Audiotracks on a videodvd

[029]

I would like to make a DVD suitable for standalone DVD players with both video and audio data on it. I've read a few old topics and I've learned that it is not possible to make a video dvd with seperate mp3 files which are playable on a dvd player. Is that correct? Seems kinda weird to me, as most dvd players normally don't have any problem reading mp3 audio... Why can't they read mp3 format from a video dvd? Or is that a noobish question?

If I understood correctly, I can convert the mp3's to other formats (AC3, PCM, MP2). So now my second question is: which format has the least loss of data? And which format keeps the files sizes similar to the MP3 320kbps I am converting?

Thanks!

Tomas

[mats.hogberg]

LPCM will sound exactly (retain all quality of) as your mp3, as it's uncompressed. MP2 and AC3 are compressed, and some quality will be lost in the conversion.
A similar size for MP2 and/or AC3 will be reached if you encode to MP2/AC3 at 320 kbps. LPCM will be much bigger, about 4 times IIRC.

/Mats

[029]

and is there any difference between mp2 and ac3? is there a difference in compatibility?

[mats.hogberg]

AC3 is more compatible - MP2 isn't even mandatory to be called a DVD player. To boot, AC3 is more efficient, and will sound better (more like the source) than MP2 at the same bitrate.

/Mats

[jman98]

MP3 has never been valid for DVD. MP2 is, but technically only for PAL DVD. That doesn't mean that DVD players won't play NTSC DVDs with MP2 audio, but it's not technically part of the specification for NTSC DVD. The fact that DVD players support MP3 audio has nothing to do with DVD itself. It's never been allowed as part of the format.

MP2 came first and then MP3. MP3 was designed to offer higher quality at lower bit rates (and thus smaller file sizes) than MP2. However, the mechanism of compression is different between the two and for this reason, you can argue that higher bit rates, MP2 is actually better than MP3. MP3 is superior at lower bit rates. A good article on MP2 audio is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-1_Audio_Layer_II
An MP3 article on Wikipedia is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3

[thecoalman]

I'm assuming you mean in a seperate folder on a authored DVD, you can create a disc with seperate folder for data. Can't tell you how cause I never did it. :P Since it's an authored disc the player is going to recognize it as such, whether the data files will accessible from a DVd player is going to depend on the player, I'm doubtful you'll find such a player.


You can however create a playable list through menus, just add the audio tracks as a background track on their own individual menu. There was a program for doing this someone had posted before that will aoutomate this task, I think it even generated the Titles or any orther information from the audio files meta tags but I can't remeber the name of it. you can probably find it if you search through the tools. You can fit uber amounts of audio on DVD like this, I think up to 999 seperate tracks.

Ulead also lists Movie Factory as being able to create a DVD audio disc, might be worth it to download the trial if you want to go that route. Sounds as if works simialr to what I posted above.

You can also create one as a video as long as you have a decent editor, just create a video with a black background. Set the resolution and bitrate as low as possible. In the end though you would still need to create a menu....

[nic2k4]

Like the Coalman says, DVD players can play all sorts of formats, but their main function is to play DVDs. When you want to play MP3s, the player will start a different mode (in some players it's called Smart Navi) to deal with non-DVD video media.

In other words, you insert the DVD, the player checks for IFOs, finds IFO, starts movie playback. IFO is corrupted, player spits out the disc. No IFO found, player starts Smart Navi and lists recognised media files. Some cheap players don't even do this, they only check the type of disc and if it's a CD, is it an audio CD. Those are the players that only play MP3 and JPG from a CD.

All this to say there is a work around your problem. It requires your player be able to recognise MPG files, then you can mix video, JPG, MP3 and WMA on one disc. If you want to keep everything separate, use subfolders. Be aware most players have limitations on filename lenght which will cause un-expected results in the playback sequence i.e. track names with artist-CDtitle-title are too long, the player only sees up to CDtitle and the songs play in which ever order. So, use track#-title and you'll be ok.

If your video is from a DVD movie you can copy the VOBs and rename them to MPG and they should play, but there is a file size limit (that's why VOBs don't exceed 1GB) and there will be a short pause between each file.

[029]

the coalman so much for your help! The idea of creating several submenus with different background audiofiles is brilliant. I think I will do that.

nic2k4 and jman98 thanks for the info on dvd and audio, it all makes a lot more sense now.



I have never seen a supportforum where users take so much time to help out the noobs as you do.