Merging Video and Sound

August 11, 2004 6:24 PM

How do I merge an .m2v video file and a .wav sound file into a single, coherent MPG2 file? [more inside]

I began all this by plugging an avi into TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator, and encoding to MPG2, but setting it to "save audio and video as seperate, elementary streams." I've done corrective surgery on the .wav file, and now I'd like to get my movie back together.

I've hunted and pecked all over videohelp.com, and posted in the forums there, with no responses. Please help!

posted by scarabic to computers & internet (11 comments total)

First, convert the .wav into an mp3 with Winamp or what-have you. Make sure that it's at least 224 kps (to make a compliant mpg.

Next, open up TMPGEnc and select "mpeg tools" then select "simple multiplex." select the m2v file and the mp3 and walk away for a few minutes.

Then there you go!
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:55 PM on August 11, 2004

What mayor said.

Bonus- you just need something that will MUX the files (put the separated files back together.)

They're kept separate for authoring needs - you can have multiple audio tracks in DVD authoring.

Search versiontracker.com for MUX
posted by filmgeek at 8:14 PM on August 11, 2004

Oops. Damn that post button.

What simple Multiplex does is MUX the files. I just wanted you to know you could do it...with other software.
posted by filmgeek at 8:19 PM on August 11, 2004

Argh. See, the thing is that I don't have a license for TMPGEnc, which means I can't encode MPG2s with it, only MPG1s. I'm on a trial license for TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator, and my trial for TMPGEnc Express has run out. Maybe it's time to download Plus and give it a whirl? ;)

Their versions are so confusing. But thanks, I'm on the case...
posted by scarabic at 9:56 PM on August 11, 2004

I don't think it's an MP3 file you need. I'm not sure which audio format MPEG2 video uses, though.

TMPGEnc has a re-multiplexer in it, but I'm not sure if that's in the trial-license version.
posted by neckro23 at 11:03 PM on August 11, 2004

I was avoiding using MP3s, too, because i fugured, hey, anything compressed has got to be bad. But Da Mayor reminded me what MP3 actually stands for - DUH. Turns out TMPGEnc eats 'em up, and no wonder! MPEG Layer 3!

I've had success remultiplexing already, now I'm just fine-tuning my corrective surgery for the actual, huge movie file, and preparing to run the shit.

Thank you, all, for setting me up!

/happy customer
posted by scarabic at 11:24 PM on August 11, 2004

TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 has a 14-day fully functional trial version that does include the re-multiplexing function, just as Mayor Curley described above (just for future information).
posted by scarabic at 11:30 PM on August 11, 2004

I don't think MP3s are DVD compliant - you need either a dolby digital file, an MP2 file, or a PCM (wav) file.
posted by ascullion at 2:48 AM on August 12, 2004

ascullon-- it's the bitrate that matters, not the format. A high-bitrate mp3 will make a compliant mpeg, a low one will not.

As referenced earlier, "mp3" means "mpeg layer three".
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:51 AM on August 12, 2004

scarabic, the next time you make an mpeg2, consider using this. It's freeware, and makes decent mpeg2s, whether for an svcd or dvd.

Also, "licenses" for TMPEGenc Plus aren't that hard to get (taps nose).
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:06 AM on August 12, 2004

BBMPEG and BBTools are 100% free and should do everything you need. It's the only completely free MPEG-2 video/audio encoder I know of for windows.

Specifically, you either need PCM audio (wav is *almost* there) or, if you want it compressed, MPEG-1 Layer 2 (Layer 3 is possible but rarely supported). BBMPEG can do all that.

I often use BBMPEG to make a final MPEG-2 encoding which I then finalize for DVD using dvdauthor or mkisofs -dvd-video, and then record using dvdrecord.

Enjoy. Why pay for software you don't want, or abuse licenses you don't need to? :-D
posted by shepd at 12:34 PM on August 12, 2004