AC3 encoding?

Does iDVD '08 finally add Dolby AC3 audio encoding?

Does iDVD '08 finally add Dolby AC3 audio encoding?
It doesn't look like it

Similar Messages

  • Free AC3 encoding workflow

    Like most of you, I was annoyed to find out I couldn't create AC3 surround sound files with my CS4 software, and also that we got downgraded from Audition to Soundbooth.  We all paid a lot for it! I know many people have ranted about that already, so enough said.
    Here is a workflow that gets around that problem without ponying up for the SurCode Plug-in, and/or buying Audition!
    To convert your mixed 5.1 audio, or stereo audio, to the DVD standard AC3 file that Encore wants, download the latest version of Audacity here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/  It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.  If you don't know already, it's free!
    Now, before I start getting flamed, about Audacity, it works great!  The UI is not the most modern, but the quality is top-notch.  I've used it for years and most complaints about it are unjustified.
    You'll need to download the latest version: "Beta: 1.3x - for advanced users."  There will soon, I hope, be an Audacity 2.0 stable release. Until then, use the Beta release for this workflow.
    Note:  I'll focus on Premiere Pro CS4, because that is where I originally troubleshooted this, but something similar will work for the other Adobe products that use sound.
    Workflow:
    Create your mixed 5.1 surround sound audio in Premiere, and output the audio only by going to File > Export > Media, and selecting "Windows Waveform" as the output.  You should only have "Export Audio" checked.  Verify the format in the Summary section.  You should see something like: 48000 Hz, 5.1 Surround, 16 bit.  Now under Audio codec, make sure "Uncompressed" is selected.  Click Okay, and Adobe Media Encoder should launch.  Click "Start Queue" and your audio file will be created.  You'll get an interleaved 6 channel wave file.  Not all applications will open it, but Audacity will. 
    Note:  When you mix your surround sound in the Audio Mixer, you'll place your little "Puck" where you want the sound to come from.  Picture yourself in the middle of the "dish," if it's a puck, isn't it in a rink, as in hockey rink...ah, but I digress.  Anyway, you'll notice that volume meters in the 5.1 (6 channel) Master section are laid out in the following order: L,R,LS,RS,C,LFE.  Also, if you open a 5.1 audio file in the Source panel, you'll see the same order from top to bottom: L,R,LS,RS,C,LFE.   Soundbooth also does it that way.  Ahh....Adobe...nice try. 
    The actual channel order should be L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS.  That's the order that you'll probably have to assign in the "Audio Output Mapping" section in the properties menu to get your channels to play correctly with your surround sound hardware.  L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS is also the order that interleaved files use.  So after you create your 5.1 file, and open it in another audio program that displays them in the "proper" order, like Audacity, you'll see your tracks laid out from top to bottom in that order.  I'm not sure why Adobe does it that way, but oh well.
    Surround sound primer: 
    The LFE channel is not, despite popular misconception, a subwoofer channel.  Bass from all the channels in a surround sound Amplifier is summed and sent out to the Subwoofer.  The LFE channel is supposed to be used only for very low frequencies, to create extra  ...oomph.  I think that is the technical term.  It is not supposed to be used for bass frequencies from the other tracks.  It is for explosions, dinosaur footsteps, ...etc. 
    Audacity will open DVD ".vob" files, and even let you select which stream (usually Language) to open.  As an example, open up a movie with some action in it like Ironman (The movie starts at "VTS_03_1.vob") and look at the LFE channel.  It's the 4th track from the top in Audacity.  You'll see it's silent except at parts where there is thumping AC/DC music at the Intro, or explosions.  It's not used as a subwoofer channel!   
    With that in mind, you may have noticed, unless I'm missing something, that there is no way in the Premiere Mixer to assign an audio track only to the LFE channel.  Sure, you can dial up the "Bass Clef" knob to 0.00 db, and send a mono channel's audio to the LFE channel, but there is no place to put the "Puck" that only outputs to LFE.  There is one for the center channel, but without someplace to put it, your 40 Hz dinosaur footprint "Thump" is going to also be assigned to some of the other channels.  Which channels depends on your "Puck" placement.  This is not correct.  Again, unless I'm missing something, Adobe needs to correct this oversight.  We'll get back to this problem with a solution later, but first let's continue with the AC3 issue.
    At this point you should have your wave file.  If you want to apply any global changes to all 6 channels, you can open it in Adobe Soundbooth and trim the beginning or end, and apply effects to the entire file.  You cannot, however, make changes to individual channels.  Audacity will!  We'll get to that later.
    Encode with Audacity: 
    Install the software and go to Edit > Preferences > Libraries, and click on "Download" for the "FFmpeg Library."  This is the library that Audacity will use to create the .AC3 file.  Once installed, the library version should show up next to "FFmpeg Library Version" While the "Audacity Preferences" window is still open, select "Import/Export" and select "Use Custom Mix", this is used to export a 5.1 channel file.  Now you're ready to open your .wave file from Premiere.  Drag and drop it in the Audacity workspace and you should see 6 mono tracks laid out from top to bottom in the following order: L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS.  Audacity will let you edit the individual tracks, unlike Soundbooth, thanks Adobe.  But for now, we'll keep it simple.  Set your "Project Rate" in audacity in the lower-left corner to what you want the AC3 file to be.  For DVD, chose 48000 (Hz).  If you leave it at 44100 (Hz) Encore won't import it. 
    Your almost done.  Now let's export the file.  Go to Files > Export... > and select "AC3 Files (FFmpeg)" in the "Save as type:" drop-down.  Click the "Options..." button and set the "Bit Rate:" for your file.  For 5.1 AC3 audio, probably 448.  Now enter a file name and click "Save."  This will open the "Advanced Mixing Options" window.  This allows you to re-map the tracks to a different channel order.  It should be correct, and it should show "Output Channels:" set to 6.  Press "OK" and you're done.
    Presto, you have a 5.1 channel AC3 file.  Use that in Encore, or whatever DVD creation program you use, and when you play your DVD you'll have full 5.1 audio coming out your surround sound Amplifier.  That is if you have one.
    Test your file:
    If you want to test your file, you can do a couple of things.  Since Soundbooth and Adobe  Bridge won't even open AC3 files, and Encore will open but only play the Left and Right channels in the preview, you'll have to either import the file into Premiere, or use another media player.
    If you got Premiere to play your surround properly, then you can drag and drop the file into the "Project" panel and preview it from there. You will hear all 6 channels in the correct speakers, but I did notice that the quality is not very good.  Maybe Premiere doesn't decode AC3 all that well.  I heard some crackle that isn't in the file.  How do I know it isn't just a bad encoding job by Audacity?  Because I played the file with the VLC media player, and Cyberlink PowerDVD on the same computer, and also on a DVD in my home theater system with no artifacts.  Maybe Premiere doesn't decode AC3 files well. 
    The VLC player, will play almost any file in the known universe, and at least on my computer, it automatically played the AC3 surround file, created by Audacity, with all the channels mapped correctly.  That's right, full surround out my speakers with only default settings.  It's a great player.  Get it for free here: http://www.videolan.org/
    Test with Encore:
    So far so good. Now open Encore, drop the AC3 file in an empty project, throw it on a Timeline and build the project without Video,  It will autoplay without a menu this way. If you set the End-Action to the same AC3 file it will repeat continuously.  Either burn this to DVD-RW and test it in your DVD player, or better yet, Build the project to a DVD Image instead, and mount it in a virtual DVD   Drive with a program like "Virtual CloneDrive."
    If you don't know what that is, or how to do it, it is very simple.  Go to: http://www.slysoft.com/en/ and download "Virtual Clonedrive."  It is free.  It tricks your operating system into thinking you have another physical DVD drive.  In fact, it can create up to 8 virtual drives.  Now you don't have to waste time burning, and erasing DVD's every time you make a change to a project.  You can build your project as a DVD Image from Encore, save the .iso file to your Desktop and "mount" it (load it) in Virtual Clonedrive.  You're computer will now think you loaded a DVD into a physical drive, and launch whatever DVD player you have installed.  Mine launches "Cyberlink PowerDVD" which plays the AC3 audio-only DVD in full surround sound on my computer. 
    Building and testing projects this way will save you endless hours.  If you need to make a quick change, just "Unmount" the .iso in Virtual Clonedrive, rebuild your project to the same filename, and "Mount" it again.  Instant testing!
    Now, as promised, back to that LFE Channel problem with Premiere that I mentioned:
    Audacity will let you modify the individual channels in your interleaved 6-Channel file.  So don't put anything in that channel in your Premiere mixer. Leave the "Bass Clef" knobs at full CCW position ( -00 db ).  The bass from the other channels will go to your subwoofer automatically in your Amplifier.
    Now if you have some low frequency effects files, open them in Audacity.  You can open multiple instances of Audacity at the same time by going to "File > New."  Then, copy and paste them into the LFE Track at the correct point.
    Audacity newbie Hint:  Audacity doesn't yet have a "Mix-Paste" function, so to avoid altering the track length as you paste in your clips, do the following: Select the LFE track by clicking on it's info area.  The info area should say something like "Mono, 48000Hz"  Then press "Delete," That will remove everything from the track.  Now copy and paste your clips into the track by clicking once with the "Selection Tool" where you want the clip to start, and selecting "Edit > Paste."  If you need to fine tune the position of the pasted clip, use the "Time Shift Tool" to move it left or right.  If you work from left to right, then you won't push clips over when you paste new ones in.
    There is another way to do this by opening up new tracks, using the "Mix and Render" function, and re-ordering the tracks to maintain the L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS channel order.  But that's for advanced users.
    Where to get thumpy effects?:
    Remember, Audacity will open DVD ".vob" files.  Just remember to get permission from the copyright owner.  HeHe.
    PS If you can't get your surround sound to work with Premiere on your computer, see my other tutorial.

    After further research, there is a better AC3 encoder out there than the FFMPEG that Audacity uses.  It is a more sophisticated implementation of the format.  Unlike FFMPEG, it uses floating point numbers instead of integers internally, among other things.  It is also updated periodically.  Although the pace is glacial.
    You can read about it here: http://aften.sourceforge.net/
    The easiest way to use it is with a graphical front-end like "wavtoac3encoder" found here: http://code.google.com/p/wavtoac3encoder/
    You don't need to change anything from the default settings.
    Just follow my tutorial above and instead of using Audacity to create the AC3 file after you are done editing, output the multi-track file in .wav format uncompressed from Audacity.  Then drag and drop it into "wavtoac3encoder"and create your file.
    If you don't need to edit the multi-track .wav file from Premiere in Audacity, then just drag and drop that file into "wavtoac3encoder" and encode.
    The quality, although probably not as good as SurCode, sounds good to me.
    Remember, this is strictly for non-commercial use.

  • Ac3 encoded video, SPDIF but my receiver switches to ste

    Hi all,
    I've got this problem, I got a video witch says to have ac3 encoded audio. Once tested with Gspot codec information that seemed to be true. When I run the video an icon appears of Dolby digital bit stream out but my external receiver switches to digital stereo in stead of switching to 5. surround sound witch the receiver normally does when I run ac3 encoded files....
    All the settings are set to SPDIF pass trough. Other ac3 encoded files give no problem, perfect 5. surround sound...
    So whats wrong here... Is the video file a faker or what
    Greetings and thanks in advance, Thomas Voortman

    It says the following:
    Audio:
    Bit rate: 224 kbps
    Audio format: AC-3 ACM decompressor
    Off course it gives more info, but i guess that isn't necessary?
    I already checked this summary but didn't knew how to change this settings. I guess that the audio format is the prob? Is it possible to change it's
    Thanks in advance.
    Greatings, Thomas Voortman

  • Mac alternatives for affordable 5.1 AC3 encoding?

    A musician, I was looking into DVDSP 4 so I could get into adding 5.1 audio created in Cubase SX to video. I have FCPE, which has more than plenty of video production features for me, so obviously I don't want to spend $1300 just for 5.1 AC3 encoding.
    Is there an alternative for 5.1 dolby encoding for mac users under the $500 mark? Do I need to go over to the dark side for this? (I've seen a couple apps for Windows).

    Hi again-
    Okay, about DVD-A: you asked about playback options, specifically the cable issue (six analog or one optical specifically.) It depends...how's that for an answer! Actually, it depends on your player and preamp/receiver. I take it since you knew enough to ask the question in the first place, you're familiar with the copy protection involved with both DVD-Audio and SACD for that matter. They were originally not allowed to be sent digitally from the player to the preamp. I believe it's the way the labels wanted to try to put the copy genie back in the bottle that they lost from CDs. Anyways, unless you've got something like D-Link from Denon (for only their DVD and receiver) or even some FireWire units that talk the same encryption on both ends for digital it won't work. Me, I have to rely on the six audio RCA cables to get the signal from my Denon DVD player to the Outlaw Audio preamp. The normal digital cable I've got connected will not pass the DVD-Audio or SACD stream along from the player. Another case of me, the end user, being treated as guilty until proven innocent. But that's another story.
    DTS CDs: I've found that the medium I use, either DVD or redbook CD, is rather irrelevant when it comes to providing a DTS stream to my preamp- it likes both equally well, and recognizes them identically as DTS. The most important thing is the digital steam that's DTS encoded- once it leaves the player, it looks the same going across the wire. At least that's been my experience. That's why DTS originally could release DTS CDs- as long as their was a digital connection to a preamp that can decode DTS, a normal CD player works fine. In fact, I can also use the six channel input to play it back as my DVD player decodes the DTS stream internally and often do. My 14 year old CD player won't decode DTS, but with the digital out it can only pass the stream along to an outboard decoder.
    As an aside, I can expand on this a bit. To augment my modest home studio monitors (two Event 20/20's), I bought an okay 5.1 speaker setup, the Alesis ProActive one that is more or less a rebranded Logitech but with six analog 5.1 inputs (important to me for mixing from my MOTU 828) and detachable speaker wire because I'm a prude that way. Anyway, out of the box and connected via one optical cable from my G5, I could get it to play anything except my DTS encoded tracks. Actually it played them- think white noise. Not good. I did some Googles and found out that the volume coming from the Mac had to be pretty much pegged to the max for the DTS decoder in the ProActive brain to recognize the digital stream. Once I did that, I got the DTS 5.1 soundtrack just fine.
    Too bad about IM not being prompt. Like I said, I like the product and I've had no issues and I've needed no support as the product is self-documenting. It does one thing and does it well for me. Hopefully someone from their sales team will find this thread and convince the company to arrange at least a basic sales page with the website. As I said earlier, I did many Googles over the course of maybe a month and never found the right query to hit IM's page, and it was DTS that finally pointed me to their website.
    DVD Studio Pro is worth it, if only to allow you to share your recordings to create DD mixes with pretty menus and the such. If IM ever gets off their butt it's worth at least a demo since you could encode and burn both DD and DTS tracks to the same DVD and see what you'd like better.
    DVD-Audio is (was?) a good format (pet peeve- let me leave the TV off please- I hate having to navigate a menu to start track 1!!!) Of course there's enough confusion in the home theater world now that explaining to someone that you'll need six more cables isn't easy. Chicken and egg too- the software titles never panned out for the masses. And don't get me going with Sony screwing up yet again by not releasing stuff like the entire Pink Floyd catalog in SACD at launch of that format. I've heard enough 5.1 mixes of both classic and new recordings to know that I'm completely sold on the notion of surround music. Unless you like classical music, the choices are a bit thin of course. I do agree with you- hopefully the HD versions of DD and DTS will give the industry a kick in the backside to release more multichannel music.
    Hmmm...encoding DTS via Virtual PC, eh? Shouldn't be too bad. Then again, if enough people from Apple who have the power to do something realizes that you, me, and at least a few others are interested but have to resort to a Windows solution for a multi-media codec, maybe they'll release such a beast. Then again, I'm one of the many waiting for a decent alternative to Quicken since Intuit screwed up the initial OS X version and never quite fixed it...
    Cheers!
    Marty

  • Importing Video with AC3 encoding

    Hi,
    I am completely new to FCE 4.0. For years, I've been using my Sony DVD Camcorder (DCR-DVD403) to capture my raw footage. The camcorder an onboard Dolby Digital AC3 encoder which I use all the time. I import the video to my PC since using the Sony Picture Perfect software to preserve the AC3 encoding. However, when I import it into FCE 4.0, the video plays fine but I get now audio whatsoever.
    Any ideas how to fix this?
    Thanks,
    Randy

    Thanks for the tip. I ended up using the MPEG Streamclip function "DEMUX to M2V and AC3" to divide the original video file into a discrete video (.m2v) and audio (.ac3) file. I then imported into FCE 4. I was not sure how to load the two files into the Preview window, so I instead chose to drag each file separately into the Sequence window. To get all 6 audio channels I had to add 2 more audio channels prior to loading. FCE requires that you render the entire clip first after completing the render, I was able to replay the clip with full 6 channel Dolby Digital.
    There is still one thing that I cannot figure out. Which audio channel corresponds to its respective audio output (ie. A1 = Front Left, A2 = Right Left, A3 = Centre, ...).
    Anyone know the answer?
    Thanks,
    Randy

  • AC3 ENCODING - LFE CROSSOVER QUESTION

    I am having issues with the ac3 encoder adding signal to my LFE channel and normalizing it at least 5 or 6 db hotter. I am getting my center dialogue on the LFE. Has anyone encountered this? I am wondering if there is a way I could just encode the channels as they were mixed without any normalizing or crossing - just leave them native and split them out.

    After further research, there is a better AC3 encoder out there than the FFMPEG that Audacity uses.  It is a more sophisticated implementation of the format.  Unlike FFMPEG, it uses floating point numbers instead of integers internally, among other things.  It is also updated periodically.  Although the pace is glacial.
    You can read about it here: http://aften.sourceforge.net/
    The easiest way to use it is with a graphical front-end like "wavtoac3encoder" found here: http://code.google.com/p/wavtoac3encoder/
    You don't need to change anything from the default settings.
    Just follow my tutorial above and instead of using Audacity to create the AC3 file after you are done editing, output the multi-track file in .wav format uncompressed from Audacity.  Then drag and drop it into "wavtoac3encoder"and create your file.
    If you don't need to edit the multi-track .wav file from Premiere in Audacity, then just drag and drop that file into "wavtoac3encoder" and encode.
    The quality, although probably not as good as SurCode, sounds good to me.
    Remember, this is strictly for non-commercial use.

  • AC3 encoding is impredictable in Compressor 2

    The Dolby AC3 encoding in Compressor has some major volume problems. Normally when using Dialog normalization at -31 (for instance in A.pack), the level would be the same as my DTS encodings.In Compressor 2.02 my 5.1 was 4 dB's to soft (looks like it went for -27 instead of -31) and my stereo way to loud.
    Is there a way to install A.pack on a system with DVD studio Pro 4 installed?

    I've seen one unconfirmed report that A.Pack would not work under QuickTime 7. However, I have A.Pack installed on my Tiger system (which uses QT7) and it seems to be okay. I've not tried any long audio encodings and under Tiger I have not yet burned a DVD with Dobly/AC-3 audio but A.Pack does run under my Tiger/QuickTime 7 setup.
    Given that, I would expect that the files output from A.Pack would still work with DVDSP 4. However, I can't confirm that since I'm still using DVDSP 2.
    In Compressor 2.02 ...
    Where did you find Compressor 2.02? To the best of my knowledge the latest version of Compressor is 2.0.1.

  • Why doesnt X-Fi have on-the-fly AC3 encodi

    I dont understand why Creative didnt add on-the-fly AC3 encoding on the X-Fi - considering the cost of the card, and 5million transistors? Surely it could at least be done in Software (drivers) with a bit of help from the CPU?
    HDA X-Mystique 7. Gold is only a $80 sound card and has a C-Media 8768 8channel chip that encodes all audio (stereo, games, DVD's, etc..) in the PC to Dolby Digital 7. and outputs it as SPDIF - no analog inputs, no confusing DigitalDIN connectors. Just one optical connector
    http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/x-mystique/
    And considering all creative cards have major PCI Latency problems on various PC's (my SBLi've cuts out when passthroughing AC3 via Digital TV Tuner software, yet my onboard realtek AC97 chip works perfectly - changed the PCI latencies with no luck), I think I'm totally losing faith in Creatives workmanship Message Edited by Anarchi on 0-24-2005 0:50 PM

    Partly because Creative have their heads up their rear ends when it comes to using a digital connection. They're more concerned with analog and do very little with the digital out which Dolby Digital Li've uses. I'm sure most are aware that only the advantage of using the digital out on a sound card and having speakers capable of decoding dd and dts is for movie watching.
    Other activities will be limited to stereo which is fine for me I don't need my other speakers around me outputting the same thing. I will however be purchasing a set of speakers without a decoder next time probably Klipschs because I have horrible problems playing dvds in Windows XP MCE 05 with the digital out on(Logitech Z-680 decoding the dd or dts stream).
    I didn't have the problems before with my SB Audigy 2 zs, but after responding to my email I sent Creative thinks it's MCE which is hogwash. FYI my problems are out of sync audio/video and glitchy audio when playing dvds I have to sometimes rewind or use the skip chapter button to correct the audio.

  • Missing audio on AC3 encode

    I have a small mix that plays fine in Soundtrack Pro. When I export the mix as an AC3 file 2 of the dialogue clips are missing. When I go back to my STP mix they are still in the mix but silent. If I reassign them to a different sub mix and then back to the original sub mix they play again. Unfortunatly there is no way to get them to play in the AC3 encoded mix. Does anyone have an inkling about how to fix this.

    I'd start over with a new multitrack and place those files in it to try and track the problem.

  • Dolby Digital/AC3 encoding?

    I just bought a K8N Neo4, and hooked it up to my Panasonic audio receiver - just the one cable, S/PDIF optical. I was hoping to get 5.1 sound out of this, but all I get is two channel stereo. 
    Is there any way to encode a signal that my receiver can use to produce full surround sound (it supports Dolby Digital and DTS signals)?

    Nice.
    I never even heard of it.  I always thought the only way was to go 6ch analog and have your external amp support multi channel in if the source wasn't DD/DTS already in which case it's not DD anyway.  Otherwise you only get 2ch PCM on the SPDIF. Then again I only have owned Creative sound cards....geez even then Creative made you buy the breakout box to enable AC3 decoding unless you made a board mod...  Of course you still need a multi channel source.  What kind of software do they come with?  Can you play a 6ch .wav for example and have a DD/DTS stream over SPDIF/Optical? or is only really for games, so for simplicity you can have one cable/fiber and not go analog till it 's on the way to the speakers?  Still though except for a few less cables, and when the D/A conversion takes place(and therefore the quality of which component is doing it, sound card or amp) I don't think it's that big of a deal if you have multichannel input amp.  DD is still not lossless compression so the big advantage would seem to be for those without multichannel inputs.  Otherwise it would be an interesting comparrision for the audiophile which I'm not.  You have a pure source and you compress to DD and lose quality and then decode and output  vs. Pure source going analog, losing signal quality along the way and outputting.  someone on the internet has surely done it.

  • Compressor AC3 encoding error!

    When I encoded my 2Hour,53Minutes 6 Channel Wave file in compressor 2, the length of the final 5.1 AC3 file (448 Kbps)for DVD is 28 Minutes only!
    Why ?
    Is there any length limit in compressor?
    Any one faced this problem before?
    Please advice me!
    Thanks & regards
    Vij
    G5   Mac OS X (10.4)   Duel 2.8 Ghz, 2.5 GB, 250 GB.

    Hi
    Yesterday I came to know that the actual problem was not in compressor, but that was in Adobe Audition, in which I created the 6 Channel WAV file.
    When I exported the 6 channel wave (16 bit, 48 KHz) from a Stereo source wave (16 bit, 48 KHz, and its length is 153 Minutes) in Audition, the file size shown was 4.9GB and 28 Minutes in length!
    I tried to export the same as 6 individual mono wave files. This time the total file(6 mono wave files) size is also 4.9 GB but the length is '153 Minutes'.
    I think, there is a bug in Audition, where it handles the size and length of a 6 channel Wave!
    regards
    VIJ

  • Compressor - Dolby Digital 5.1 AC3 encoding problem

    I'm completely stuck - I'm creating AC3 files in compressor using the "add surround sound feature" from 6 DISCREET mono AIFF files. I know they are discreet because I've listened to them in STP.
    When I create the AC3 files, however, they playback (on a surround sound system that supports 5.1) in all speakers - I'm getting bleed from each track on all speakers - for example, I can hear spoken dialog in the rear speakers, though the discreet AIFF files for both rear speakers do not this spoken dialog in them.
    I'm at a loss and under pressure to create true, 5.1 AC3 files today. I have no idea what I could be doing wrong. Any ideas? Does it matter that my Mac Pro sound card does not support 5.1 Playback (again, I'm listening to the files on a surround sound system, not on this computer)
    Thanks for any help you may have!
    Message was edited by: forty8

    You may need Apple's MPEG2 QT plugin as well for MPEGStreamclip.
    Also, consider if running windows in parallels/Boot Camp etc that there's a windows version, and possibly a linux version.
    VisualHub code was released open source - Google FilRedux and PunyVid (iSquint derivative). Not tried either though.

  • Batch AC3 encoding from MP2 or MPA audio files

    Hello all!
    I've been using bbDemux and mpgtx Demuxer to demultiplex my MPG-2 files captured with Telestream.
    The result is an .m2v file (video stream) and an .mpa (audio stream from bbDemux) or .mp2 (audio stream from mpgtx).
    When I put the .mpa or .mp2 files into Compressor 2 and try to convert them to .ac3 with the "Dolby 2.0" preset, I get an .ac3 file that contains no audio.
    (I am checking to see whether or not it has audio by dragging it to an audio channel in DVDSP4).
    In the past, before Compressor 2 came out, I would convert these .mpa or .mp2 files to .aif with Cleaner before converting to .ac3 with A-Pack.
    Does anyone here know why Compressor 2 can't convert the MPEG-audio files to .ac3? It would save me a lot of valuable time to be able to do this!
    Thanks in advance for any help or advice --
    Jerome Silverman
    Dual 1.25GHz G4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

    i set compressor to no compression and complete main. is there something i'm missing.
    Try adjusting the Dialog Normalization setting to -31.
    Setting it to -31 effectively negates the feature and maintains your previous audio level.
    And, yes, volume getting reduced is a normal thing when compressing .ac3 (so long as Dialog Normalization is on).

  • AC3 Encoding with Compressor 2

    Hi all --
    Anyone know why Compressor 2 won't convert my MPG audio streams to AC3?
    I demuxed an MPG-2 program stream to .m2v and .mpa elementary streams.
    The .m2v plays fine -- the .mpa must first be converted to 48kHz AIFF before Compressor will convert it to AC3.
    Wish I could skip that intermediate step -- anyone know how?
    Thanks -- Jerry
    Dual 1.25GHz G4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

    Thanks everyone.
    So here's a related question:
    I've used MPEG Streamclip in the past --
    When I do "Demux to M2V and AIFF" on a clip,
    the AIFF comes out fine... but the M2V is a program stream, not elementary!
    In other words, it's not a true demux, because the M2V still has an embedded audio stream!
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