Choosing which TMPGEnc product I need

[Karl Engel]

I've futzed about with my free software long enough and am ready to pay for the much vaunted TMPGEnc. But their range of products confuses me. If I want to both encode and author, with AC3 audio, do I need three products?

[ntscuser]

do I need three products?

Possibly not, but my choice based on personal experience would still be TMPGEnc Plus 2.5, TDA 1.6 and the AC-3 plugin. With that combination I know you will get good results.

[tinker]

Hi Karl
If you want to use Tmpeg to make finished DVD wit menus, get there TMPGEnc DVD Author. That will let you do editing and menu creation, than export to DVD file format.
I do not thing you can burn with this one, but you already have a burning software, I think.
With there TMPGEnc Plus you can only edit your project and export to DVD file format, cannot create menus.
For both you will need AC3 plugin (around $20) to be able to produce AC3 stereo file. This is an offical AC3 Dolby licenced plugin.
You cannot make AC3 5.1 file with this plugin.