Which authoring software will use AC3? Ulead won't. :-(

[Paul Wilson]

I'm trying to make my own compilation of a few music DVD's. They all have AC3 audio, and Ulead won't accept it. I have to convert the audio to wavs. No big deal, I guess, but is there any available software that will directly accept the AC3 sound on the music clips?

[Bob W]

neoDVD Plus.
http://www.mediostream.com/neodvd/index.html

[yf2001usa]

DVD-lab, TMPGEnc Author, maestro

[dcsos]

DVD ARCHITECT and the new DVD ENCORE from ADOBE

[Craig Tucker]

You dont say which ulead product you are using. Ulead DVD Workshop (without the AC3 plug-in) will accept AC3 audio providing it is muxed with the video.

[Anthony2k3]

neoDVD Plus.
http://www.mediostream.com/neodvd/index.html

was looking for the trial version to try it before i buy it, but can't find the download section.

[bigb_y2g]

According to another post Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2's IMPORT DVD button will import it.

If you don't *edit* the AC-3 audio, you can make Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 pass it through to the disc that you record by checking the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT FILES check box.

If you try to *edit* the AC-3 audio, however, Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 (the non "LE" version) will re-encode it to either LPCM or MPEG audio.

[Specialist]

According to another post Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2's IMPORT DVD button will import it.

If you don't *edit* the AC-3 audio, you can make Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 pass it through to the disc that you record by checking the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT FILES check box.

If you try to *edit* the AC-3 audio, however, Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 (the non "LE" version) will re-encode it to either LPCM or MPEG audio.

Correct.

Even Ulead's non-AC-3 video editing and DVD authoring applications will not re-encode AC-3 MPEG source files if the user understands the limitations.

Consider...

1. DVD MovieFactory 2

http://www.ulead.com/dmf/runme.htm

...and...

2. Ulead Videostudio 7

http://www.ulead.com/vs/runme.htm

While these two Ulead applications do not have the native ability to CONVERT NON AC-3 audio MPEG sources into MPEGs with AC-3 audio...

...they do *NOT* re-encode unedited, AC-3 SOURCE MPEGs when burning to disc IF ONE FOLLOWS THE CORRECT STEPS.

In my testing, I have routinely succeeded in burning AC-3 MPEGs to DVD-RW using Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 and Ulead VideoStudio 7's disc authoring module.

In Ulead VideoStudio's disc authoring module...

1. I opened ULEAD VideoStudio 7.0;

2. I clicked SHARE > CREATE DISC;

3. I clicked the button in the far lower left hand corner of the disc authoring module;

4. I clicked DISC TEMPLATE MANAGER;

These were the settings I chose:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Field Order A
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: 8000 kbps
LPCM Audio, 48 KHz, Stereo

5. I then clicked CLOSE;

6. I then clicked the SECOND button in the lower left hand corner of the disc authoring module;

7. I checked to make certain the PROJECT SETTINGS were as follows:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Field Order A
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: 8000 kbps
LPCM Audio, 48 KHz, Stereo

8. I then UNCHECKED and then RECHECKED the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT MPEG FILES box;

9. I then clicked the ADD VIDEO button and imported an MPEG-2 file with AC-3 audio;

10. I right mouse clicked on the file and then clicked MEDIA CLIP PROPERTIES to observe the following properties of this file:

FILE FORMAT: NTSC DVD
FILE SIZE: 27,542 KB
DURATION: 26.94 seconds
VIDEO TYPE: MPEG-2 Video, Field A
TOTAL FRAMES: 806 Frames
ATTRIBUTES: 24 Bits, 720 x 480
FRAME RATE: 29.97
DATA RATE: 8000KBPS
AUDIO TYPE: DOLBY DIGITAL AUDIO
TOTAL SAMPLES: 1,290,891 Samples
ATTRIBUTES: 48,000hz
BIT RATE: 256kbps

11. I clicked the NEXT button and configured the menu;

12. I clicked the NEXT button and I watched the preview; the sound was not audible (normal with AC-3);

13. I clicked the NEXT button and checked the RECORD TO DISC box;

14. I then clicked the OUTPUT icon and the burning process initiated and completed;

15. To test that the AC-3 audio had been passed through to the disc successfully - IN SPITE OF THE LACK OF OFFICIAL AC-3 SUPPORT - I then selected Ulead VideoStudio 7's DVD-VR capture plug-in and browsed to the Video_TS folder on the burned disc;

16. The burned MPEG file then appeared and it VERIFIED that the file's audio was AC-3 DOLBY DIGITAL.

Those who claim they are unable to burn AC-3 audio MPEGs successfully using VideoStudio and DVD MovieFactory fail because either...

a. they did not have their project settings set correctly;

b. they did not check the DO NOT CONVERT COMPLIANT MPEG FILES box;

c. they attempted to author the file from the VIDEOSTUDIO TIMELINE (a method that will *not* pass the AC-3 audio through successfully);

d. they first EDITED the MPEG.

Any of the above four conditions will result in failure to pass the AC-3 audio through successfully.

If one wishes to *edit* MPEGs with AC-3 audio, then it would be necessary to purchase an application that officially supports AC-3 encoding - such as Ulead MediaStudio Pro 7:

http://www.ulead.com/msp/runme.htm

or Ulead DVD Workshop AC-3:

http://www.ulead.com/dws/ac3.htm

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Bob W]

neoDVD Plus.
http://www.mediostream.com/neodvd/index.html

was looking for the trial version to try it before i buy it, but can't find the download section.

They don't have a trial version , however they do offer a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee. This is not your "high end" software but it gets the job done fast and has zero bugs.

[i am x]

One post is enough.
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=174091&highlight=

And please don't hijack topics.

/Baldrick

[Yirkin]

Nerovision Express 2 allows you to encode using Dolby AC-3 but I don't know if it will accept files that are already made without transcoding them itself.

Howard

[HomerMan]

Vs7 will render AC3. From the review section of VS7 https://www.videohelp.com/tools.php?tool=79

This came packaged with Ulead Movie Factory 2 with my Pioneer A06 DVD burner. I've historically hated Ulead's products dating back to Video Studio 3 and 4, but i have found one very worthwhile use for this program. (In the bundle, at least) it can encode 100% compliant AC-3 (Dolby Digital) 2.0 audio. It didn't do this originally, but entering the lines:
PlayAC3=1
DecodeAC3=1
UleadAC3Encode=1
ADVANCE=1
into, well, basically any section of the *.ini files that come with the program, especially the [MPEGVIO] and [VIODriver] sections of UVS.ini and DVDMF.ini . this will enable advanced settings in the SE version under the MPEG-2 template options, making this an almost usable program.

[thxkid]

full versions of TMPGE DVD Author with Ac-3 plugin works great so does full verison of MovieFactory 3, both will accept AC-3 2.0 or 5.1 but both will only record in AC-3 2.0, no 5.1... yet. DVD author is the better of the 2 for editing while MF3 has more features for authoring, both programs cost about the same $100. Their trial version has the AC-3 stripped out of them. Dolby Digital is the one collecting the fee for the use of their AC-3.

[FulciLives]

full versions of TMPGE DVD Author with Ac-3 plugin works great so does full verison of MovieFactory 3, both will accept AC-3 2.0 or 5.1 but both will only record in AC-3 2.0, no 5.1... yet. DVD author is the better of the 2 for editing while MF3 has more features for authoring, both programs cost about the same $100. Their trial version has the AC-3 stripped out of them. Dolby Digital is the one collecting the fee for the use of their AC-3.

I second the use of TMPGEnc DVD Author as a simple easy-to-use editable DVD authoring solution.

It will accept AC-3 audio but if you want to use it to encode WAV or MP2 to AC-3 then you need the AC-3 plug-in so that would be why encoding is not supported with the demo version.

But even the demo version (or the full version without the AC-3 plug-in) will still accept AC-3 audio that you have created elsewhere for import.

Plus you can do some basic editing with it which seems to work rather well and that is a trick ... editing MPEG-2 with AC-3 and NOT doing any re-encoding ala TMPGEnc DVD Author.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman