DVD player (NTSC) not able to play MP2 audio?

[DereX888]

I got into fierce discussion today (again, for the 100th time) with one of the coworkers claiming that MPEG-1 Layer II audio is *not* playable on *many* (!!!) region 1 / NTSC dvd players.

Yes, I know that officially standard NTSC dvd-video does not support MP2 audio, only PAL specification does, but I have never found any NTSC dvd-player not capable of playing properly authored NTSC DVD-Video discs just with an MPEG-1 Layer II 48kHz audio instead of AC3.
My colleague claims its quite opposite - that most of the ntsc players *won't* play such discs...

Please post here brand/model of any standalone dvd-player you have there, that doesn't play such disc!

Thank you

[trossin]

Panasonic RV-31 (4years old), Phillips 642(1 year old), Cyberhome crap (1 year old) as well as some other $29 player I have (3 years old) plays MP2 audio just fine. I think that your friend is plain wrong.

[jman98]

If the DVD player doesn't support VCD or SVCD, then I might agree that it probably won't play such discs. Toshiba was rather infamous about 4 years ago or so for selling DVD players in the USA that didn't support VCD at all, not even commercially pressed ones. While such DVDs would violate NTSC DVD standards, they should be playable. The US marketplace made it clear that US consumers wanted DVD players that supported a wide variety of formats, so a bunch of makers like Toshiba that didn't support anything but audio CD and DVD on their machines started selling machines that could play VCD, SVCD, JPEG, etc. Tell your co-worker to name a player that won't play such discs and if he comes up with one, see if it supports VCD or not.

[gadgetguy]

If I read the specs correctly, MP2 has to be supported as a secondary audio, so all players should be capable of playing MP2 audio. DVD spec requires that at least one track have DD or PCM, but doesn't define which track that needs to be. In theory, if you author a disk that only has MP2, then it shouldn't play, but I would think that it would require more engineering to keep it from playing then it would to just play it, so I would be surprised to find a player that won't play it.

Having said that, it still makes sense to advise that for maximum compatability you should use DD or PCM on at least one track, because that is what the specs call for.

[Noahtuck]

Gheez guys, that's not what he asked :P

Okay DereX888, i read your post earlier when you first posted it & decided to make a short clip with MP2 audio, put it to dvd just to test it out on the players around my home, as i always make dvd's with DD audio, so you are getting ALL results seeing as i went through all this just because of your post :P

Pioneer DV-578A (06)
Played through F.O. digital, analog stereo & 5.1 analog outputs.

Pioneer DV-343 (01)
Played through Coaxial Digital, analog stereo outputs.

Pioneer DVL-700 DVD/LD (97)
Would NOT play thorugh either digital outputs or analog stereo.

Sony DVP-NC650V (02-03?)
Played through F.O. digital, analog stereo & 5.1 analog outputs.

GE 1101PB (02-03?)
Played through F.O. digital, analog stereo outputs.

Cyberhome CH-DVD 300 (03 through 05)
Played through Coaxial Digital & analog stereo outputs.

So of the 8 standalone players i have hooked up only one would not play MP2 audio and that is the oldest one i have from 97.
I have 2 other players sitting on a shelf but i did not feel like pulling them out and hooking them up

This is why i just always author all my dvd's with AC3/DD so then there are no problem's

[greymalkin]

My pioneer 563A plays mp2 from analog out only. but it plays it nonetheless.

[DereX888]

Panasonic RV-31 (4years old), Phillips 642(1 year old), Cyberhome crap (1 year old) as well as some other $29 player I have (3 years old) plays MP2 audio just fine. I think that your friend is plain wrong.

trossin, I still have one Phillips DVP-642, and I had quite few of them in past 2-3 years; ALL of them play mp2 ntsc dvds
EDIT:
doh, i misread your post, sorry



regarding other players - mp2 is obviously plain stereo (at best dolby surround 2.1) thus it should always play through players analog outs by design IMO; of course some of the players have better audio circuitry than the others, and they are able to patch it or even upconvert it to some kind of 'dolby prologic 3.1' or even some simulated dd5.1, and push the signal thru digital outs - but nevertheless, it should play at least on analog outs.
So if it doesnt play on your coax, but it does play on analog out - it still counts

PS
Noahtuck - thx alot for going through all the trouble