Improving fast forwarding and rewinding of discs

Whilst TMPEnc. produces some excellent quality MPEG2 files there is some debate over whether the audio and video streams are correctly combined with the correct "scan offsets" (spaces where the information for subtitles would go in commercially pressed discs). This can result in discs that do not fast forward or rewind as they should on some DVD players. Whether this is the real reason for this problem or if it is actually due to the fact that the player has trouble reading home burnt CD-R's or CD-RW's is questionable, but if your disks do not fast forward or rewind as they should you can try this technique.

1. Demultiplex the file from TMPEenc.

Using TMPEnc. click on file, then on MPEG tools, click on the second tab, Basic demultiplex. Browse for the MPEG2 file produced from TMPEnc. and then press start. After a minute or two you will have two separate files, one for audio, one for video.

2. Remultiplex with bbMPEG.

Remultiplexing with bbMPEG bbMPEG is a free, open source MPEG encoder that was a popular choice with home video editors before TMPEnc. came along. Whilst its quality does not currently match that of TMPEnc. it can still be very useful as a multiplexor of the MPEG audio and video streams.
Start bbMPEG by double clicking on the avi2mpg2.avi file, and since we are not encoding a new file, simply press 'start encoding' then click on settings. Select the 'Input and Output files' tab then click on the 'Open VS' button to select the Video file you produced from step 1.
Repeat for 'Open AS 1' and select the audio file. Next click on the Program Stream Settings tab and select SVCD. Click OK to return to the previous screen and click OK.
bbMPEG will then multiplex the audio and video files into a single MPEG2 files that is SuperVideoCD compliant, and includes the scan offsets that are thought to be needed for correct fast forwarding and rewinding..

3. Points to remember.

Many players will play SuperVideoCDs quite happily without this step. It is only worth trying this step if your SuperVideoCD's do not fast forward and rewind as they should. The file size produced by this method is slightly larger (less than 1% though) so it should have very little effect on the running time of the discs.