Unable To Get Ac3 Audio On Dvd

[sprogger]

Folks,

Well ... having got aroung the firmware issues with two new drives (lesson for beginners)

 

I am now trying to burn a DVD with HDTV recordings..

 

The file I have captured is from the promo broadcast in HD ..

 

PowerDVD tells me that the file I am using is Video = MPEG-2 9Mbps - Audio = Dolby Digital 5.1 384Kbps

 

When I take this file and using My DVD8 create a DVD ... I change the project settings to Custom, and use Dolby AC3 at 384Kbps ... Burns just fine but..

 

When I play the same file from the DVD back in PowerDVD it tells me that it is Video = MPEG-2 9Mpbs

 

AUDIO = Dolby Digital 2.0 384Kbps .. seems to have turned 5.1 into two channel stereo

 

I have tried leaving the project settings as default .. same result ..

 

Am I missing something basic here?

[mdloars@comcast.net]

Gary:

 

You have said on more than one topic that EMC8 does not support Dolby Digital 5.1, only 2.0.

My camcorder records in MPEG2 and 5.1 and therefore I was looking for a program to create in 5.1.

I have MYDVD7 LE on my computer (come with it) and when I burn DVD's using it I get 5.1 but I it doesn't have the capability to create chapters, etc.

I spoke with customer support and they told me that one of the new benefits of EMC8 is the capability to record in 5.1 althouhg they couldn't expain exactly how, they stated it should be automatic under AC3.

You stated earlier that if the movie was in MPEG2 and 5.1 originally (which mine are) then SMART RENDER would not change the audio.

As you are probably aware, I am new to this and not sure how to use SMART RENDER.

Could you explain further?

Also, I understand that MYDVD8 and EMC8 aren't necessarily the same program.

Since MYDVD7 LE was able to record in 5.1, do you know if MYDVD8 can? I can't specifically find anyting on the website.

 

Thanks

[ggrussell]

MyDVD 7? Didn't know there was one. Maybe Sonic did an OEM release that supports AC3 5.1. MyDVD 8 is actually a product as a result of the merger with Roxio and MyDVD 8 is based on the Roxio previous product.

 

As far as I know, MyDVD 8 or any other app in the EMC 8 suite does NOT capture, record or support AC3 surround sound. As Larry pointed out, I could be wrong about a MPEG file with 5.1 audio smart rendering. I have never had a chance to test this out. However, I did test an MPEG video with MPEG audio. The video was not re-rendered, but the audio WAS transcoded to AC3 2 channel. So there is a possibility that your 5.1 would be transcoded to 2 channel.

 

If you want to keep 5.1, you may need to consider another editor and DVD authorign package.

[sprogger]

Sorry, MyDVD does not support 5.1 AC3. Only 2 channel AC3. Since you are using a HD file, MyDVD needs to re-render it to SD for a disc which causes the file to lose the 5.1.

 

Now if you had a standard MPEG2 with 5.1 AC3 and placed it in MyDVD, most likely it would use smart render and then the surround sound would be intact.

Paul, Gary

Ahh ... sorry .. as a beginner I interpreted AC3 support as 5.1 channel ... but that explains it ..

 

Incidental gary .. have tried re-working the HD file with Video-ReDo to get a "standard" MPEG2 file. VideoReDo gives me the output file with AC3 intact (5.1) but MyDVD still renders it back to 2 channels ..

 

Thanks guys .. suppose I will have to wait for Roxio to deliver 5.1

[ggrussell]

Interesting.. I wouldn't have thought that it would. Did you see the gray MPEG still during rendering instread of the video? That shows when smart render is working.

[Larry]

Interesting.. I wouldn't have thought that it would. Did you see the gray MPEG still during rendering instread of the video? That shows when smart render is working.

I don't think the gray MPEG display means that it's not encoding at all. I think it just means the video protion is not getting re-rendered. I have mpeg files where the audio was re-encoded to AC3 that started out differently, but the video was not re-encoded and the gray window was displayed. I've seen the same thing happen when using DVDiT before also, only with that program, it shows you that the audio portion is getting re-encoded.

 

I don't know why, or what it uses to determine when it will encode the audio or not.

[gaper1]

he probably meant Digital Media LE v7 which has MyDVD 6.x...

[Beerman]

Folks,

Well ... having got aroung the firmware issues with two new drives (lesson for beginners)

 

I am now trying to burn a DVD with HDTV recordings..

 

The file I have captured is from the promo broadcast in HD ..

 

PowerDVD tells me that the file I am using is Video = MPEG-2 9Mbps - Audio = Dolby Digital 5.1 384Kbps

 

When I take this file and using My DVD8 create a DVD ... I change the project settings to Custom, and use Dolby AC3 at 384Kbps ... Burns just fine but..

 

When I play the same file from the DVD back in PowerDVD it tells me that it is Video = MPEG-2 9Mpbs

 

AUDIO = Dolby Digital 2.0 384Kbps .. seems to have turned 5.1 into two channel stereo

 

I have tried leaving the project settings as default .. same result ..

 

Am I missing something basic here?

 

As far as I know, EMC only supports 2 channel stereo. Roxann says "Dolby Digital.AC3" but does not elaborate.

[ggrussell]

Sorry, MyDVD does not support 5.1 AC3. Only 2 channel AC3. Since you are using a HD file, MyDVD needs to re-render it to SD for a disc which causes the file to lose the 5.1.

 

Now if you had a standard MPEG2 with 5.1 AC3 and placed it in MyDVD, most likely it would use smart render and then the surround sound would be intact.