Audio Heard through Surround Sound but not T.V. Speaker

[Mr.Disk]

Help!! So close yet so far!

When I play the finished produce on my DVD player hooked up to the TV, the video is great, but no sound from the TV. I have a surround sound system hooked up to the DVD player, and the audio plays fine through that - it reads "MPEG File" on the surround sound amplifier. My goal is to burn a DVD that is most universally accepted - so that I can watch it on every other DVD player.

Here's the DVD setup:

Capture:
AVI
29.97
DV Encoder - 1
24 bits, 720x480, 16:9
DV Audio - NTSC
32kHz,12bit
*I should note that I'm using a Sony TRV22 and incorrectly had it setup to 12 bit stero instead of 16. I've since switched for future projects.

Project:
AVI
29.97
Lower Field
DV Encoder - 1
24 bits, 720x480, 16:9
DV Audio - NTSC
32kHz,12bit

Convert to MPEG:
MPEG 2
29.97
Lower Field
Ulead MPEG Now Recorder
24 bits, 720x480, 16:9
MPEG Audio
4800 Hz, 160 kbps, stereo
Variable 7000 kbps

Burn:
DVD
29.97
Lower Field
Ulead MPEG Now Recorder
720x480, 16:9
MPEG Audio
4800 Hz, 160 kbps, stereo
Variable 7000 kbps

When burning, I've also tried Dolby Digital 2/0 (L/R), 4800 kbps, stereo. Same result, although richer sound from surround sound than the MPEG Audio.

Have also tried LPCM Audio, 4800 HZ, stereo. Same result, but sound not as rich as Dolby.

Thank You!

[maddrummer3301]

Dolby & pcm audio are the standard but almost all the new dvd players
in NTSC countries can now play mpg audio.

Sounds more like a hardware or setup issue with your equipment.

Maybe take the dvd with dolby audio to a store and try it on one of
the tv/dvd combination units that have a built-in dvd player.
Should play fine.

MD

[erock1]

Mr. Disk, what maddrummer said about an equipment issue is good advice. When I first started making DVDs with VS everything went fine but the DVDs I made didn't have sound on the TV either. I found out that I had to go into my DVD player's setup to change the audio selection. Once I did that all the DVDs I made played with sound on the TV. The DVD player I bought didn't have it's own audio decoders. I figured there was no sense in spending the xtra bucks on a DVD player with decoders if my home theater receiver had them. My DVD player would play with sound on the TV any DVD with mono or Dolby audio (not in 5.1) but not LPCM. My home theater receiver has all the audio decoders and all DVDs played with sound through it just like yours.

[Mr.Disk]

Thanks, I'll check my DVD player audio setup when I get home. I've got a Panasonic Progressive Scan DVD player that I bought at Costco a couple of years ago.

With that said, is there any way to format the audio for the lowest common denomenator, so that the DVD will work universally; ie if I send to family and friends?

Cheers

[maddrummer3301]

Dolby audio 2/0 at 256kbs seems to be an average standard.

MD

[DVDDoug]

This is a very strange problem... I assume that commercial DVDs play audio thru the TV... right? Commercial DVDs have AC3, LPCM, or both.

With that said, is there any way to format the audio for the lowest common denomenator, so that the DVD will work universally; ie if I send to family and friends?

To expand on what maddrummer said, the DVD standard requires that all NTSC players must play Dolby AC3 and LPCM. If a DVD has 5.1 channel AC3, the player should automatically down-mix the audio to its stereo audio jacks. I generally use Dolby AC3 because it leaves more room for higher-quality video.

The biggest compatibility issue is that not all players can play the various recordable formats. Some canot play any "burned" DVDs. The most compatible is DVD-R which will play on about 90% of players. DVD+R is a close 2nd.

Have also tried LPCM Audio, 4800 HZ, stereo. Same result, but sound not as rich as Dolby.

Strange... LPCM is the only non-lossy, non-compressed, DVD audio format. I assume that you really used the standard 48,000Hz.... 4,800Hz would be less than telephone-quality.

[Mr.Disk]

DVDDoug:

Right, forgot the dreaded "k" ...

Yep, commercial DVD's work fine through the TV.

I'll try using AC3 to see how that works - I'm not at home and can't remember if AC3 was an available option while burning; I know it was a plugin with earlier than version 8.

Another question - I've seen that some posts recommend using Nero or another program to actually burn the DVD. In your opinion is this extra step needed in version 9?

[Ken Berry]

I think the recommendation to use Nero or a third party program to burn the final DVD, was linked to a problem quite a few people were having with video/audio sync. The idea was to produce a video folder (Video_TS) or image file(ISO) of your project in VS, and then burn it with the other program. The result seemed to avoid the sync problems. I was one of the lucky ones who never had any sync problems in VS 7 or 8 (or now, 9 touch wood), but still sometimes use Nero as I like the ability it has to verify the burned disc against the original data. Certainly you only lose a couple of minutes in closing VS and then opening the Video_TS (or ISO) file produced by VS in Nero and then burning. Burning times remain roughly equal, though the verification process in Nero adds a few minutes to the overall burning process.

[Mr.Disk]

Duhhh. Ok found the problem. DVD player wasn't hooked up to TV, just surround sound. Guess I'm so used to using the surround I forgot I didn't hook up the TV.

Thanks for all the help - this could have gone on forever.

One last question. At a couple points during playback, the audio "skips"; the surround sound display "resets" and then reconnects. TV audio is fine. What might cause the brief disconnect between the DVD audio and the surround sound receiver?

[maddrummer3301]

Just maybe when you connected the TV audio you bumped the optical cable
from the dvd player to the audio receiver.
If the audio continues to play out to the TV it's not in the DVD player.

I have an optical cable from my cable box I need to replace.
Does the samething once in awhile.

To many wires & remote controls on most TV setups now.

MD

[sbjenks]

Experiencing the exact same thing with the 9.0 version. I did not have this problem with 8.0. In fact, I recaptured by project with 8.0, burned it to a DVD, and was able to play it fine on my new Sony DVD player. I posted a message to Ulead support, received a reply that bascially gave a 'canned response' to the problem. I think it is safe to say that there may be a bug in this 9.0 release. BTW, my DVD played with distorted sound on the TV, sound through the stereo was fine.