VCD with 2 simultaneous languages in audio.

[v-sharp]

VCD with 2 simultaneous languages in audio

A friend lent me VCDs for children.
The videos are good and age-appropriate for small children, but the problem was audio.
Those VCDs have 2 languages (Cantonese and English) running simultaneously with the video. The English language came out of the TV's left channel speaker and the Cantonese language came out the TV's right channel speaker.
I have to use my dvd player's remote control to select the left channel audio output so that English language audio only will be heard.

I tried to de-multiplex the video with tmpgenc 2.5 and I got the MUSICO03.M1V (229,411 kb) and MUSICO03.mp2 (44,679 kb).
When I played the MUSICO03.mp2 the English language was not there and I can only hear the Cantonese language audio from my computers speakers.
I thought I'll find two sets of audio files - one for English and another one for Cantonese - but I got one audio file only that has the Cantonese audio.

How can I fix this VCD to have an English language audio only?
Thanks in advance for the help.

[aedipuss]

use an audio editor like audacity to see if the english audio is on the left channel of the mp2. if so delete the right ad dup the left to create 2 channel mp2.

[v-sharp]

aedipuss... thank you very much for the quick response.
Yes, audacity showed the two audio channels and the English language audio is in one of the two channels.
Now... I just need to learn how to use audacity so I can do your suggested solution.
Thank you very much aedipuss!

[aedipuss]

i don't use audacity but it should go something like this. highlight the cantonese channel, hit del on keyboard. highlight english channel, copy and paste it. save file.

[jman98]

I thought I'll find two sets of audio files - one for English and another one for Cantonese - but I got one audio file only that has the Cantonese audio.

VCD only has one audio file, a 2 channel stereo soundtrack. I am amazed that you somehow got only the Cantonese audio. This should have been impossible unless TMPGenc somehow extracted only the right channel. VCD should always demux into one video and one audio file.

[v-sharp]

jman98... it was the MUSICO03.mp2 file from MUSICO03.mpg (previously tmpgenc converted MUSIC03.DAT) that contained only the Cantonese audio track.

However, when I de-multiplex the original MUSIC03.DAT file (the file that was originally downloaded from the VCD), the MUSICO03.mp2 file contained both the English audio track and the Cantonese audio track.

I learned from that experience that I should just de-multiplex the MUSICO03.dat file (no need for .mpg conversion) of the dual language VCDs to get their .mp2 files for audacity processing.

About the Audacity program... I learned how to separate the two channels and delete the left channel (Cantonese) and copy/paste the right channel (English) on the left channel track.

I am now pulling my hair trying to find out how to save the edited file back into a .mp2 file so I can multiplex the video and audio into a .mpg file.

Thank you for responding to my query.

[v-sharp]

For closure on this thread and solution to my problem... I saved the audacity edited MUSICO03.mp2 into a .wav file while the file was still in audacity. Then using tmpgenc I continued to multiplex MUSICO03.m1v and MUSICO03.wav into a MUSICO03.mpg. Another program turned the .mpg file into VCD.

I want to thank aedipuss for his help and jman98 for also responding to my query.

[AlanHK]

For closure on this thread and solution to my problem... I saved the audacity edited MUSICO03.mp2 into a .wav file while the file was still in audacity. Then using tmpgenc I continued to multiplex MUSICO03.m1v and MUSICO03.wav into a MUSICO03.mpg. Another program turned the .mpg file into VCD.

If you've gone that far and you have a DVD burner, you can save the audio track to AC3 with 48000 sampling in Audacity (1.3.11, not the 1.2 version) and then make a DVD with the M1V, using eg GfD to author and ImgBurn to burn.

Since a DVD holds about 6 times as much data as a CD, you can fit several VCD movies on one DVD in the original quality with a simple menu.

[jagabo]

Audacity stereo to dual mono, after importing your audio:

1) Left click on the down arrow near the top left of the audio track and select Split Stereo Track.
2) Delete the unwanted track by left clicking on the x at the top left.
3) Select Edit -> Select -> All
4) Select Edit -> Duplicate
5) You now have two left or two right channels. Left click on the down arrow of one of the channels and make it the opposite, ie left to right, or right to left.
6) Left click on the down arrow of the top track and select Make Stereo Track.
7) Export...

[AlanHK]

Audacity stereo to dual mono, after importing your audio:.

Or why bother making dual stereo when it isn't really, just make a mono track.
For that just:

1) Left click on the down arrow near the top left of the audio track and select Split Stereo to Mono
2) Delete the Chinese track by left clicking on the x at the top left.
(Click the "Solo" button so you only hear that track and play a few seconds to confirm you have the right track.)
3) Export.