Treat Mpeg Audio as Non-Dvd compliant

[Ilene]

Can someone explain how to use this option, in the Share/Create Disk step...I'm confused by what it means. Here's why. I follow all the recommendations per the sticky on this forum for VS9...project settings equal burn settings etc...and all works beautifully. I always check the box that says Do Not Convert Compliant Mpeg Files, and that seems pretty intuitive to me...why re-render a file that is already mpeg. But this audio option has me a bit confused. My project files contain Mpeg files ( with audio) and Audio files ( or music tracks) which I have imported from cd's, which I think ulead converts cda to wav...

At the end of each project, I go to the Share, Create Video File step, and select "same as project settings" to create an mpeg file. I use the parameters listed below for my projects


MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
LPCM Audio, 48000 Hz, Stereo


My projects are always less than an hour, so max video data rate works fine.

I would assume that the audio is all rendered in this step....isn't my whole project being converted to mpeg?

Why when you go to creat disk, and you look at the settings under the little gear, does it offer the audio option "treat mpeg audio as non-dvd compliant"....should this box be checked or not. I usually leave it checked....Sometimes when it is unchecked my dvd's play perfectly, other times, when it is unchecked I think I've had some audio skipping problems.

there is not a lot of info on this forum on this topic, so I was thinking it would be helpful to inquire...and to maybe have this topic addressed in the sticky on Recommended Procedures for VS9

thanks, Ilene

[GeorgeW]

MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
LPCM Audio, 48000 Hz, Stereo

My projects are always less than an hour, so max video data rate works fine.

Why when you go to creat disk, and you look at the settings under the little gear, does it offer the audio option "treat mpeg audio as non-dvd compliant"....should this box be checked or not. I usually leave it checked....Sometimes when it is unchecked my dvd's play perfectly, other times, when it is unchecked I think I've had some audio skipping problems.

Not all NTSC DVD Players will play mpeg audio because it is an Optional audio format (but many will, especially most newer dvd players in the last couple of years).

The settings you are using will create a video file that has LPCM audio, so that option you are talking about has no affect on your video files. It only comes into play if your video files happen to have mpeg audio that would otherwise be treated as compliant (i.e. that it is also sampled at 48000hz and has a valid bitrate for dvd). In this case, you can tell the software to re-encode the mpeg audio to another format for your dvd -- LPCM or Dolby Digital in the template settings.

I would guess that the settings you are using are the reason you sometimes get audio glitches. You are setting a max rate of 8000kbps, combined with lpcm audio which will be 1,536kbps -- that is total bitrate of ~9536kbps -- just shy of the max allowed 9800kbps (10080kbps including subtitles). And if you are using VBR, sometimes the bitrate can "spike" above the stated "max" -- which means you might have spikes in your video that go over the total max for a dvd. This can choke your dvd player, and you end up seeing "stuttering" during playback.

To make things easy on your dvd player, keep your video+audio bitrate <= ~7500kbps, and you should see better compatibility across many brands of dvd players.

Now, in order to do that, you probably want to switch from LPCM audio, to DOlby Digital audio -- that will allow you to still use a high video bitrate.

Regards,
George

[Ilene]

Hi George...thanks for the response...I understand it a little better now. I think I will try your suggestion of lowering the bit rate, and switching to Dolby, just to see if there is a difference. I've only seen the stuttering once or twice...usually if I keep the box checked for "treat mpeg audio as non-dvd compliant"...my work is smooth.

It just amazes me that Ulead puts all this content into their software...rates their software for beginners to intermediates, and then makes no attempt to explain things that are fairly technical.

I learn more from perusing this web board then anywhere else.

thanks again for the quick response!

Ilene