the MOST compatible audio track?

[Red96TA]

I make all of my dvd's from Mainconcept MPA audio. Since I make dvd's for a living, I've figured that MPA is the format most likely to work in players.

Am I correct? What is the MOST compatible audio format that I can use to insure that I don't get any returns?

oh...and did I mention that it has to be dvd-lab friendly?

[mats.hogberg]

LPCM is the most compatible AFAIK.

/Mats

[iantri]

Red96TA, there isn't really a matter of what format is the "most compatible", it is what is compliant with the DVD specification. If a DVD player doesn't play a disc that is compliant with the specification (and such a DVD player should be extraordinarily rare), then it is the DVD players fault.

You haven't specified whether you are making PAL or NTSC discs.. it does make a difference, as you will see later.

That said, Videohelp.com has a summary of the spec (which costs a fair bit of coin to buy).. it is the first link on the left hand side under "What is".

It says that (for both PAL and NTSC) audio tracks can be "DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2", but the spec requires at least one (NTSC) DD/AC3 or LPCM audio and (PAL) at least one DD, MPEG-1 Layer II (MPA), or LPCM audio.

This is poorly phrased, but I am under the impression this means that players are only required to support, at a bare minimum, DD/AC3 and LPCM on NTSC players, with the addition of MPEG-1 Layer II audio on PAL players. This makes sense since DTS support, while supported by the spec, is not available on most players.

That said, I've never met a NTSC DVD player yet that refuses MPEG-1 Layer II audio. However, for maximum compatibility it should not be used.

To sum it up, if you are making NTSC discs, LPCM or AC3 audio are equally compatible (with LPCM taking up far more room). If you are making PAL discs, MPEG-1 Layer II is perfectly legal, as well. However, AC3 audio would give you better quality at the same bitrate.

You say that you are making DVDs for a living, so I can safely assume you can afford the USD$29 TMPGEnc AC3 encoder, which can plug into DVD-Lab and encode your audio into AC3 format -- TMPGenc is not required, AFAIK, YMMV.. If you are making long videos, this is a must (for NTSC) since the size of LPCM audio is ridiculous.

If you really don't want to buy the ($29!!) AC3 encoder plug-in, then LPCM will do as long as the videos are short (under 1 hour).

[DVD_Ripper]

LPCM, then AC3 then MPEG1L2

I think PCM is more compatible in Europe and AC3 here in the states. Then lastly MPEG1L2