My first DVD is out of sync

[Superstar]

I just made my first comp DVD that I've been working on..and I noticed a big problem as I was watching it on the TV..the audio is out of sync by about a second or two..you hear them hitting the ground about a second or two before they actually do...that's not good I just keep running into problem after problem after problem
How can I fix this and why do you think it's happening?
Could it be from encoding the video too much? I encoded all 5 "parts" probably 3-5 times each trying to find the right bitrate for them all to fit on the DVD...you already know what I do for the audio restorations...
Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions

[admin]

You re-encoded the file again and again? Let's see if I understand what you mean...

1. THIS IS OKAY -- SOURCEFILE.MPG is what you start with. You try to make it into a newer and smaller file to fit the disc. Let's call it ENCODE1.MPG. You encode it. Oops, still too big. Delete it. Try again. Load SOURCEFILE.MPG again, and then change settings, and make ENCODE2.MPG. Still too big? Oops, use a calculator next time!!! Load SOURCEFILE.MPG again, and then change encode settings, and this time you get it right, making ENCODE3.MPG a new file. Good job.

2. THIS IS REALLY, REALLY BAD -- SOURCEFILE.MPG is what you start with. You try to make it smaller, the new file is ENCODE1. Oops, still too big! So now you take ENCODE1 and open it, and make a new ENCODE2.MPG from it. YIKES! BAD MOVE! You just lost a lot of quality re-shrinking the "same" file again! If you did this, it sounds like you made a major mistake. At this point, definitely delete everything and start over. Your video quality will get more and more hosed, the more times the "same file" is re-encoded. ALWAYS go back to the source file, when you try again.

[Superstar]

Yes, what I did was I continued to encode the same video file over and over and over, probably 3 -5 times, it wasn't the actual encoded file that I kept re-encoding, after I encoded it and saw that it wasn't going to fit I deleted it and went back to the original video file, the 5 that you saw in the screenshot that I sent you a few days ago, those were the ones that I kept re-encoding. they were the original video files..
I did notice the picture quality seemed a little drab as opposed to what it was on the VHS video..I figured that was a good possibility that it caused the audio to be out of sync..is that probably the biggest possible culprit? I've never had out of sync audio since I started using WIN-TV for my capture card..I've made many DVDs and never had any audio out of sync probs, until now..this is the first burned DVD that I've had this problem with..
Should I just delete even the source file (the one that you saw in the screenshot) and just completely re-capture it, and do everything from scratch?

[admin]

The simple act of re-encoding would not have caused your sync errors.

Read what I said carefully. If you did the OKAY one, then there is no need to delete and start over. If you did the REALLY BAD one, only then should you delete.

NOTE: This is mildly complex work you're doing now, it's not typical newbie/amateur work, so it's important to read slowly and carefully. Reading and writing all these posts takes time for me too, and I get frustrated too, when it seems we're not making any headway on your project. I would have never imagined 7 months ago that we'd still be talking in circles on this thing.

Delete anything out of sync. That might just be the DVD author itself, not the video/audio source files on the hard drive.

It may be something as easy as DVD-Lab causing the problems. I am not a fan of that software, and would not be surprised if it was the source of your current plight.

When you drop it into Womble MPEG Video Wizard, hit play, and watch, does it seem to be in sync or out of sync?

We really need to talk about this in yet another new thread -- its really not related to using SoundForge or Goldwave. I'm moving these last few posts into a new thread. Start a new post, when the topic shifts to something else.

[Superstar]

I understand the frustration level, believe me, lol but mine is about to boil over, I've spent $700 on 2 VCRs for these projects because the first one died, it was 300, the next one I just got was 400, the Panasonic AG-1980. Countless hours of capturing, authoring, learning all these new programs and I keep running into errors, so believe me I do understand the frustration. I feel like putting my head through every wall that I can find.

Just out of curiousity, why don't you like DVD-Lab?

I imported the encoded video and restored audio for match 4 (not the originals from the capture) into Womble, and the audio was out of sync in there as well. I did match 4 (there's 5 on this dvd) because that is the one that I randomly picked to watch on TV, and it was out of sync, so I just assumed the other matches would be out of sync as well.

However....I tested the original file match 4 from the capture, (the files that you saw in the screenshot that I sent you, those are the originals, not the encoded ones) into VLC Media Player and into Womble and they were BOTH IN SYNC...

[admin]

To me, using DVD-Lab is unnecessary work. Let me relate it to cookies. I just want to eat a good cookie. To me, that means something baked at home, not a store-bought box or bag.

(A) I can buy a roll of Pillsbury or Tollhouse, cut it into chunks, put it on a cookie sheet, and set the oven. In 10 minutes, I have a yummy cookie. This is DVDWS2 or TDA/TAW.

or (B) I can pull out the butter, the flour, the chocolate chips, etc etc, mix it in a bowl -- maybe 20 minutes later I finally have a mix -- then I can roll it into chunks, put it on a cookie sheet, bake it 10 minutes -- but even then, I might not necessarily have a good cookie! This is DVD-Lab. A lot of extra steps, for no real reason, and your final product might still be inferior to the slightly more friendly methods offered by rival software.

About the sync issue....

Something is clearly wrong after your capture. Maybe now is the time to delete all those encodes, the audio, etc. Start over again from the captured file. Refer back to the final version workflow. Cut the capture into pieces, and then re-encode and restore from there.

Be very sure that Goldwave is not converting the MP2 badly. I've seen it a few rare times, where 48kHz MP2 is somehow butchered into 44.1kHz WAV improperly. Be sure your Goldwave output is 48kHz WAV. GSPOT can tell you this information, if you're not already aware of codec analysis software.

[Superstar]

I am curious about Ulead I'm just very aprehensive about having to learn another program from scratch, I have a few specific ways that I want my comp DVDs that I'm making to look like on the menu and I realized tonight that DVD-Lab can't do it the way I want it, so I'm curious if Ulead could.

No, I've never used codec analysis software.

Is there a certain spot in Goldwave that I can check to see what the output is? I've made a few other DVDs, just regular VHS videos into DVDs which I did audio restoration on, where I used GoldWave to convert the audio into WAV, and those were not out of sync.. (not a comp video like I'm doing now where the whole video is seperate recordings)

[admin]

I have some tutorial videos for DVDWS2, they're just not online yet. These can probably be added in the near future for you, if needed.

GSPOT is easy. More info on how to use it, and what to look for, is covered on this guide on the site: http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/vid...nd-sources.htm -- look about halfway down the page.

No, there is nothing I can think of off-hand inside Goldwave that will help. But if it converted other MP2 to WAV just fine, then the authoring software itself is still the top contender for making a mess of your sync. The only other problem might be some bad settings made in MainConcept, such as an incorrect framerate. Again, read all posts carefully, and double-check all settings in software. It is very easy to make a mistake with some of these tools.

[Superstar]

Well, I just loaded a different audio file into Goldwave to check to see if I could see what it says, it's actual the 2nd part of the first DVD that I made...it came from a 6 hr video, and I broke them up into 2, three hour parts, the out of sync DVD was the first part.. and the audio file that I just loaded into goldwave was split from the 2nd part of that video, and I noticed at the very bottom of the program window, it says
Original 03:10:51, System PCI signed 16 Bit, 48000 Hz, 1536 kbps, stereo
I'm not sure if that's any help, but that's all I could really find.

As far as my MC settings..here's what I use for my comp. DVDs (the ones where I only encode the video and not the audio, because I split the audio so I can restore it)

Video Source - Video file
Audio Source - left empty
Output Source - same file name as vid. source, I just delete the extension and let MC name it, and it always names it mpv

Output Format
MPEG Type - MPEG 2
Stream Type - Elementary Video
Video Mode - NTSC

Detailed Settings
Width 352
Height 480
Checkmark next to "Keep Proportions"
Checkmark next to "2 Pass Encoding"
Frame Rate - 29.97
Field Encoding - Top Field First

Advanced MPEG Settings
Frame Rate - 29.97 fps NTSC non drop frame rate
Aspect Ratio - 4:3 display
Bitrate Type - Variable Bitrate (unless the vid is 2 hrs or less, then I use Constant Bitrate)
Rate Mode Control - Mode 1

I don't know the other settings in MC, the ones that I listed above are the only ones that I've ever changed. I've never touched the other settings that aren't named above.

[admin]

It all looks okay from here.

[Superstar]

Well, I don't know what to do then. I think my frustration has finally gotten the best of me, I'm ready to just give up totally.

Can you tell me some specific differences between DVD-Lab and Ulead Workshop?
What I want to do that I found out I can't do in Lab are, as you know I'm making a comp DVD with the 5 different parts that you saw in the pic, so for the menu I want all 5 parts together on the same menu. On DVD Lab when you make a DVD out of a regular VHS video, you can add what they call scene selection menus. Say there's 5 matches on the video, and you break the video up into chapters, or seperate matches as I do, you then select the scene selection menu option and it turns the chapters into seperate boxes with a preview of each match that you can either make into a motion menu, or leave alone...and that's what I want to do on my comp DVD, but for some reason it's not letting me....would I be able to do that in Workshop?
Can you maybe email me a guide or a screenshot of how the program works, because I've never used it before, and this will probably be my last option to make my set, and if doesn't work for me then I think I'm going to throw in the towel.
Thanks

[admin]

In DVDWS2, you can import the 5 separate videos, attach them to a menu however you want (icons, text links, thumbnails), and then have them play in order via a playlist. It's all very quick and easy to do. You can add chapters, yes, not an issue.

There is a video that can uploaded for DVDWS2 usage, I'll see about getting it up.

I'm trying to think of what else can be done to work out your reason-less sync problem. I'll have to get back to you on it, need some more days to think it through.

[Superstar]

Maybe I'll give Workshop a try then. From your last post, you seem to understand exactly what I'm trying to do, so if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you write me a guide specifically on how to do that very task?
Also, can you add in the guide how I would add background music to each menu?
I don't know what to do about the sync issue either. I'm thinking just delete the file entirely and re-capture from scratch..I don't think re-encoding will work, because as I said, I did that many times already on that particular file to try to find a good bitrate.

[Superstar]

A video guide like you made for Womble MPEG Wizard would be great, if possible. That was an excellent guide, and it helped me a lot.