dolby digital audio from VHS

[jgandara]

If I capture some VHS video, with stereo sound, what do I need to do to make it dolby digital?

Also, when authoring a video with DVd workshop, I have 2 options: MPEG audio or PMC (I think), what is the standard and what's the difference?

Thanks

[louthewiz]

First of all you can not get dolby digital 5.1 from a video tape since the soundtrack is 2 channel linear stereo and it is mixed in analog .The closest your going to get is dolby 2.0 and thats it , and finally its PCM which is indeed stereo sountrack and MPEG is a different kind of animal...

[j1d10t]

You could also look into AC3 audio (although I'm not sure if DVD Workshop will accept AC3 audio), if you want to save room on the DVD, as PCM is uncompressed audio - both AC3 and PCM are DVD standards for NTSC. MPEG audio is not standard for NTSC, only PAL.

For more info check the "What is" section on the left.
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[mujahid7ia]

The VHS tapes that say Dolby Surround have Dolby compatible stereo, which means the receiver will emulate more channels and send those to the speakers, right? So capturing audio from VHS tape can still be useful as AC3, right?

[Perro Grande]

Sounds like your VHS tapes are recorded with Dolby Pro Logic, not Dolby Digital (which isn't supported on VHS).

You can record these as a PCM stereo file, convert that to 2ch AC3 for your DVD. If, on playback, you set your receiver's 'listen mode' (or equivalent) to Dolby Pro Logic, you should still be able to get this version of "quasi surround sound."

It certainly isn't going to be 6 discrete channels, though.

[jgandara]

So the only difference between AC3 2 chanels and LPCM is that one is compressed and the other isn't rigt?, they would sound the same, right?

[j1d10t]

Depending on the bit rate - if you use a really low bit rate for the AC3 then it would sound like crap compared to the PCM. But something like 224k for AC3 (2 channel) is fine. And actually anything lower than 192k would be below the DVD standard.

[Ste]

I was just watching my THX remastered tape of "The Empire Strikes Back" through my Dolby Pro Logic II reciever and I was getting some pretty cool effects. It wasn't Dolby Digital, but it sounded damn good for surround sound off of a tape.