DVD Lab - AC3

[duranh]

I may have asked this question before, but I can't remember. Brain's fried from learning all this!
Will DVD Lab convert audio to AC-3? I know DVDiT will, but I started a job with DVDiT last night at 5:00pm and it;s 10:00am now and the damn thing is still going!! So anyway, can DVD Lab do the same thing?

[bugster]

No, DVD-Lab does not have a built in AC3 encoder, you must provide previously prepared audio and video.

[duranh]

Would I do that with TMP? Just pull in my avi file and de-mux the video to an m2v and the audio to ac3, then mux them together and save as an mpeg?

[Metaluna]

Would I do that with TMP? Just pull in my avi file and de-mux the video to an m2v and the audio to ac3, then mux them together and save as an mpeg?

TMPGEnc will encode and demux an AVI to m2v and wav files if you select the Elementary Stream output option (I think you can also have it give you separate m2v and mp2 files as well). It definitely does not do AC-3 however. You have to use a separate AC-3 encoder to encode the WAV file. The only free one I know of is BeSweet/AC3Machine. After that, DVD-Lab will accept the m2v and ac3 files and mux them together itself.

[bugster]

Would I do that with TMP? Just pull in my avi file and de-mux the video to an m2v and the audio to ac3, then mux them together and save as an mpeg?

Pretty much. Extract the Ac3 with virtualdub, using direct stream copy under audio, the save as wav. Change the filename to file.ac3. vdub adds a wav file header. This can be corrected using ac3fix.exe (a command line tool).

Encode video only with Tmpgenc, then simply import the video (.m2v) and audio (.ac3) into DVD lab to author.

[MICOL]

Sorry for butting in, but I am trying to do this with DVD Lab at the moment.

I have a 5.1DD ac3 file which DVD Lab says is OK & a m2v video file which is also OK. When I click on "Compile DVD..." i get an error message saying "Cannot packetsize audio stream"

What does this mean? I did ignore this message but when I tested the completed vob file with Power DVD, I got no sound!!!

[bugster]

Sorry for butting in, but I am trying to do this with DVD Lab at the moment.

I have a 5.1DD ac3 file which DVD Lab says is OK & a m2v video file which is also OK. When I click on "Compile DVD..." i get an error message saying "Cannot packetsize audio stream"

What does this mean? I did ignore this message but when I tested the completed vob file with Power DVD, I got no sound!!!

I would guess that the Ac3 file has errors of some sort. Try running it through ac3fix before importing into DVD-Lab.

[MICOL]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I have tried to use ac3fix, but have never managed to get it to work. When I open a command prompt, the follwing is displayed:

C:\Documents and Settings\Michael>_

I cannot delete this line & when I try to enter the required information I always get some sort of error message??

Any ideas ??

[Mickey666]

Hello !
You have probably used smartripper.
Try to use DVD encrypter instead and it will work.

[MICOL]

Hi there,

Are you replying to my question ? If so, I haven't used Smartripper. I am trying to convert a downloaded .avi file with ac3 5.1DD to DVD-R.

[bugster]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I have tried to use ac3fix, but have never managed to get it to work. When I open a command prompt, the follwing is displayed:

C:\Documents and Settings\Michael>_

I cannot delete this line & when I try to enter the required information I always get some sort of error message??

Any ideas ??

You can't delete that line because it is the command prompt!

Obviously you are not familiar with the command line so I will try an be as specific as I can.

NOTE <CR> means press the return key.

First make sure that ac3fix.exe and your file.ac3 are in the same directory. Then type:


C: <CR> (in this case C: represents the drive leter where your files are stored, it may be different on your system if you have more than one drive or partitions).

Then type:

cd \MyDirectory\MySubdirectory <CR>
This sets the current directory to where your files are stored, MySubdirectory may not be required, or further subirectories may be needed depending on your storeage location)

now type ac3fix.exe file.ac3 newfile.ac3 <CR>

file.ac3 is the name of the file containing the original ac3 audio, the one you already have. newfile.ac3 is the name of the file where the output data will be stored. These MUST be different.

Now use newfile.ac3 as the audio track in DVD-Lab

[MICOL]

Great !!

Thanks very much for that ! I will try it out & hopefully this will solve all my problems!!! (Fingers crossed!)

[duranh]

Hey bugster. That was also very helpful to me. Thanks. When I pull the audio out of vdub and rename it to ac3, then go through the ac3fix deal, will that allow me to just completely pass up using besweet? I don't see any point of using besweet or ac3machine if I make my ac3 the way you explained...

[bugster]

Hey bugster. That was also very helpful to me. Thanks. When I pull the audio out of vdub and rename it to ac3, then go through the ac3fix deal, will that allow me to just completely pass up using besweet? I don't see any point of using besweet or ac3machine if I make my ac3 the way you explained...

assuming you want to keep the Ac3 as Ac3, then yes, thats what you do. Only use BeSweet (or Headac3he) to convert to another format such as wav or mp2.

[MICOL]

Sorry for sounding a bit thick, but when I type C: (enter) I get the same line appear:

C:\Doccuments and Settings\Michael>_

Is this right ??

Also... erm... What is a directory exactly? Do you mean locate the folder & path where ac3fix.exe & my ac3 file is?

[version20]

What I would like to know about dvd-lab and .ac3 is are we ever going to be able to actually monitor the sound within the application?

As far as I know, dvd-lab so far will only let you monitor video with .mpa audio, which renders this otherwise cool application fairly useless for me.

I need to be able to hear the audio to add my chapters and .mpa is unacceptable. I could understand if it has something to do with licensing dolby technology or something, but then what is the excuse that we cant even monitor a .wav file!?

My process takes me from .avi to m2v/wav at which point I encode wav to ac3, trying to add mpa into this whole thing would be an unecessary extra step and waste of time.

Very frustrating!

-v20

[version20]

Sorry for sounding a bit thick, but when I type C: (enter) I get the same line appear:

C:\Doccuments and Settings\Michael>_

Is this right ??

Also... erm... What is a directory exactly? Do you mean locate the folder & path where ac3fix.exe & my ac3 file is?

1. When you are at this line:

C:\Doccuments and Settings\Michael>_

type " cd\ " (without the quotes)

This should get you to just this line:

c:\


2. Directories are the exact same thing as folders, just different terminology. If the application was in a folder on your hard drive under Program Files>AC3 you would type:

c:\cd program files\ac3\

Your prompt should now appear as:

c:\program files\ac3\

to launch the application just type its executable name (ac3.exe or whatever)... so :

c:\program files\ac3\ac3.exe


-v20

[gNOMEintheRedHat]

WARNING
WARNING
WARNING

MICOL,
[g]
If you'r not carefull you will be sucked into the COMMAND LINE BLACK HOLE

Once you enter you will be on a long path of enlitenment tha will leave you with many sleepless nights tweaking your system to be the mnost efeciant, and most powerfull computer possable!
[/g]

I've been yeaching basic computer classes for a while, and people who learn to use the command line are often quicker to learn the tricks of each program....

Winders er fer Gimps!

[Skynet107]

Thanx for all the helpful tips everyone I have put them to good use.
I am also trying to do the following:
I have an Xvid with AC3 audio that I want to author to DVD. I have extracted the audio using vdub (nandub actually) which works great. Using direct stream copy I saved the video with no sound and the AC3 audio track seperately. I used AC3 tool to convert it to wave, and ac3 fix to remove the wave header that vdub likes to tack on. I then normalized the wave file and saved to back out. (AC3 to wave conversion leaves the file at a very low volume).
I then encoded the video to Mpeg2 (DVD correct format) using TMPGEnc. I load the video file and the wave file seperately and encode it, no problems the sound is nice and it looks great.

I encoded the mpeg2 file the way I did because I want to have 2 audio streams, one mp2 and the other AC3.
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/169251.php
Using the above guide I muxed in the AC3 sound, which worked fine. The problem I have is when I author the DVD in DVD-Lab the mp2 sound is fine but the AC3 soundtrack is not recognized and will not play. I tested it in WinDVD and PowerDVD. I am wondering if DVD-Lab is buggy and does not accept and author AC3 tracks properly. Also is there a way to produce an audio menu that allows you to select the different soundtracks on the DVD. I have many commercially produced DVD's that allow you to do this. Thanx for any input.

[Skynet107]

Okay just wanted to update: I tried the process again and it worked!
I still have some other issues I'll post back when I work them out. Thanx again to all that replied to this thread, invaluable advise.

[MICOL]

Thanks everybody for your help. Special thanks to Bugster & version20 for helping me FINALLY understand & work Ac3fix !!

gNOMEintheRedHat;
I am intruigued by your warning but I am not sure if I want to follow that path. It may lead to the dark side & if I get hooked It may well end up in divorce & I'll probably get sacked from work! I'm spending every waking minute with this ac3 DVD-R obsession! (Blimey... I thinks I might have a problem?).

[turk690]

[/quote] The problem I have is when I author the DVD in DVD-Lab the mp2 sound is fine but the AC3 soundtrack is not recognized and will not play. I tested it in WinDVD and PowerDVD. I am wondering if DVD-Lab is buggy and does not accept and author AC3 tracks properly. Also is there a way to produce an audio menu that allows you to select the different soundtracks on the DVD. I have many commercially produced DVD's that allow you to do this.

In its current form DVD-lab accepts only ONE audio stream. So no multiple audio track menu selections are possible. Oscar says he'll work or is working on it if "demand is high enough": more details in the MediaChance site. The thing is one of the reasons DVD-lab is priced the way it is is because there is no multiple audio stream capability--conversely ReelDVD, Impression, Encore, et al are expensive is they have. If this feature were to be added to DVD-lab I wouldn't be surprised if Oscar were to charge more than twice as much as now.[/quote]

[AngusMacGyver]

In its current form DVD-lab accepts only ONE audio stream. So no multiple audio track menu selections are possible. Oscar says he'll work or is working on it if "demand is high enough": more details in the MediaChance site. The thing is one of the reasons DVD-lab is priced the way it is is because there is no multiple audio stream capability--conversely ReelDVD, Impression, Encore, et al are expensive is they have. If this feature were to be added to DVD-lab I wouldn't be surprised if Oscar were to charge more than twice as much as now.

I hope they put subtitle support too.

[housepig]

What I would like to know about dvd-lab and .ac3 is are we ever going to be able to actually monitor the sound within the application?

As far as I know, dvd-lab so far will only let you monitor video with .mpa audio, which renders this otherwise cool application fairly useless for me.

Actually, DVD Lab (at least v1.1) won't let you monitor audio at all, of any type.

Don't know if there's going to be a more robust preview option anytime soon.. I can't remember the reasoning behind it, but I know if you check the DVD Lab forums at MMBForums.com, the question is asked and answered pretty frequently.

[mkelley]

The reasoning behind it is that:

a) it's fairly difficult if not impossible to do right before compile -- which is why this feature even in such programs as Ulead's tend to go out of sync quickly while playing back. Oscar didn't want to have to deal with people complaining about loss of sync

b) since nearly everyone who has a DVD burner has a software player, they can use that after compile to check the audio when it really can be synced properly.

Obviously the biggest issue with no audio playback is setting chapter points via audio -- in that case the best thing to do is to get them noted beforehand in your video editing application (before the stuff is turned into MPEG with audio sync issues) and then use either the import chapter points capabilities in DVDLab or manually set them according to the timecode settings.

Obviously not the ideal situation, but workable for most people and most applications. I'm not a big one in worrying about chapter points but I don't produce music DVDs and can definitely see where this might be a problem otherwise. Will be interesting to see just how Adobe handles this in Encore (only weeks away now :>) -- although my hunch right now is it will involve some close communication between Encore and Premiere (much as I note above).

[duranh]

Update:

I created my menus and added my m2v file and ac3 file. By the way, I think DVD Lab is absolutely wonderful for creating very nice dvd's. The only problem I had with compiling this dvd with DVD Lab was the audio and video were slightly out os synch at the beginning of the movie, which became WAY off by the end of the movie.

So that being said, if I mux the ac3 and m2v file together with TMP, which I'm doing right now, will I still have my Dolby Digital sound or will the muxing process convert it back to a wav?

[mkelley]

Muxing doesn't change the type of audio, it only embeds it.

[version20]

Pure insanity.

Not being able to monitor audio whilst setting chapters etc renders this otherwise incredible (for the price) program completely worthless to me.

I can see not being able to monitor strange audio formats, but come on, not even a freaking .wav file?

AAARGH!

-v20

[housepig]

I dunno, I don't find it that difficult to sit down with a pen and a piece of paper and watch the file in PowerDVD, and note down where to put the chapters in between songs....

seems like 6 of one, half dozen of another - if you are willing to crawl through the file in the preview window of DVD Lab, why not crawl through it in a media player? You could have Notepad open in another window and enter your time codes, generate a text chapter list which would then take about 20 seconds to import into DVD Lab...

[lacywest]

Well don't know if this information is helpful or not

But Sonic Foundry Vegas Video 4 can convert wav to ac3 audio.

and there is a Sonic Foundry DVD Architect 1.0 program for making DVDs

I've messed with it a couple of times.

Section below Copied from Help section ...

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DVD Architect supports a wide variety of file formats. However, some formats will require transcoding to another format or recompression during the DVD preparation process, increasing the amount of time needed to complete this operation and possibly degrading quality.

To avoid unnecessary transcoding or recompression, save your media files in the following formats prior adding them to your DVD Architect project.

Sonic Foundry’s AC-3 and MainConcept MPEG-2 encoders provide templates that will produce files that do not require recompression (unless the file size is too large to fit on a DVD).

MPEG elementary streams are not supported. Even if you plan to replace the audio with PCM or AC-3, you will need to import muxed MPEG files.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


AC-3 audio (.ac3)
Number of channels: stereo or 5.1 surround

Bit rate: 64 kbps to 448 kbps inclusive

PCM audio (.wav)
Sample size: 16, 20, or 24 bit

Sample rate: 48 or 96 kHz

Number of channels: stereo

Compression: uncompressed

NTSC MPEG video (.m2p, .mp2, .mpg, .mpeg)
If you're using the MainConcept MPEG-2 encoder in Vegas 4.0, use the DVD Architect NTSC video stream or or DVD Architect 24p NTSC video stream template to render your video stream (you'll need to render your audio stream separately according to the parameters listed in the AC-3 audio or PCM audio headings).

For more information about working with 24p video in Vegas, click here.

Frame resolution: 720x480

Aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:9

Frame rate: 29.97 fps or 23.976 fps + 2-3 pulldown

Maximum GOP (group of pictures): 36

Maximum bit rate: 9.8 Mbps

No low delay

PAL MPEG video (.m2p, .mp2, .mpg, .mpeg)
If you're using the MainConcept MPEG-2 encoder in Vegas 4.0, use the DVD Architect PAL video stream template to render your video stream (you'll need to render your audio stream separately according to the parameters listed in the AC-3 audio or PCM audio headings).

Frame resolution: 720x576

Aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:9

Frame rate: 25 fps

Maximum GOP (group of pictures): 30

Maximum bit rate: 9.8 Mbps

No low delay
---------------------------------------------------------------

Sincerely ... Lacywest