Converting stereo wav/mp3 to multichannel ac3 for dvd

[excy]

Basically I want to put some mp3's of mixes my friends have made, all over 30mins long, onto dvd-r to play on my dvd player.

Any ideas about an easy way to do this?
Is there any standard dvd-audio format I could use?

I suppose I could get a blank video track with the audio playing, and just keep my tv off.

I'd would like to convert the audio to multichannel so the rear speakers play exactly what the fronts do.
(My dvd player will only do this automaticaly if I turn on strange Virtual Cinema Sound blah, but the rears don't play the exactly the same as the fronts) I want to fill the room with sound ;)

anyway, any suggestions?

[BJ_M]

you will need to convert the wav files to dolby digital (and the mp3 to wav first) and encode them with a dolby digital ac3 encoder .. there are no free versions of this .. sonic foundry, dalkin/sonic , steinburg and digimation all make dolby encoders..

they must be 48khz sample rate

then you will need to make the blank video track (or really any video track if your turning the tv off) and author the dvd in impression pro or scenarist or Maestro

[excy]

Ok, I have a 5.1 channel .ac3 audio file now.

I have DVD Maestro to author these with, although I need to learn how to use it.

Do I need an mpeg2 video file of the same length as the audio track? or can I get away with less? (I don't think I can)

What's the minimum bitrate I can get away with? Is there a limit that dvd players will refuse to play below? or may it just depend on my dvd player?

Any suggestions on the quickest way to get a lengthy, blank, minimum bitrate mpeg2 as quickly as possible? (I suppose once I have the longest video file I could need, leaving room for the audo track to fit onto the dvd-r, then I could just keep this around and chop it up and use it for every audio dvd I create)

[BJ_M]

the min bit rate that most dvd players expect to see for a mpeg2 file is very low acually but i suggest at least 1000 min. you will need a video the same or longer lenth (longer is fine) ... there is a easy way to do this ...

-just grab the sample here : http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvd.htm#sample


-demux the sample with tmpgenc and grab just the video stream (you can re-encode this in tmpgenc for a really low bit rate) ..

-drop the video stream into Maestro (after adding it first to assets)

-keep adding it (the video stream) to the movie line untill the dvd size found at the bottom right is about 3.8gig in size ..

-drop your ac3 file onto the audio line (after adding to assets) .. if you have more than 1 ac3 file , you will need to sync them to a video track (right click on audio line and sync audio) or conjoin them (seperate app found in installation cd or in spruce root dir) ..

-make sure total size doesnt go over 4.7 in the size window.

- in the left window delete the menu if you want the dvd to self play or add a menu if you wish.

-add a chapter point to beginning of each song - you will have to know how long each song is to determin the chapter position as the ac3 file will just one long lenth. but if you added one song to each video clip its a little easier to figure out. addingthe chapters is optional - the dvd will play fine with out them also.

-hit compile

-burn the VIDEO_TS folder with nero or prassi or make an image w/ spruce and burn the image w/ prassi.

[excy]

Thanks a lot. I done all this which worked fine apart from the compiling ;)

When I hit compile and choose my directory nothing happens. Nothing is logged to the output logger window, although I think it does grab the aspect...

Any Ideas? Is there another step needed that's missed out? If not I may take a look at scenarist to see if that'll do what I want.

[BJ_M]

output your compiled files in a dir that meets iso standards ...

i.e. c:\compile (it will make the VIDEO_TS dir inside this) dont use long dir names

try different name or premake a dir - it will work .. this happens sometimes .. also dont use any dir name with a dash (-) or (.) in it ..

ive had this happen with the compiler which is dos based or something ..

[excy]

No, DVD maestro doesn't work atall. Stupid thing.

But on the other hand Scenarist has a nice template/wizard thing which just asks you for video file and audio track then creates the whole complicated layout for you. I guess I could loop up the video if I needed to, to make it longer than the audio track. I burnt that to dvd and it worked fine. Hoorah for me.

Thanks for the help.