VCD Mpeg1 w/AC3 to DVD format is this possible?

[CaseyComb]

Hi I was going to experiment and try this myself but I was wondering if anyone else has done this?

What I'm trying to do is take Mpeg-1 encoded at 352x240 with a CBR of 1150 demultiplexed video (.m1v) and convert the audio to AC3 2.0 and put it on a DVD. First is this possible? I've heard that it is. Secondly, if it is how much video w/AC3 sound can I fit on one DVD. I've noticed with TMPGEnc and other encoders they have a low res DVD template which is almost Identical to the VCD template except for the fact that the CBR is slightly higher (Usually 1850) with lengths between 160 min. with PCM audio and 270 min. with .mp2 audio. I don't know if anyone has an answer to these questions, but if you do I would apprerciate it immensely.

Thanks alot!

[Nelson37]

SFAIK, that is all possible. However, there is no real point to the AC-3 conversion, you would only be converting file format, not ADDING any additional surround effects.

Don't have a DVD burner yet so can't help much with other questions.

[Thorn]

Yes, the mpeg-1 spec for DVD works just fine with AC3 sound. I have done this and it works without problems.

The reason for doing this is that North American players don't play mpeg audio on DVDs, so you can do either PCM or AC3. PCM takes as much space for audio as for VCD-spec video so you have about half the capacity. Therefore to fit the most on a disc you have to convert to AC3 (after converting the audio to 48KHz). The AC3 size can vary but it should be similar in size to the equivalent mpeg audio version.

[CaseyComb]

Thanks guys, I know that AC3 is alot more compressed than standard PCM audio. I'm not trying to get surround sound effects, I'm just trying to figure out how much video in minutes I can fit on a dvd with AC3 sound And VCD encoded mpeg-1. Is there any way I can calculate this?

Thanks again

[Thorn]

minutes = size of disc/(audio bitrate per minute + video bitrate per minute)

Minutes changes as you change the audio bitrate. Video should be constant, so you can get some simple estimates.