No Audio on GUI for DVDAuthor DVD

[dennis albright]

I'm at a loss. I author a simple DVD with one Menu and one submenu, both with audio. When I play the DVD on my PC, everything is OK. When I play it on my Panasonic DVD-S35 it has no audio on the tracks. However, the menu audio works fine. I tried it on my parents Panasonic (different model) and no audio. Tried it on my parents Phillips DVD/VCR player, no audio. But when I play it on my Phillips Recorder DVDR 3900. it plays just fine. I am not happy with the compatibility ratio. I have tried both my burners on the computer to rule a burner problem out. I have used different media including dvd ram and still have the same problem.
My conclusion is that the dvd players are not recongnizing the audio track, but why. And why does it play on one of the players. I would feel more comfortable if it didn't work on any of the players. Has anyone run across this before and found the cause or a solution?
I am very confused, Thank you

[Nelson37]

Describe the original source, audio processing methods, and type of audio file used on DVD, including bitrate and sampling rate.

[borax]

... and the used authoring engine (dvdauthor or MuxMan)

[dennis albright]

Your question prompted the answer, sort of. The DVD I was ripping from was one I originally authored with dvdstyler. When editing with Videoredo I would set the audio to mpeg at 256. Anything else would crash as an unrecognizable file on styler. I would then add this file to styler and process. The dvds work great on all players.
Now when I use decryptor to rip the tracks off the styler authored dvd, it says MPEG audio. When I bring the vob into 'GUI for DVD Author' it finds no audio file. If I use VideoReDo to output in elemental streams, GUI finds the .mpa audio file, which of course, is non compliant. If I output the audio in WAV from VRD and use ffmeggui to encode into AC3 everything works great. So problem solved.
Except I am not understanding along the way. When I open the original DVD authored by styler in ifoedit, it shows two audio tracks, first is AC3 and second is MPG. It is the same after authoring in GUI when I look at the audio. I am guessing that styler somehow encodes the mpg to ac3. But if that is the case, why does my ripped vob contain a mpg audio file.
Note- when I select streams in VRD, it only shows an mpg audio stream, but when viewed on ifoedit, it shows the two streams. Very confused still. Also, when I rip from a dubbed dvd that has LPCM audio, I have to encode it to AC3 for it to work when authoring with GUI. Why does it play the audio on the original DVD, but become non compliant after authoring with GUI when the audio has not been manipulated?
I would like to understand what is happening along the way as I seek to grasp this 'steep learining curve' of an adventure.
Thank you.

[borax]

...When I bring the vob into 'GUI for DVD Author' it finds no audio file.
The audio stream(s) is(are) already 'inside' the vob file. In this case GfD does not allow to add an additional audio stream. VideoReDo is limited to one audio stream AFAIK
LPCM audio is not supported in GfD (using dvdauthor as authoring engine), as it requires a quite 'uncommon' format (motorola byte order without header). If the LPCM audio is already multiplexed in a vob or mpeg file, it can be used in GfD.

[dennis albright]

Any idea why the vob from the DVDStyler authored DVD (that works on all my players) becomes 'non compliant audio' when authored in 'GUI for DVDAuthor'?

[borax]

Which program tells you about 'non compliant audio'?

[dennis albright]

That is the original problem I am having. I use decrytor to take a vob from the authored DVDStyler DVD (which works fine on all dvd players) and put into GUI for DVDAuthor and there is no audio when playing on any DVD player. Same audio file on two different DVDs, one plays fine the other has no audio. (I am using dvdauthor and not muxman in GUI).
I appreciate your help. I would just like to understand where in this process it is going wrong and I am not ending up with an audio track on the GUI finished DVD.
It goes something like this. Import audio/ video from VRD into DVDStyler with audio set to MPG at 256. DVDStyler sucessfully creates iso (so either the mpg is compliant or DVDstyler encodes to ac3 (dvd works on all players)). I rip the vob from the dvdstyler dvd and insert into GUI. GUI sucessfully creates iso. DVD does not have audio.
The guide says GUI supports compliant MPG but I am guessing that it does not or is manipulating the audio to render it non compliant.
At any rate, after authoring with GUI, none of my dvd players recongnize the audio file.

[borax]

No idea. I have created quite a lot of DVDs from vob files (as new combinations) without any problems.

...take a vob from the authored DVDStyler DVD (which works fine on all dvd players) and put into GUI for DVDAuthor...

Could you send me (or post as attachment) a GFD log file from this?

... Same audio file on two different DVDs
Which audio file? I thought you have used the vob file?

...I use decrytor to take a vob from the authored DVDStyler DVD
Why? I don't think the vob from the authored DVDStyler DVD is encrypted in any way. If the movie is in only one vob file, I would just use it directly. If there are several, combine them with vob2mpeg (or combine with copy /b ... See: http://download.videohelp.com/gfd/Help/RawMaterial.html )

GUI supports compliant MPG but I am guessing that it does not or is manipulating the audio to render it non compliant.

My GUI does nothing at all with mpg files. But maybe the underlying dvdauthor has/creates some kind of problem (that's why I need a log file to have a look).

VOB files can contain several audio streams (also different ones AC3, MP2, LPCM, DTS). Maybe DVDStyler really transcodes the mp2 to AC3 (I don't use DVDStyler myself). Then the question remains if DVDStyler includes both audio files into the vob or just one. If both streams are inside the vob files, and your players support the ac3 stream only, it could be possible, that just the default stream is wrong (points to the mpeg audio stream after authoring with my GUI, as this is the first audio stream in the vob). You could try to switch to the other audio stream with the remote of your DVD player to check this.

[dennis albright]

I really appreciate your help Borax. I have finally gotten to the bottom of what is going on, and I have learned along the way.

When I refered to audio track, I was referring to the one in the vob. And you were right questioning why the audio was not compliant. It was.
What was happening is that the intro clip I had in GUI had an AC3 track. The menus also used AC3 tracks (all those tracks worked fine). But the orignal vobs had MP2 audio (and they did not play). Apparently a dvd has to have consistent audio. This explains why when I split the vob into elemental streams and encod the audio into AC3 it worked. Even simplier though, I just encoded the audio for the intro and menus to MP2.

What really threw me off was my Phillips Recoreder played the multiple audio DVD just fine, while all other DVD players, including older Phillips would not play the MP2 after playing the AC3. (The intro and menus audio worked, but the main movies did not)

If it were not for ifoedit, I would have never figured it out as I was able to compare the DVDstyler dvd and GUI for DVDAuthor DVD and find the extra video (the intro clip) and the attached AC3 audio. I had intially thought GUI was adding an audio track of the main movie as I had forgotten about the intro.

So neither of the two authoring programs, or VRD were manipulating the audio at all, and it was compliant all along. I see where your confusion was as I now understand better that a vob file is a vob file is a vob file. The authoring program either likes it or it doesn't, it does not manipulate it.

I guess what I learned is that most DVD players will not support multiple audio formats on the same DVD.

Thanks again for all your help

[borax]

Good analysis!
Actually most DVD players should support multiple audio formats on the same DVD (if they support mp2 audio at all), but for each titleset the audio format must be consistent. If you enable 'Use titlesets' in GfD (default project settings), it should work with an intro using AC3 and other videos using mp2 audio.

[theewizard]

i'm out of my league in this situation, but what about the fact, that for the DVD player, what ever it finds in the menu ( audio track ) it expects the same format in the vob file

like he said the menu was ac3, the vob was mp2

when he changed the menu to mp2 all was well

consistancey is the key can't switch audio formats after the playing begins

[borax]

As titlesetmenus (and their submenus) are part of the titleset itself, the audio format used for titlesetmenus must be the same as in the vob files for this specific titleset. But the intro is an own titleset (if titlesets are used) and can therefore have another type of audio. Same for MainMenu (and MainSubMenus) as these are another 'domain'. But also there, if one type of audio is used for the main menu, all mainsubmenus must have the same type.

[dennis albright]

This will sound ignorant, but truth be known, when it comes to this I am new and ignorant is the correct term.
I do not have 'use titlesets' checked, as I only have one movie.
As far as I am aware titlesets are used when there is more than one movie (perhaps a widescreen version and a 4:3).
So if I check on title sets, the main menu can be AC3, one titleset, along with menus can be MP2, and the second titleset can be LPCM (as long as it is part of the vob)?

[borax]

Yes.

[dennis albright]

Cool. Thanks for all your help.
Dennis