Setting up TMPGEnc Sound plug-in AC-3 in DVDLab-Pro

[suppafreak]

I would like to start using AC3 files for DVD projects do I can use higher video bit rates. I tried using the ffmpeggui to convert the WAV to AC3. Once I built the project the audio was out of sync. The video and audio started in sync and slow drifted as time when on.

Then I read some forums that ffmpeggui may produce unsupported AC3 files and some DVD players may not play the sound. Also I have read that the reason it is out of sync is because the AC3 file is encoded in variable rate.

Then I stumbled on TMPGEnc Sound plug-in AC-3 and found out that it can be set up in DVDLab Pro. I think there are 3 field in the Audio Transcode dialog for DVDLab Pro:

Presets
External EXE
Command Line

Can someone let me know how to set-it up in DVDLab Pro and if you used did you get the audio and video to be in sync.

In the mean time I am using Adobe Encore 1.5 to encode video files. Encore automatically calculates the optimal bit rate encoding and for
1h 34m project it sets it to 6.4 kbits/sec, however, the Encore is limited in the menu creation. In DVDLab Pro I was able to only achieve 4.1 kbits/sec encoding rate because I can only use the WAV audio file which set the 1. 5 kbits/sec.

[non-linear]

I've used ffmpeggui for AC3 for 2 years now and have never encountered a problem. As for variable rate AC3, if you have an AC3 file with variable bitrate, then it wasn't created in ffmpeggui, as it only supports creation of AC3 in Constant Bitrate. Your sync problems are most likely being caused by some other reason, so using the TMPGEnc AC3 plugin probably won't solve your problem.

[suppafreak]

I maybe wrong about variable rate. I have read about it on the other posts where it said that AC3 converted to variable rate. Not sure what may cause the out of sync problem.

[non-linear]

Perhaps you're thinking of variable bitrate MP3 audio? There is a common problem with video files (AVI) created with MP3 audio at variable bitrate causing sync problems when converted to DVD.

[suppafreak]

ffmpeggui does not create MP3 files. The program is very straight forward. Select input file, select the desired settings, select output file and press Convert. It creates an ac3 file. I don't know if it is variable of or not. All I know that there is a audio sync problem when using DVDLab Pro. I simply replace the WAV file with the ac3 file in the DVDLab Pro. Very straight forward, but I do not know what I am doing wrong.

[non-linear]

ffmpeggui does not create MP3 files. The program is very straight forward. Select input file, select the desired settings, select output file and press Convert. It creates an ac3 file.

I know that it's straightforward and I also know that it does not create MP3 files, like I said, I've been using it for 2 years.

My point was that this statement your made:
Also I have read that the reason it is out of sync is because the AC3 file is encoded in variable rate.

I have never seen any evidence suggesting that audio files created with ffmpeggui can be out of sync. In my experience, if there's a sync problem, it's caused by something else (for example, if the source audio is out of sync, then your AC3 created in ffmpeggui will be out of sync as well).

The VBR MP3 issue I brought up is another (and more common) issue, which usually occurs with AVI video files that have audio encoded in VBR MP3. If you create a DVD from a video file that contains MP3 audio, that can cause audio sync problems.

Sync problems can be caused by a number of reasons -- I have never seen any indication of sync problems caused as a result of AC3 audio created with ffmpeggui.

[suppafreak]

In ffmpeggui is select an avi file as a input file (the audio in the AVI file is not out of sync, i checked it several times) and use the AC3 224 bit setting. The file size after conversionis about 152 MB.

[non-linear]

I've found that MP3 VBR audio has a knack of playing back properly on the avi file, but causing sync problems later on. What I do with video that has MP3 audio is use Adobe Audition and use the "open audio from video" option, then save as a .wav and take the wav and run it through ffmpeggui, and I find that method works.

[Shadowmistress]

I just have one question. Why are you letting Dvdlab do the encode?

DLP is an authoring program not an encoding program. It's encoder is not meant to do movies, only motion menu's and transitions and such. If you want decent looking video at whatever biterate you choose, use tmpgenc and a biterate calculator.

Try reading this: http://members.dodo.com.au/~jimmalenko/AVI2DVD.htm

[guns1inger]

strip the audio to uncompressed wav (it will eat around a GB of disk, depending on length) then encode with ffmpeggui. MP3 is hell spawn, VBR mp3 doubly so.