possible to record an optional commentary track?

Joecool · Post by **Joecool** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:50 am

I am a relatively new user to VS v11 and am in the process of digitizing old family 8 mm film clips, editing them into a 1 hour .mpg movie, and burning them onto DVDs for family members. So far, everything's been working exceptionally well, and I've been very pleased with the ease of doing this project in VideoStudio. The entire movie has a music soundtrack since the original 8 mm clips have no audio to use. My desire is to record an audio commentary track that can be played optionally when viewed on the DVD. Can that be done entirely within VS 11? Is it possible to use a different DVD authoring program to sync the .mpg video files from VS 11 and a separate .mp3 audio file? Can it be done at all with off-the-shelf consumer software?

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:18 am

There is no consumer level program which can do that as far as I can tell.

You can have a number of sound tracks but these will be muxed into one when you create the video file for burning to DVD.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 3:25 am

You would need DVD Workshop 2 to do it correctly - i.e. have a button to select alternative audio tracks.

With VideoStudio by itself you would need to create two versions of the video - one with the sound added the other without - then simply name them accordingly on your DVD Menu.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 3:17 am

Quoting myself:

DVDdoug wrote:This is more of a "professional" feature that's included in more expensive DVD authoring programs.

DVD Workshop ($300 - $400 USD) can handle 8 language tracks, and 32 subtitle tracks. DVD Workshop Express ($200 USD) can handle 2 language tracks and 2 subtitle tracks. (Note that DVD Workshop is "getting old". It hasn't been updated in a couple of years. I'm still happily using it, but there is no Vista version, and it lags behind Movie Factory in several features.)

Some versions of DVD Lab ($100 - $250 USD) can handle multiple soundtracks, and I assume the high-end Adobe & Sony DVD authoring programs can do it too.

Joecool · Post by **Joecool** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:00 am

Thanks guys!
I've had a fairly steep learning curve in the area of DVD authoring the last few days. It looks like DVD Workshop Express will accommodate my needs for the extra audio tracks ... but will it burn DVD dual layer disks?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:27 am

Yes of course it will