MPEG2 and MP3?

[keem]

I hope I'm putting this in the right forum.

I want to know if it is possible to use the MP3 audio format with an MPEG2 video.
If I create MPEG2 files and remove the audio (I have no problem doing that) can I then add the audio I want in MP3 format and keep it in MP3 format and have the audio/video play in the same file?

The reason I ask is because I can get 1 hour of MPEG2 audio and video in 352x480 @ 1500 kbits/s and it looks really good on my tv and plays from my DVD player no problem, but the audio isn't very good because I'm using a really low bit rate (44.1 kHz 96 kbits/s). I figured if you could use MP3 for the audio format and have it play back with the video you could get better quality and smaller file sizes.
My DVD player does support MP3 playback.

I don't know if this is even possible (probably not), but if it is I would love to know how to do it.
If it isn't possible is there some other way of compressing the audio to a greater extent?

I searched the forums, but couldn't find anything about this topic.
BTW I'm aware of xvid and other MPEG4 formats and I love them, but they will not play on my home DVD player (APEX AD-5131).

Thanks for any advise!

[Baldrick]

If your dvd player supports mpg files it might work. But it will not work if you make a dvd-video.

[adam]

TMPGenc can do such multiplexing if you use is regular multiplex option, not simple multiplex.

I doubt any kind of hardware will play it though, even in regular mpg mode. Might as well try it though I guess.

Other than that there is no way to further compress the audio in a DVD other than to lower the bitrate. To offset the quality loss you can use less channels, like go from stereo to mono, but I don't think that's a good idea. You can also use joint stereo mode which gives better results at lower bitrates than regular stereo.

[keem]

The file I burned on disk has a .mpg extension, and it plays back fine on my DVD player and is recognized as a VCD (even though the format is MPEG2, but it is in the 352 x 480 resolution). I have been playing around with resolutions and bitrates after reading about CVD's (China Video Disks) on this site. I can get just the video (no audio) and save it shows up as a .mpg file as well and will play on my dvd player. The question I have is how do I lay the audio track into the video? I extracted the audio in WAV format with vdub and converted it over to MP3...

Now I just need to know how to join the audio (mp3) and video (mpeg2) together without reconverting the audio or video to something else.
What tool to use, how to go about doing this, ect.
Thanks for moving the post to the right spot, I just figured this topic would fall under editing.

[keem]

TMPGenc can do such multiplexing if you use is regular multiplex option, not simple multiplex.

So what I need to be reading up on is multiplexing then?
I had no idea what it would be called and couldn't find any info on it.
Thanks, I'll do some checking into multiplexing.

[adam]

There are guides for it on this site, but just download a trial version of TMPGenc (TMPGenc.net) and go to file/mpeg tools/multiplex. On the load screen add your video stream and your mp3 audio stream, and set an output file name and location and set the type of program stream you want to make. I guess use mpeg2- program first since that's what has been working for you, and try others if that doesn't play on your player. Hit run and you'll get your mpg.

Again though, I seriously doubt the audio will end up playing on your dvd player. But the mp3 will be in the stream.

[keem]

Yeah, it probably won't work...I just figured it would be worth a shot.
I'm sure there is a reason someone hasn't done a how to on it if it worked lol!
I already have TMPGenc trial version and the trial period is up so it wouldn't output a MPEG2 video file would it?

[adam]

Yes it still will you just cant encode to mpeg2.

[Gregg]

Isn't AC3 the DVD /MPEG2/ version of MP3? Isn't an AC3 file almost as big as the same lenght MP3 file? Honestly I don't see a reason for the stunts you suggest.
When I capture video I always record audio in LPCM and then encode in AC3 with BeSweet. Some will claim that those files are not fully compatible but I'll tell you that I have yet to see a DVD player that doesn't play them. The fact that DVDMaestro accepts BeSweet AC3 files for me is enough like a proof for their compatibility.

Enjoy!

[adam]

Regardless of what audio format you use its always going to be the same size at the same bitrate. But mp3 performs MUCH better at low bitrates than AC3.

If I had to use 96Kbits I'd definitely rather it be mp3, but if you want hardware support you don't have much choice.