MPEG2 Sound Problem - no sound on Pioneer DVL-700

[brainstem]

I created my first DVD, but the sound won't play on my Pioneer DVL-700. It plays OK on my computer though.

When I play the DVD-R and press the SOUND button, it displays the sound value as MPEG. On other DVDs (that work) it displays DolbyDigital2. Should my unit be able to play MPEG2 sound? (It's on the list of DVD-R compatible units.) Or do I need to somehow convert the sound to another format?

I'm using ULead DVD MovieFactory to burn to my Sony 500a.

Brainstem

[russwcj]

I don't know if this is relavent. Not all american DVD players will play mpeg 1 level II audio. It is not part of the dvd standard, but is supported on all European players and most american players. Not all DVD authoring programs have support for ac3 audio as an alternative, so have you tried making your audio PCM instead.

[brainstem]

Thanks russwcj,

I thought it might have something to do with the fact that my DVD-LD player is somewhat outdated. I find it odd that it can decompress the MPG-2 video, but not the audio.

I'll research the acronyms...I assume ac3 is the Dolby Digital 2 Speaker compression. I'm not sure what PCM is yet, but I've seen it around. I hope my software can handle it.

Brainstem

[fabriceh]

There are several pieces to the puzzle here.
1 - DVD specifications require different audio formats for NTSC and PAL/SECAM. NTSC DVDs must have either PCM (uncompressed digital sound) or Dolby AC-3 (compressed multichannel sound). PAL DVDs require PCM or Mpeg sound (compressed stereo). PCM sound is therefore the default for all DVDs. If you can use PCM sound (all authoring software does) then you are most compatible. But PCM sound takes up lots of space, reducing the total amt of video you can fit on a DVD.
2 - Typical DVD players will look for the default sound streams (PCM or AC-3 for NTSC). Most DVD players should let you change the way sound is handled and alow you to play Mpeg sound as well (look for options to do Bitstream or PCM, etc sound in the configurations menus of your DVD). Likely that you'll have to switch this option back and forth to play different kinds of DVDs.

[brainstem]

Thanks for the help fabriceh. I'm on NTSC. The earlier post stated that newer DVD players can handle MPeg audio. I'm going to try my DVD on some of my friends DVD players instead of my old one and I'll see what happens.

I find it odd that although it can decode the mpeg-2 video, it can't decode the mpeg audio. I thought maybe I could make my DVD player use a different audio selection, but the DVD players audio menu doesn't change (whether I'm using a store bought DVD or my own home movies).

I'll check my software and try the PCM option (thanks for the explaination). So far my 2002 home movies have taken up all of the 120 minutes, so if I switch to PCM I might have to break it up on several disks. We'll see.

Brainstem