Capturing DV audio 32 khz, 4 channels

[yg1968]

I have been reading that many DV camcorders can record DV audio at 12 bit, 32kz and 4 channels. I am wondering if it's possible to get the extra 2 channels from my camcorder and how to preserve it on a DVD.

I have done a search on the intenet and have found that it is possible (although complicated) to get 4 channels with a Cannon XL1. I am wondering if the same process would work for my Sony TRV-25. Here are the links that I have found on the subject:

http://www.shortcourses.com/video/chapter07.htm
http://www.thewiz.com/wiz/app/CeProductDetail?productID=1359
http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/articles/article67.php

If I ever manage to get the 4 channels (assuming that what works for the Canon XL1 also works for my Sony - a big if), would it then be possible to preserve them by using a software that supports AC-3?

Anyways, I am wondering if anybody has ideas on how to achive this?

[yg1968]

If anybody is interested, here are the replies that I have received on the same question on the dvdplusrw.org forum:

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/forum/ikonboard.cgi?s=b8dca63c93f3611247f1c2192d2c2fe2;ac...=ST;f=7;t=5152

[Thorn]

I've never used the 4-channel audio on my DV cam, but just in case you didn't get the info you wanted from that forum:

When you get the DV encoded AVI from your cam using a firewire card, the audio should be included. You may need to convert it to a type-2 avi before some applications can read it. Since AVI can support multi-track audio, you just need a program that can separate the tracks out. I think nandub might, but I don't know.

Anyway, when you have it all separated, you'll probably have two stereo audio tracks and a video track. Encode each using whatever method you need (don't forget to upsample audio to 48KHz for DVD), and then to author to a DVD using software that can handle multiple audio tracks (many cheap authoring programs don't allow multiple audio tracks). You may not need to bother with AC3, but since PCM audio takes a lot more space (and you have two audio tracks) you'd be limited on video length.

I'm glossing over a lot here, but each step takes some learning and there are guides and forums devoted to each part of this process.

[BJ_M]

12 bit, 32kz audio is not the best sounding thing around .. good for voice ..

i would rather have 2 good sounding channels than 4 bad sounding channels ..

[BJ_M]

converting it to 16bit 48khz sample rate makes it sound even worse unless you low pass it ...

[yg1968]

Thanks for the replies. I will stick to 48khz stereo.