5.1 surround won't work

jbolley wrote on 6/8/2006, 8:11 AM
Hi,
I've emailed sony with no reply so far. I have vegas6c and DVDA 3c. I made a 5.1 surround ac3 from Vegas and have tried both a picture compilation disk and a single movie disk (with only a still as the video) and the resultant DVD plays only out the front left and right. It is recognised as dolby digital 5.1 by my DVD player and reciever but seems no different than the analog out front L+R from the DVD player.
DVDA is set to 5.1 in the project properties, the file is recognised as surround by its properties as seen in DVDA. No recompression is needed on the file.
The speaker icon next to the audio "track" in DVDA does change to a surround speaker representation when the project is 5.1 but the waveform of the ac3 file is only two squigly lines, not 5 or 6. I cannot configure the audio outputs in DVDA to see what happens in 'preview.'
Has anyone done this successfully?
Has anyone tried?

Thanks for your help!

Jbolley

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/8/2006, 9:47 AM
I've made 5.1 DVD's with 6c & 3c no problem. Are you sure it's not just stereo left/right in vegas but 5.1?
jbolley wrote on 6/8/2006, 10:35 AM
Yes, its a surround 5.1 ac3. It shows as such in the DVDA explorer window when I single click on it. In vegas I used a surround mixer with stuff panned correctly and I used the surround 5.1 template to save the ac3.
How many waveforms do you see when you add a 5.1 audio file to DVDA?

Jbolley
Kanst wrote on 6/8/2006, 1:06 PM
Two waveforms and track icon with four dynamics.
If you made in Vegas 5.1 sound, really conteined 6 tracks, and in DVDA's "Optimise DVD" placed green V for this sound, it will allways keep 5.1 structure.
ultrafinriz wrote on 6/8/2006, 3:54 PM
I still am not having any luck. It would be nice to have some suggestions. There's not much point in doing the same thing over and over.
My DVD player recognises a dolby digital 5.1 stream on the disk, but unlike every other DVD I've played (with a 5.1 track) I only hear my front L+R speakers.
There must be something I'm doing different. I'll listen to the multiple disks I've burned in other locations and I'll be looking for any help you nice people can provide.
Jbolley
Kanst wrote on 6/9/2006, 1:49 AM
Let's try to find mistake while creating 5.1 project in Vegas.
You must have 6 different mono tracks and enabled only one speacker point for each in surround panner. If you try to make 5.1 from stereo file you must placed each it's channel (left & right) to a different tracks in Vegas project and set a placement points in surround panner different for each track.
If you place a stereo file to only one track in 5.1 project you'll nave a 5.1 sound with only left-front & right front signals.
ultrafinriz wrote on 6/9/2006, 5:53 AM
Kanst,
I understand what you're saying - I do have stuff going to the rears in vegas. I have two stereo tracks and an effects return in Vegas. I have 6 analog cables going from my audio break out to my home stereo reciever and I hear surround correctly panned. I don't understand why you say each mono track must only be sent to one speaker. This would only be true if you had already rendered your surround stems as wavs - this is not the case with me.

I guess the next step would be to test the ac3 somehow. Unfortunatly vegas can only "render as" and not import ac3 and DVDA doesn't display the waveforms for the surround channels - apparently this is normal (?)
Thanks for taking the time to try and help!
Jbolley
ultrafinriz wrote on 6/9/2006, 5:55 AM
To be fair about my first post I have now gotten a reponse from Sony tech support. It's as helpful as reading the manual (like: try setting the project properties to surround) but they have responded. I look forward to seeing who can figure this out first - the users or the developers!

Jbolley
MarkWWW wrote on 6/9/2006, 11:33 AM
You may be able to test play the .ac3 file using your DVD playing software. I don't know if all DVD playing software can do this, but CyberLink PowerDVD V4 (which I still use) certainly can. That should let you tell whether you actually have content in the rear channels or whether (as I rather suspect) you have somehow rendered a 5.1 .ac3 file with silence in the rear channels.

Mark
ultrafinriz wrote on 6/9/2006, 4:03 PM
I took the disks to another home theater set up and they work. <grumble> I can only assume at this point its the fault of my DVD player and or reciever.
Thanks everyone for your great patience and time.
Jbolley
Kanst wrote on 6/10/2006, 1:27 PM
Vegas can only "render as" and not import ac3
DVDA doesn't display the waveforms for the surround channels