Dolby audio in dvd's

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Can anyone point me to articles for newbies about burning dvd's using
dolby (5.1? AC3?) sound in a dvd-video project? I understand that
doing so will enable one to get significantly more video on a DVD-R/+R
disk. My guess is that you could get better-sounding imported music
overlays, too.

Also, is there a difference between a video editing package the
"supports" dolby sound, and one that actually includes the license,
modules, etc., to actually create the soundtrack in it? TIA.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Drew M. wrote:

> Can anyone point me to articles for newbies about burning dvd's using
> dolby (5.1? AC3?) sound in a dvd-video project? I understand that
> doing so will enable one to get significantly more video on a DVD-R/+R
> disk. My guess is that you could get better-sounding imported music
> overlays, too.
>
> Also, is there a difference between a video editing package the
> "supports" dolby sound, and one that actually includes the license,
> modules, etc., to actually create the soundtrack in it? TIA.

I haven't looked into PC based editing systems in a while so I'm not
sure on how they have progressed.. But, isn't dolby digital (AC3)
something that is handled more in the DVD authoring stage, and not
really mastered in the editing stage.

For example, my workflow consist of this:

Edit the movie, finalize, export video to MP2, and audio to OMF multi
track file format. Then, proceed to "mix" your audio with a Digital
Audio Workstation software such as Protools.

Once you have your 6 discrete tracks, you can now use an application for
muxing the tracks to DTS or DD.

Also.. A great place to start on this subject is the Dolby site and the
DTS site. They both have a lot of reading material..

http://www.dolby.com/
http://www.dtsonline.com/

-Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Drew M. wrote:
> Can anyone point me to articles for newbies about burning dvd's using
> dolby (5.1? AC3?) sound in a dvd-video project? I understand that
> doing so will enable one to get significantly more video on a DVD-R/+R
> disk. My guess is that you could get better-sounding imported music
> overlays, too.
>
> Also, is there a difference between a video editing package the
> "supports" dolby sound, and one that actually includes the license,
> modules, etc., to actually create the soundtrack in it? TIA.


AC-3 is to video what MP3 is to audio and that is drastically reduced file
sizes - on the order of 10:1. For example, a 2 gig wav file will shrink to
200 megs when fed into an AC_3 encoder.
You could go to the source at http://www.dolby.com/consumer/PC/ for more
info.
However, most software that gives you AC-3 capability (Vegas, Premiere, FCP)
usually discuss how to use it in their manuals.
For example, if you have Vegas & DVD Architect, you automatically get the
AC-3 encoder. When you're finished editing your project in Vegas, you
render out the video as an MPEG-2 stream and the audio as an AC-3 file.
Then go into DVD Architect, import these files and burn your DVD.

Mike

 

[GRIZZ]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

AC-3 is a dvd compliant audio encoding that is more highly compressed
that PCM. AC-3 has a lower bit rate and takes less space on the disk
than PCM encoded audio)

So if you use AC-3 Audio, you can either fit more video on your dvd,
or use a higher bit rate for video encoding.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages provide
Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This capability seems
like a significant decision point at this level.


"Mike Kujbida" <kujfam-misleadingspam@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<2q4f5qFr94f5U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> Drew M. wrote:
> > Can anyone point me to articles for newbies about burning dvd's using
> > dolby (5.1? AC3?) sound in a dvd-video project? I understand that
> > doing so will enable one to get significantly more video on a DVD-R/+R
> > disk. My guess is that you could get better-sounding imported music
> > overlays, too.
> >
> > Also, is there a difference between a video editing package the
> > "supports" dolby sound, and one that actually includes the license,
> > modules, etc., to actually create the soundtrack in it? TIA.
>
>
> AC-3 is to video what MP3 is to audio and that is drastically reduced file
> sizes - on the order of 10:1. For example, a 2 gig wav file will shrink to
> 200 megs when fed into an AC_3 encoder.
> You could go to the source at http://www.dolby.com/consumer/PC/ for more
> info.
> However, most software that gives you AC-3 capability (Vegas, Premiere, FCP)
> usually discuss how to use it in their manuals.
> For example, if you have Vegas & DVD Architect, you automatically get the
> AC-3 encoder. When you're finished editing your project in Vegas, you
> render out the video as an MPEG-2 stream and the audio as an AC-3 file.
> Then go into DVD Architect, import these files and burn your DVD.
>
> Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Drew M. wrote:
> Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages provide
> Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This capability seems
> like a significant decision point at this level.

Apples Dolby Digital encoder called A.Pack is considered to be one of
the best AC3 encoders. It's free when you buy DVDStudio Pro. Got some
screen shots here:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/a_pack_warmouth.html

And for the PC, I think there's an encoder in the Adobe Package too. But
I haven't tried it yet.

-Richard




> "Mike Kujbida" <kujfam-misleadingspam@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<2q4f5qFr94f5U1@uni-berlin.de>...
>
>>Drew M. wrote:
>>
>>>Can anyone point me to articles for newbies about burning dvd's using
>>>dolby (5.1? AC3?) sound in a dvd-video project? I understand that
>>>doing so will enable one to get significantly more video on a DVD-R/+R
>>>disk. My guess is that you could get better-sounding imported music
>>>overlays, too.
>>>
>>>Also, is there a difference between a video editing package the
>>>"supports" dolby sound, and one that actually includes the license,
>>>modules, etc., to actually create the soundtrack in it? TIA.
>>
>>
>>AC-3 is to video what MP3 is to audio and that is drastically reduced file
>>sizes - on the order of 10:1. For example, a 2 gig wav file will shrink to
>>200 megs when fed into an AC_3 encoder.
>>You could go to the source at http://www.dolby.com/consumer/PC/ for more
>>info.
>>However, most software that gives you AC-3 capability (Vegas, Premiere, FCP)
>>usually discuss how to use it in their manuals.
>>For example, if you have Vegas & DVD Architect, you automatically get the
>>AC-3 encoder. When you're finished editing your project in Vegas, you
>>render out the video as an MPEG-2 stream and the audio as an AC-3 file.
>>Then go into DVD Architect, import these files and burn your DVD.
>>
>>Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Drew M. wrote:
> Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages provide
> Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This capability seems
> like a significant decision point at this level.


I'm pretty sure Premiere Pro has it. You'd have to take a look at the
various Ulead products to see whether they offer it or not.
Another (cheap) possibility is that TMPGEnc offers an AC-3 plug-in for their
products for only $29. Hard to beat that price.
http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html for more info.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Mike Kujbida wrote:

> Drew M. wrote:
>
>>Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages provide
>>Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This capability seems
>>like a significant decision point at this level.
>
>
>
> I'm pretty sure Premiere Pro has it. You'd have to take a look at the
> various Ulead products to see whether they offer it or not.
> Another (cheap) possibility is that TMPGEnc offers an AC-3 plug-in for their
> products for only $29. Hard to beat that price.
> http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html for more info.

TMPGEnc Site says..AC-3 with 5.1 channels or other multi-channel sources
cannot be re-encoded.

-Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Richard Ragon wrote:
> Mike Kujbida wrote:
>
>> Drew M. wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages provide
>>> Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This capability
>>> seems like a significant decision point at this level.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm pretty sure Premiere Pro has it. You'd have to take a look at
>> the various Ulead products to see whether they offer it or not.
>> Another (cheap) possibility is that TMPGEnc offers an AC-3 plug-in
>> for their products for only $29. Hard to beat that price.
>> http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html for more info.
>
> TMPGEnc Site says..AC-3 with 5.1 channels or other multi-channel
> sources cannot be re-encoded.
>
> -Richard


AC-3 is a destination format. Why would you worry about re-encoding them?
Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? Besides, if you really want
to, there are several freeware programs such as AC3Decode at
http://www.ac3dec.com/ (Mac version at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac3dec/) to decode an AC-3 stream if you
really wanted to.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Mike Kujbida wrote:

>
> Richard Ragon wrote:
>
>>Mike Kujbida wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Drew M. wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages provide
>>>>Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This capability
>>>>seems like a significant decision point at this level.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>I'm pretty sure Premiere Pro has it. You'd have to take a look at
>>>the various Ulead products to see whether they offer it or not.
>>>Another (cheap) possibility is that TMPGEnc offers an AC-3 plug-in
>>>for their products for only $29. Hard to beat that price.
>>>http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html for more info.
>>
>>TMPGEnc Site says..AC-3 with 5.1 channels or other multi-channel
>>sources cannot be re-encoded.
>>
>>-Richard
>
>
>
> AC-3 is a destination format. Why would you worry about re-encoding them?
> Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? Besides, if you really want
> to, there are several freeware programs such as AC3Decode at
> http://www.ac3dec.com/ (Mac version at
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac3dec/) to decode an AC-3 stream if you
> really wanted to.
>
> Mike

Greetings Mike,

That was the quote from the TMPGEnc web site. I think it reads wrong,
and should say "...can not be encoded." As TMPGEnc is a stereo only
encoder for AC3, and does NOT encode 5.1 as per what the original poster
wanted.

I think TMPGEnc is Japanese, and perhaps something is lost in the
translation.

-Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Richard Ragon wrote:
> Mike Kujbida wrote:
>
>>
>> Richard Ragon wrote:
>>
>>> Mike Kujbida wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Drew M. wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages
>>>>> provide Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This
>>>>> capability seems like a significant decision point at this level.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm pretty sure Premiere Pro has it. You'd have to take a look at
>>>> the various Ulead products to see whether they offer it or not.
>>>> Another (cheap) possibility is that TMPGEnc offers an AC-3 plug-in
>>>> for their products for only $29. Hard to beat that price.
>>>> http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html for more info.
>>>
>>> TMPGEnc Site says..AC-3 with 5.1 channels or other multi-channel
>>> sources cannot be re-encoded.
>>>
>>> -Richard
>>
>>
>>
>> AC-3 is a destination format. Why would you worry about re-encoding
>> them? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? Besides, if you
>> really want to, there are several freeware programs such as
>> AC3Decode at http://www.ac3dec.com/ (Mac version at
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac3dec/) to decode an AC-3 stream
>> if you really wanted to.
>>
>> Mike
>
> Greetings Mike,
>
> That was the quote from the TMPGEnc web site. I think it reads wrong,
> and should say "...can not be encoded." As TMPGEnc is a stereo only
> encoder for AC3, and does NOT encode 5.1 as per what the original
> poster wanted.
>
> I think TMPGEnc is Japanese, and perhaps something is lost in the
> translation.
>
> -Richard


Thanks Richard. I completely missed that the OP was looking for 5.1 AC-3
:-(
In that case, you're right that TMPGEnc can't do it and he needs to look at
a more specialized NLE as you and I suggested.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Well . . . . what I really want to do is increase the video-capacity
of my dvd's using single-layer dvd-r/+r disks. That is, high quality
dvd video, and as much of it, on a disk as I can.

As I understand that ac-3 offers higher compression than pcm, I'm
interested in ac-3. Didn't realize that ac-3 came in 2-channel and
5.1 channel flavors.

I use a stereo consumer digital camcorder. I mix in cd's (waves;
mp3's) for background music. I wouldn't know where to get a 5.1 audio
source from (other than a published dvd, which I'm not goint to use
for sound for a home video).

So, it sounds like TMPGEnc might do the trick.

Don't want to use Premier products. Too expensive; too obtuse.

Part of the problem is understanding product descriptors. For
example, MyDVD 6, which I can upgrade to for $50, has a comparison
chart with versions 4 plus and 5 Deluxe, which states the latter two
"support" output of ac-3 audio. I guess that means they include the
encoder. Given the price, I'm guessing its 2-channel as well.




"Mike Kujbida" <kujfam-misleadingspam@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:<2qdgp2Fu9m6tU1@uni-berlin.de>...
> Richard Ragon wrote:
> > Mike Kujbida wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Richard Ragon wrote:
> >>
> >>> Mike Kujbida wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Drew M. wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> Thanks to all. What other hobbiest/consumer level packages
> >>>>> provide Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoding (besides Vegas)? This
> >>>>> capability seems like a significant decision point at this level.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm pretty sure Premiere Pro has it. You'd have to take a look at
> >>>> the various Ulead products to see whether they offer it or not.
> >>>> Another (cheap) possibility is that TMPGEnc offers an AC-3 plug-in
> >>>> for their products for only $29. Hard to beat that price.
> >>>> http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/index.html for more info.
> >>>
> >>> TMPGEnc Site says..AC-3 with 5.1 channels or other multi-channel
> >>> sources cannot be re-encoded.
> >>>
> >>> -Richard
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> AC-3 is a destination format. Why would you worry about re-encoding
> >> them? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? Besides, if you
> >> really want to, there are several freeware programs such as
> >> AC3Decode at http://www.ac3dec.com/ (Mac version at
> >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac3dec/) to decode an AC-3 stream
> >> if you really wanted to.
> >>
> >> Mike
> >
> > Greetings Mike,
> >
> > That was the quote from the TMPGEnc web site. I think it reads wrong,
> > and should say "...can not be encoded." As TMPGEnc is a stereo only
> > encoder for AC3, and does NOT encode 5.1 as per what the original
> > poster wanted.
> >
> > I think TMPGEnc is Japanese, and perhaps something is lost in the
> > translation.
> >
> > -Richard
>
>
> Thanks Richard. I completely missed that the OP was looking for 5.1 AC-3
> :-(
> In that case, you're right that TMPGEnc can't do it and he needs to look at
> a more specialized NLE as you and I suggested.
>
> Mike