DVD Authoring to Support Analog and Digital Audio

[HostDad]

I have been authoring DVD for a short while and fairly successful but my DVD's will not play in digital audio mode. Is there a way to have it support for both analog and digital audio? All my DVD's I burn with combined video/audio MPEG-2 format.

I use Pinnacle Studio 8 to capture from a Sony DV8, Vegas to edit, TMPGenc to render to MPEG and Ulead author and burn. Any suggestions?

I have spent several days looking on the forum for the answer but have not been able to find the answer. This is my first post. Sorry if it is in the wrong place. Thanks in advance.

[lgh529]

As soon as you captured from your sony, the audio became digital. There is no way to have analog audio on DVD, or anywhere on your computer for that matter. Your computer is a digital device and I can't think of any way that anolog audio or video could exist on your hard drive.

You need to identify where you lost the audio. For example, if your editing in Vegas, did you have it then?

I always author with elementary streams, so after encoding the video to m2v and the audio to ac3, I use TMPGEnc to multiplex the two into an mpg file and play it in media player for verification. Try that and see if your audio is still there after encoding. If so, then look at the authoring software.

[HostDad]

lgh529,

I understand the digital concept. The problem I have is DVD's that I create will not play audio on DVD players that use their digital audio output (Toshiba for example into surround sound). The video plays fine but the audio is not there. If the same DVD is played through the standard audio output (JVC for example), it plays fine.

[JimJohnD]

It sounds like a DVD player setting. You may need to see what the audio section is set up for. Make sure the player supports MPEG audio. MPEG audio is standard for Europe but PCM or Digital Dolby (AC3) is standard in the USA. Most players support MPEG which is why I think it may be a setting. Even Digital Dolby can be decoded by the player and sent out the RCA audio out lines. I know with the setup I have when I record a TV show with prologic surround in mpeg I have to set my audio system for Prologic, if I encode the audio to AC3 stereo marked as prologic the digital section will pick right up on it.

You will want to look around for a Dolby encoder. They can be stereo to full multi-channel, with prices to match. Make sure your authoring software accepts the encoded files

Check your DVD player's setup, if I remember right I had to switch from PCM to RAW or RAW to PCM to get things to play right on mine.

Good Luck

[HostDad]

JimJohnD,

I guess I am just puzzled as to how "off the shelf" DVDs will play in most players without reconfiguring the DVD player, whereas my DVDs will not. I assumed there was a particular type of audio file that worked with both or an extra audio file in the audio directory. I guess not. Thanks for the input.

[JimJohnD]

Almost all of the DVDs you would buy in the store have Digital Dolby (AC3) for their soundtracks (ist's part of the DVD spec). It wasn't untill I started making my own that I had to make sure the player could handle them. It has been quite a learning curve, but it's been fun too. All I can say is have fun with what you are doing and be open to learning.

You could check out https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=92#comments

It can make AC3 audio files for you if your DVD authoring package can accept them.

[HostDad]

JimJohnD,

Thanks. I looked at the info. This may be what I have been looking for. I will give it a shot and get back with you when I have the results. I have been using this website for months and cannot believe I did not see this.

Again, thanks.

[HostDad]

lgh529,

I will give your tip with TMPGEnc a try and see if that works. That could very well be the problem. Thanks.

[Savant]

I guess I am just puzzled as to how "off the shelf" DVDs will play in most players without reconfiguring the DVD player, whereas my DVDs will not.

Actually it depends on the DVD. I picked up a DVD (Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live) and it had *THREE* audio tracks on it. Dolby 2.0, Dolby 5.1 and DTS. The DVD had a audio selection menu for people to choose since the DVD player doesn't know what speakers a person has hooked up. You would have to configure your DVD player to output a certain kind of audio, but you should only have to do it once.

As noted, you likely want to have your audio encoded as Dolby AC3. Only a limited number of audio encoders do this, but the link the last posted posted will. However, whether your authoring software supports it is another matter.

Regards,

Savant

[HostDad]

Savant,

Thanks. I will do some further research into making AC3 since this seems to be the direction in which I need to go. I just need to figure out how to put it all together. If I need other software, then I guess I will have to get it. I enjoy doing this and I usually will do what it takes to make it work. I am a programmer by trade and have been for 26+ years. Logic usually dictates what I do and what I see. It did not make sense to me that most "off the shelf" DVDs would play in most DVD players. There had to be some in common that I was missing. Sometimes logic gets me in trouble - just as my family!

Again thanks.