Audio missing on final DVD

Curtsong wrote on 5/18/2005, 11:26 PM
I'm not sure if this a DVD Architect issue or Vegas issue. I'm editing a DVD music demo with testimonials. Two of my testimonials audio are missing on the DVD when played on a normal DVD Player where the audio is patched through the TV. However, when viewed on a home theater system or in my studio where I have the audio routed from my DVD player into my mixing board, these tracks are present. What might I be doing wrong to have lost this audio.

note: originally, when I captured these clips, the audio was mono, then I edited them in SF converting them to Stereo. I even tried changing tracks and inverting the phase. I since have edited them in SF back to mono, however, haven't rendered the project yet.

Thanks for your help. BTW - this forum has been a joy to read. Some great talent present.

Comments

Liam_Vegas wrote on 5/18/2005, 11:34 PM
Could those pieces possibly have the audio on one channel only... and the DVD Player only connects one of the channels to the TV?

note: I actually had this happen with a client. I gave them an exact DVD "dub" of a tape where I had different audio on different channels. They called me - all upset saying I had not recorded audio. I traced it back to their OLD TV set which had just one audio input... they connected just one of the audio channels from the DVD player.
B_JM wrote on 5/19/2005, 5:58 AM
DID YOU USE MPEG AUDIO INSTEAD OF AC3 AUDIO ?
Curtsong wrote on 5/19/2005, 9:00 AM
Hmmm. I'm not sure. I have 7 tracks on this projects. The 3 video tracks and 4 audio tracks. 2 Audio I'm using for the main audio mix and and the other two for the Interviews. I have 6 interviews in all. Just two, which I can tell were recorded by a different camera and location by the tape markings. (I was not on the shoot). All of the Audio is mixing through the main mix. None of the audio is compressed prior to render and DVD compression.
B_JM wrote on 5/19/2005, 1:18 PM
i mean is the audio on the DVD mpeg audio , or did you compress it to ac3 , or did you use LPCM ?

B.Verlik wrote on 5/19/2005, 1:23 PM
I always suggest rendering your AC3 first. Look in your rendering portion of your menu and find AC3, and render the sound 1st. To check this, open up DVD-A and import the AC3 only, and use the preview feature of DVD-A to play back the AC3 file. (you can jump up in increments to get to the section you need to check.) If it plays back fine here, it should play back fine on any DVD player. You can go to the AC3 portion of this forum to find out how to opimise AC3, but once you learn to render seperately, you no longer have to render the audio with your Mpg2. (go into mpg2 settings, audio tab, and uncheck record audio, title new setting "Mpg2 no audio" or whatever you want. Use this setting from here on out) Just be sure that both your mpg2 and AC3 files are in the same folder with the same exact title, except for the either .mpg or .ac3 at the end. When you go to make the DVD, DVD-A will automatically bring these files in together. They should play on any regular DVD player.
Curtsong wrote on 5/19/2005, 4:35 PM
Thank you G8Steve, I will try this process. And do some reading in the AC-3 forum. In the past, I've rendered the project in V6 to .avi, which is uncompressed for Vegas, correct? Or am I misunderstood on this? Then I'd load it up in DVD-A and compress it by using the "Prepare DVD" making sure the AC-3 was selected in the Optimize window.

This is really my first time to start using the DVD-A. I ordered the DVD tutorial when I purchased my upgrade and have learned quite a lot, however, this is quite comprehensive and I still have plenty to learn.

Question: I'm not finding the Mpeg2 settings in either program. It's not on V6/prefrences/audio tab
B.Verlik wrote on 5/20/2005, 2:03 AM
Maybe it's changed in version 6, but mpg settings should be in the same rendering file as the ac3 rendering settings. (go to "Render", new window opens and you look at the drop down and look for "Main Concept Mpg 2" and go into the custom tab to get to the settings. I'm still on vegas 4 and am assuming the list is similar to what I have. Once you are in your Mpg settings (do not use the "default" as a template. Use the NTSC DVD one for a template until you understand how to customize your settings. You can go to the "audio tab" of this and "UNcheck" the "Include audio" box. Then write a title for this setting and hit the Icon to the right of it, to save it) There are recent threads here describing mpg settings, but take it slowly, it takes time no matter what.
What you ultimately want to do is have your timeline, completely set up the way you want everything to be, sound and video. Then render your AC3 first, (loop the section you want to render, place mouse arrow at very end of video and left click/hold and drag to beginning to create loop, both audio and video need to be matched down to the frame when you render separately) check the ac3 in DVD-A to make sure it came out ok, if your volume is too loud anywhere it may not render or sound backwards. Just jump through it to check it. Usually if it starts to play right, it's fine. Don't save the DVD-A file when you close it. (you can save it, if you want)
Now render your mpg2 right from the timeline for ultimate quality, technically any other renders 1st, slightly degrade the pic, but hard to see by most people. If your new, you won't notice the diff for a while. (probably) Note: it's near impossible to edit mpg2 once it's made, so make sure your happy with your editing, before you erase your .avi's. You don't know what you have for sure, until you actually watch it on a regular TV. That's when DVD RW's come it handy.
Curtsong wrote on 5/20/2005, 10:46 AM
Thanks Steve,

Last night I rendered the audio in V6 from this project first to AC-3. Then the video to avi. And loaded them up into DVD-A3 and then prepared the DVD. Today I just burned it and tested it and I have all the tracks audible on the DVD/TV player. It sounds good.

I still haven't found the Mpg2 settings. Even in the Render/ AC-3/ Custom Template/ Audio/ there isn't an option for editing the mg2. This must be a new feature. However, your suggestion to render the AC-3 first worked. Thank you so much!!
B.Verlik wrote on 5/20/2005, 9:51 PM
When you open up the rendering window, there should be a "dropdown" that's titled "Save as type". Yours probably says "Digital Dolby AC-3 (*.ac3). Just press that little button on the right of the lettering. In this list, should be quite a few different type of rendering applications. ac3 should be just one of a list of about 20 or more different types of Rendering. This includes Windows media video/audio, various types of audio and video formats. Mainconcept mpg2, should be one of them, along with Mainconcept mpg1.
All the different types of rendering are in the "Save as type" window. (unless Vegas 6 is set up differently, but somehow I doubt it, even though I've never seen it.)
Curtsong wrote on 5/21/2005, 1:13 AM
Thanks Steve. I was aware of where to find it in the Render/Save as, but, I couldn't find where you talking about editing the Main Concept Mpg2. Unless you were referring to the "Custom button", and the audio tab, where you can select or deselect, "include audio". Is that you were referring to:

<(go into mpg2 settings, audio tab, and uncheck record audio, title new setting "Mpg2 no audio" or whatever you want. Use this setting from here on out) > . . . ?
rs170a wrote on 5/21/2005, 5:40 AM
Scott, Steve is referring to the MPEG-2 settings.
To get there, go "Render As" and select "MainConcept MPEG-2 (*.mpg)" in the "Save as type" dropdown window. It'll say "Default Template" in the "Template" window below. Never use this option as the settings are far too low. Select "DVD Architect NTSC Video Stream" instead. This option renders out a video stream that goes along with the AC-3 stream that you've already figured out.
** Keep the names the same for both the audio and video files and DVDA will have no problems importing them together.
Now you can click Custom if you want. In the "Project " tab, you can change the rendering quality to "Best" if you want. If your project has a lot of stills, this is recommended, otherwise leave it at "Good.
The "Video " tab gives you a lot more options for further tweaking such as video quality, VBR vs. CBR, 2-pass, etc. Changing any of these parameters depends on the content and length of your video. A search of this forum using any of those parameters as a keyword should get you all the information you need.
Good luck with it.

Mike
Curtsong wrote on 5/21/2005, 12:44 PM
Mike, that was very helpful. Thank you. Steve, I apologize for not getting your directions. I can see that it is recommended to use this process for a project to be used with DVD-A. Both of you have been very helpful. I need to keep studying these forums. As well, is there good tutorial that covers these subjects thoroughly? DVD or book? I'm eager to learn.

Thanks