Yes, all projects play fine in Vegas.

Try putting a volume envelope on the Vegas timeline and slightly drop the volume a hair and re-render the ac3 file. You can play the ac3 file, all by itself in DVD-A to make sure it works.

Thanks for your suggestion, but that didn't make any difference. Besides, I've rendered 30 different files and none of them work.

I've double checked all filters, mutes, FX and can find nothing out of the ordinary. Funny thing is, AC3 files from previous projects will play in DVDA and also in Windows Media Player, but the 30 files that I've just rendered will not.

I am dead in the water until I figure this out so any help would definitely be appreciated.

Alright, here's a long shot... on more than one occasion, I have noticed that Vegas will render an .AC3 file with muted audio if the cursor on the Vegas timeline is at the very beginning of the timeline when you go to render. I have experienced this behavior with video as well. I just make sure the cursor is sitting somewhere other that at 0:00 when I go to render. Strange but true.

John

Does it work if you render out a PCM wave file?

Here's another stab in the dark.
If you're using the Default Template for AC3, try using the Stereo DVD one instead (or vice versa, as the case may be).
While you're at it, try the 5.1 Surround DVD template as well.
At this point, you have nothing to lose by trying all of them.

Mike

Thanks, John, but the cursor placement had no effect in this case.

rs, the Stereo DVD setting for AC3 didn't work but the 5.1 Surround did produce viable audio. Thanks!

So, I guess what I could do is re-render all 30 files using 5.1 Surround. Are there any problems with this approach that I should know about?

I've never done 5.1 renders so this is an uneducated guess.
Since you want to end up with a stereo mix, I'd move the surround panner (the orange diamond control) to top front center.
Then make sure DVDA is set to AC-3 Stereo and not AC-3 5.1 Surround.

As I said, this is an uneducated guess so do a test render to confirm that this will work.
Good luck with it.

Mike

This may not help either, but if you're using stock templates, you may want to read the thread titled: "DVD Audio Render Question". It's down around #41 at this moment
The reason I said to lower the volume (above) is because it worked for me in the past when I'd get nothing. I ended up setting my normalization to around -3 and that pretty much ended my problem, but I guess there can be different reasons for this to happen.