I'm using MGI Video Wave to capture my family's home movies and such. I use Nero 5.5 to convert and burn the VCDs. I'm having trouble getting the audio and video to synchronize when I run the files through Nero. They're just great when captured with MGI but they get out of whack when burned with Nero.

Anyone out there experienced the same problem? Any solutions? This is getting very frustrating and any help would be appreciated.

Best regards,
deckerdog

Not so sure where the problem is, you capture in DV format or in MJPEG?

(in reply to deckerdog)

Before you burn the MPEG the audio and Video are in sync, but after you burn they are out if sync? Strange. I guess I would try another software to see if that same thing happens. I know that GEAR will do VCDs. I like NERO, but it would be worth testing another software to see if that is where your problem is.

(in reply to deckerdog)

John & Tron,

Thanks for the replies. I'm burning in MPEG format. I did find a
solution at another forum but it is complicated and requires two other pieces of software (freeware). The process worked on a 60 second clip taken from a Palmcorder. I'm going to try the whole magilla this afternoon.

The process involves splitting the audio from the video and rejoining them. I used Nero Express to do the actual burning. I'm just hoping that it works with the 30 minute or so clip I'm going to do.

Apparently a/v sync is a problem for many people. Actually I think my system doesn't have the oomph to carry the load.

Again, thanks for the replies. The work around came from another forum and if it's okay I'd be happy to post the URL. But it did work.
Why it gets out of sync I'll never understand and why splitting and rejoining worked for me??? I'll let you know if it works on the larger clip.

Best regards,
deckerdog

(in reply to deckerdog)

it's not unusal for large video files to become out of sync. one possible cause for this is if your system has a low amount of ram, or if it's too slow for the load you're putting on it. splitting and rejoining the audio and video parts does tend to solve this problem, but sometimes you have to go into the file and tweak it a milisecond or two faster or slower...and this can become painfully tiring! it's the main reaosn why I stopped converting DivX and VCD back and forth [B)]

(in reply to deckerdog)

Thanks for the feedback. I did 3 10-minute clips and a
30-minute clip. Some parts of the clips are in sync and
others are out. But I think they're acceptable for the time
being.

When I started doing this I thought it would be a snap.
Live and learn!

What Dolphinius_Rex said applies to me. My system may need
to be upgraded as I'm sure the resources are strapped when
I crank this stuff up. In VirtualDub, for instance, I don't
get preview panes all the time. Sometimes I do and that kind
of points to system deficiency.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Best regards,
deckerdog

(in reply to deckerdog)

I am confused, before you burn that MPEG you can play it with Windows Media Player. Is it in sync at that point? I am talking about the file you are about to burn with NERO. If it is in sync then Nero is re-encoding it out of sync.

(in reply to deckerdog)

Tron,

My apologies if I've confused anyone. Yep, when I capture the video and play it back in AVI or when it's converted to MPEG it will play in whatever player I use in perfect sync. When I run an AVI through NERO, for example, convert and burn it, it is out of sync.

If I convert it to MPEG with TMPEG and play it, it will be in sync. When I burn it, it is out of sync.

I went through the process I mentioned earlier and my first little clip was just great. I tried a longer one and it wasn't synched. I tried a few others (about 10 mins or so) and some were synched and some weren't; some parts of some were synched and other parts of the same clip were out. That's why I think my system can't handle the burn process efficiently and it's causing my VCDs to be un-synched.
That's the only conclusion I can come to when I've gotten the results I have.

Make no mistake, I am a newbie's newbie when it comes to doing this stuff. But I figure if others have done it, I can do it; it might just take me a little longer to get to the same place and I -do- appreciate the feedback I'm getting here.

I'm going to keep on trying because that's the kind of guy I am. Plus it gives me an excuse to upgrade.

I have a copy of MovieStar 4.25 that's supposed to be USB compatible but it will not recognize my Dazzle80. I wonder if anyone out there has any experience with MovieStar? It looks like it's a lot more functional than the MGI program.

I really can't complain about Dazzle because it does an excellent job of capturing video. The same goes for NERO; it does what it's supposed to do. I've also used NeroExpress with the same results; it's a good program.

Keeping on,
deckerdog

(in reply to deckerdog)

If you convert it with TMPGEnc and the resulting MPEG plays fine then it must be what NERO is doing with it. I think I would try burning that MPEG with another software. EZCD or GEAR come to mind. But if you convert it from an AVI to MPEG with TMPGEnc and it plays ok then either it is non compliant and Nero is encoding it to be compliant which is messing it up, or Nero is just burning it wrong. You might also try a program called EasyVCD. This version of EasyVCD is freeware and can be downloaded from: http://www.tucows.com/mmedia/preview/260392.html

(in reply to deckerdog)

Tron,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give the software a try and let you know what I come up with. I've captured and converted a few more clips to AVI then MPEG and they're both in sync. I'll let you know if they get out of sync after burning with Nero.

Best regards,
deckerdog

(in reply to deckerdog)

Tron,

Howdy. I tried EasyVCD but couldn't get it to work on my machine. So I went back to the process I was using before. I capture the clip with MGI, edit it with VirtualDub, convert it with TMPGE then burn it with Nero5.0. In TMPGE I used the noise and edge filters and checked
'do not frame rate conversion' under the advanced filter.

I found out that I was not tweaking the AVI file correctly. In VirtualDub I set the dub to 'direct stream format' and set the framerate to 'synch audio and video.' I changed the audio/video interleave to 'every 500 ms' instead of 'every 1 frame' and that seemed to make the difference when I went to burn it later. I also learned that VirtualDub does not always keep the parameters from one project to another so I was dubbing AVIs with heaven only knows what settings. Also, I burn the VCD at 4X speed (about 600Kbs/sec) which is a little slow but it seemed to help.

Anyway, that seems to have fixed my problem. I wasn't setting up the AVI for conversion correctly each time. It would play in synch but not when I went to burn it.

One thing I've learned is that this whole process is very intricate and delicate. I tried using Nero to convert and burn burn but the clip was always out of synch. When I use VirtualDub and TMPGE it works well. Also I think I need to upgrade my machine so it'll have a lot more muscle.

Thanks for everyone's help.
Best regards,
deckerdog

(in reply to deckerdog)

Great! Glad you were able to sort it out.

(in reply to deckerdog)

try setting up tmpeng according to vcdhelp.com instructions on converting avi to mpeg
then restart tmpeg and use the project wizard that comes up at the start.
using the original file for both audio and video it should convert fine

(in reply to deckerdog)

I have used moviestar 4.5 and I havn't run into any sync problems. I do have a problem that maybe you can help me with. My system crashed and I had to reinstall all my software. I have lost the sleeve that had the serial number for my install disk p/n107836. If yours is the same could you send me the serial number so I can reinstall? I would be grateful.
Frank

(in reply to deckerdog)