Three problems with MEP 2015

clement5 wrote on 5/19/2015, 9:42 AM

First when NTSC is selected, MEP auto selects the WRONG format. It selects bottom field first, but NTSC is almost always top field first. They need to understand the difference between PAL and NTSC. The unwary user will end up with a very jittery video.

The Error 5 DBK when burning is a HUGE problem which has not been solved. From my experience it happens when you are trying to squeeze a large video onto a standar SL dvd. When the length of the video is extended to DL size, the problem usually does not happen. It seems to be worse in 2015 than in 2014.

So far the only workaround that I have come up with is the following:

Compress the video to the size you want using another program such as TMPGEnc. Then use MEP to setup the menus and burn -UGH. You can use MEP to initially edit everything, but then you can produce an MP4 video for input to TMPGenc or bettery yet make a Lagarith lossless avi or a HUFFYUV avi. The trick to coercing MEP to burn without an error is to set the max bitrate and smart copy. The actual output will sized according to the input, not the settings. If you select a smaller size you will probably get the error.

MEP 2015 also has some video/audo sync problems with 3D Fuji format AVI input files, but MEP 2014 seems to work OK. I created the project using 2015, but had to burn it using 2014 to get proper sync.

Is there any hope of fixing the random burn error problem which has been around for many years?????

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 5/19/2015, 1:33 PM

. . . . It selects bottom field first, but NTSC is almost always top field first. They need to understand the difference between PAL and NTSC . . . .

Whether it is TFF or BFF is somewhat irrelevant - it can be either or none - most modern TV's can handle TFF, BFF or Progressive, it used to be relevant on old cathode tube TV's..

What is relevant is that if your source video is interlaced either TFF or BFF then you should use the same setting for the output.

. . . . The unwary user will end up with a very jittery video. . . . .

True, however the worst case scenario is when you have Interlaced video being converted to Progressive or vice versa - there is very little you can do about this, especially in panning shots or where there is motion across the screen.

. . . . Error 5 DBK when burning. . . . trying to squeeze a large video onto a standar SL dvd . . . .

I have never had this error except when trying to squeeze more than 2 hours video onto a SL disc. For videos longer than two hours I always DL discs.

. . . . . Is there any hope of fixing the random burn error problem which has been around for many years????? . . .

Yes - try not too squeeze long videos on to discs that do not have the capacity to hold them - the disc space used indicator, in the burn dialog, is an approximation of the amount of space used - the final amount depends entirely on what the compressor finds when the video is rendered - if there is a lot of action and changing scenes then the video will be larger than estimated.

. . . . It seems to be worse in 2015 than in 2014. . . .

Check that you have MEP patched up to the latest version 14.0.0.176

HTH

John EB

clement5 wrote on 5/19/2015, 6:29 PM

I am wise to the fact that MEP does not get the interlace correct, but the average user is not. MEP MUST set the correct defaults. While modern TVs can handle TFF, BFF or progressive.they can not properly decode a video where the original interlace is TFF, but where the dvd is encoded BFF. The fact that the interlace is improperly set is just a sign of careless design. NTSC is still around as a format because of all the legacy videos. People will get upset when their priceless videos of grandmother are mangled by the software.

Yes the error happens when encoding something that is longer than 2 hours onto an SL disk, but in the past I have been able to do this, an now it seems to be almost impossible. True I can use a DL disk, but the program shoud NOT fail.