TMPGenc 4.0 Xpress Guide
Convert video to WMV

The following instructions describe how to use TMPGenc 4.0 Xpress to convert video to WMV format. I tested several different WMV conversion packages and the best by far is TMPGenc 4.0 Xpress. Other utilities I trialed were: DVD-WMV, Encode360, and Microsoft's own Windows Media Encoder.

You need to pay for TMPGenc; the other encoders are free. However there are some good reasons for using TMPGenc:

• Supports many video standards for input and output

• Can be used to edit home videos and write to DVD

• You get formal product support

• No codec packs to install; everything you need is included

You can trial TMPGenc for free for several days to see whether it works for you before purchasing.

I have come up with these methods after numerous trials and with assistance from TMPGenc support. I hope you find it useful. Feedback is welcome.

1. "START" PHASE

Click "Start a new project"

2. "SOURCE" PHASE

Click "Source Wizard"

Select "DVD-Video" and click Next...

Then select the DVD drive containing your DVD and click OK...

After a few moments TMPGenc will display the titles available on the DVD.

In this case there are three titles on this DVD:

• 1 second screen splash

• 95 minutes of supplementary material without subtitles

• 81 minute feature with English and German subtitles

(For most DVDs the first lengthy title will be the main feature. In this case, unusually, it is the last listed.)

In this case I only want to select, rip and convert the main feature which is the third title in the list.

If you are not sure which title is the main feature:

• Refer to the back of the DVD case

• Play the DVD

• The main feature will often have 5.1 sound while any supplementary material might be 2 channel only.

You can select multiple titles if you wish.

For each selected title choose the appropriate subtitle setting.

Click Next... when you are happy with your selection.

Select a temporary folder to rip the DVD too, then click "OK". It takes 5-10 minutes to rip the DVD.

Note:

• You could deselect "Copy selected files to the hard disk drive" and encode directly from the DVD, however this will slow down the conversion to WMV.

• On the other hand if your DVD is a mounted ISO file, then probably you do not want to copy to hard disk again.

Optionally give the clip a name (although this is only really necessary if you are editing multiple titles at the same time and want to be able to identify each clip while editing.)

Take note of the clip video and audio settings. In this case it is an NTSC video (framerate = 29.97) in anamorphic wideframe (pixels are 40:33 - ie. 720/480 * 40/33 = 1.81:1) The audio is 2 channels only for this title.

If you want to edit the title (cut out scenes for example) then click on the "Cut-Edit" tab. I won't describe this process here. It's a standard markup editing system.

To adjust deinterlacing and/or crop the black bars for 2.35:1 for full frame video, then click on the "Filters" tab.

Select and click on the Deinterlacing filter in the left menu bar.

If the video is PAL/25 fps

then leave the settings as the default i.e. Deinterlace mode = "Deinterlace when necessary" and Deinterlace method = "Interpolation - adjusted"

If the video is NTSC/29.97 fps

then select Deinterlace mode =
    "24 fps (prioritize animation)" for traditional anime/cartoons
or
    "24 fps (prioritize motion)" for all other movie types including newer animated features like Shrek etc. that update at 24 fps.

Then select a Deinterlace method = "Inverse pulldown."
 "Inverse pulldown (reinforced anti-stripes)" could be used for material with troublesome 3:2 pulldown interlacing - for example PAL material that has been converted to NTSC.

This advice assumes that the video was shot on 24 fps film stock - almost all movies and US TV shows are 24 fps. However if the original was not shot at 24 fps, or the video is PAL/25 fps then you will want to use "Deinterlace when necessary" and "Interpolation - adjusted" settings.

Then use the step button to step through frame-by-frame.

If the source is 24 fps, then you will see 2 frames with interlacing artifacts, 3 frames with no interlacing, 2 frames with interlacing and so on.

Refer to the frames on the right. The interlacing artifacts on the bike and car indicate that 3:2 pulldown was used and that the original was shot at 24 fps.

This advice only applies to NTSC/29.97 fps video that came direct from the 24 fps source.
If the film was originally shot at 24 fps, converted to PAL/25 fps, and then converted again to NTSC/29.97 fps then it's very likely there will be no 3:2 pulldown pattern - instead it will be an interlacing mess. In this case you are best deinterlacing at 29.97 fps. If you attempted to return to 24 fps most likely frames will be missing or jumbled and the video will look jumpy.

If the video is 2.35:1 widescreen, or Letterboxed "Full frame" (widescreen picture presented in a 4:3 frame with black top/bottom bars) then you will want to trim off the top/bottom black bars.

In this case, check and select the "Picture Crop" menu option. Use the top/bottom fields to adjust the masking. Use a multiple of 16 when cropping (this might leave a small black bar or trim off 2-3 pixels.) Make sure you don't cut off any subtitles if these are present.

You should never need to trim left/right - leave this as 720 pixels.

For most anamorphic 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 widescreen video it is not necessary nor desirable to crop the video.

Various other options are available such as video noise reduction, although these are almost never required.

Click "OK" once you are happy with your de-interlacing and filter setup.

Repeat this for each clip. In this case we have just one clip to convert to WMV.

3. "FORMAT" PHASE

Click on the "Format" tab in the top menu bar.

Choose the output format, in this case "Windows Media Video output" and click on "Select"

Video codec: Select "Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile"

Size: In most cases you should accept the TMPGenc suggested value.

Note: TMPGenc should already have set this to the video size, or to the cropping size you set in the filters.

Note2: It does not need to be adjusted for anamorphic video; the display ratio is determined by the following aspect ratio setting.

Aspect ratio:

For NTSC, select either "Pixel 40:33 (NTSC wide)" for anamorphic video (most recent DVDs are) or "Pixel 10:11 (NTSC standard)" for full frame video (rare these days).

For PAL, select the "Pixel 16:11 (PAL wide)" or "Pixel 12:11 (PAL standard)".

Note: TMPGenc will have already told you the pixel ratio immediately after you finished ripping the DVD. So it's helpful to remember this.

Note2: If the video was not anamorphic - i.e. presented in letterboxed full frame 4:3 format with black bars top/bottom, then you should still use the "NTSC standard" or PAL standard" pixel settings, even if you trimmed the top/bottom black borders to wide-screen.

Framerate: Should already be set correctly by TMPGenc - i.e. "23.976 fps (Progressive)" if you selected 24 fps as the de-interlacing method.

Otherwise it will be "29.97 (Progressive)" or 25 fps (Progressive)" if the original material was not 24 fps or the 3:2 pulldown is too messed up.

Video encode type: Personally I use "1 Pass VBR (Constant Quality)" however there are several other options available depending on time vs. file size (2 pass vs. 1 Pass) and the ability of the playback device to handle surges in bit-rate (VBR vs. CBR.)

Video Quality: I find a video and VBR video quality settings of 95% to be good enough.

Click on the "Audio" tab:

Audio codec: For 5.1/7.1 sound you will need to use "Windows Media Audio 10 Professional" codec.

Audio encoding type: Personally I prefer to use "1 pass VBR (Constant quality)" however other options are available.

Audio format: The value that TMPGenc suggests should be the best choice although other options are available.

Click the "Other" tab.

Performance slider: You can trade-off speed of conversion to WMV vs. the quality of the encoding (could affect file size and picture quality.)

I usually slide the performance slider over to the right-most position to maximize the picture quality. This comes at the cost of longer encode time - 8-11 hours on my E6700 Core2Duo system vs. only 3-5 hours on the default quality setting.

Keyframe marker: By default TMPGenc will write a keyframe for every 8 seconds of video. I have not yet found any advantage to using each keyframe as a marker, however, this may just be due to limitations in my playback software (MCE.)

Optionally add metadata for the WMV header if you wish.

4. "ENCODE" PHASE

Click on the "Encode" tab in the top menu bar.

Select the output location for the WMV file (best on a local disk and not on a network drive - not on a WHS share for example for performance and reliability reasons.)

Then submit to the batch encoder tool (middle "Clock" button".)