DVD problem?

[SoundFreak]

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

[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]

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]

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]

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.

[SoundFreak]

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

[antonsvideo]

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

[STORMDAVE]

AC3 is a better format than MPEG audio, so use it :)

192kb and up you should be fine. I've been using 224kb for years.

This is for 2.0 Stereo, by the way, not 5.1 Dolby Digital.

[SoundFreak]

Thanks for the info, 1 more question about the audio.

Most of my jobs are events with lots of speaches, the boring stuff, and never bothered much about the audio quality difference between mpeg (what I normally use) and ac3 audio.

I never (extremely rare) have ever a disc returned to me due to incompatibility with a dvd player, pretty happy so far.

If I would change my audio to ac3, will I encounter problems with this ? (incompatibility with dvd players) or is this as solid as mpeg audio ?

Does it really make a huge difference ?

Thanks guys.

[antonsvideo]

just like Dave said

[STORMDAVE]

MPEG audio is not in the DVD specs for NTSC. Alot of players will have problems with it. Under the PAL DVD specs, MPEG audio is included along with AC3 and PCM.

[SoundFreak]

an NTSC DVD can have wave audio or ac3, it must not have mpeg audio

Hi Anton, just a Question for general knowledge, why the NO NO for Mpeg Audio in NTSC land ?

[antonsvideo]

Hi Mark, which versio of Procoder are you using? only version 3.05.60 has useable ac3 (dolby digital) audio

an NTSC DVD can have wave audio or ac3, it must not have mpeg audio

a Pal DVD can have wave, ac3 or mpeg audio

[Mark]

Hi Anton,

Thanks for tying to help me! I am making an NTSC DVD and using Procoder. In the Advanced Output Settings, I don't see anything that says ac3 audio (what is that?)

BTW - I'm a whingeing pom, love Sydney. I lived in Pimble for a while and got married in Waroonga Park.

Thanks mate!
Mark

[antonsvideo]

Hey guys,

Sorry but a lot of this is greek to me! "pressing via glass master" etc. I Did go into advanced settings:

Where it said VIDEO BITRATE KBPS the setting was on 9100.

Where is said AUDIO BIRATE KBPS the setting was on 224.

I did change the video to what was suggested but the audio gave me only a few options and I changed it to 300 (and something?) I'll see what happens now. The strange thing is though, when I view the media on my DVD players all seems pretty good without the stopping that my clients speaks of - very frustrating!! Thanks for all your help but sorry I'm lacking in the technical stuff!

Thanks
Mark

a glass master is required in order to press DVD's at the replication plant, pressing a DVD takes 1 second as compared to 4-8min for burning)

set audio to 256 or 224 if you have these options

however, if you are making NTSC DVD, use wave audio at 1500kbps, this means you need to lower the video bitrate to 6500 max

and if you have procoder 3.05.60 then you can select ac3 audio at 256kbps and video at 7700