DVD problem?

[antonsvideo]

ac3 is guaranteed to play in all players in all countries and the quality is great

[SoundFreak]

Will it sit nicely in a Mpeg 2 Program Stream like Mpeg audio ?

[SoundFreak]

Ok, it will NOT sit nicely in a program stream as I just found while testing.

That means in order to use ac3 I'll need to change my authoring program.

At the moment I'll take your word for it that it sounds better, will have to wait & see what Software Santa will bring me this year's end.

[antonsvideo]

why would you need to change authoring software?

all authoring software must support ac3 and elementary streams

which version procoder do you use?

even Edius 4.61 allows direct export to mpeg program stream with ac2 audio included (no need for Procoder), I see you have 4.61

[SoundFreak]

Sorry you're right, I was under the impression that DVD Workshop2 was not able to handle AC3.

I'm using procoder 2 and under Mpeg2 program stream settings I can Select Mpeg Audio Layer-2 or PCM Wave, not AC3.

Only when using Mpeg 2 Elementary stream I am allowed Mpeg Audio Layer-2 or Wave or AC3.

When selecting AC3 I will have 2 files rendered out, 1 Mpeg Video file and 1 AC3 audio file, I just found out that I can import AC3 audio in Workshop 2 (never looked for that before, my bad)

What worries me now is Audio / Video Sync problems as my projects are normally 3 to 3.5 hours in duration.
How well do the 2 files sync up at a 3 hour+ duration ?

As I mainly do seminars, and a lot of them, editing time is short, but render times are extremely long as a 3 to 5 day conference makes up for a huge amount of hours to be processed.

I'm currently in a job regarding a international convention covering Palm Oil and bio fuel, and Am a bit reluctant to test this.

If it goes wrong I'll be set back almost a whole day of render work as a 3 hour session (and I have 9 of them) will take anywhere between 7 to 9 hours (on 2 pass master Q) on my old Xeon still using e-ide drives !

Should I risk trying ?

Edit : The spec's listed below are from my "hobby" rig at home, at the company I work for I use a much older, lower spec Xeon / Storm2 system that was build in 2003, still works well but the speed is not there compared to the latest systems (explanation of render times).

[antonsvideo]

elementary stream is one step ahead of program stream, you will not get an a/v sync issue

most authoring software requires elementary streams, and those that do not, will demux the program stream to elementary stream during VOB creation

a VOB is capable of many audio and subtitle streams, as a result video and audio should and must be separate

btw, ProCoder2 does not create ac3, you need Procoder3 for that

also, you can export direct from Edius timeline to mpg with ac3 audio included

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/edius46/generic-mpg-export.gif

[SoundFreak]

Thanks Anton, this board is really awesome, some great mentors around here !