Can I use MPEG audio compression in this case?

[pooty13901]

HI all,

I am making movies with Studio which I then sell to a broad number of people. With Studio, I am given a choice of which audio compression to use. Up to this point I have been using the PCM setting which I understand does not compress the audio at all. I have a movie that I am wanting to render that runs 1 hour, 35 minutes long. Studio allows me to get only 4600kbs (61% quality) with PCM usage on a DVD this long. If I switch to the "MPA (MPEG-1 Layer 2)" setting, I can up my kbs to 5900kbs and 78% quality (says Studio). My concern is this:

Studio says: "MPEG audio support is always provided on PAL players. On NTSC players it is broadly supported, but theoretically optional."

Well, I do sell mostly to an NTSC crowd, and I film in stereo and want to keep it that way. I thought I heard that MPEG audio cannot be stereo, what are the real problems with NTSC players and this type of compression, and I also wonder if sound quality will be lost with this compression. I know Studio alerts me to things that are not always really the way the program says it is, so I thought I would check on this alert.

Thanks very much,

Mike Hammond

[NormaJ]

AC3 is your best choice here. Try ffmpegGui, it's free.

Cheers

[Soopafresh]

Mpa is also called mp2 in case some converter util spits out a file with that extension.
Mpeg audio can be in stereo, that's about all you ever see it in.

There really aren't any DVD players left that can't play mp2 audio on a DVD track. There's supposed to be a few machines out there that can't play mp2, but they'll be more than 5 years old. I've yet to encounter one.

NormalJ brings up a good alternative, but use Aften instead of ffmpeggui. It's more accurate to the source. GUI version as well https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=321765

[pooty13901]

Hi and thanks for the replies.

How is it possible to use an outside audio compressor in addition to Studio? When I use Studio I have the original track from my camcorder footage as well as a music and narration track. If Studio provides the choice of MPEG-1 Layer 2 compression, shouldn't I just go through that?

Mike Hammond

[Soopafresh]

Studio? As in DVD Studio pro

[pooty13901]

No sorry about that. It's Pinnacle Studio 9. And how would I compress only the audio and not touch the video if I go with an outside program such as ffmpeggui or aften? I feel so lost!

Mike Hammond

[Soopafresh]

I took a look at their site, and their choice of supported audio formats is perplexing - WAV and MP3. That must be because their product is an all-in-one app.
They do mention the ability to for their product to encode into Surround Sound format, which is also known as AC3 . Does your version of the software have that feature?

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/uk/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+...ifications.htm

In your first post, you mentioned the app gives you the option to encode to .mpa . That'll work absolutely fine if that's your only other choice. Give your audio a decent bitrate- either 192, 224, or 256K and you'll be good to go. Don't lose any sleep over audio format incompatibilities.

If you want to get neurotic, burn a copy onto a DVD and take it into a Best Buy or similar and pop 'er into a bunch of different players to see if the disk is recognized.