Mac alternatives for affordable 5.1 AC3 encoding?

Question

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).

Answer 1

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