Question about encoding audio on DVD

[satwar]

I am making some photo/video clip slideshows with audio soundtrack and then burning to DVD. Part of the DVD creation process asks me whether I want audio encoded as MP2 or PCM. Is PCM better quality than MP2 and is it compatible for playing on home DVD players and PCs ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[edDV]

PCM is uncompressed 16bit 48KHz.
It takes more space and consumes ~15% of the available bitrate (1536 kbps stereo pair).

MP2 is compressed but uses far less bit rate

[jimmalenko]

MP2 is only a part of the DVD Spec for PAL land on its own - there must be at least one title that contains AC3 or PCM for it to be truly DVD-compliant for NTSC land. However that said, all PCs will play it without a hitch and most DVD players play it also.

Strictly as far as quality goes I daresay you'll find PCM to be much better, but as edDV points out, there are pros and coms of using it. If space on the DVD is not really an issue, then you should probably use PCM. Then again unless you've got a crackerjack soundtrack, MP2 at 384kbps will probably cut the mustard.

I'd suggest you do the exact same project with both MP2 and PCM and compare them yourself.

[Epicurus8a]

Many North American DVD players will play MP2 audio, but some of them won't. With that in mind, I'd stick with PCM audio.

[satwar]

Thanks for the advise people, really appreciated.