Problem with PCM Audio track when Burning DVD

darnhs · Member Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Strange issue, here, I think.

Having never done this before, I purchased and am using DVD-Cloner (ver 5.41) to burn live concert DVDs. I'm copying one DVD-9 to one DVD-5. (Yes, I know it's being compressed but am just testing, for now.) The original DVDs (I tried two different ones, so far) have at least two audio tracks each; Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo. In order to keep compression to a minimum, I recorded only the "movies" (no extras or menus) and only the PCM audio tracks. When I try playing the copies, the video is fine but all I get is static (white noise) for the audio. This happened with two different, relatively new DVD players. I thought the PCM track wasn't copying properly but then I tried playing the copy DVD on my computer and the PCM audio track plays fine. If I copy both audio tracks, only the non-PCM one plays on a DVD player, but both tracks play when I use the computer for playback.
Any clues as to why there seems to be a problem playing back the PCM track on a regular DVD player?

Thanks, in advance.

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jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

Possible problems - your DVD player fails to support PCM, even though it should as it is part of the DVD standards.

You did not burn DVD format video. Look for the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS directories on the disc and if they exist, then most likely you did burn the disc in the correct format.

Maybe DVD-Cloner is doing something strange in making the DVD that is causing a problem for your DVD player. I've never used this program and know nothing about it.

Can your DVD player correctly play the PCM track on the original DVD-9? If not, that's your problem. Let us know what brand and model number your DVD player is as most likely the problem is with it.

darnhs · Member Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Thanks for your very quick response.
When I contacted DVD-Cloner support department (via email), they responded that the DVD should play the PCM audio track without any problem. They suggested I try playing the copied DVD on my computer and not just on my DVD player. That's when I realized the audio WAS copied, since it played correctly there; just not on my DVD player- or another one I tried yesterday.

But the DVD player (Panasonic DVD RV-31) plays the original DVD-9 disc perfectly, including all audio tracks.

One interesting thing:
While playing the copied disc on my computer, I did as you suggested and looked for the Video-TS & Audio-TS folders. The Video-TS folder contained several files but the Audio-TS folder contained none. However, keep in mind, the copied DVD was playing, with audio, while I was checking out these specs.
Thanks again.

robertazimmerman · Member Joined: 03 Nov 2003

I have yet to see a DVD that had any files in the \AUDIO_TS folder. If I'm not mistaken, that folder is used to store audio tracks on DVD-Audio discs.

minidv2dvd · .com Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Location: United States

it's possible dvd-cloner isn't re-numbering the audio track to 1. so it's there but the rv31 isn't seeing it because track 1 is gone and the pcm is 2. did you try using your remote and selecting the next audio track while it was playing?

try using mediainfo and see what it listed as audio in the first vob in one of it's expanded views.

jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

It's normal for AUDIO_TS to be empty. This is only used for DVD Audio discs.

minidv2dvd may well be right. It's a good idea to check what he says.

ntscuser · Mimzy Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: United Kingdom

darnhs · Member Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Location: United States

Thank you all for your time and your very helpful replies. I think the answer is exactly that - that when copying a DVD-9 to DVD-5, there's simply no room for the PCM track. Too bad the software doesn't warn me ahead of time. I found a DVD-5 concert DVD with two audio tracks, including a PCM one. I had no problem making a perfect copy. So it looks as if the answer is, if I want the PCM track of a DVD-9 disc included in the duplicate DVD, I've got to purchase double layer ones. I started researching that and see that Verbatim is the way to go (or used to be so until they started outsourcing their production from Singapore to India).

Again, many thanks for your help. I'm a real beginner at this, so it's very appreciated!