Aiff or .AC3 on DVD disc?

Hi, I am finishing my band's DVD and I have the final mix in 2 formats. 1 is stereo aiff and the other is a 5.1 .ac3.
My question is, is there any advantage to me converting my stereo file to a 2.0 channel .ac3? Will it play back better in more players because of the lower bit rate required for the stereo .ac3?
It fits on the disk either way and the .aiff sounds good to me so I am inclined to keep it but I would encode it if there are any good reasons to.
Thanks in Advance,
Steve

Just to get the thread back on topic, you can use either AC3 or PCM audio on a DVD, and both should be able to be played back in players around the world (with older PAL systems more likely to struggle with AC3)
AC3 allows for a lower bandwidth, as you point out, and this is only important in two situations. Firstly, if you have a lot of video to fit onto a disc it is wise to reduce the audio file size for the relatively tiny loss of quality (I'd bet most people wouldn't hear it on a standard player set up) because audio is easier to compress and get right than video. Secondly, if you are burning a disc yourself rather than going to replication.
When you burn a disc you are not creating a true DVD-Video disc, but a DVD-R (or +R). These have different compatibility in players, and since they use an entirely different technology for the reflective layer (it is a vegetable based dye rather than aluminium film) you get different responses from set top boxes.
The DVD specification allows for a total bandwidth of 10.08Mbps on a DVD. However, up to 9.8Mbps of this can be used for video, leaving not much for audio. You can, of course, use more for audio and less for video if you wish.
There is a bit of a 'gotcha' though. With a DVD-R or DVD+R you would be very unwise to use these high bandwidths. In fact, since the reflectivity of the surface is so much less you need to reduce the bandwidth. Anecdotal tests from authors all around the world have revealed a reasonable upper limit of around 7.4Mbps produces the most compatible discs in the widest range of players. Going higher introduces an ever diminishing return, in that you gain file size with no appreciable improvement in quality, and you increase the chances of your disc 'choking' the player as it struggles to get the data off at the higher rates.
My advice would be to reduce the audio to AC3 wherever you can, but try it and listen to the result to see if it is acceptable. If you can't tell much of a difference, and you are well attuned to how it should sound, then it's very unlikely anyone else will notice.
So - got lots of room on the disc? Want to have the better sound and the widest compatibility? Use PCM... but remember the upper limits for the bandwidth if burning it yourself.
Got lots of video? Can't hear the difference between the two audio types really anyway? Reduce the file size of the audio by creating AC3 files, and encode the video to get a better visual quality.

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how do you convert audio to ac3 in DVD SP 4 without a.pack
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NO. If you let DVDSP make your encoding you'll get uncompressed audio (AIFF/PCM) what means most probably high bitrate issues during building/playback and a lot of the space of your disc.
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Hi
Hard to say as You don't suply any info on
• What photo file format, size You use
• How You go from photo to iDVD
And ! - Please do not Yell ! - Capitalized letters = Yelling in most forums and here a low and polite conversation most often will get better and more rapid results.
Some thoughts about DVD Quality
• DVD can only be SD-Video what ever tool used to encode it. And that is much less than what Your Mac screen can show.
• Tools used to create the SlideShow - give a very different (quality) result
iMovie'08 to 11 - discard every second line = less resolution
iMovie HD6 and FinalCut - full interlaced video over to iDVD (as good as it can be)
FotoMagico™ _ Great and even more so if result is burned as a Blu-Ray Disk
Some notes follows - if You are of interest.
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1)
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality (movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST
• Best Performances (movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
About double on DL DVDs.
2. Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly eg x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc).
5. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
8. Don’t burn more than three DVD at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while before next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a short-lived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-layer.
Blu-Ray / BD can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl. BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to playback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be play-backed IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx. 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera record in = 100% to iDVD
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are play-backed by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choice before Pro Quality)
Yours Bengt W

MBP 17" EJECTS DVD DISC WHILE BURNING 2X SPEED ERROR CODE 080020063 BY LW

MBP 17" EJECTS DVD DISC WHILE BURNING AT 2X SPEED ERROR CODE 080020063 BY BIGHANDZ

Thank you. This has worked, but I don't know why as it isn't anything I didn't do the last time. What a difference a day makes.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to help.
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in recommended order, choose one of the following tools/workarounds:
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VisualHub (23.32$)
Drop2DV (free)
Cinematize >60$
Mpeg2Works >25$ + Apple plug-in
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connect a miniDV Camcorder with analogue input to a DVD-player and transfer disk to tape/use as converter
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6018.shtml
http://karsten.schluter.googlepages.com/convertdvdstodvs
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******Clicking the Thumbs-Up button is a way to say -Thanks!.******
**Click Accept as Solution on a Reply that solves your issue to help others**

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Aiff or .AC3 on DVD disc?

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