Hi, couldn't see a topic on this anywhere.
I've been burning a few favourite TV programs to DVD. Mainly I get them from a Freecom DVB-T stick. I run the files through VideoRedo to turn them from Transport Stream MPEG into, erm, whatever the non-TS kind of MPEG is called. Then I use DMF5+ to burn a disc. Most of the time this works very well, but when I play the disc sometimes one or more of the programs has an audio track that my (fairly expensive) standalone DVD player can't cope with.
If I make my DVD player show me the audio tracks it will show some as having Dolby Digital 2/0 (which it can play) and others will have 'mpeg audio', which it fails to play - or rather the picture is fine, but there's no sound. Bear in mind that these programs are all captured in the same way, are all from the same TV series, and go through the same process. I thought I'd worked it out at one point: if I edit the program within DMF it creates a DD track; if I don't, it creates an 'mpeg audio' track. That worked a couple of times in the past. But on the last disc I created, that hasn't helped at all. The audio in these files always plays fine within DMF itself and the settings tell it to create Dolby Digital audio on the DVD it creates. I've tried unticking the 'Do not convert compliant MPEG files', but that drastically increases the disc space requirements to the point where I can't get all the programs on the disc. I can get at least 50% of these files to work; any suggestions on how I get to 100%?
Thanks
DVB -> DVD - sometimes MPEG audio, sometimes DD
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maddrummer3301
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"Program Stream"....to turn them from Transport Stream MPEG into, erm, whatever the non-TS kind of MPEG is called.
NTSC DVD players are only required to play LPCM and Dolby. (MPEG-2, MP3 and DTS are optional.) So, all commercial DVDs that have DTS will also have an LPCM or Dolby track....others will have 'mpeg audio', which it fails to play -
DVB is not always DVD compliant. It can have a bitrate* that exceeds the DVD maximum, and the resolution can be non-DVD-compliant. So, it usualy has to be re-coded in any case. I think DVB audio is AC3 (Dolby), but I'm not sure about that.I've tried unticking the 'Do not convert compliant MPEG files', but that drastically increases the disc space requirements
*The file size is entirely determined by bitrate (audio & video combined) and the playing time. Bitrate is measured in kbps (kilobits per second), and this can be scaled-up to Megabytes per hour. Here's a Bitrate Calculator.
[size=92][i]Head over heels,
No time to think.
It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
- Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos.[/size]
No time to think.
It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
- Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos.[/size]
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maddrummer3301
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- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:24 pm
- Location: US
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Rob_Jones
Thanks so much for your replies. I'm trying to make sure I've followed the advice I've been given properly. Maybe I'm not doing it right because I haven't fixed the problem yet.
When I used Fast Export DVD Compliant and then reimported the files, DMF still thought they had MPEG audio. And I definitely set the project settings for DD audio before exporting.
You know I don't have the problematic 'Treat Mpeg Audio as Non-DVD Compliant' option. I've looked for it, but I can't find an option by that name. But since it doesn't work, that's no problem I suppose.
Also, I can't use VideoReDo to prepare the audio in advance by forcing the audio format to DD, because it only offers options for MPEG and LPCM. (Unless I'm looking in the wrong place.)
What I did find was that if, within DMF, I joined two clips then DMF started showing the audio format of the joined segment as being DD audio - even though separately they both come up as MPEG audio. I would declare that the answer to my problem except that the resulting disc had horrendous out-of-synch audio (maybe 10s adrift). (Of course when editing or previewing those same videos within DMF, synching is perfect.) Looking through posts about OOS, I haven't seen one that helps. Not joining files seems like one possible solution, but then I'm back to silent playback. No sound or out-of-synch sound seem to be my current options.
I wish I knew why my first attempt at this worked, with properly synched DD audio for all three episodes on the disc, but at the time I didn't think I needed to save all the source files once I'd created the DVD, so they're gone.
When I used Fast Export DVD Compliant and then reimported the files, DMF still thought they had MPEG audio. And I definitely set the project settings for DD audio before exporting.
You know I don't have the problematic 'Treat Mpeg Audio as Non-DVD Compliant' option. I've looked for it, but I can't find an option by that name. But since it doesn't work, that's no problem I suppose.
Also, I can't use VideoReDo to prepare the audio in advance by forcing the audio format to DD, because it only offers options for MPEG and LPCM. (Unless I'm looking in the wrong place.)
What I did find was that if, within DMF, I joined two clips then DMF started showing the audio format of the joined segment as being DD audio - even though separately they both come up as MPEG audio. I would declare that the answer to my problem except that the resulting disc had horrendous out-of-synch audio (maybe 10s adrift). (Of course when editing or previewing those same videos within DMF, synching is perfect.) Looking through posts about OOS, I haven't seen one that helps. Not joining files seems like one possible solution, but then I'm back to silent playback. No sound or out-of-synch sound seem to be my current options.
I wish I knew why my first attempt at this worked, with properly synched DD audio for all three episodes on the disc, but at the time I didn't think I needed to save all the source files once I'd created the DVD, so they're gone.
So just choose PCM instead of MPEG. And MF cannot pass through MPEG audio because you will not be feeding it MPEG audio. Instead, MF will convert to Dolby if your project is set to Dolby audio.VideoReDo to prepare the audio in advance by forcing the audio format to DD, because it only offers options for MPEG and LPCM
Henry
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maddrummer3301
- Posts: 2507
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:24 pm
- Location: US
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Rob_Jones
That seems to do it
Thanks again. That last piece of advice I think has cracked it. There are definitely different options available when you select a clip and choose Export Video -> Customise... There's a menu showing MPEG Audio but offering Dolby Digital as an alternative. That menu doesn't appear with the Fast Export DVD Compliant Video... option.
Saving as DD audio, then reimporting and checking the Media Clip Properties: it certainly looks like the audio is now DD. The one slight worry is that other clips in DD have that little infinity-like Dolby symbol in the bottom left-hand corner and my reimported clip has the strip-of-film symbol that seems to go along with MPEG audio, but I'll burn a disc and see.
If Ulead read these posts, it would be great if they allowed users to choose the audio type for use later in the project rather than just for export, but at least the export-then-reimport route seems to have the same effect.
Saving as DD audio, then reimporting and checking the Media Clip Properties: it certainly looks like the audio is now DD. The one slight worry is that other clips in DD have that little infinity-like Dolby symbol in the bottom left-hand corner and my reimported clip has the strip-of-film symbol that seems to go along with MPEG audio, but I'll burn a disc and see.
If Ulead read these posts, it would be great if they allowed users to choose the audio type for use later in the project rather than just for export, but at least the export-then-reimport route seems to have the same effect.