Stargate SG-1 Season 6 & 7 A/V Sync Problems

I'm having the oddest problems converting Stargate SG-1 Seasons 6 & 7. I've ripped all of my seasons through Season 5 without a problem, but as soon as I got to 6 I started having Audio/Video Sync problems. I've been doing the rips by using DVD Decrypter in IFO mode and then using AutoGK to process and convert the VOBs into AVI.

When the problem first happened I noticed that AutoGK reports an initial frame count before pass one and then after pass one reports "Warning - Found Different Number of Frames" and then shows a higher frame count -- usually about 300 frames. When I watch the output AVI the audio seems in sync with the MGM Lion head, but once it transitions into the opening sequence the audio seems to come about .5 to 1 seconds before the video and remains that way until the end of the video.

The connection to me seems to be that it's injecting about 300 black frames between the MGM Lions Head and the opening sequence and it's throwing off the audio/video sync. I just can't figure out why. I've now attempted about every combination of DVDFab, DVD Decrypter, AutoGK, and Gordian Knot and keep getting the same result.

Has anyone else had this problem with these or any other DVDs and knows how to fix this? It's driving me crazy!!!!!

Maybe try dvd shrink in the reauthoring mode and cut out the main episodes without the opening sequence. Output as a new DVD and autogk it.

Or try other dvd to avi tools like fairusewizard, xvid4psp, handbrake but I suspect that you will get similiar problem.

I remember reading about that problem with those Stargates, but can't find the thread now. I believe Baldrick's on the right path, as it's that opening MGM Lion logo that's the cause of the asynch. My suggestion (coming from a foggy remembrance of reading about the problem) is to decrypt over again with DVD Decrypter, this time deselecting either the cell or the chapter at the very beginning that contains the Lion logo.

DVDshrink and VobBlanker together should work.

Open dvd in DVDshrink
In DVDshrink uncheck "hide audio and subpicture of insignigficant size" box (preferences)
Uncheck everything except the 5.1 audio tracks in the main movie area
Recheck "hide audio and subpicture of insignigficant size" box
Check the "logical remapping of enabled audio streams" box

rip the dvd (uncompressed)

open the files in Vobblanker
you should only see the 5.1 audio for the main movie files
blank out all the junk like the lion logo and anything else you don't want

I use this method for backing up my dvd's (like those stargate series you mentioned), don't know if it will work in your case.

I'll give some of those things a try. MJPollard, if you could find out what release, I'd really appreciate it. I'm currently on the most recent production free version -- 5.0.8.5 -- and was still having the problem. Either the fix didn't remain for more than the one release or I'm using the wrong ripping options. This is extremely frustrating. It should just work.

Just out of curiosity, is this just a weird quirk with these particular DVDs or was this purposely inserted by MGM as a deturent to keep people from ripping these. I don't recall having any problems when I try Season 8.

Yeah it probably is a regression, like MJPollard says. If you follow the link to Videohelp's DVDFab page and click "View entire changelog", the Stargate SG-1 season 6 and 7 fix is listed in the 5.0.1.5 Beta (May 7, 2008).

AutoGK's developer (len0x) once addressed this issue at the bottom of this thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=131404

I"ve seen this warning from AutoGK a few times long ago but the difference wasn't enough to noticeably affect the sync so I wasn't bothered by it.

to fix that you have to use PgcDemux and go for second PGC

I knew I wasn't messing up. I actually originally downloaded DVDFab based on the bug fix post that I saw in a couple of places stating that it fixed this issue. I was rather urked when I discovered that it didn't help in the least.

Thanks for the suggestion nekrosoft13. I'll add that to my list of things to try tonight when I run my next batch conversion job tonight.

Thanks MJPollard for looking into that. Sorry you've had problems submitting a bug report. I'm going to see if I can dig around for a download of 5.0.1.5 and give that a shot if I can find it.

I'll add that to my list of things to try tonight when I run my next batch conversion job tonight.

That won't help. If you used DVD Decrypter in IFO Mode as you said, then you only have the one PGC to begin with and PGCDemux can't do anything you haven't already done. The MGM Lion logo is in the same PGC as the episodes. That's the problem and the solution is to get rid of it. Both Baldrick and I have given you ways to do that already.

Okay, I wasn't aware what PGCDemux does exactly. I'm sort of new to the whole world of DVD ripping. This is mostly a backup project for me and I'd like to keep the episodes intact from beginning to end; as such, would it be possible to convert the videos, split to video and audio streams, cut the extra 300 frames between the Lion and the opening sequence and then rejoin them? If so, what would be the best tool to use for this? Sorry to bring this up so late in the conversation, but I didn't even think about it until now.

Hi-

would it be possible to convert the videos, split to video and audio streams, cut the extra 300 frames between the Lion and the opening sequence and then rejoin them?

Yeah, sure. I don't have the discs, but an educated guess tells me that the audio for the logo is shorter than is the video (which contains those extra 300 frames?). This is no problem when playing it as a DVD, but with it all joined together the audio for the next cell (the real beginning of the episode), "slides" up against that earlier audio, throwing off synch the audio for the episode. That's how I understand it, anyway.

The best way to get rid of the 300 frames is with an AviSynth script. If, for example, the logo is 1000 frames long, the black frames you want to remove are 300 frames long, and the episode begins after that, then:

A=Trim(0,999)
B=Trim(1299,0)
A+B

That says to keep the first 1000 frames, skip the next 300 frames, and then join the rest of it to the first part:

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Trim

But since I don't guess you know any AviSynth, then some MPEG Editor should also be able to do the job (VideoReDo and some of the Womble software). But most of them cost money. Others would know more about that than I.

I have registered on this forum only to contribute to this thread. There is another way to solve this problem, buy for $50 software called VideoReDo Plus which has an option under tools called Quickstream Fix which will re-sync the video/audio by removing the video re-sync frames and will in the process convert the VOB. files into mpg files which autoGK can then compress but select the first of the newly converted files you can't use the IFO files.

I second (or third) the VideoRedo suggestion. The best $50 program I've seen in a long time. I like free software myself but this program does things that free programs either won't do or don't do very well or easily.