DVD Lab Pro 2 - major bug?

[Jon.G]

I'm not sure why this would work this way, but it does. And someone owes me an explanation....once again some idiot doesn't do his job properly, and leaves me with a bunch of wasted time and errors to fix, all because a stupid program can't work the way it's supposed to.

So, I use DVD-lab pro 2 to make an audio only surround sound dvd, by making a disc that only has an audio title added. This is a feature that dvd lab pro 2 has, to add an audio title, and you can make the screen display a still slide, or have it be blank. Anyways, I've added dts encoded audio, which I've verified my audio is complete. But, the disc it compiles......ends early. Just chops the end right off. I've gone over this several times, every disc I've authored this way has suffered this bug, and I see no reason why this should be, or how this could be user error.

What gives? Is there a fix for this?

[ron spencer]

DTS audio has been an issue in the past for DVDLab. Try PCM and see if crash occurs. I'm thinking DTS will not work. DVDLab is no longer being developed though.

[Jon.G]

Yeah, I've been doing a bit of digging, and it comes down to dts. PCM isn't going to help me though, I'm looking to burn surround sound audio only discs for playback in the car. In the past I've done this by rendering an mpg of a still slide. It seems that the problem is that dvd lab pro can't get an accurate time off of a dts file. When pairing with an mpg, it isn't an issue, as the mpg has accurate time, and it compiles the disc with no problem. But my recent discovery of being able to add an audio title to make my discs more efficent and less wasteful and able to hold more audio content, has now caused it to rely on the inaccurate length it determines a dts file to have, and so it just ends at the time it thinks the dts file is. Which is odd.....it thinks the dts file is only so long, however if a program is forced to be longer it'll use all the data past that point, but will discard data if not.

Truly, this is an awful piece of software, horribly coded.

Any suggestions for a better dvd authoring software that will allow me to do audio only programs with a still slide?

[_Al_]

Why not to encode video for that audio you have, whatever , blank, use HcEncoder, feed it with Avisynth script. That video will take little, almost no space if black. Even audio as a AC3 using eac3to, whatever would not be sufficient etc. ?

[Jon.G]

....or maybe there's a piece of software that works properly, so I don't have to add a bunch of time consuming extra steps to my process?

[Jon.G]

Sorry if that came off rude, I"m just a bit....frustrated with all this. Some of my discs I don't care about the screen, but some I want a still slide on, and the audio title option in dvd lab pro really was exactly what I wanted, the simplest and most efficient way to have a still with audio content on a dvd. It just baffles me that it will not read the timing on a dts file correctly, and will just discard data. Is there another authoring software that offers this feature that will read the time of a dts file properly? dvd architect won't even see my .cpt files, so that's out.

[Jon.G]

Really? No one out there is using anything different to author dvds?


Ok...does anyone on this forum ever offer useful information?

[ron spencer]

Most people use pcm for audio dvds, that is just reality. DVDLab was great in the past, I still use it. But it never made the developer and money.

I know you are looking to have surround sound, but is it really worth the effort? Especially for a car.

You may want to try multiavchd

[El Heggunte]

You might try OLD versions of DVD-Lab Pro.
I have the build 2.24, but I have not re-installed it on my current setups.
Before and after version 2.24, there were builds that had problems even with MP2 audio

If you're not afraid of the command-line environment and some pesky XML files,
you could give a try to dvdauthor. IIRC, the various GUIs for dvdauthor don't give to the end-user full access to all the features of the program.

[Jon.G]

Most people use pcm for audio dvds, that is just reality. DVDLab was great in the past, I still use it. But it never made the developer and money.

I know you are looking to have surround sound, but is it really worth the effort? Especially for a car.

You may want to try multiavchd

Yes, it is.....my dvd authoring pretty much revolves around surround sound. Preserving quadraphonic recordings into modern formats, which typically is dvd-a with backwards compatibility for standard dvd players (especially since the car doesn't support dvd-a), and multi-channel flac files. Now that I have surround in the car, I've also been trying to create simple dvd versions of modern surround albums so that menu navigation without a screen and while driving isn't an issue. Basically....what I'm doing centers on surround sound, take the surround sound out of it, and there's no reason to do what I'm doing.

[aedipuss]

i'd suggest adding a second audio track. preferably ac-3 to make the dvds actually compliant. using dts alone is out of spec and may not play on standalones.

[Jon.G]

True that dts only is out of spec. But I've gotten to the point I'm at because to me it's a waste of space, and a waste of time to encode the audio twice, to have the same audio program twice, and dolby digital sucks, it's absolute bs that it's considered a standard when dts is far superior. I think I'd rather have blank video than an ac3 track, which is where I'm at at the moment, except that rendering video seems to be overheating my processor today, so.....yeah.....another problem to deal with..... It never ends with this computer.

[aedipuss]

you can encode ac3 2ch down to 32Kb/s and it won't take up much space. it might also cause dlp to create dvds that are the proper length.

[Jon.G]

Yeah, that would work, but I don't want the chance of confusion and selecting the wrong audio program when operating without a menu or screen. Also, it seems to go on the time of the first audio program, I made a test disc with a 2nd audio track that's pcm and it still cut early, I had to make pcm the first track, which would mean I'd have to change the audio program every time playing the disc. Having only one audio program only makes it more simple. I'm going for something that acts like a cd. Which.....I suppose I could just create dts audio cds, but that would require resampling material that's at 96kHz or 48kHz to 44.1kHz, which I'd rather avoid, although I am at a point where I'm seriously reconsidering that. At this point if there isn't an authoring program that supports audio only programs that can read the time length of a dts file properly, blank video is the best option for what I'm looking for.

[ron spencer]

you can use the VM language to make the DTS track default. The suggestion by aedipuss may work. You can use a simple VM command for this or use the set audio menu in DVDLab

[Jon.G]

I appreciate the continued thought, but I feel rather strongly about only having a single audio program on my authored discs.

[DB83]

There was another topic on here a few weeks ago where the OP was using DLP and attempting to author an out of spec dvd. That topic was also concerned with audio only discs.

I only mention this since that really could be the problem. DLP does not re-encode the source files AFAIK so it attempts to mux them as received.

Are you certain that your audio was fully compliant for the dvd-spec ?. But as has been stated even your car system might not play the non-compliant disk even had the compile completed.

[ron spencer]

I appreciate the continued thought, but I feel rather strongly about only having a single audio program on my authored discs.

I suspect then that you are out of luck. DVDLab, as I said, is no longer being developed. If you want surround sound, why not convert to AC-3? Sure it is a transcode, but why not?

[Jon.G]

Because it is far inferior to dts. With the given situation, I've found blank video to be the best option. Thanks for the suggestions.

[ron spencer]

Well, to be honest, I doubt you will hear the difference in a car, but whatever you like. It still may not play. DTS was a late comer to the DVD specification. You cannot have a disc without an AC-3 track as not all players could decode DTS way back. If your player adheres to the specification, the it will not play without an AC-3 track. In any case, let us all know how this project works out.

DVDLab requires a .dts filename.

[Jon.G]

Ok, thanks again for the thought, but here are the unnecessary details in case anyone comes wandering around to this thread:

A. Have already tested my dts DVDs that cut off early in the car, they play. The car player is a Sony MEX-DV2000, one of the few car players that does SACD.
B. I have been authoring dts only DVDs for quite some time now, it was the switch to the audio title option in dvd lab pro that caused the timing issue. Having a blank video, or a still slide video gives it something with proper time to go by. They play on just about any player I've thrown these discs at. I think one or 2 players, older ones, I've had issues where the video displays but no audio comes out, but I"ve not done further testing to determine if it would still playback dts on a disc with ac3 also on it....could be the player not setup properly for dts playback. But, now that I've gone back to blank video with dts audio, the problem is gone again....I just lost that extra bit of efficiency that I thought I had gained.
C. Have been using .cpt files for dts audio in dvd lab pro for years now, never been an issue (with the exception of the timing issue). Ever since the switch to encoding dts 96/24, the only option I have for dts encoding is .cpt, I've not found an encoder that does dts 9624 as a .dts file.

[DB83]

^^ I do not know about 'unnecessary details' since had you stated these at the start of the thread some words need not have been wasted.

Yet you are prepared to diss a program that will not create a non-compliant dvd. And that is why you get no audio in those players. The disc is non-compliant. It is not rocket science.

[Jon.G]

Fair enough. However, being that I've not confirmed that dts tracks on compliant discs work on the players I encountered, and I've encountered setups that aren't properly configured that don't play back dts tracks, I'm calling the times I've run into the issue inconclusive. Certainly one can't guarantee a non-compliant disc will playback on all players, but I'm just saying in my experience my particular non-compliant discs have worked most of the time, and I've not yet taken the time to further troubleshoot when I did run into a problem, since that was on a setup that had 2 players, and I found one worked, thus not requiring further investigation and unnecessarily tampering with settings on someone else's setup.

[ron spencer]

Let me ask you...have you done a proper A/B test to see if you can actually tell the difference between AC3 at 448 surround with DTS surround? I have done these....and hardly anybody in a home theater setting can tell the difference. With DTS MA, yes, but not regular DTS. And you are in a car situation with noise, etc. going on. It seems like you may be spending lots of time on an issue that really has a simple solution....use AC-3. It is your time, of course, but to what end? Again. Let us know how this all turns out.

[Jon.G]

I'm something of an audiophile. I suppose the argument on hearing the difference between dts or dts 9624 (depending on my source) vs. ac3 in the car is a fair one.....but I also often like to show off these things and might find myself someplace where I end up grabbing the binder from the car into someone's home system. And, ok, maybe you might still make an argument that most can't hear the difference, but I can, and.....you know, if you can do it better, why not?

As far as how it all turns out, I'm already redoing things using blank video, a method I've done for years, and they turn out fine.

Thanks for your interest and suggestions.

[aedipuss]

any chance they are old firesign theatre vinyl recordings? only thing i can think of that needs quad

[Jon.G]

Hmmmm....don't actually have those in my collection yet, but someone's probably converted them to something. Will have to check what's out there.