Whats wrong with MPEG conversion in 11?

[nbninja8]

Every MPEG file I create in VS11 is corrupted. The audio sounds bad on Dolby Digital, LCPM, and MPEG. AVI renders fine. I'm not even re-rendering MPEG and it still gets corrupted. I'm rendering AVI to MPEG.

I still have VS9 on my computer so I can render AVI to MPEG using that in the mean time, but I'd rather encode straight from my project. Is this a common problem with 11? Any suggestions?

Thanks for help!

[2Dogs]

A few shots in the dark which might set the ball rolling!

I had an issue with the audio on video clips from Panasonic digital cameras when encoded to mpeg2 or anything else - but that was sorted out by a patch, which was in turn superceded by the most recent patch and update package.

Have you applied all the updates and patches?

Have you installed any other codec packs?

What is the sampling frequency of the audio in the source files? I note that VS11 uses 48Khz for all types of audio with mpeg2 files - but didn't think that was any different from what happened with VS9. When you output to avi, you can choose different audio sampling frequencies - or if you output to "same as first clip" it will retain existing audio properties.

Do you have onboard sound or do you have a separate sound card?

P.S. Don't tell me it's another Vista problem! Next thing we know, Vista will be revealed as the cause of global warming!

[nbninja8]

Its not a vista problem

Yea, my video camera is a panasonic, but I have been capturing and converting to MPEG-2 for a few years now with the same camera. I tried to install the new patches for US11 awhile ago but the installer told me that it could not find VS11 installed on my computer. So I never tried it again.

The audio sampling frequency has always been something that I've never really paid any attention to. In the future I guess I will check and see if they match.

I rendered the video last night with US9 and it plays fine in Windows Media player and Nero. However when I imported the same video into Ulead DVD Workshop, it played very slowly.

AVI doesn't corrupt if you re-render it too many times does it? Also would the smart render have anything to do with it? Do you normaly render with the smart render off?

[Ron P.]

Just a brainstorming thought;
You can render in VS9, but not VS11. One difference between versions is the capture device. VS10 and earlier used the DSW(DirectShow) capture device. For VS11, Corel changed that to IVI (Intervideo's wonderful creation).

Just to see if this might be impacting your video clips, try capturing small segment with VS9 or try using the free capture utility called WinDV. It works with Firewire only, and captures DV. Several of us use it over VS or MSP capture.

I'm not familiar with the Panasonic camcorders, but do know that if you do a search of the forums on Panasonic, you'll get about 753 hits.

[2Dogs]

Yea, my video camera is a panasonic, but I have been capturing and converting to MPEG-2 for a few years now with the same camera.

My audio problems were with .mov files from a Panasonic digital still camera, rather than a camcorder. It was just an illustration of the only audio problems I've experienced with VS.

AVI doesn't corrupt if you re-render it too many times does it? Also would the smart render have anything to do with it? Do you normaly render with the smart render off?

If you're referring to DV type 1 avi, it 's considered to be a "lossless" format. You can render it to DV type 1 avi many times without seeing any visible degradation of the picture quality. A while back I did some tests, (with VS8) and even a 10th generation re-rendered file looked, to all intents and purposes, identical to the original. I didn't experience any audio problems.

By default, Smart Render is enabled in VS11. If you use Share>Create Video File>Custom>Options you'll see a check box for "Perform SmartRender" in the resulting "Video Save Options" dialogue box which you can deselect if you don't want to use Smart Render.


Sorry if none of the above is getting you any closer to a solution, but it might at least rule some things out as possible causes.

[nbninja8]

Thanks for the help. That was really quick!

I never capture with Ulead because it names the files stuff like UVS02983 and doesn't let you chose a name, so I always capture with windows movie maker.

2dogs you mentioned that DV type 1 is a lossless format, but is this the same with type 2? Some of my video may have been rendered from type 1 to type 2 because I capture with type one but Ulead's template option for NTSC DV is set for type 2. Would this cause the video to become corrupted?

[2Dogs]

DV type 1 avi uses a single stream for both video and audio, whilst DV avi type 2 splits the video and audio into separate streams.

You might try sticking to type 1 throughout your workflow, which is the usual recommendation. It's worth a try to see if it has any effect on your problem. Both type 1 and type 2 are considered to be lossless - the video sampling is the same in both cases.

VS has always been notorious for some strange default settings, so I am not surprised to hear that the NTSC DV default is for type 2. (I just checked, and you're absolutely right!) Change it to type 1 when you render any trimmed source file clips or whatever you're doing that involves exporting to DV avi format.

And let us know if it helps, or if it doesn't!

Good luck!

[nbninja8]

thanks again for the help.

this doesn't really solve my problem, but in the mean time I think I have an alternate way of burning my disc.

When I import the MPEG-2 video into workshop it preview play is horrible but when I remove the audio file it plays fine. So its a problem with the MPEG's audio.

Would this have anything to do with the audio frequency settings being different from the original AVI's? Or do you think it was from rendering DV type 1 to type 2 then back to type 1?

I burned a disc with the video and it plays better in the DVD player than it did in the preview window in workshop, however it played with more than a few errors. Its strange that I had some AVI files on the disc also that were re-rendered with workshop. They played horribly. Also the avi files were the only files on the disc rendered with workshop, the MPEG-2 file was rendered with VS11.

Since the videos get corrupted when rendered with not only VS11 but also workshop and slightly with VS9, I think that proves that its because they were rendered from AVI DV type 1 to type 2.

[2Dogs]

When I import the MPEG-2 video into workshop it preview play is horrible but when I remove the audio file it plays fine. So its a problem with the MPEG's audio.

Would this have anything to do with the audio frequency settings being different from the original AVI's?

Is the audio also bad when you play the disc on a standalone or set top player as opposed to on your pc? If you haven't burned a disc yet, you could do a test one using RW media if your player accepts it. I've heard anecdotal reports of some sound cards struggling with some sampling frequencies - but you, like me, may have onboard sound. My (old!) Realtek AC97 doesn't seem to have any problems.

Or do you think it was from rendering DV type 1 to type 2 then back to type 1?

Whilst it shouldn't be the cause, since VS has supposedly always been able to handle type 1 and type 2 avi, I think that for your own peace of mind, and just to rule it out as a cause, you need to do a test capture to type 1 avi, and then do a test render of that to mpeg-2.

I burned a disc with the video and it plays better in the DVD player than it did in the preview window in workshop, however it played with more than a few errors.

Do you mean audio problems, or were there other things wrong with it?

Its strange that I had some AVI files on the disc also that were re-rendered with workshop. They played horribly. Also the avi files were the only files on the disc rendered with workshop, the MPEG-2 file was rendered with VS11.

Again, just to simplify your troubleshooting process, you might try to keep the same kind of source files in your project - i.e. all avi or all mpeg-2. I'm sure you realise that you will get the best results if you stick to the workflow described in the Recommended Procedure, whereby all the clips on your timeline are type 1 avi, and you render the whole project to a single mpeg-2 file. Once you've got that working, you might add mpeg-2 clips into the project - sometimes that's unavoidable, since you might have deleted the miniDV original material, or the clips have come from another source.

Since the videos get corrupted when rendered with not only VS11 but also workshop and slightly with VS9, I think that proves that its because they were rendered from AVI DV type 1 to type 2.

It could be, and it would be great to find out the cause, and to hear that you've managed to sort it out! If the source material is miniDV, makle sure also that field order is set to lower field first when rendering to your mpeg-2 file. VS Often has some strange default settings, so you should check the output file properties carefully. Do try to apply logic to eliminate possible causes. Every problem solved adds to the collective knowledge on this forum!

Good luck!

[nbninja8]

The audio sounds fine when I play the video in a dvd player but the video and audio skips at places and some sections get really pixelated. The video looks great when played in the dvd drive on my computer. But it plays some parts slightly in slow motion, which I don't like. I also have onboard sound.

I haven't tried your test with the DV AVI type 1, but I have rendered things before that have turned out fine.


I burned the disc with AVI files and MPEG files to see which was most compatible. Do you think it would play better if there was only MPEG file on it?

[andrewtubb]

I previously used Video Studio 8 on a dell desktop, Windows XP.
Just got VideStudio 11, running on a Dell Laptop, Windows VISTA, 1GB ram, dual core blah blah. Everything runing fine and nice and fast, except every time I try and share a file as an MPEG, exactly as I would have done in videostudio 8, the file is corrupted. It plays, but the video craps out a few seconds in.
So I cant help, but I can show that this is more than a one off problem.

[2Dogs]

The audio sounds fine when I play the video in a dvd player but the video and audio skips at places and some sections get really pixelated.

That could be caused by a bad burn, or even dirt on the DVD player lens. Does your DVD player play other discs OK?

The video looks great when played in the dvd drive on my computer. But it plays some parts slightly in slow motion, which I don't like.

Again, the slow motion playback of some sections might indicate a problem with the burn. You might try running Task Manager whilst you play the DVD in your pc, set to the "performance" tab. Look for peaks in your CPU usage coinciding with the problem areas of the disc. your system should be OK, but it's not the fastest pc these days.

I haven't tried your test with the DV AVI type 1, but I have rendered things before that have turned out fine.

Well it's good to know that you've been successful previously, which suggests there should be a solution to your current problem.

I burned the disc with AVI files and MPEG files to see which was most compatible. Do you think it would play better if there was only MPEG file on it?

This part makes me nervous. If you follow the Recommended Procedure, which I suggested earlier, you will burn a disk from a single DVD compliant mpeg-2 file created from your project in a separate step. In view of the problems you're experiencing, you shouldn't try burning to a DVD from your project with ANY files on the timeline, but instead add your single (large!) mpeg-2 file in the Share > Create Disc step.

So go back to the beginning, and capture a small amount of footage to DV avi type 1, using WinDV.

Put that into a new VS project, and do a test output to an NTSC DVD file. When you do that, make sure that the file properties are correct before you create the file. VS may default to 16:9, for example, but your source material may be 4:3. Make sure that the resultant mpeg-2 file will use lower field first rather than upper field or frame based.

Check the audio and video of that test mpeg-2 file in your favourite media player on your pc.

If that's all fine, you can then return to your main project and see if it works with DV type 1 avi on the timeline - i.e. if you can successfully create a single, large DVD compliant mpeg-2 file for later use in creating your DVD.

It's only by doing things in a step by step way that you can eliminate things like burn problems with your DVD writer, playing problems with your set top DVD player, problems with captured file formats and so on. Otherwise, there are just too many possible permutations of factors which might be causing the problem to be able to find out the cause.

Windows VISTA

A whole new can of worms, unfortunately, so possibly unrelated to this thread! In a court of law it would be "case dismissed!"

[nbninja8]

I think its a DVD player problem after all.

My dvd player that I normally use is old, but still plays DVDs fine. I put the disc in a different DVD player and it played flawlessly.

The disc I burned the project on is a really cheap office depot brand disc and thats why it played with errors, but that normally doesn't happen with those discs until around the end of the video, which was why I thought it was corrupted.

Thanks for your help, I'm going to render all my files exactly the same with Ulead and then burn them on a more expensive disc to ensure compatiblity with other players.

Thanks for your help 2dogs! I'll let you know if I run into any more problems.

[2Dogs]

Hey, glad you fixed it.

I've actually had quite good results from 16x DVD+R Office Depot Brand discs in the past - but only with my Samsung or Pioneer burners. Some other burners really didn't do too well with the discs, and one couldn't write to them at all.

[nbninja8]

Hey 2dogs, thanks for all your help!

Only, I'm still a little concerned about my videos compatiblity. The MPEG-2 file plays fine in my dvd player now, but still plays horribly in Workshop. (But plays fine if I delete the sound).

Do you think that this problem is specific to workshop? Or do you think other people who play the copies I make on their dvd players may experience any problems?