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ADigitalMan's Guide to MPEG2/AC3 Editing — Page 5

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Have you got any of the tracks reverse phased? That would cancel out audio...
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Hello again ADM,

Sorry about the delay but I had a crazy week with zero time to dedicate to my project.
I got back to it at the beginning of the afternoon but somehow I'm stuck and I just can't separate the 2 streams in Womble.

They are separated in the timeline though. Following your advice, I muted one of them in the timeline then went to export. I got 2 files.
I then muted the other one and de-muted the first one, went to export, changed the names, ended up with another 2 files.

Here is the catch : Both my AC3 files are a mix of my 2 tracks ??!!?.
Also, it is strange but it is seems that in Womble if I want to export to 2 separate files (1 MPEG and 1 AC3), I have to read 'Multiplexed' in the General Tab. If I can read 'Separate' then I'm going to get 1 file (Audio+Video).

I know I'm only one step away from what I want but I just spent 2 full hours trying to play with the options without any good results.
I guess I need some detailed steps to succeed...

Any thoughts ?
Do you expect me to talk ?
No Mister Bond I expect you to DIE !
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"Multiplexed" vs. "Separate" ... read those as verbs instead of adjectives. Toggle the setting so you are shown separate streams for audio and for video. Then export. Be sure one audio track is muted each time, else they'll be mixed together into something you cannot separate.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Exactly what I've done ADM : seeing multiple files and muting one then the other like you advised but it doesn't work. In the end I get 2 AC3 files that I thought would be distinct but they are merged Eng+French at once ????
Do I have to physically REMOVE one of the track from the timeline for it to work ?
Do you expect me to talk ?
No Mister Bond I expect you to DIE !
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You shouldn't have to physically delete the files. Muting the track should work. That said, no harm in physically deleting them. Just be sure to save your work before the deletion so that restoring it is easy.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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All right : I got it !

Here is the trick : when muting one of the soundtracks for an export in Womble, do not select the Mute option from the side of the timeline (the Mike button or the Violin button), as the mute is only operational for replaying while editing.
In order to mute a track for an export, you have to do a right-click on the track in the timeline, then select Audio, then Mute.

Thanks again for your patience and precious advice ADM, maybe you want to edit the page 1 of your guide to add this tidbit of info.

I'm now onto DVD Lab Pro. I somehow managed to get a very crude DVD last time around but I might ask you for more help along the way.

In any case, a million thanks !
Do you expect me to talk ?
No Mister Bond I expect you to DIE !
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Not a prob. Glad it worked out.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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SUCCESS !

I managed to build a very simple 1-screen menu gathering all the small features like language selection, and I also made good use of the auto-chapter feature of DVD Lab Pro 2.
After the burn + thorough testing on my stand-alone player, it has no bug and the audio is now fixed...

My next project will involve a dual-layered NTSC DVD on which I intend to add a language that wasn't featured on the original release.
I wonder how hard it is to rip the original menu structure, add the language, and reconstruct it anew ?

Any tips for the newbie, ADM ?
Do you expect me to talk ?
No Mister Bond I expect you to DIE !
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Excellent. Good work!

I usually recreate my menus from scratch.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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ADM, are any of the tools you use in this process good for analyzing the specs of an unknown MPEG-2 file?

I'm needing to find the bit-rate and audio/video codec for a mystery file here at work. Thanks.
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Yes, in fact. There are several ways to do this, but what I would do is separate the MPEG's streams using DVD Lab Pro by dragging the MPEG into the Assets/Audio & Video Window. This will demux the file.

The end result will show you each of the streams, their file size, framerate, pulldown ratio, time and average bitrate.

DVD Lab Pro will also tell you your total bitrate for a movie with all the video and audio streams you've added so you can be sure not to exceeed the 9800 max. (It took me a long time to realize this, but now it's useful when I'm working with PCM tracks).
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Thanks, ADM. I'll need to check into Pro Lab. Can it also tell you info like variable bitrate vs. constant and progressive encoding vs. lower/upper field first?

I found an MPEG-2 analyzer called "G Spot" at the site you recommended, and it's really cool, though I'm concerned some about its accuracy as I am using it at work. Have you used this software before?
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I haven't worked with G Spot. I think Womble does tell you the VBR vs CBR and actual bitrate info. Right click on any file that you import into the timeline and I think you can see the properties of that file.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Awesome. I guess it's Womble Time then! Thanks.
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A couple of questions of you don't mind:

If you have two anamorphic films (1.85:1 & 2.40:1) can those be edited together to the same aspect ratio with some conversion method?

Secondly, have any of you heard of/used this open source editing program?

Jahshaka
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They can be edited together so long as they are both 16:9 encoded. However, the black bars will not match. To get the black bars to match, you'll have to start cropping one of the two sources, then resizing, and that can get into a frightening mess.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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ADM, Thank you for the help with the video question I had ( I cant send a reply through PM for some reason)

I have another problem though
The video is fine but the audio will not sync up with the video and is acutally a couple mins shorter than the video. I didnt split the files.
First I ripped the video with the audio track (using the demux method) Then I tried just ripping the audio track and I was still having the same problem. I dont know what Im doing wrong.


Edit: I figured it out

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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Ok well I spoke too soon, I still have the problem with the audio file not syncing up and being a couple mins shoter than the video file in womble. Can anyone give me some help to figure out why this is happening?

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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Okay, my latest problem. How do I extract the audio from the VOB using sound forge?

Visit my Webcomic! Nonstop Pop

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SoundForge won't do that to my knowledge. I recommend extracting the audio by dragging the first VOB in the series into DVD Lab Pro. It'll demux all the streams, and you can delete the ones you don't need when you're done.

OR you can just demux it straight from disc using DVD Decrypter in IFO mode (as opposed to File mode, which rips the VOBs straight to disc).
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Just a quick question, what should I use to add cuts/wipes to my film? Womble doesn't work well, it sets the audio off from the video by a few seconds.
"Death Has Come To Your Small Town Sheriff" Dr. Sam Loomis-Halloween
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The audio has to be calculated, since you're overlapping frames. Fortunately if you clip the audio right after a crossfade you can see it.

I'm just now getting into using Vegas for this. For the first time a couple of days ago I came up with a process for this:

1) Export just the two shots you want to crossfade to an M2V file.
2) Load the clip into VirtualDubMod and save as an uncompressed AVI.
3) Open the AVI in Vegas and do what you want with it. Save as another AVI.
4) Encode back to M2V using TMPGEnc.
5) Load the new M2V into your Womble project.

The results are GORGEOUS. I'll likely do this from now on, and will use this method to do the wipes in SW whenever they eventually happen in Hi-Def.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Thanks for the help, but how do I export only those two clips? It keeps on going back to the work spot, which I don't know how to move.
"Death Has Come To Your Small Town Sheriff" Dr. Sam Loomis-Halloween
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Okay, I figured out how to get the two clips i need, but virtualdubmod won't led me open mpeg-2 video files. What am I doing wrong?
"Death Has Come To Your Small Town Sheriff" Dr. Sam Loomis-Halloween
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Upgrade to the latest VirtualDubMod. I recommend simply getting the latest Gordian Knot Rippack and installing from there. It takes a while, but it has LOTS of useful tools, including VirtualDubMod that (on my machine) has no trouble processing MPEG-2.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.