AC3Enc success stories?

[ursamtl]

I find frequent mention in the threads of how AC3 encodes using AC3Enc are usually not very good, etc., yet I've also seen some reference to this being an old issue that has been resolved. My only experience with it has been that the encodes I've tried are very low volume. I saw a resolution to this problem in one message awhile back but I can't seem to find it anymore.

Since some users don't have the commercial encoding programs and need a free encoding option, can any of you share your techniques for successful encoding using AC3enc? It would be really helpful if we could gather the information required and then put together a guide for using AC3Enc, whether it be for audio tracks on homemade DVDs or for surround audio CDs.

Steve.

[Happygolucky]

I use the latest BeSweet and BeSweetGUI (in Wizard mode). I've had no problems making AC3s that work just great for my DVDs. In general, I set Dynamic Compression to Light, Normalize to 100%, invoke HybridGain, and Set Delay to 0 (that seems to fix the volume issue for some strange reason). The volume is still slightly lower than if I made an mp2, for instance, but it is not so large a difference as to be a problem.

I've started playing with the new BeLight frontend and so far I like it a lot, too.

[ursamtl]

Thanks for the reply. Have these been two-channel files only or 5.1?

[Happygolucky]

Originally posted by ursamtl
Thanks for the reply. Have these been two-channel files only or 5.1? 2-channel generally. Sometimes I have 5.1 channel AC3 that I need to convert from PAL to NTSC and will use BeSweet for that and have had no problem.