TMPGEnc - Do I Need the AC3 Plugin?

[Aidi]

Howdie Guys,

I have been using TMPGEnc v1.6 for the past couple of weeks and it seems to be doing exactly what i require.

Would i get any benefit by purchasing the AC3 Plugin.... and what advantages might if find if i did?

Many thanks
Aidi

[adcvideo]

I presume you mean TMPGEnc DVD Author?

The AC3 plug-in will enable the ability to author DVDs with AC3 audio (2 channel, not 5.1), also known as Dolby Digital. Although most DVD players (but not all) can play MP2 audio, it is not actually the official standard for DVD-Video, which is AC3 (And also LCPM, I believe). AC3 also offers a slighty better compression than MP2.

And if you own TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress then it is possible to import DVD-Video with AC3 (even 5.1) directly from a non-encrypted DVD or DVD-Video folder - very useful.

[mats.hogberg]

...or you could use ffmpeggui and encode your audio to AC3 for free (and use it in TDA).

/Mats

[The_Doman]

Although most DVD players (but not all) can play MP2 audio, it is not actually the official standard for DVD-Video, which is AC3

For a PAL DVD it's perfectly legal to have only MP2 audio.
It's part of the PAL DVD standard.

[mats.hogberg]

I agree, but I've read some claims that it's now removed from even the PAL DVD standard. But since it's been in the standard, I don't think any player manufacturers will drop support for MP2 audio any time soon. (I'd rather thing DVD support will be dropped sooner!)

/Mats

[gadgetguy]

The AC3 plug-in will enable the ability to author DVDs with AC3 audio (2 channel, not 5.1), also known as Dolby Digital.

This is not quite correct. You can author DVD's with AC3 audio in TDA without the plugin, but you can't hear the audio while editing and setting chapter points. The finished DVD has the AC3 audio just fine though.

[smearbrick1]

The AC3 plug-in will enable the ability to author DVDs with AC3 audio (2 channel, not 5.1), also known as Dolby Digital.

This is not quite correct. You can author DVD's with AC3 audio in TDA without the plugin, but you can't hear the audio while editing and setting chapter points. The finished DVD has the AC3 audio just fine though.

You cannot, however, re-enconde the audio from another format to AC-3 in TMPGENC DVD Author without the AC-3 plugin. I believe this is the only added functionality of the AC-3 plugin.

I personally re-encode mine through Vegas. Before that, I would just bite the bullet and re-encode all of MP2 audio to PCM. I had to do this because my DVD player does not like MP2 audio on DVD. It works fine though with SVCD or VCD (using MP2 audio).

[mats.hogberg]

You cannot, however, re-enconde the audio from another format to AC-3 in TMPGENC DVD Author without the AC-3 plugin.

Quite. And IMO, encoding is not part of the tasks for an authoring app. You should have the assets ready in the correct format before starting to author.

/Mats

[Aidi]

Many thanks for the replies. I now have a better understanding of what the AC3 plugin is all about.

For the time being i will continue creating my DVD's using TDA without the plugin as i get the desired results, but at least i know for the future if i decide to purchase the plugin

Rgds
Aidi