HD DVD Audio Issue with DVD Studio Pro

[Eric Pautsch]

I doubt DVDSP is able to use 5.1 AC3 on a HD DVD disc at this time. Try PCM and let us know how it works. Regardless of what Apple says, DVDSP is NOT a functional HD DVD authoring tool yet.

[Mark Abney]

are you using the latest version of DVDSP?

perhaps the folks who made the disc that worked in your player are using a differnt version than you?

just a shot in the dark.

good luck with your project.

-mark

[Mark Larue]

I am using DVD SP 4.1.2 which I believe is the most current version available. I’m not sure which version the burning house was using, but I’m assuming it’s the most up to date, as this would probably be the most compatible with the media types we sent. Does anyone know if PCM audio will play back as 5.1? I’ve read stuff online, but what I keep finding is just plane stereo. What we sent out was the AC3 file with dolby audio 5.1 and that’s what we need to play back. But if PCM can play back the 5.1 bitstream then this might be the solution.

Thanks Again,

Mark

[Eric Pautsch]

No PCM is not 5.1. Are you sure your vendor authored your disc with 5.1? Have you confirmed this?

[Mark Larue]

Yes, the DVD from the Vendor has Dolby 5.1 audio. We mixed the audio in protools and output the AC3 file which is what we sent them. When we play back in our protools suite and conference room which has surround, its’ there in full glory. We ended up making some tweaks to the audio and this is why we’re trying to burn in ourselves.

[Nick Righton]

I have found that the type (brand) of media you use is very important. I burn Red Laser HD-DVD discs weekly with DVDSP and have had no problems, even with AC3 audio, until last week that is. I had run out of the Maxell brand DVD-R (they sell them at costco in bulk) and had to resort to using no brand DVD-R media from compusa. The audio would not play in sync after 30 seconds. The video would stutter and audio would be completely out of sync. I encoded and muxed the files many times with no change. I could play the HD-DVD TS folder files from the hard drive with DVDSP but the Toshiba would not have it at all. I got some more Maxell media formated the blank disc with the same files that would not play on the generic media and popped the final product in the Toshiba A2. It played flawlessly. I hope this helps.

[Mark Larue]

I actually was thinking the “brand” of media might have something to do with it. I will buy some different maker’s discs and see if I get any better luck.

Thanks Again,

Mark

[Max Kovalsky]

Not really relevant to this thread, but I just wanted to point out that 5.1 PCM is in fact part of the HD DVD spec. This would of course eat up much of your bit-budget, given that you’re working with DVD-R.

Max
—
Author
New York
Area4.tv

[Mark Larue]

I have tried a bunch of different brand dvd’s and still no luck yet with the sound playing back through the hd-dvd player. I’ll ask our sound designer about encoding a 5.1 pcm file, although someone did say that pcm is only stereo.. I’m assuming that’s just linear pcm?

[Mark Larue]

Alas!!! We finally have success burning to disk on regular memorex dvd-r 8x discs. The media type doesn’t seem to be that much of the reason, but I wouldn’t suggest using cheap disks. One of the reasons we were having issues is that my computer couldn’t read the HD Avid Codec and our system with protools wasn’t up to the latest version of DVD studio Pro which address ac3 file playback with HD-DVD players. Now that we have this all set burning the discs went smoothly and look great at 1920x1080i on our plasma screen and playback dolby digital 5.1!

Thanks everyone for you help and suggestions.

Mark