I have a Question: I am going to make a Solo Audio DVD with GUIForDVDAuthor. I can put about 5 to 6 CDs into one DVD. I have several WAVE files at 44.1 KHz. I am going to convert all this 44.1 WAVE files to 48 KHz, but i don t know which format to USE. I can choose between AC3, and MP2 Formats, since both formats are supported by the DVD Standards, and by the GUIForDVDAuthor.


I want to ask what Format do you recommend me to use, the 48 KHz AC3, or the 48 KHz MP2, and the Reasons....Why??? Thanks..

it will probably come down to encoder quality available...

i know toolame/twolame MP2 encoders will provide great quality

i don't know enough about the AC3 encoders available to comment.

i'd be lazy and just use toolame.


later

This depends on a few things...

1.) Will you passing the audio through to an external amp? If so, i don't know of too many amps that can decode MP2, but most (if not all) can decode AC3 pass-through.

2.) Only PAL DVD players are required to have MP2 support, for NTSC it's optional whether your DVD Player will support it. AC3 support is mandatory though.

If neither of these issues affect you, then encode some tracks in MP2 and AC3 at a given bitrate (I'd start at 256 kb/s) then see what you like. If you can't ABX them from the original PCM then try lowering the bitrate, if you can try increasing the bitrate.

Also try to use VBR.

A good AC3 encoder is Aften

I don't have any experience on 48 KHz AC3, like 48 KHz MP2

A video DVD will have considerable overhead of its own VOB structure. I think its not worth spending time on ABXing between say 256 or 224 kBit/s. Go with 256 and if the stream contains artifacts, change the encoder.

The goal of creating a Video DVD is not storage efficiency, but compatibility.

More like ~30 CDs if you're going to transcode them to 256 kbps AC3 or MP2. With LPCM however, 5-6 sounds about right. But then, no need for transcoding (only upsampling), and no codec dilemma.

FYI, DVD-Audio supports sampling rates of 44.1kHz. You would be able to transfer your rips losslessly. But of course you would lose the advantage of ubiquity (there are much fewer DVD-Audio players than DVD-Video players).

hmm i didn't think about the pass-through situation (as i don't have a receiver setup like that...) so i change my mind

in practice, any good dvd player will support mp2 regardless of an official requirement.

anyways, ac3 it is


later

With all due respects to 'Aften', there isn't a good 'free' ac3 encoder. The free ones are OK for movies where it's mostly dialogue, but they're not really up to it as regards music.

ac3 is the best choice, 384 kbps stereo will almost certainly suffice, but you need a Dolby licensed encoder. If this isn't an option, then mp2, subject to compatibility, is the better choice.

well it's just 2.0, john - and you can scale up to 640kbps (oh, btw, i saw you got my linkedin invite! )

with aften i'd use a cbr bitrate (and you can set dolby surround in aften)

i haven't played around much with aften and dvd audio compatibility, but i DO know that twolame cbr 384 does great on all the home projects that i've done.


later