Transcoding and audio synch...

[lajams]

VideoReDo does not reencode the file except at the cut points. The file remains unchanged. The sync problems with the MVP have been around since day1. I'm fairly active on the VRD and SHSPVR sites and have been using the products for quite a while and have beta tested the HVR1600 and the wireless MVP. VRD does an excellent job of cleaning up the Hauppauge files. I've not used it but there are com and batch processing capabilities so you might even be able to automate the cleanup process.

Hehe, yea, I've seen ya post over there at SHSPVR. I heard a rumor of a new MVP coming sometime this year. But then the last time there was a rumor it was a portable MVP. Here's hoping for a new affordable product to take over the MediaMVP torch!

Yea, the issue with my initial testing is that I was relegated to using an MVP on a cheapo LCD TV in the bedroom, so it was hard to judge if there were any other changes happening to the video or audio. Unless I wanted a two-hour kiddie-revolt I couldn't use my big-screen. Kids...they think they own everything.

I still haven't had a chance to try other files, but I'm getting ready to. If you have links to that batch stuff you mentioned post back, I'd be interested in checking those out too.

[mvallevand]

Well crap, I did the research on MVPMC, and looks like a cool dongle...but would require digital out on my MVPs to play VOBs. My MVPs are both first-gen. and I'd rather not hack them. And if I buy new ones, I may as well get new extenders that support ac3/xvid/avi natively. Arg!

Actually I realized that when I enabled AC3 digital passthru I inadvertently broke the downmix to 2 channel which play on any mvp. Anyway that is fixed and you can play VOB's with mvpmc if you want, although the a/v sync is still way off.

Martin

[lajams]

Well, it appears the Video Redo does fix the audio sync issue. I used the same process to fix another one of the troublesome DVD rips from my library (The Davinci Code). That one was horrendous at times with the sync. I ran the video through Video Redo and it removed one (1) audio sync frame and the video now plays fine, shuttling, skipping, resuming...what-have-you.

Now before I start sounding like a Video Redo salesman, I am going to put that aside and start looking at the process I've been using to encode my movies and see why this is an issue in the first place. That will probably take a bit more time, but I'll happily report back with results tomorrow. Right now I'm burned to a crisp and am heading off to bed.

[lajams]

Actually I realized that when I enabled AC3 digital passthru I inadvertently broke the downmix to 2 channel which play on any mvp. Anyway that is fixed and you can play VOB's with mvpmc if you want, although the a/v sync is still way off.

Martin

Thanks much. Yea, I don't mind doing the VOBs, as that is the least amount of work and gives me less of a chance to torque things up. But for now, I'd rather do what is most native to the device I'm using, which probably means continuing to encode stuff.

I'm hoping Hauppage is coming out with another affordable MVP that contains support for AC3 et al. Who knows!

[lajams]

I plan on trying several muxers tonight to try to nail down this sync issue. Now that I have found a cure, I need to know the cause.

I have TMPEG Enc, and I have an old version of the CCEnc. Does anyone have any recommendations on muxers for me to try tonight? I basically plan on keeping most everything the same in my process and working backwards from there, starting with the muxer. Thanks much in advance.

[zehd]

I plan on trying several muxers tonight to try to nail down this sync issue. Now that I have found a cure, I need to know the cause.

I have TMPEG Enc, and I have an old version of the CCEnc. Does anyone have any recommendations on muxers for me to try tonight? I basically plan on keeping most everything the same in my process and working backwards from there, starting with the muxer. Thanks much in advance.

On the files that were fixed by VideoRedo, have you run the originals through the Validator? Was it consistent with what VDR found?

[zehd]

Now that I have found a cure, I need to know the cause.

It's great finding this cure. I'm looking forward to breaking it...

Yes, it would be especially important to find out why, (in spite of my sig)

I want to be able to transcode on the fly, with out the need to pre transcode and perhaps re-encode with Videoredo...

I can already setup a transcoder to downmix ac3 to 2 channel. that's the easy part... Getting proper sync... well

[lajams]

On the files that were fixed by VideoRedo, have you run the originals through the Validator? Was it consistent with what VDR found?

I did a run on my Beauty And The Beast SE DVD rip. Attached is the Validator log, and the subsequent Video Redo run. Its difficult to make heads-or-tails between the two. Validator appears to think the audio track is too short, and Video Redo finds errors, and removes a couple frames. One thing I noticed is that the end result is that the fixed file produced by Video-Redo is a bit larger than the original.

[lajams]

I did a run on my Beauty And The Beast SE DVD rip. Attached is the Validator log, and the subsequent Video Redo run. Its difficult to make heads-or-tails between the two. Validator appears to think the audio track is too short, and Video Redo finds errors, and removes a couple frames. One thing I noticed is that the end result is that the fixed file produced by Video-Redo is a bit larger than the original.

And the output from VideoRedo.

[lajams]

It's great finding this cure. I'm looking forward to breaking it...

Yes, it would be especially important to find out why, (in spite of my sig)

I want to be able to transcode on the fly, with out the need to pre transcode and perhaps re-encode with Videoredo...

I can already setup a transcoder to downmix ac3 to 2 channel. that's the easy part... Getting proper sync... well

And I too. I hope eventually we won't have to mess with the audio and most recieving devices will be able to downmix on the fly. Maybe I'm aiming too high on that one, but it seems like it should be a possibility.

Its too bad hardware encoders are so darn expensive, too. As much as I (and others) rip, demux and recode it seems those kinds of devices would be more widely available, and cheaper. I'm probably kidding myself about the number of people doing this though...

BUT....with the cpu power and the throughput of today's computers, a software transcoder "should" be able to produce a flawless output. Hard to believe it wouldn't, but apparently it doesn't. At least not the one I'm using today, and its supposed to be a relatively well-respected encoder.