First, hi, I'm new around here

I'm testing the 5 beta. I haven't tried this on todays (may 7th) build but I have on the last one from last week.

My goal is to DVD -> xvid so I can stream it to my dlink dsm-520. I have been doing this flawlessly with another piece of software after using the free version of DVD Decrypter to create the ISO file. My tests with DVDFab show it is very fast so that is why I am considering it.

Here is generally what I am doing:
I am using DVD to mobile and using a custom settings to create the xvid file and include the AC3 sound. The black bars are cropped but other than that, full DVD resolution (generally 704 by X) because I don't mind large file sizes and I want quality sound and picture.

The problem:
When I use DVDFab I can play the file fine locally on the PC but the audio gets out of sync when I stream to the DSM-520. As I said, this works great when I use a different program to create the xvid. I have heard it has something to do with interleaving in the video. Has anyone else seen this issue? Am I doing something wrong or is there a work around?

I'll probably go ahead and by the software since I don't want to miss the bargain and future upgrades.

Thanks,
Scott

Welcome to the group skingery. You probably should try the 5.0.1.5 release: the A/V sync engine has been completely redone and it may help. What kind of bit rate does your link support? If it is high enough and file size no object, you could try the VOB Passthrough function. This produces a single (on NTFS) MPEG-2 file with the original audio and should be more robust for transport. The file suffix produced is VOB but you can rename it to MPG with windows if necessary.

Signals, thanks.
My Dlink DSM-520 can handle streaming High Def content with no problem so DVD content is a walk in the park for it.

I hadn't seen the vob pass through function before. I tried it out last night on the 5.0.1.5 release and it works great. Very fast and quality of the original DVD.

That said, I still need to test the 5.0.1.5 release with creating a xvid and streaming it. It is nice to have original VOBs but there are times when compression is ok when I need to save some space.

I'll try and get some time tonight and test that and report back.

Will look forward to hearing about it. Try one of the H.264 profiles if your stuff supports it. Amazing quality.

That's interesting. Sadly, this equipment doesn't support h.264 so I've been using xvid.
Do you find the quality that much better?

Head and shoulders. I can encode H264 at 480x270 and watch it full screen on my PC. If I encode it at a larger screen size it looks great on my HDTV. There used to be a speed penalty because of the extra calculations necessary, but Ting fixed this last fall and it runs almost as fast as xvid now. I have even gone back and re-encoded the 15-20 movies I did with xvid using H264 for the picture improvement.

Very interesting. Playing the files on my HDTV is the goal so that is useful information.

I play them off my Archos docking station that has component out. User GregiBoy works with streaming video and such every day. Maybe he will chime in on this.

Aha! A fellow Archos fan Had a 402 for a long time and just picked up the 605 wifi recently.

I have a 504 which I use as my travel DVD player. The 605 is cool. When the battery finally dies on mine I will probably upgrade.

Thanks for the plug Signals.....

Strine word for the day = "DOBBER". Meaning: A person who volunteers other people for work or tells someone in authority about the wrong things that you have done !!!

I do use the generic feauture a lot for my encoding and I have a mix of players throughout the house... A Dlink DSM-320, Zensonic Z500, Ziova CS505 and am alpha testing the new Ziova CS615.

Only the CS-615 will play the H264 and as Signals said, this certainly gives the best results but I do encode all my vids so that the lowest common denominator wil play them.

I use a variant of the generic.avi.xvid.audiocopyprofile and always retain the original Dolby Digital5.1 soundtrack and have not had any audio sync problems.

I generally use a resolution of around 720 x 400 as I am in PALLand but your 704 x XXX sounds about right for NTSCLand. I use an 1100 bitrate and two pass encoding.

As an operating procedure, I generally rip the DVD's to ISO files and then queue up the encode jobs using these ISO's overnight. Come back in the morning and they are all done.

The seemed to be a limit of 5 queued jobs otherwise FAB would sh1t itself but I haven't had time to test the new beta.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! This is pretty much how I how I do it. 2-pass and then go for .3 bits/pixel.

I get the same issues with a DLink DSM-520 (on the 1.06 firmware). I use 2 pass encoding, 2500 kbps, xvid audiocopy, the best resolution on offer. I generally keep the AC3 audio stream.

Streaming to the DLink has the audio vastly out of sync - 5 seconds or more. Sometimes rewinding corrects it for a few seconds but it slips again quite quickly.

I'm using the dvdfab 5.0.5.0.

Any other suggestions, I too prefer to get some compression.

A. Upgrade to the latest version of DVD Fab
B. Drop your bitrate back to around the 1100-1500 mark. I've found only marginal increase in quality at bitrates like you indicate.

What I think is happening is that the bitrate is too high, hence the audio is dropping out of sync....

Then again, I have been accused of being a "video peasant" in the past...

Have you tried just doing DVD-Mobile-VOB Passthru and either streaming the VOB or renaming it to MPG to stream....You end up with full quality sound and pic...

I haven't tried the VOB passthrough as I am looking for smaller files.

I have now tried:
a) Encoding XVID at 1100 with an audio copy
b) Encoding XVID at 1500 with an audio copy
c) Encoding XVID at 2500 with an audio copy
d) Encoding XVID at 1100 with mp3

also tried H264 but the DLINK doesn't like the encoding.

a-d all had the sound out of sync by between 5-10 seconds

I also tried using the DIVX converter at HD quality and an audio copy - this had the sound in sync.

Is this a problem with the XVID codec or is it a problem with DVD Fab?
I'm now using version 5.0.6.5

All suggestions appreciated, would prefer to use DVDFab as it is so much quicker.