ac3 and dvd moviefactory3

[TheFamilyMan]

I recently bought dvd moviefactory3. I've been unable to get it to convert existing MPEG2 audio tracks to ac3. I've tried using MPEG2 system files with mp2 and non-system files with wav files to no avail, even with using its 'normalize audio'. Any ideas? And if your suggestion is to "use another tool", please do not bother to post. Thanks.

As a mini review, I think this app is less friendly than moviefactory2 (which I've been using for a while), for it forgets all your custom settings for the output type every time you exit the app. It seems that they took the approach of "let's not confuse those dumbshit consumers with too may options like we did with our version 2 product". The only reason I got it was that its price was very good at Fry's last weekend. I'm not so sure it was worth even the discounted price, oh well.

[reboot]

Ulead dvd movie factory 2 doesn't take (or even recognize) AC3 audio. (At least mine doesn't).
Does Ulead have an AC3 plugin you need to get?

[lumis]

i'm not sure if this applies, but i've used version 3, demo & retail for extracting video from dvd-vr's.. when i extracted the video the demo version always gave me an error about there being ac3 audio, the retail had no problems with it.. not that it mattered, because i wasnt authoring, just extracting.. you may want to check in to the retail version.

[GeorgeW]

MovieFactory 3.0 "Disc Ceator" version supports Dolby Digital audio (decode, and encode 2-channel).

If your source is DVD Compliant, it gest confusing when using the "Do not convert compliant mpeg files" checkbox.

What you should try is this:

1) do not check the "Do not convert compliant..."
2) make sure your template is using a HIGHER video bitrate than your source video, and also make sure it is using Dolby Digital audio
3) Burn to your hard drive -- it should bypass the video re-encoding, but it should re-encode your audio to Dolby Digital

OR

4) another way is to check the box that says "Treat mpeg audio as non-dvd compliant", and make sure your template is using DD audio

Note 1: this is only in the Disc Creator version -- the "Standard" version does not support DD

Note 2: Some versions of MovieFactory 2.0 support Dolby Digital (specifically, the version that ships as an addon with MSPro 7)

[TheFamilyMan]

Thanks GeorgeW. I'll try your suggestions. I do own the disk creator version. I love it when you have to use a "back door" with software to get it to work in the way you desire. I tried a simular approach, but I was not sure that only the audio was being encoded (it seemed the whole shootin' match was being reencoded, so I aborted it). I bought version 3 primarily for the AC3, I hope I can take advantage of it without resorting to using its encoding engine. I use many features in TMPGEnc that just don't exist in MF3.

[TheFamilyMan]

4) another way is to check the box that says "Treat mpeg audio as non-dvd compliant", and make sure your template is using DD audio

This converts the existing audio on imported MPEG2s to AC3. Its processing message is a little terse and some what misleading, but it does the right thing if you are patient. Thanks again GeorgeW.