Confused about Audio: WAV, MP3, AC-3 5.1, MPEG ???

[bayaraa_us]

Hi

I'm new to home DVD burning. I'm confused about different audio formats that should be used in DVD Authoring.
I know the difference between WAV, MP3, WMA, PCA, AIF, MPEG audio, AC-3 5.1 stereo but i don't know which one is better for DVD Authoring.

I need the highest quality i could get meaning i don't want to compress as much.

Hope you can answer my question.
Bayar

[dcsos]

Only 4 formats are legal for DVD players.
Ac3, MPEG audio and PCM ar all you can do. Unless you have DTS encoding hardware. DTS is another accepted compression format but is most expensive to produce.....

Those other formats you mention must be converted befor being burned to DVD .

AC3 or compressed DOLBY audio in up to 5.1 chnnels is the most used standard, and indeed some very old players will only play DVD's with AC3 format

Using any less compressed format (eg PCM or MPEG audio) will eat into the bit budget for VIDEO material , which is why they use the more compressed AC3

[Gazorgan]

It helps to know your source. If you are backing up DVD's, then you have several options, depending on what your DVD comes with. It also depends on space (backing up DVD9's).

Generally speaking, using the 5.1 track is about as good as it gets ( unless you are a Bose Audiophile and just HAVE to have the DTS track if available). If you are short on space, you can downconvert the 5.1 to 2 channel Dolby Surround.

[dcsos]

So if you want the best sound.. You have to use the PCM audio...but
this provides the least room for VIDEO material....You may havt'a really compress the PICTURE to get it on the disc with your good audio..
So do as the rest of us, and compress the hell out of the sound like all DVD's do

[bayaraa_us]

So what Audio compression do you guys use?

In what case do you use 5.1 surround sound compression.
I'll be backing up my old analog home videos into dvds. Hopefully i'll also backup my dvd movie collections.
Can you tell me which compression is good for home videos that converted from analog and dv camera. I don't want to lose much for quality.

[yg1968]

I use mp2 (i.e mpeg 1, layer 2) audio given that it is the default audio for many DVD authoring software. It takes a lot less space than PCM. AC-3 encoding is difficult and not worth the time unless you have dolby digital sound to begin with. Many (if not most) DVD players can play mp2 audio.

If you are backing up DVD and if you have dolby digital speakers, you will likely want to maintain AC-3 audio. Certain software will accept an AC-3 audio file but many others will not accept them. Ulead DMF 2.0 will accept an AC-3 file. However, Ulead DMF 2.0 is not able to encode to AC-3 file by itself.

[dcsos]

In what case do you use 5.1 surround sound compression?
I'll be backing up my old analog home videos into dvds. Hopefully i'll also backup my dvd movie collections.

Well the latter not the former...
That is, the HOLLYWOOD dvd movie collections have 5.1 already
and
to get 5.1 on your productions is near impossible, cause they're already recorded in MONO or perhaps STEREO, if you're lucky. Creating a 5.1 soundtrack after the fact would be a cheat, or a "re-creation" of the
original sound..
which brings me to a point..
It's cheap to preserve HOLLYWOOD 5.1
It's cheap to transcode 5.1 to stereo
It's cheap to recognize 5.1 and import it to the final DVD disc
(I think Spruce UP is the cheapest other than that PINNACLE product that accepts 5.1 AC-3)
It's expensive to make 5.1
ON a PC- two budget solutions have finally emerged for DVD AUDIO mastering

see www.minnetonkaaudio.com for DISCWELDER
or
http://sonicfoundry.com/products/default.asp
for ACID 3.0 with 5.1 plug in