DVD2SVCD: Audio Output Mode MPEG 5.1?

[nk1607]

Hi,

I have converted several DVDs now with D2S. I used Version 1.0.9 Build 2.
I have then downloaded the newest Version 1.0.9 Build 3 and found a new audio output mode-setting: "MPEG 5.1". I started a conversion last night with this new setting that is not yet finished.
I normally watch the SVCDs on a standalone DVD with a normal stero-TV. So I used the audio output setting "stereo" all the time.
But as I will buy in a few month a dolby surround speaker system with 5 speakers and one center bass, I thought this option would be best.

Because I can not test it, I have the following question:
Will the audio output mode "MPEG5.1" work on a normal stereo-tv and on a dolby surround speaker system (with 5/1 speakers)?
An does this option do what I expect, i.e. generating 6 separate audio tracks?

NK

PS: I read the the D2S newbie and adv ref for Version 1.0.9 Build 2 and could not find a hint.


Sorry, forgot some infos that might help (and to show I read the forum and try to be a good Newbie-Poster ;) ):
OS: WinME
CPU: Athlon 1 GHz
Mem: 512 MB
HD: 18 GB
DVD: PAL

[UltimateDBZ]

It should work on any sound system, but if the system isn't 5.1 then obviously you will just get standard sound output. For example: A lot of DVDs use 5.1 surround, and you can play them in most any sound system, regardless of them supporting 5.1 or not.

As for your question about 6 audio tracks, I'm not sure on that one...

[gerti67]

Hi nk1607,

Please see this thread on possible "issues" with MPEG 5.1 Multichannel audio streams:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14567

To sum it up, there are only a very few standalones and external decoders that can properly decode a MPEG 5.1 Multichannel audio stream because it is not comparable to a 5.1 AC3 stream. It's more a Philips specific extension to the SVCD specs and isn't widely supported by other brands.

If you want to buy a 5.1 surround system, make sure it supports Dolby Surround Pro Logic 2 as the next DVD2SVCD release is supposed to have support for it and you will get a 5.1 surround sound from your decoder set from the stereo signal - see here for more:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21714

And do some search the next time - the button won't bite. ;)

Hope this helps,
Gerti

[nk1607]

Hi gerti67,

you are right: searching won't bite. Maybe I have still to learn HOW to search best.
Anyhow thank you very much for your infos and the short clear summary.
That really helped.

Thanx
NK

[UltimateDBZ]

A bit off-topic.. perhaps a new question should be added to the FAQ outlying good search methods. Perhaps an overview of boolean operands, and general tips on using good keywords.

On the off chance this might inspire a few more people to actually USE the search function, it would be worth it :)

[inliner]

I just thought I might give 5.1 a try, because I used to encode 2 audio channels with 160kbps each and if I read things here in the right way, one would need 320kbps for mpeg mc.
Anyhow I don't know, what steps are needed to get mpeg mc on a svcd and all the (older) threads here were somewhat confusing. I tried just to choose MPEG5.1 under options in d2s but then BeSweet crashes :-(

--------------------------------------------------------
- 10.07.2002 16:17:47
- Free on drive D: 16188.63 mb
- AUDIO Extraction
--------------------------------------------------------
Found AC3 stream id: 0x81
Filename: D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Extracted_audio_1.ac3
Audio1 delay: -64 ms
Audio extraction finished.

--------------------------------------------------------
- 10.07.2002 16:18:06
- Free on drive D: 16177.61 mb
- AUDIO conversion
--------------------------------------------------------

Converting Audio to MP2. Filename: D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Extracted_audio_1.ac3
Executing BeSweet. Commandline:
"D:\Programme\DVD2SVCD\BeSweet\BeSweet.exe" -core( -input "D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Extracted_audio_1.ac3" -output "D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Encoded_audio_1.aif" -6chaiff -logfile "D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Encoded_audio_1.log" ) -azid( -L -3db -c normal -s surround2 -g max ) -ota( -d -64 ) -ssrc( --rate 44100 )
Audio conversion of D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Extracted_audio_1.ac3 finished.

Executing MPEG51 Encoding. Commandline:
"D:\Programme\DVD2SVCD\MPEG5.1\pub_enc.exe" -l 2 -m s -n d -r 44.1 -b 160 -L -p 3 -e -v 0 "D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Encoded_audio_1.aif" "D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Encoded_audio_1"
MPEG 5.1 encoding of D:\Daten\Koblitz\Temp\DVD\Test2\Encoded_audio_1.aif finished.

Audio conversion finished.


Did I do something completely wrong??? What is needed furthermore to make a svcd with mpeg mc? I normally use vcdeasy to create my svcd.

Any help especially some kind of quick guide into this would be greatly appreciated.

BTW I use a pioneer receiver which is able to decode mpeg mc and I'm in need of a new dvd player so I thought I might look for one which will work in this config.

TIA

[inliner]

Noone of the pros around here with any idea? :D Or did you just overlook this one here.. I didn't want to start a whole new thread on this ;)

[nk1607]

Hi inliner,

I'm not sure if I can help you a lot.
Things I found out so far: when using audio output mode MPEG5.1 you have to use I-Author to build the CD-Images. (Thats a point I did wrong).
I didn't find out yet how to burn I-Author images. A cif-files is generated I think. Somewhere I read about a prog to convert I-Author image to cue-sheet, but sadly I forget where. As I normally use vcdxbuild, I can't help you on this.

I'm afraid I can't help you with the BeSweet-crash, cause it didn't happen to me. In the audio tab I choosen MPEG5.1, my language for the audio track and 224Kps - the rest I left to default.

For myself I left the MPEG5.1 for good. (Remember your DVD-player has to support MPEG). I will wait for the Dolby Surround Pro Logic 2 and do perhaps another test on that.

NK

[gerti67]

Hi inliner,

I just wanted to answer that I also think that the BeSweet command line is messed up as it uses the "-s surround2" switch but now I saw tha you found it out yourself ;) - did you patch DVD2SVCD the way dvd2svcd described it in the other thread? So this might be the problem, I did a test today with my DVD2SVCD installation and it didn't add the "-s surround2" switch to the BeSweet command line when using the "MPEG 5.1" mode.

So a re-install should do it.

Hope this helps,
Gerti

[inliner]

That patch might be indeed the problem :) Can you tell me, if the difference is just the missing "-s surround2" or if it leaves out the whole "-azid(..)" part?

[gerti67]

Hi again,

here is the BeSweet command line for my short test:

"D:\Programme\DVD2SVCD\BeSweet\BeSweet.exe" -core( -input "G:\Conversions\Evo3\Extracted_audio_1.ac3" -output "G:\CONVER~1\Evo3\Encoded_audio_1.aif" -6chaiff -logfile "G:\CONVER~1\Evo3\Encoded_audio_1.log" ) -azid( -L -3db -c normal -g max ) -ota( -d -128 )

I used 384 kBit for the audio stream and didn't downsample it.

Hope this helps,
Gerti

[inliner]

Yes, thank you very much.

I just tested it myself and found out that the whole problem arises through the "-s surround2" option. stereo works well and as it should :)

One other quick question though, is there a tool which detacts the audio properties of an encoded stream? This would be handy for different situations. And my softdvdplayer keeps telling me the audio is "16bit/44,1khz/2-ch" :mad:

[hitch]

Did you ever find a tool that tell you audio properties?

I have exact same quesiton in another post, just found yours. I'm also encoding into 5.1, but I can't verify if it's working since DVD2SVCD is not creating the .CIF files (multiple i-author restart bug I guess).

I go ahead an create them manually however and it seems to work. Still can't tell if audio is encoded properly though.

Have you also noted that dvd2svcd (presumable i-author) demuxes the bbmpeg muxed stream into mpv and mp2 and then uses the demuxed bbmpeg streams as the source for i-author muxing presumable with the 5.1 channels. Following the logic, this makes me wonder whether the bbmpeg muxed file has the 5.1 channel audio in it at all. I wouldn't think so or we wouldn't be using i-author so I can't see how the 5.1 audio gets from the original .ac3 file to the final .cif file.

Anyone else have this thought and I am missing something really obvious? I will post my log later if it helps.