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  1. Several years ago I used the freeware (unknown) that came with my first DVD burner along with a USB video capture unit to burn some laser discs onto DVD.
    Sadly the software did not support Dolby AC3 and the audio tracks are MPEG. I've run across a few stand alone DVD players that will not recognize the audio.
    I put weeks of work into creating full motion menus and chapters on the DVDs and I really don't want to go through it all again.
    Is there any software to convert / recode the audio and keep the menu structure ?

    <a cross post with DVD authoring - please forgive>
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  2. Originally Posted by WallyChicago View Post
    Is there any software to convert / recode the audio and keep the menu structure ?
    You don't think you should have thought of this before making a DVD with menus?

    But yes, it's easy (and would have been easier before you made the menus).
    1. Demux (PGCDemux)
    2. Convert the audio to AC3 (lots of ways, including Aften with AftenGUI, BeSweet, among others)
    3. Remux (Muxman)
    4. Stick the reauthored DVD with AC3 audio back into the original (VobBlanker).
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  3. Banned
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    This guide tells you how to add new subtitles to a DVD and keep the menus. However, you can do the same steps in the guide, skipping the subtitle stuff, and replace your original audio track and keep the menus. Basically it's a step by step guide to do what manono talks about.
    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/277950-How-to-add-new-subtitles-to-an-existing-DVD

    Would you mind to tell us what stand alone players you have found that won't play it? While it's not technically allowed for NTSC DVDs to use MPEG audio, for many years region 1 DVD players have played such discs. I'm curious as to who makes players that won't touch it (offhand Sony and Samsung are likely suspects, but we'll see).
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  4. Originally Posted by manono View Post
    Originally Posted by WallyChicago View Post
    Is there any software to convert / recode the audio and keep the menu structure ?
    You don't think you should have thought of this before making a DVD with menus?

    But yes, it's easy (and would have been easier before you made the menus).
    1. Demux (PGCDemux)
    2. Convert the audio to AC3 (lots of ways, including Aften with AftenGUI, BeSweet, among others)
    3. Remux (Muxman)
    4. Stick the reauthored DVD with AC3 audio back into the original (VobBlanker).
    As I said, this was several years ago, Dolby licensing was much less common especially on freeware. There was no option for AC-3 and I didn't know enough about it to realize it mattered.
    Thanks for your time.
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  5. Perhaps you can replace audio track or add additional audio track to existing project - then everything will be way simpler.
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    Originally Posted by pandy View Post
    Perhaps you can replace audio track or add additional audio track to existing project - then everything will be way simpler.
    The problem is that MPEG audio violates NTSC DVD specs if it exists at all, so since the OP found some players that won't play it now (in the past we never had any reports of this happening), there is some chance that simply adding AC3 to the project might not solve the problem as the resulting DVD would still violate NTSC DVD standards and the players he found might refuse to play the DVD. Also, adding a 2nd audio track might make the size too big - if the original size is pretty close to filling up a single layer DVD disc, adding a 2nd audio track could push that into making him have to use a dual layer disc. Or if the original disc almost filled up a dual layer disc, adding a 2nd audio track could make it too big for even dual layer DVD.

    Anyway, both manono and I told him how to replace the track and I even included a link to a step by step guide.

    Yes, as the OP says, there were SOME freeware programs that used MPEG audio by default on DVD, even NTSC ones, because they didn't bother to license AC3 or use the free AC3 libraries that are now common. All I can say is that in the previous decade we used to talk about how DVD might refuse to play NTSC DVDs with MPEG audio because such discs violate the standards, but nobody ever posted about actually having this problem before. MPEG audio is valid for PAL DVDs, even as the only audio track option. Philips was able to convince the DVD Forum to allow it in PAL DVDs, but not NTSC. I've got two commercial DVDs from PAL countries that use MPEG audio. One has 2 channel stereo MPEG audio and the other actually has the rare multi-channel MPEG audio, but I've never yet personally owned anything that could play the multichannel MPEG audio and produce 5.1 output. Everything I've tried, even a Philips DVD player, only outputs the multichannel audio in its stereo compatibility mode.
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    Have to slightly correct you there, jman98. MPEG, Layer2 audio is VALID as an audio track type in NTSC DVD. It just isn't allowed as the PRIMARY/MANDATORY track (or single track if there is just one). Very sure of this. As a supplemental track, everything's fine. Of course, since it is "optional" in NTSC-land, there would still be no guarantee that compliant settops would be able to read it.

    BTW, there are Phiips players that WILL play that multichannel track of yours. They're just very rare. Have a big cursive "M" logo on them to designate.

    Of course, you could always use software decoders/converters to get that track into standard 5.1 AC3...

    Scott
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