Authoring with AC3 sound

[Umen Pich]

Recently I made some very nice slideshows, to put on a DVD.
I prepared the sound separately, saved it to wavs, then converted all the wavs to AC3 files by BeSweet. (96kbps, 2 channels)
Then I used Tmpgenc DVD author and it didn't complain about the sound or anything.
Finally I burned a DVD and what was my surprise -- it doesnt play.
My player is Philips 623, it only shows some zeros on the display (00:00:00 <-- like this) and the TV screen is black.

The same DVD plays without problem on the computer (by Power DVD)

What might be the error ?
(this is the first time I authored a DVD with AC3 sound)

Thank you !


p.s.

I can solve the particular problem by converting my wavs to mp2 (lower quality than AC3) but the question still remains -- what's wrong here with the AC3 sound.
I still didn't try this DVD on another standalone.

[Baldrick]

You could try increase the bitrate in the ac3. And be sure to use latest besweet or ffmpeggui, some ac3 bug fixed(but still not 100% ac3 compliant though) ... the best is to get the tmpgenc ac3 plugin for tmpgenc dvd author.

[spectroelectro]

BeSweet is known to produce AC3 that is not quite 100% compatible with the AC3 specs. You can prove this for yourself by converting a WAV file to AC3 using BeSweet, then turning on the verbose mode and turning the AC3 file back into anything else. The verbose mode will spit out error messages whenever it encounters an illegal ac3 value, and you'll get a lot of 'em.

The good news is that most DVD players ignore these minor incompatibilities. However, certain models of Panasonic DVD player are known not to play BeSweet AC3 files. Looks like you've just identified another model of DVD player that has problems with BeSweet's ac3 output.

[Umen Pich]

You could try increase the bitrate in the ac3. And be sure to use latest besweet or ffmpeggui, some ac3 bug fixed(but still not 100% ac3 compliant though) ... the best is to get the tmpgenc ac3 plugin for tmpgenc dvd author.

Thank you baldrick and spectroelectro,
Unfortunatelly I cannot increase the bitrate. With this bitrate all the files together are about 4 703 000 000 bytes which is as you know just 4 megs below the limit.
I'll try to find another ac3 encoder.

[Cunhambebe]

And be sure to use latest besweet or ffmpeggui, some ac3 bug fixed(but still not 100% ac3 compliant though) ...

I've stated so many times around here that BeSweet is such an amazing application, it's terrific when you try going from VOB to WAV, etc, but its AC-3 files still have this problem - some incompatibility. Here's what I suggest you do: buy Sony Vegas. It's got a Dolby Certified AC-3 encoder and if you're trying to make some Dolby Panning, Vegas is perfect (don't foget Vegas started as an Audio Editor and that's why is superior to other apllications).

[guns1inger]

If you are happy with 2 channel AC3 then soundforge and the AC3 plugin will also work. In this case you have not done your sums correctly, hence the lask of space. I would suggest keeping AC3 at or above 192 in all cases to ensure playback. Do this, then run the final results through DVD Shrink (with deep analysis and AEC) to make it fit, and next time budget better for your audio.

[Umen Pich]

You can prove this for yourself by converting a WAV file to AC3 using BeSweet, then turning on the verbose mode and turning the AC3 file back into anything else. The verbose mode will spit out error messages whenever it encounters an illegal ac3 value, and you'll get a lot of 'em.

Indeed ! It found a bunch of errors in its own encoding. Amazing !