Hours of music on DVD ...

[MattO]

Hello All,

I know you can't record MP3's to a DVD-(+)R and play them back on a standalone DVD player, but ...

Note: this is only from memory, I am not in front of my home computer at the moment, so some details maybe incorrect ...

Before I had a MP3 capable standalone DVD player I would re-encode all my MP3 files to MP2 files. I then created a 352 x 288 black image (BMP) in some graphics program and used i-Author (I think) to create a MPS file from it. I could then multiplex the MP2 (audio) and the MPS (video) together as a non-standard VCD MPG with either BBMPEG or TMPGenc. I would do this with all the MP2 files and the same MPS file. I then used VCDEasy to create and burn a (X)VCD disk with < 99 VCD MPG tracks that is playable in most (not all) standalone DVD players. I also managed to achieve the same by using TMPGenc to encode a 'non standard VCD' MPG with < 300KB video bitrate from the blank (black) BMP and the MP2 file ... but this took a long time as TMPGenc is slow.

Is it possible to do something similar to get multiple songs on a DVD-(+)R?

Or is DVD limited to 99 tracks as well? Or is there a way around it?

Obviously you would want to jump, via NEXT and PREVIOUS, to different music tracks.

I know the MP3 on DVD type question has been asked many times before and I didn't know whether this info might help in offering some kind of solution.

I can not try this, or anything similar, myself as I do not own a DVD burner yet.

From my basic calculations, if the above were to work you could get about 54 hours worth of music on 1 DVD-(+)R, which would be nice ;)

If anyone is willing to try it, I will post better details later, but I do not know much about the DVD standard.

MattO

[john@sympatico.ca]

Just a suggestion: I think it would it be easier to make an AC3 stream of all the music (from .wav or .mp3 or anything else), and then encode that into a set of VOBs.

(I dont know how to do this though)

For increased functionality author a menu system / chapters that go to each different track.

[MattO]

John,

>> Just a suggestion: I think it would it be easier to make an AC3 stream of all the music (from .wav or .mp3 or anything else), and then encode that into a set of VOBs.
(I dont know how to do this though)

If it is possible, then I agree. Does anyone know if this is possible?


>> For increased functionality author a menu system / chapters that go to each different track.

This would be good, are you limited on how many tracks?

Also, it would be good to have an automated method of achieving this. As individually encoding about 800 songs might get a little bit monotonous (sarc) ;)

MattO

[DIggedy]

Yes you can use the Scenarist AC3 encoder or Sonic Foundry Soft Encode to make the AC3 files... Encode them as 2.0 AC3 at a minimum of 192kbps, or if you want improved quality take it up to 224, 256 or 384kbps. This should be a high enough bitrate for a 2.0 to not lose too much quality from the original (assuming your going straight from a standard cd, not reencoding a low bitrate mp3 which is already compromised in fidelity).

[john@sympatico.ca]

MattO: There is no limit to the length of the AC3 stream (as long as it will fit on the DVD-5). The number of files / tracks will not factor in because they are all in the audio stream (which would be contained in 5 or so VOB files).

DIggedy: I've never used Scenarist or Sonic Foundry, are they simple to use with large numbers of audio tracks?

[ulfschack]

What if you add the ac3 tracks as audio to seperate meny pages (BMPs). This is easily done in DVDMaestro. Don't know about the upper limit of number of meny pages though. Maybe someone knows this.

AC3 is a bitch of a time consumer. Takes my P4 2GHz almost real-time to encode wavs in sonic foundry.

cheers

[DIggedy]

I think the limit in the dvd spec is 99 items per title if I'm not mistaken... so if you go over that just continue on a new title. The auhoring aspect of scenarist is difficult to begin with, but after the initial learning curve it becomes easier. I'm not sure but I think Sonic Foundry Soft Encode might have a batch option for doing large amounts.

[ulfschack]

Are you sure? Don't you mean 99 title pictures? I just checked in Maestro and there seem only room for one per title. Maybe scenarist is more enhanced in that respect.

Anyways. Worst case would be 99 AC3 songs with an outstanding quality (bitrate) coupled with lets say black BMPs with the artist's name and song title. Considering we now can get DVD-Rs for a couple of buck it might be worthwhile anyways.


cheers

Update. According to a guy in this thread you can have more than a thousand titles on a dvd. Problem seems to be the lack of automation tools for the tedious authoring ahead.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21782&highlight=limit+menu+maestro

[fasttimes]

Originally posted by MattO
I know you can't record MP3's to a DVD-(+)R and play them back on a standalone DVD player, but ...

Actually, if you have the right firmware (Like can be had for the Sampo players) you *can* load up a DVD-R with MP3s, and play it like a huge CD-R! see http://www.area.450.com for further information.

[harrya]

I AGREE!!!

I purchased a Sony DVD player that supports MP3s about 3 months ago. I burned my collection of MP3s to the DVD+R and the player works fine.

Prior to the former option being available to me, I did take the longer road of converting my MP3s to AC3 files. Then converting them to VOBs, then burning them as tracks on a DVD. It was very time consuming but had the advantage of the title screens and such. Note that you will not be able to fit as many songs on a DVD as a VOB file as you can in the MP3 format.

Hope my rambling helps. If you need further suggestions, visit me at http://www.ac3music.com and I can help you!

Thanks,
-H

[DVD__GR]

I tested in a yokohama dvd and a pioneer and got a disk error.
Could u tell if u changed the udf format or did something special burning the dvd+..
I wonder for that because dvd-r are known to be more compatible..

[harrya]

Honestly, I did nothing special.

I'm using an HP dvd100i burner on a DVD+R

I burned the disc as a data disk using Nero.

Hope this helps. I wish I could provide more info and some reasoning as to why it doesn't work for ya.

Let me know if I can answer anything else!
-H