Movie Factory 2: "first clip as first play video"

[Eric J]

I have been experimenting with Movie Factory 2 to crreate DVDs and have mostly figured out how to do what I need to do with it. Something that I cannot figure out relates to audio during the first clip in the series if the "First clip as first play video" box is checked.

I use TMPGEnc Plus to generate all of my MPEG-2 video, with Toolame as the plugin if I am generating MPEG-1 layer 2 audio.

If I check the box to play the first clip automatically, the first clip plays with no audio whatsoever under almost every combination of video/audio options. The remaining clips all play audio without a problem.

The only way I have found to get audio to play during the first clip is to use TMPGEnc to generate a system (audio + video) stream as a .mpg file, with the audio set to MPEG-1 layer 2. In this case, the clip will properly automatically play with audio, ending with the menu. I have been able to mix clip types also, with the first autoplay clip as system stream with layer 2 audio, with the remaining clips being video only (.m2v) files with a .wav file added using "Replace Audio".

This raises the questions:

- Is there a good reason why the first clip audio would behave differently if "First clip as first play video" is checked?

- Is there any danger is mixing clip types on a single DVD, such as a .mpg system stream with MPEG 1 layer 2 audio in one clip and a .m2v video elementary stream combined with a .wav PCM audio elementary stream in another?

- As MPEG-1 layer 2 audio is not part of the DVD spec, but supported by many set-top players, if a DVD that mixes clip types as I described is played in such a player that will not accept this audio format, will the result merely be no audio in the clip or clips that use MPEG-1 layer 2 audio, with the disk otherwise playing correctly, or is the box more likely to just refuse to play the disk?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Eric J

[tomclary]

The only way I have found to get audio to play during the first clip is to use TMPGEnc to generate a system (audio + video) stream as a .mpg file, with the audio set to MPEG-1 layer 2. In this case, the clip will properly automatically play with audio, ending with the menu. I have been able to mix clip types also, with the first autoplay clip as system stream with layer 2 audio, with the remaining clips being video only (.m2v) files with a .wav file added using "Replace Audio".

Thanks for the information. I stumbled on this problem last Friday morning and have not had time to investigate. My first fear was that it was DirectX 9 related but that does not look to be the case.

I can't think of any good reason for the audio on the play clip first to be any different from any other sections. I do not think there is any problem mixing the different formats.

- As MPEG-1 layer 2 audio is not part of the DVD spec, but supported by many set-top players, if a DVD that mixes clip types as I described is played in such a player that will not accept this audio format, will the result merely be no audio in the clip or clips that use MPEG-1 layer 2 audio, with the disk otherwise playing correctly, or is the box more likely to just refuse to play the disk?

I asked a similar question in the DVD player section. The general findings were that if the player worked with DVD-R/DVD+R, it would handle the MPEG audio. A point of distinction is that MPEG audio is part of the DVD spec, it just is not required to be implemented in a player.