What audio format to use???

[jjvb]

I am new to digital video. I am converting vhs home movies to dvd. The sound quality on these tapes is not great to begin with. What audio format should I use for the DVDs? I have used Pinnacle Studio 8 once and think it did mpeg layer II or something similar. Pinnacle does not allow combining separate audio and video streams. Thanks for your help.

[Cobra]

You've got three choices with DVD:

- LPCM (Linear Pulse Code Modulation), which is a WAV file.
- MP2, MPEG Layer II etc. - like MP3, it's compressed and sounds fine
- AC3 - Don't know if this is a real option for home-made DVDs. Someone who knows might be able to advise on this.

The MPEG audio will be fine for your tapes. Using PCM will just take up loads more space, and offer no great improvements for you.

Hope this helps,

CobraDMX

[ZippyP.]

Just a little warning...MP2 is not a DVD standard for NTSC although it will play on many machines. For small size and maximum compatibility you might want AC3.

You might want to read this thread regarding audio.

[Cobra]

Is it standard for PAL DVDs then? I know that all the DVDs I make use MP2 and they are fine.

I didn't think that audio would get involved in the PAL/NTSC standards.

CobraDMX

[andkiich]

MP2 audio is a PAL standard.

[jjvb]

Thanks for the replies. THey were very helpful.

[Bradskey]

It is possible to make a 2 channel (ie, stereo) AC3 stream. In fact, if you were authoring with Nero Vision and various other programs it can transcode your audio stream from WAV or MP2 to an AC3 2.0 stream, which will be more complaint for NTSC. However, every DVD player I've ever seen was able to play a MP2 stream in a DVD.