No 5.1 audio in my SCVD's

[dwflo]

My SVCD's are not playing the surround properly.
When viewing with PowerDVD5, audio is in the left front and center speakers.
I have set the audio out to 5.1 in DVD2SVCD audio tab. Have previewed my Mpeg files before burning the to CD's. Must set the audio to 2 speakers in PowerDVD, giving me stereo, but the soundtrack seems to be missing something.
Is DVD2SVCD/BSweet able to transcode ac3 to mpeg? Otherwise, what is the 5.1 setting for?
Me be stoopid?

[Nick]

I never use the 5-1 setting as my standalone player doesn't support it. The vast majority don't. It is outside of standard SVCD specifications.

I am unsure as to whether any software players will play non-standard-compliant SVCD's on a PC, but as a rule of thumb the MPEG 5.1 setting, whilst there, is one to steer clear of.

[markrb]

Nick, as always, is right on target.
Use Stereo and save yourself the hassle.

Mark

[hoozdapimp]

just to add a little something else in case anyone else runs into this thread: you must use the correct image builder to get 5.1 sound at all. unfortunately the only one out there right now is I-author and this program has been long been out of production. good luck!
Scott

[eugen]

About I-Author I have read enough, I have tried to use it - it fails every OS I tried. WHY EVERYBODY's TELLING that SVCD with 5.1 is impossible. I have done it via standard DVD2SVCD (last summer - it was the current version for that time) with MPEG 5.1 encoder and VCDXbuild. It plays in my standalone DVDplayer (DCE, Vestel analogue) with no real SVCD compatibility, but the disc was recoreded as VCD (only later there appears an advice to change bbMPEG muxing values) and via coaxial it passes audio into my Philips (with MPEG multichannel decoder) reciever who shows MPEG 5.1 in its front display. And the sound is real 5.1 (if you have ever seen Desperado) :-) Quality (esp at high frequences) was rather poor and my another DVD player (BBK) did not decode it 5.1 - only PCM - so it was the only try. But it is!

[smiller667]

And mpeg multichannel is in the official svcd specs, it is just that hardly any player supports it, as eugen already pointed out. What's completely nonstandard is svcd with ac3 or stuff like that ...

[Nick]

My mistake - infact eugen and smiller667 are quite correct. MPEG5.1 audio is listed in the standard SVCD specs.

It remains the case, however, that the vast majority of standalone players will not correctly decode soundtracks in this format. Furthermore, IMHO the sound quality and surround effect is not significantly better than a stereo mixdown of an AC3 track thru a Pro Logic surround amp. It is therefore, in my eyes, of fairly limited use.

[hoozdapimp]

In addition, with SVCD's you need all the bits you can get for video. For MPEG 5.1 to sound good you must use at least 384kbps, thus wasting possible valuable video space on audio. Like Nick said, it's pretty much not worth it anyway.
Scott

BTW: I did get I-Author to work many times, so I'm not sure what your problem was.

[adge]

IMHO the best way to get surround sound is to use jsoto's miniDVD plugin (see DVD2SVCD Advanced topics). Many modern cheap DVD players will play miniDVDs*, and your software player almost certainly will. The downside is that you lose some CD space, as they can't use the higher density recording mode that SVCDs do.

Even if you can get SVCD MPEG 5.1 to work very few players or amps support MPEG 5.1 decoding. And unlike miniDVD compatibility, the support is likely to shrink rather than grow.

In addition, with SVCD's you need all the bits you can get for video. For MPEG 5.1 to sound good you must use at least 384kbps, thus wasting possible valuable video space on audio
I've had perfectly good results with 224kbits transcoded AC3 using mdvdauth. And who's to say your audio is not as deserving of your precious bits? ;)

However, I do agree that a Pro-Logic decoded good stereo mixdown is hard to fault.
It is therefore, in my eyes, of fairly limited use. Aha! Try your ears next time :D

Adge

* for UK readers, ASDA's £49 Pacific 1002 plays them a treat