Ulead Releases AC-3 PowerPack Plug-In for DVD Workshop 1.3

[KTH]

Ulead has just released the AC-3 version of DVD Workshop. It sells for $495.00. If you already own DVD Workshop, you can buy the PowerPack plug-In which will add AC-3 (2.0 Stereo) encoding capability to DVD Workshop. The PowerPack plug-In sells for $199.00. Ulead recommends having DVD Workshop version 1.3 installed before installing the AC-3 PowerPack. I purchased the upgrade yesterday and so far it seems to be working fine. One thing I should note is that you have to make sure to de-select DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT FILE in the make disc window of DVD Workshop. If you leave this option selected the audio part of your video files will default to mpeg for mpeg2 A/V files and you won't have AC-3 audio. Luckily I tried my initial testing using CD-R media so I didn't waste too much money trying to get the AC-3 feature to work. Hope my advice helped.

[leebo]

What if your source already has AC3?

[Robert Simandl]

And does this plug-in fix any of those oft-cited bugs in 1.3 ("unsupported operation was attempted" while using menu wizard, crash while rendering motion menus, etc), or does it just add AC-3 support and leave the bugs as-is?

Thanks...

[Lamont Cranston]

The ac3 powerpack does update the mpeg.now encoder eliminating the pulsating artifacts problem. The autoplayer included in the powerpack does not support ac3 audio in this version.

[BJ_M]

its nice they released this-- but for that price you can get vegas 4 w/ the ac3 5:1 encoder (which also does 7:1 btw) and the vegas dvd authoring plug in ..

[Lamont Cranston]

IMHO The price is too high for only 2 channel ac3. However, to handle DD 5.1 Ulead lead would have had to add audio editing etc which is beyond the scope of an authoring program. MSPro 7.0 will support DD 5.1 (and a lot more as reported by the beta testers) but that may also have a cost delta for full support. We will have to wait till the first of March to see.

[KTH]

In answer to leebo's question. According to the information from Ulead you should be able to import files already encoded in AC-3 and I believe their web site stated this includes Dolby Digital 5.1 files. Unfortunately I don't have any Dolby Digital 5.1 files to verify this. In answer to Robert Simandl's questions. All I can say is that I personally never experienced the problems you've been having. I guess I have been really lucky. This is actually kind of strange since I'm usually one of those guys who seems to run into all kinds of problems. Sorry I couldn't help you with your problems!!! BJ_M I guess $200.00 is kind of high for a AC-3 plug-In, but if you look at the other major competitor Sonics DVDit PE it's a little lower in price (In terms of DVD Authoring Programs that can encode in AC-3). The full version of DVDit PE sells for $599.00, while DVD Workshop AC-3 sells for $495.00 and DVDit PE currently does not have motion menu's or buttons. In fact DVDit has not had any major updates for about a year now. The major plus to DVDit is that it gives you more navigation options for menu's than DVD Workshop does. In fact I've had far less problems with DVD Workshop than with DVDit. I know that I've burned a bunch of coasters using DVDit, but none while burning with DVD Workshop. Of course this is just my experience and other's experiences may differ.

[kenneth228a]

Hi,

$199 seems like a lot for ac3 encoding. Did the upgrade add anything else? Like automatic chapter creation?

Can you import an already encoded mpeg and have it just transcode the audio to ac3 without rencoding the video?

Thanks for any information.

Ken

[KTH]

I haven't noticed any added features except for the AC-3 encoding capability, but some people have reported some bugs in previous versions went away. Also if you have a mutiplexed mpeg file that is currently DVD compliant the plug-In just encodes the audio to AC-3 and doesn't seem to touch the video portion of the file. As for the price issue, I believe that some of it can be accounted for by that fact that Ulead is probably paying Dolby Labs a royalty for every copy of the PowerPack that they sell. As for how much this is, your guess is as good as mine. Considering the price difference between Sonic's DVDit SE (non Dolby Digital) and DVDit PE (Dolby Digital Version) ($299.00 versus $599.00) I would guess it's pretty high.

[kenneth228a]

Thanks KTH,

My main concern was if I could import MPEG files and have it encode the audio only without touching the video. Sounds good, I wish they'd add auto chapter creation like the far cheaper Movie Factory 2 has.

Ken

[Greg12]

I want this thing. Ulead has better chapter insertion methiods than DVDit PE

[jfebus]

And does this plug-in fix any of those oft-cited bugs in 1.3 ("unsupported operation was attempted" while using menu wizard, crash while rendering motion menus, etc), or does it just add AC-3 support and leave the bugs as-is?

Thanks...

Any fix for these problems?

Regards,

[Lamont Cranston]

Any fix for these problems?

No, but many new problems.

[Robert Simandl]

Any fix for these problems?

No, but many new problems.

That's what I was afraid of. Looks like I'll save my $200 and keep using MovieFactory 2 for a while. It does the unofficial AC-3 thing just like DWS without the AC-3 pack. And while DMF2 doesn't do motion menus, for me DWS doesn't do them either, at least not without crashing!

Thanks, Lamont...

[Lamont Cranston]

Robert, here is few more problems to add to your list....

AC3 PowerPack & MSPro 7's DVDMF 2 Problems

In the following tests I used a NTSC DV type avi file that I meg encoded with DVDWS and saved the mpeg2 file in the DVDWS library. I demuxed the mpeg 2 files and used the mpeg 2 and wav files as the elemental file input to DVDWS.

Elemental Streams
DVDWS will convert ONLY the audio of elemental files if I uncheck 'Do not convert complaint files' and set the video data rate the SAME (not above) as the mpeg 2 elemental stream. If I set the video data rate above or below the mpeg2 elemental stream or VBR vs CBR DVDWS will rerender the the mpeg 2 file.

When the audio conversion is running there is no on screen message that the audio is being converted but the audio/video conversion meter stays at zero and the conversion time is short compared to a reerender

Muxed video & audio
DVDWS will convert ONLY the audio of the muxed mpeg 2 file if I uncheck 'Do not convert complaint files' and set the video data rate ABOVE the mpeg 2 muxed file video data rate and a CBR/VBR match. This is the same as in version 1.2.

When the conversion is taking place you get an on screen message say8ing Audio file is being converted.

I tried DVDMF 2 (packaged with MSPro7) and it has the same problems with elemental streams as DVDWS.

- LC

[Robert Simandl]

Interesting. I've been using DMF2 for a few months now, and have NEVER had to deal with it reconverting anything, whether the streams are elementary or compound system files.

[Lamont Cranston]

Interesting. I've been using DMF2 for a few months now, and have NEVER had to deal with it reconverting anything, whether the streams are elementary or compound system files.

I suspect you have not had a need to convert audio, mpeg 1 layer 2 -> LPCM or the reverse. AC3 support created the need. In order to convert audio you have to uncheck Do not convert compliant files and that is when the trouble begins. DVDMF-2 packaged with MSPro 7 supports AC3 (same as DVDWS PowerPack). The normal DVDMF -2 does not support converting audio files to AC3.

- LC

[Robert Simandl]

I suspect you have not had a need to convert audio, mpeg 1 layer 2 -> LPCM or the reverse. AC3 support created the need. In order to convert audio you have to uncheck Do not convert compliant files and that is when the trouble begins. DVDMF-2 packaged with MSPro 7 supports AC3 (same as DVDWS PowerPack). The normal DVDMF -2 does not support converting audio files to AC3.

Ah, in the words of Phil Hartman doing Ed McMahon, "You are correct sir, yes!"

I've done all my mp2 to wav or ac3 converting with BeSweet, long before importing any files into DMF2.

Much like DWS before the AC-3 pack came along, DMF2 can accept AC-3 sound if it's muxed into the mpg with TMPGEnc or other encoding program and you check the do not convert box.

If the video m2v file leaves enough room, I use PCM and skip the muxing with TMPGEnc step.

In any case, you're right. I've never converted any audio file in DMF2 and have therefore never had DMF2 doing any unwanted conversions of the video files, either.