making an mp3 dvd

[cL0N31]

aim is to create an mp3 dvd which would be universally playable on any dvd player... it seemed to me like it's easy to do, until I realized that all dvd players have different kinds of restrictions for those kinds of discs... there's no single standard... i discovered, that some mp3 dvd players see all folders and mp3 written on a dvd... some players can only see first limited number of mp3 files on disc (in my case it was 999 files, while i have around 3000), and some wouldn't play mp3 from dvd at all and play only mp3's from a cd media...
i gave it a thought and question arises: what if instead of just making a raw dvd with mp3 files written to it, additionally i'd create a menu which would run every time the disc is inserted and link from that menu to all of the mp3's on that dvd and use that kind of idea... will that help? how to do it, what software to use to try it out?

[minidv2dvd]

mp3 is not an audio format in the dvd spec. none of my standalone dvd players will play mp3 on dvd. it's not going to happen. pcm wav, or ac3 audio would be the only universal choices on dvd.

[cL0N31]

ok it gets more clear... having menu on dvd means it has to be a video dvd... in my case quantity is more important than quality...
correct me if i'm wrong 1: mp2 in dvd video is also not a standard but is playable in most of the modern dvd players... correct me if i'm wrong 2: mp2 file size is generally less than that of wav, pcm or ac3's

[cL0N31]

so i've found this software audio dvd creator which allows to create a pcm/ac3 dvd... are there any alternatives i can look at?

[johns0]

Ac3 can be the same size as the mp3.

[citanool]

DVD-Audio Tools

[jimdagys]

Can you just burn a stack of Ac3 128kbps (for example by using Total Video Converter mp3 to Ac3) music files on a DVD and have it play in a standalone DVD player, or is it necessary to "author" the files? If so, it seems you ought to be able to burn about 50 hours of music to a DVD.

[guns1inger]

You have to author the files, or the player won't see anything but a data disc. DVD Players are very limited devices in what they can do. Kind of like most of their users.

[AlanHK]

Can you just burn a stack of Ac3 128kbps (for example by using Total Video Converter mp3 to Ac3) music files on a DVD and have it play in a standalone DVD player, or is it necessary to "author" the files? If so, it seems you ought to be able to burn about 50 hours of music to a DVD.

http://download.videohelp.com/GFD/Help/AudioTitleset.html

[AlanHK]

mp3 is not an audio format in the dvd spec. none of my standalone dvd players will play mp3 on dvd. it's not going to happen. pcm wav, or ac3 audio would be the only universal choices on dvd.

All of my players do play MP3 on DVD... but as you said, it's not a required standard.

[zoobie]

Some guy on eBay claimed to have put 1400 songs on a DL data disc DVD...

[PuzZLeR]

MP3 is not in the DvD spec - that is, as a DvD video disc. You can encode them to AC3, mux them with very low, low bitrate video such as black screens (with maybe a title inside done by an editor), author them as such (with or without a menu) and play them that way just fine in any standard DvD player.

Otherwise, a DvD player that plays MP3 would be only catering to an external feature. It is common though, but not in the DvD spec that all players will automatically have. In that case, you can just burn them as data into the root folder (directories create seek problems with some players) and they will play fine that way too.

[robertazimmerman]

Some guy on eBay claimed to have put 1400 songs on a DL data disc DVD...

Can anyone say "Oppo"?

[jman98]

ok it gets more clear... having menu on dvd means it has to be a video dvd... in my case quantity is more important than quality...
correct me if i'm wrong 1: mp2 in dvd video is also not a standard but is playable in most of the modern dvd players... correct me if i'm wrong 2: mp2 file size is generally less than that of wav, pcm or ac3's

1. PAL allows for MP2 audio in DVD video. Sources disagree as to whether or not MP2 is valid for NTSC DVD, but if it is valid, it's not allowed (technically according to the specs) to be the only audio track on the DVD and there MUST be at least one more track that is either PCM or AC3.
2. MP2 is smaller than WAV/PCM (WAV and PCM are the same). AC3 encoded to the same bitrate should result in approximately the same size as the MP2 file but there will be slight differences and the final size may be slightly smaller or slightly larger than the original.

Many DVD players support MP3 playback, but all do not, so such a disc will not have 100% compatibility with standalone DVD players. There are too many variables even with players that do support MP3 playback. As stated in other posts, some may have limits on the number of files per disc or per directory, some many only support MP3 on CD media, some may have bit rate limits, some may require 8.3 DOS-style names, some may not like VBR (variable bit rate), others may be restrictive on sampling rate (I've heard of some playback devices not liking 48 KHz) and so on.

[neomaine]

Some guy on eBay claimed to have put 1400 songs on a DL data disc DVD...

Yah, so? Anyone can put that many songs on a DL DVD. Probably could get twice/three/four times as many as that. Buuuuuuuuutttt ... what's the quality of the audio, and, what player can use it? If someone just wants to illegally get 1400 songs, go for it!!

I've ripped my whole CD and album collection to 256k MP3 and archived them (2 copies) to DVD. I don't want to have to go through all of that again...

[neomaine]

...DVD Players are very limited devices in what they can do. Kind of like most of their users.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Philips players support MP3-DVD and cost a fraction of an OPPO player.
For universal compatibility make a DVD-Video,it allows a maximum of 99 chapters on 99 titles(9801 songs).

[AlanHK]

MP3 is not in the DvD spec - that is, as a DvD video disc. You can encode them to AC3, mux them with very low, low bitrate video such as black screens (with maybe a title inside done by an editor), author them as such (with or without a menu) and play them that way just fine in any standard DvD player.

That's basically what GfD's audio titlesets are (see above). It makes a single frame video, default the name of the audio file, and muxes it with the AC3. Very low overhead, and you can add these "videos" to a normal video DVD. I've done this to add the "original soundtrack album" to a movie.