

Any adivce??

Thanks,
AV

[2COOL]

I haven't used AVI2DVD but I have a theory that possibly the WMV file is licensed or corrupted?

[r0lZ]

I've had exactly the same problem yesterday. I have closed the program and opened it again, and this time it has accepted the WMV file. However, the result of its work was terrible. Sound desynchronization, missing frames, the video ends too early, etc...
Also, I have noticed many problems with my other video tools. IfoEdit's Play DVD was broken, for example. So, I have uninstalled AVI2DVD and everything is correct again.
IMO, AVI2DVD is too unstable to use it currently.

I have managed to convert the WMV to AVI with AviSynth and ffdshow, and I'll frameserve it to CCE this night. Great method, but you have to learn a lot of things before using it.

@2COOL: Welcome back man!

[LT. Columbo]

Try TMPGEnc, or SUPER.

[Art Vandelay]

Programs

Thanks roiz/columbo. I will look into those programs, but I know notheing about them. What I have done is take my Media Center files (dvr-ms) and use dcut to remove comercials and compress to wmv file. The original file was about 1.2GB now the wmv is 170MB's. The WMV file plays fine and the audio is in sync. However when I take the wmv file and author to DVD with Sonic MyDVD I have audio sync problems. I went to the sonic site to see if there was a hotfix but you must have registed software and they recognize my e-mail address and say they will send the password but the e-mail never comes then I get messags saying technical dificlulties with their site and site admister will be notified. I can't even look for an update since I can't get into the proper area of the site. My new PC came with this software.

I know how to use DVD Shrink so I would love a program where I can take the WMV file and convert to dvd files so I can use Shrink or DVD-RB to encode and burn with ImgBurn. These are the programs I am OK with Shrink, DVD-RB, DVDDecrypter, ImgBurn, Ripit4me.

[LT. Columbo]

to convert to dvd files you need to convert to mpeg-2 first. TMPGEnc is better, SUPER will work too. then you need to author it. at this point it will open fine in dvd shrink, but not needed really as you can use imgburn in build mode to burn.

[Dialysis1]

VSO DivXtoDVD (Freeware) should be able to do it. I never used it on a wmv but it says it can. Not sure of the quality you'll get.

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/vso_divxtodvd_free.cfm

[Art Vandelay]

Need Clarification

Columbo, I used TMPGenc to make a .m2v file and the .wav file. I then don't quite follow since I used ImgBurn in build mode to make a ISO with thse 2 files but this won't play in my DVD player.

I kneed to author these 2 files to DVD so I need to make the Video_ts files that I can open with Shrink or DVD-RB. Can you point me in the direction of a good free program (without limitaions) that will make the files for DVD that will open with Shrink. I will then encode and make a ISO.

Thank you,

AV

[LT. Columbo]

there is a free trial of TMPGEnc dvd author, but i prefer to output as single MPG as opposed to elementary streams as you have done (in plus)

[Art Vandelay]

How

Columbo, how do I output to a single mpg rather than the .m2v and .wav file with TMPGenc as I have done? Even if I do like you say making the single mpg file I still need to author so I will have DVD files for DVD Shrink or DVD-Rebuilder to encode. Not sure if I completely follow.

AV

[LT. Columbo]

you are NTSC, yes? set it up like so, and at the FINAL screen before encoding begins, UNCHECK the "elementary streams" box.

[anonymez]

What I have done is take my Media Center files (dvr-ms) and use dcut to remove comercials and compress to wmv file

art, assuming your dvr-ms capture is already mpeg2, no need to encode to wmv and back again. use dvr-ms toolbox to extract streams and mux to mpeg ps (it can also remove commercials during this step) and author with tmpgenc or ifoedit (freeware, but you'll need to demux first). shouldn't take you any more than a few minutes

I have managed to convert the WMV to AVI with AviSynth and ffdshow, and I'll frameserve it to CCE this night

why not frameserve straight to CCE?



edit: btw nice to see you posting again 2COOL

[r0lZ]

why not frameserve straight to CCE?

In fact, it's what I've tried to do, but when viewing the avisynth output in a player, the colours are wrong. Seems they are shifted horizontally. Many sound desynchronization problems too.

But by creating a pseudo-AVI file with ffdshow, everything works as expected. Anyway, that pseudo-AVI is also a way to frameserve the video. It does not contain the video, but rather, it uses a special ffdshow codec which refers to the original avisynth script and the WMV file to frameserve the video. No quality or disc space is lost in the process.

However, I had problems to retrieve the sound from that pseudo-AVI file. CCE and VirtualDubMod are unable to demux it, cos the codec is not recognized! I have finally extracted the audio as WAV with graphedit, and encoded it to AC3 with BeSweet. My method is really the hard way! But I'm happy: the result is now perfect!

[r0lZ]

What I have done is take my Media Center files (dvr-ms) and use dcut to remove comercials and compress to wmv file.

That's probably not a good idea, as WMV files are extremely compacted and the video quality is very poor. Furthermore, the WMV format is (theoretically) protected, and you should not be able to decode it. (However, we know that it's possible, but, as this thread confirms, not easy.) Also, the WMV files are compressed at variable bit rate, and that's the cause of many sound desynchronization problems.
You should save to an uncompressed AVI to avoid the quality loss (if you have a lot of disc space) or use the frameserving technique with VirtualDub or avisynth (or even ffdshow if you don't need to edit the files.)

[anonymez]

ah i see, thought encoding took place. unfortunately makeavis has never been kind wrt audio for me either. btw you can mux/demux streams in wmv with windows media stream editor, which comes with windows media encoder

Also, the WMV files are compressed at variable bit rate, and that's the cause of many sound desynchronization problems

from what i see, most sync problems are caused by vbr mp3 in avi or poor audio encoding. with video streams, so long as the number of frames and frame rate are intact, there "should" be no sync issues.