You can buy seperate AC3 encoders (tmpgenc has one), but most of them only do stereo (which might be just fine for ya). Also, make sure your burning software can use AC3's. If it can't you'd need new software too.

Thanks guys, I am basically just an old tape guy, so I still am learning in the DVD department. ULEAD is suppose to accept AC3. V5 does allow you to accept it as a "render as", but then takes you to the SONY website to buy the plug- in for $275.

The AC3 "render as" selection is seperate from the MPEG-2 selection, does this mean I have to render the video and audio seperately?

Phil

You can render it with the mpeg-2 stream as well, but many authoring apps prefer elementary streams (seperate video and audio), and the Render As allows you to make changes to the audio and render it seperately, rather than go through a full render for small changes.

PhilinCT, A comment on the Ulead MF2. I used to use it when I first begad creatin DVD from my old home recorded VHS tapes. My 5 year old Sony set top DVD player has a problem with them. They develope pixilization usually in the last 10 minutes of the video. I found that MF2 if I remember correctly does not allow you to set the bit rate directly. All my DVD's I did with it are all
8000+ or -. That is why the older Sony player cannot digest them. But the newer Pioneer set top DVD player seems to handle them OK. I have sence gone to Canopus Procoder Express to render my frameserved AVI's. Theis program gives you a much better control over the bit rate. I do my elemental streams with PCE and then my AC3 encode in Vegas. I have the AC3 encoder from Sony Media Software everthing plays well in either set top unit, knock on wood.

V5 does allow you to accept it as a "render as", but then takes you to the SONY website to buy the plug- in for $275.

I guess that's if you buy the encoder by itself. If you buy DVD Architect, though, it's included.

Rob