Ac3-2.0 and 5.1 Audio on the same DVD

[Rychezilla]

I am going nuts here because I know I have done this more. I want to make a DVD that allows you to choose between ac3-2.0 and 5.1 from a menu. I am using Sony DVD-A 3.0. I know under "optimize DVD" you can choose to recompress a second audio stream but I swear I didn't do this last time.

The Sony site tells how to create the menu for it but not how to make the separate streams

Help is appreciated... always.

[wulf109]

Use your remotes audio button,why do you need a menu? Unless i'm wrong I thought 5.1 was ac3. Do you mean ac3-5.1 and ac3-2.0?

[Rychezilla]

Yes I meant ac3 2.0 and ac3-5.1. Sorry its been a long night. I think you misunderstood though. How do I get the tracks on the DVD in the first place being that you can only select one or the other for output format?

[canadateck]

5.1 will just down convert to 2.0.

[wulf109]

There are authoring programs that allow more the one audio stream to be selected. IFOEDIT's DVD author module allows for multiple audio streams.

[Rychezilla]

I did this earlier this year with Sony DVD-A. I put the DVD in and hit my audio button and could select either option. I realize the 5.1 wasn't truly surround but it was pumping through all speakers and really sounded good.

[guns1inger]

You should be able to add a second (or more) audio track to the video asset without any problems. However there are certain rules regarding matching audio formats on tracks within the same titleset. Do you have audio on the menu ? Is the audio format on the menu track (track 1 by default) the same as the audio giving you problems ?

[Cunhambebe]

I don't see any difficulty here. As far as I know DVD Architect lets you add a series of audio files, for instance in English, French, AC-3 5.1 or 2.0 (as guns1inger has previously made it clear). Just add the video file + the main audio file (both should have the same name); select the language for this main audio file (for instance: en; fr, pt, etc..) and then you can browse and add the other audio files for yourself (5.1; 2.0, etc). Burn your DVD; play it and select the audio file you want with your remote control.

[guns1inger]

I did a brief test with mixed 2 and 5.1 AC3 audio when I wrote my previous post, and there definately is a corrolation between menu audio, track audio, and optimising during prep. If the audio doesn't match, DVDA will try to re-encode one or the other, and does limit the choices. If there is no menu audio there was no problem. I didn't play long enough to see if DVDA was actually making any sense, just enough to see it can cause problems.

[hiptune]

That's exactly what I don't want. My audio reencoded. I want to include a lpcm in addition to ac3. You just drop it in the timeline under the first audio up there?

And your remote will handle all the rest of the details?

I am under the impression that DVD-A will not recode anything unless you are over size. So stay with in the rates of kbs and you can't miss!

Too easy.

[guns1inger]

DVDA shouldn't re-encode if the audio is compliant - no arguments there. But the fact is that it does in certain circumstances, and seems to be inconsistent with what those situations are. Which is one of the reasons I rarely, if ever, use it, and use DLP instead.