besweet+dvd no good??

[Mr Walker]

Hello
Id like to convert som homevideos to dvd, source is PAL-DV. To get most compability and space for Video i'd like to encode the audio to AC3 (DD2.0@256kb).
So my first idea was to use besweet to archive that goal, but then i was told that besweet isn't that good when it comes to encode PCM to AC3 for use in DVD.

Any other good (free) solutions?

[racer-x]

I dont know where you heard that, but I use Besweet to encode PCM to AC3 with 224 kbps. I use it to make DVDs for my sons baseball and football teams. I have yet to encounter any problems.

Why don't you try it before you knock it.

[housepig]

agreed, I've been having good results with BeSweet.

and it's free, so there's no barriers to trying it out...

[mh2360]

Besweet has problems with Pioneer players, as its output is not 100% DVD compliant (ac3enc.dll is to blame...). Its seems to work OK with other models though.

[lordsmurf]

Sometimes Besweet acts odd too. I think it's something about the source file. I've had it go both ways on me, good and bad, and I have Toshiba and Apex players. The AC3 may be too low, the MP2 may have cracks in it, or the WAV will have parts muted at random.

I tend to use Sound Forge 6 for audio editing, converting. And DVDit! PE to convert to AC3.

[turk690]

I find BeSweet behaves best when given legal, uncorrupted *.wav files to be encoded to *.ac3. The *.wav file is exported from the Premiere timeline then sometimes further processed with CoolEdit2K before given to BeSweet. *.wav files processed though Premiere or CE2k have correct headers, etc, and can be counted on to be accurate, as opposed to those merely ripped off from an LPCM soundtrack DVD, or as an output-to-WAV option in DVD2AVI. BeSweet behaves even more unpredictably when given an already compressed file for input, like *.mp2 to be converted to *.ac3.
But since BeSweet is freeware, that absolves it of all those little failures. The other alternatives are using DVD-ItPE or DVD Workshop with AC3 module, or even a top-rated Dolby Digital encoder plug-in for Premiere from SoundForge--all hundreds$$.
The only one other thing in my mind is, since the use of any Dolby technology means someone in the chain paid for that, is the use of BeSweet for our purposes legal or illegal or anything in between??

[racer-x]

mh2360 wrote:

Besweet has problems with Pioneer players, as its output is not 100% DVD compliant (ac3enc.dll is to blame...). Its seems to work OK with other models though.

I have read that some people are having problems playing Besweet encoded AC3s with older Pioneer Players. My friend has a new Pioneer (I think it's a PV-350 or something) and it plays my DVDs with Besweet AC3s with no problems whatsoever. In fact my DVDs were played on at least 50 DVD players including PS2 and X-box, all played perfectly.

I think turk690 is right. All my PCMs are generated from Premiere timeline and are 100% correct 48 khz wav.

[indolikaa]

I pull .wav files using VirtualDub from my DV Cam and sometimes use Audacity and/or Sound Forge for futher processing.

BeSweet has never had problems, nor have my multitude of DVD players.

Free is good.