v1.5 Output Problem

[farmersdaughter]

I am relatively new to The Film Machine but have encoded several different projects successfully using v1.5.018 and CCE 2.70. I think your program is great, especially for people like me who don't understand all the nuts and bolts of encoding...can't thank you enough. That said, I installed the latest version today, and still using CCE 2.70, tried to encode a 350 mb avi to a 740 mb svcd. The video is PAL and the program correctly identified the need to convert it to NTSC. I also installed the latest KLite codec pack, however i left the installation at all the defaults. What I ended up with was 2 mpeg files...a file1.mpeg of 744 mb and a file2.mpeg of 9.77 mb. I've copied the tfm.log below and hope somebody can advise me what the problem is. Thanks so much.

- 9/30/2006 3:50:20 PM
- AVI to SVCD conversion
- The FilmMachine version 1.5.1
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Initializing.

Computer Info
CPU name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+
Available memory: 1024 MB
Windows version : Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
Initializing finished.

Saving Project File

DirectX Version = 9.0c

Saving AVI-Info files
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- 9/30/2006 3:50:30 PM
- Free on drive D: 52.88 GB
- Audio Conversion
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Executing BeSweet DLL. Commandline:
-ota( -fs 44100 ) -toolame( -e -b 224 -m s )

Converting audiostream 1 of AVI file no 1 of 1


DirectShow Filters used:
NullRenderer1
NullRenderer
SampleGrabber
ffDshowFilter
AVI Splitter
Avisynth Source Filter


Audiostream conversion finished.

Starting CCE 2.70 for getting the CCE title.
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- 9/30/2006 3:53:12 PM
- Free on drive D: 52.90 GB
- Video Encoding using Cinema Craft Encoder SP 2.70
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executing Cinema Craft Encoder.

TFM_Project_File.ecl found
TFM_Project_File.ecl encoding started at 3:53:12 PM
TFM_Project_File.ecl encoded at 5:28:24 PM
Encoding finished

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- 9/30/2006 5:28:27 PM
- Free on drive D: 52.24 GB
- Video PullDown
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DGPullDown is working in the background.....
Video PullDown finished.

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- 9/30/2006 5:30:06 PM
- Free on drive D: 52.24 GB
- Muxing video and audio
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Mplex is multiplexing the video and audio stream.....
mplex version 2.0.0 (2.2.3 $Date: 2004/01/13 20:45:26 $)
File D:\FILMMA~1\TFM_EN~1.MPV looks like an MPEG Video stream.
File D:\FILMMA~1\TFM_EN~1.MP2 looks like an MPEG Audio stream.
Video stream 0: profile 4 selected - ignoring non-standard options!
Found 1 audio streams and 1 video streams
Selecting SVCD output profile
Multiplexing video program stream!
Scanning for header info: Video stream e0 (D:\FILMMA~1\TFM_EN~1.MPV)
VIDEO STREAM: e0
Frame width : 480
Frame height : 480
Aspect ratio : 4:3 display
Picture rate : 29.970 frames/sec
Bit rate : 2530000 bits/sec
Vbv buffer size : 229376 bytes
CSPF : 0
Scanning for header info: Audio stream c0 (D:\FILMMA~1\TFM_EN~1.MP2)
MPEG AUDIO STREAM: c0
Audio version : 1.0
Layer : 2
CRC checksums : yes
Bit rate : 28672 bytes/sec (224 kbit/sec)
Frequency : 44100 Hz
Mode : 0 stereo
Mode extension : 0
Copyright bit : 0 no copyright
Original/Copy : 0 copy
Emphasis : 0 none
SYSTEMS/PROGRAM stream:
rough-guess multiplexed stream data rate : 2817144
target data-rate specified : 2788800
++ WARN: Target data rate lower than computed requirement!
++ WARN: N.b. a 20% or so discrepancy in variable bit-rate
++ WARN: streams is common and harmless provided no time-outs will occur
Run-in Sectors = 78 Video delay = 46800 Audio delay = 0
New sequence commences...
Video e0: buf= 235520 frame=000000 sector=00000000
Audio c0: buf= 4096 frame=000000 sector=00000000
Starting new output file...
Scanned to end AU 70410
STREAM e0 completed @ frame 70410.
STREAM c0 completed @ frame 107816.
Multiplex completion at SCR=253517400.
Video e0: buf= 231596 frame=070410 sector=00301239
Audio c0: buf= 439 frame=107816 sector=00034347
VIDEO_STATISTICS: e0
Video Stream length: 686885360 bytes
Sequence headers: 4881
Sequence ends : 1
No. Pictures : 70410
No. Groups : 4881
No. I Frames : 4881 avg. size 30123 bytes
No. P Frames : 19950 avg. size 13973 bytes
No. B Frames : 45580 avg. size 5727 bytes
Average bit-rate : 1950800 bits/sec
Peak bit-rate : 2605600 bits/sec
BUFFERING min 15 Buf max 152330
AUDIO_STATISTICS: c0
Audio stream length 78860434 bytes.
Syncwords : 107817
Frames : 61610 padded
Frames : 46207 unpadded
BUFFERING min 15 Buf max 745
MUX STATUS: no under-runs detected.
Multiplexing finished.

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- 9/30/2006 5:31:10 PM
- Free on drive D: 51.52 GB
- SVCD creation finished!

[The_Mask]

If I understand correctly than your output is too large

[farmersdaughter]

Essentially, yes. The last 38 seconds of the avi is contained in the file2.mpg and I don't understand why. I reinstalled v1.5.0.18 and it did the job flawlessly, creating a single 726 mb mpg file. I did save the output directory from the problematic project though, so if there's any more information you need I'll be happy to try to supply it.

[The_Mask]

I think I know what the problem is. In the new version I made a little adjustment on the bitrate calculation. This means the a higher bitrate is calculated for MPG-2 files. This works for DVD but in your case doesn't work that great for SVCD. The problem is the VBR encoding of the video. I never can predict exactly what the final result will be. In your case it is a little too big.

I will look into it so that the new calculation will only be used for DVD's. Don't know when I can implement it. I am moving to another house and that keeps me very busy at the moment.

[farmersdaughter]

I appreciate the input Mask...thanks for taking the time to look into it a little. I've found a way around the problem for now by simply multiplexing the mpv and mp2 streams with TMPGenc. Simplifying the process a little would be nice though, so am I correct in assuming if I manually lower the video bitrate a little (I know this would be a trial and error process), The Film Machine would produce a single mpeg of the appropriate size? Congratulations on your new home. I know what a hassle moving is so good luck!

[The_Mask]

I had some spare time and another bug was found that needed to be fixed. I reverted my bitrate calculation adjustment only for SVCD. So now it should work as in the previous versions of TFM when you convert to SVCD.

I released bugfix version 1.5.2 that corrects your problem. You can download it from my website. You don't have to uninstall TFM first.

[jorgeluispena]

Another work arround for this problem is to manually set the bit rate calculation a little lower than it is predicted by TFM.

I've used this a lot. The only downside is that generally this is a try-and-error precedure... unless you do it a lot (eg. like converting TV episodes)

[farmersdaughter]

The fix works perfectly Mask, and again, thanks so much for your time, effort and patience. I cannot tell you how impressed I am by your responsiveness to the problems that people encounter with your program. When I first started using The Film Machine, v1.5.0.18 was well developed and bugfixes weren't an issue. Every programmer should be as dedicated to his or her efforts as you are. Thanks isn't enough though so I just did something I should have done after the first time I used the program...I donated. And to anyone else who may happen to stumble across this thread and has been procrastinating about hitting the donate button on the home page, I urge you to do so also. This man deserves every bit of support we can muster. And with that, I'll step down off the soapbox.

[The_Mask]

Thank you and I am glad that I could fix the problems.

[Jichino]

Hey Mask, i tried installing The FilmMachine on a hp computer with Vista home installed. But for some reason it wont install completely. I updated vista with the latest service pack so is the software compatible with it? Or should i dualboot xp and use it with that?

[The_Mask]

Which version did you try to install?