AVI with AC3 and TMPGEnc

[Snake_Metal]

I am trying to convert Lord of the Rings Two towers to DVD. I have a 2 gig avi file (i used virtualdub to join 3 700mb parts). So now i have problems as the sound encoded is AC3
I could use a conversion software to convert to wav but TMPGenc will then process it as PCM audio which is huge and only allows me to encode with a bitrate no better than SVCD.
I have read articles but they dont really help what i want to do is keep the AC3 quality or convert it to mpg that is small so i dont loose quality on the main film. When i look at dvd's the AC3 files are all small less than 1 gig but when i use TMPGenc it creates a 2gig audio file

[nobspangle]

If I have understood correctly you are trying to convert an avi file into a file to play on your DVD player. If the avi file has the original ac3 audio track this is good since you will need it in this format for your DVD. Use virtual dub to save the ac3 as a seperate file (audio, direct stream copy, file, save wav) remember to rename the file *.ac3 as virtualdub will name it *.wav.

Then in TMPGEnc encode your DVD video without audio, if you are using the built in template you will have to load the unlock template in the extras folder so that you can select the "ES (video only)" option.

You should have a *.m2v file and a *.ac3 file. You then just need to multiplex these together using BBMpeg, this will leave you with your *.vob file(s) for the DVD.

[Snake_Metal]

That sounds like the right way to go about but i think i tried something like it before and used the mpeg tools in TMPGenc to multiplex them together and ended up with one mpeg file
I then used Spruce to author the dvd and loaded the mpeg file and it got to 99% and crashed everytime as if it didn't like it? when i used spruce with a m2v file and matching audio file it works fine.
I have tried other author software but without success and i prefere spruce as its easy to use. Im told it is suppose to be one of the few that supports ac3 so i can't understand it

[Baldrick]

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