Can't get audio when authoring with ac3

[jcat]

I captured VHS output (using ADVC-100 and Scenalyzer) in DV type 2 and then used Virtual Dub to strip the sound into a WAV file and BeSweet to convert the WAV file into AC3. Ended up with an AC3 file that works just fine when I play it in WinAmp (with winampac3). Meanwhile, converted the video stream to m2v with TMPGenc. So now I have an ac3 file and a m2v file.

Then I tried to author in TMPGenc DVD Author, using the m2v file as the video input and the ac3 file as the audio input. Authored DVD files had no audio when played in PowerDVD. I tried muxing the ac3 and m2v files in TMPGenc and authoring the resulting mpg file in DVD Author - still no audio in PowerDVD.

I did succeed in getting audio when I used mp2 instead of ac3 (converting in TMPGenc using TooLame). But with ac3 I could not get any sound whatsoever.

Anyone have any thoughts about what might be the problem?

[bugster]

Can you play commercail DVD's with Ac3 sound in PowerDvd (be sure to go into the DVD's setup menu and select the AC3 soundtrack). If you can't it would look like a confguration problem with PowerDvd. If you can then obviously something is going wrong with the authoring process. When you mux the m2v and Ac3 with TmpGenc, does the mpeg play with audio in PowerDvd.

[jcat]

When you mux the m2v and Ac3 with TmpGenc, does the mpeg play with audio in PowerDvd.

No. This is why I don't think it's a PowerDVD/ac3 problem. I mux the m2v and ac3 in TMPGenc - no sound in either Movie Factory or TMPGenc DVD Author. I input the m2v and ac3 directly to DVD Author - no sound in resulting DVD.

When I encode the wav to mp2 using TooLame in TMPGenc - sound.

I'm at a loss.

[Poppa_Meth]

Besweet does NOT make compliant AC3 files. try playing just the ac3 file in Power DVD and see if it works. you can try using AC3 Fix on the AC3 file to see if it will fix the problem and make it work.

[bugster]

Besweet does NOT make compliant AC3 files.

AFAIK, thats true, but I have never heard of anyone having a problem like this with PowerDVD or any PC playback for that matter. I have used Besweet Ac3 files on may occasions and they always play back on any PC and all DVD players I have tried, though I know some brands will not play BeSweet produced AC3 (Panasonics is it?).

jcat, I asked

When you mux the m2v and Ac3 with TmpGenc, does the mpeg play with audio in PowerDvd.

and you answered

No. This is why I don't think it's a PowerDVD/ac3 problem. I mux the m2v and ac3 in TMPGenc - no sound in either Movie Factory or TMPGenc DVD Author. I input the m2v and ac3 directly to DVD Author - no sound in resulting DVD.

But what I meant was, will the .mpg file play, with sound, in Powerdvd (or any software player for that matter. Not does it play after authoring. I was trying to eliminate the authoring software/process from the equation.

I you misunderstood my question/intention, or I misunderstood your answer.

[vcddude]

BeSweet or ffmpge-encoded AC3 audio will not play on any of my Pioneer DVD players, although there is apparently some trick that fixes this.I don't know what it is, but it's out there. I gave up and bought the AC3 encoder in Vegas Video -- that works perfectly.

vcddude

[Poppa_Meth]

I was just offering a recommendation that might help. can't hurt to try it. I've had plenty of issues with PowerDVD myself. it won't play a lot of DVDs that Media Player will play just fine, which is odd considering they use the same codec.