MPEG-1 ....If it can go wrong......... boy it goes wrong

netkoala wrote on 6/4/2004, 1:25 AM
I rendered as MainConcept mpeg-1 format.
I chose PAL.

Now someone has trouble playing.
I thought at this level it would be impossible to stuff it up.

Someone tell me it does not matter if it is NTSC or PAL encoding ?
If you render mpeg1 using "default" template , can this be the reason ??

Apparently " Some will only run in the browser and other in the player and some do not run at all."

Totally befuddled. Someone please help.

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/4/2004, 2:27 AM
The default mpeg-1 template has mpeg layer 2 audio, which requrires an mpeg-2 codec on the system. Change it to layer 1 and you should be good..
roger_74 wrote on 6/4/2004, 2:39 AM
That is incorrect, mpeg-1 layer 2 audio has nothing to do with mpeg-2 video.

If mpeg-1 fails to play on a modern computer I would take a look at that computer, not the file.
netkoala wrote on 6/4/2004, 9:48 AM
Bump

Chienworks wrote on 6/4/2004, 10:02 AM
My guess is that some of your audience has older versions of Windows Media Player installed, some have newer versions, and some have QuickTime installed and it has taken over the browser's preference for playing MPEG files. I suspect you'd get the same variety of results and problems if they all received a different MPEG-1 file from someone else who encoded it with different software and settings.
Jsnkc wrote on 6/4/2004, 10:05 AM
"Someone tell me it does not matter if it is NTSC or PAL encoding ?"

Than all depends on what you will be using the final video for, if it is just for computer playback only from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, then it doesn't matter if it's PAL or NTSC. If this is something that will be going on a DVD or VCD to be played thorugh a DVD player on a TV then you should take into concideration wether it will be in PAL land or NTSC land, however a lot of DVD players can play both these days, it's still better to use the format of where the video will be played just to avoid any further hassles.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/4/2004, 12:30 PM
i'm telling you (netkoala), it's most likely the audio encoding. I've tried mpeg-1 video layer 2 audio and it DOES NOT work on a computer unless they have a mpeg-2 codec installed (which all Vegas comps do). I've tried it in Windows (version 6 to 9 of MP) & on linux.

Re-render the file to layer 1 audio (or use TMPGENC to combine the mpeg-1 vidoe & the newly rendered layer 1 audio) and it will work perfectly.

Ddid you try that netkoala? You "bumped" the thread but never posted if you tried anything.
netkoala wrote on 6/5/2004, 12:58 AM

Actually i found out it is not the render.

It is the a html issue and user issue. But thanks for trying to ease me predicament.

I found that setting to a HTML target="" parameter in the reference helps stop WMV trapping the browser.

Also that if you jump between render types a user can lock up the sound.

I guess the ultimate solution is to force a viewer into another form entirely.

This was a false alarm and a user trying to everything at once.
But thanks.

The layer 2 sound is a good point, but i noticed that 'default', 'ntsc' and 'pal' all use layer2 sound by default, so will stick to that for now.





Blues_Jam wrote on 6/6/2004, 11:29 PM
"Someone tell me it does not matter if it is NTSC or PAL encoding ?"

Yes, it does matter where analog television is used. NTSC is the standard used here in the U.S. and PAL is the European standard. NTSC is based on the 60hz (sixty cycles per second) power coming into your house. PAL uses the 50hz power used in Europe. In both cases the power cycle is used to synchronize the blanking of the electron beams in the picture tube during the virtcal retrace period.

Blues_Jam
John_Cline wrote on 6/7/2004, 7:00 AM
Just curious.... is there some specific reason that you have chosen MPEG1 over Windows Media? WMV looks vastly superior to MPEG1, particularly at lower bitrates.

John
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/7/2004, 8:16 AM
I've noticed that WMV has lower audio quality them mpeg-1 in the lower bitrates. That's why I've used mpeg-1 over WMV (I find a small decrease in video a good tradeoff for a great improvment in audio).
John_Cline wrote on 6/7/2004, 8:24 AM
Hmmm, I haven't noticed this. What bitrate are you using for the MPEG1 audio files? I have found that Windows media audio sounds far better than any flavor of MPEG audio when using the same bitates for each. The default audio bitrate in most of the WMV templates is set too low, so I usually kick them up a bit anyway.

John
Chienworks wrote on 6/7/2004, 8:25 AM
Of course, when rendering to lower bitrate WMV files, you can always increase the audio bitrate a notch or two if you want it to take more bits at the expense of the video.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/7/2004, 11:19 AM
I would use the WMV9 512k template, then jump the audio up to ~192k stereo. But, I have a mono file, and the WMV9 encoder in V4 doesn't allow me (not that i've found) to force stereo/mono. So, in the mpeg template I do 192k mono. There's just a very small file size difference, but the mono audio at a higher quality sounds better (obiously).

The other advantage is that I can get an mpeg-1 with audio layer 1 to work on almsot ANY computer. For ibivious reasons, I can't get WMV9 to work with my default Win2k or Linux istall. :) Need to download codecs (and when I send out an mpeg-1 I specificly don't wanna have people dowload codec's).