musicdvd,

Thanks - I was coming round to the same thinking - it's a shame that the manual and online help don't put it quite as succinctly as you have.

As for the last part of your response, I'm a little concerned at your tone...obviously what you've said appears to be left open a little bit to interpretation (sometimes a bad thing when you're not talking to someone face to face), and it could easily be construed (perhaps misconstrued?) that you might be having a 'dig' at me?

First of all, you only get 360 hits if you change the default date range, which is something I didn't do (didn't spot it...forgive me), and even then, it's not 360 different topics, but 360 separate posts.

In any case, I wouldn't have had time to wade through that many responses.

Of the posts I did look at, none of them told me what you told me so clearly. It's quite possible I didn't look hard enough, but I did look.

Again, it's quite possible that the answer to my problem is somewhere in the manual, and/or in the online help. I looked (and again just now), and without reading every word (just don't have the time!), I can't find the answer.

Another thing to mention, is that if I understand correctly, there are numerous reasons why audio could be recompressed, not just for reasons in relation to my issue...you make it sound like the answers to my problem are everwhere.

And when searching like this, it's impossible (for me) to open every search result - I have to go on the topic title a little bit...nothing I saw pointed me in what I thought was the right direction.

Also worth noting is that there is no reference to the knowledgebase in either the online help, or the manual. I didn't know of its existence...maybe I should've looked harder, but then why would someone look for something that they didn't know exists, and in any case, this is only a *very* part time hobby for me...I have a life outside video editing (like I'm sure we all do) so my time for searching for answers is limited.

Having said all that...thank you for the link - that, along with your response, answers my question very clearly - thank you.

These forums seem like a friendly place and I don't want to change that, but I think you could have found a better way to make your point...if you don't think I've searched at all, or in the right way...just tell me straight...I'm a grown up so I can take it :-)

Thanks for your help anyway.

ps if the answer is staring me in the face in the manual / online help, please let me know where (as I'm curious!)...if not...perhaps someone at Sony could/should add this?

You seem a bit defensive, and for that I apologize.
The link to the knowledgebase article is there if it will benefit you, and that is what I wished to convey. The same information has been posted several times just in the last six months; and I'm sorry your forum search didn't bring up the information you were needing.

In DVDA Help, if you go to Sony on the Web->Product Support and click the link, first up is
"

The DVD Architect 5.0 and 5.2 Help Contents and Index contain a main chapter titled "Using DVD Architect." First up is a section called "Rendering Files for Your Project""To ensure that your project preparation and burning process goes smoothly, you should attempt to save your media files in the supported formats prior to bringing them into your DVD Architect Pro project. DVD Architect software supports a wide variety of file formats, but some will require transcoding or recompression by the project-preparation process, lengthening the amount of time needed to complete this operation, and possibly resulting in degradation of quality.

The AVC, MainConcept MPEG-2, AC-3, and Wave/Wave64 encoders provide templates that, if used without any modifications, result in files that do not require any recompression (unless the file size is too large to fit on a disc).

The settings to produce media files that do not require recompression follow.If the current manual / help resources are obscure in this respect, Sony Technical Support will definitely appreciate your input.

Not doing this to question your intent, just to let you know how to access these excellent resources next time you get stuck, as we all do from time to time.
All the best.

If by 'defensive' you mean slightly disappointed that someone has inferred that I didn't bother searching for the answer, then yes, I was 'defensive'.

Thanks for the pointer re the link from DVDA Help - again - not the first place I would've looked - I would've liked to think that help would be provided in the manual and online help (which I still don't think it is...see below).

I had already seen the section you refer to above (even prior to my original post here), but nothing in any of that tells me explicitly (like you did), that "DVD Architect expects separate audio and video files".

It provides enough information for me to come round to that way of thinking (which I was doing), but I am still yet to find anything that made it as clear as you did (not even in the knowledgebase item from your original link).

I think you (and Sony) have to bear in mind here that a lot of users of this application are going to be occasional users. For me, I'm making a DVD of my wedding...it's been 7+ years since I last used video editing / DVD making software, so I'm no expert on producing DVDs.

Unless the various help resources say I "need separate audio and video files", it's not going to be *immediately* obvious to me.

Telling me that my media files should be in "...supported formats propr to bringing them into DVD Architect..." is clearly not as explicit (and therefore not as helpful) as "DVD Architect expects separate audio and video files".

My specific suggestion to Sony here is to include that line of yours...why not use plain English like you have, to good effect?

I do honestly appreciate your help (after all, you've answered my question in a nutshell!), but implying that I didn't make an effort to try and find the answer myself is 100% incorrect, and suggesting that the answers are there, is, I'm afraid, still open to question, even after your most recent post.

I agree that the resources are generally excellent, and I'm happy to acknowledge that I didn't make full use of them, but that doesn't mean I didn't try!

:-)

"Unless the various help resources say I "need separate audio and video files", it's not going to be *immediately* obvious to me."

In DVDA Studio 5.0 Help, select:
Using DVD Architect Studio Software
-Rendering Files for Your Project
--Media File Settings for DVD Project

Click on say NTSC MPEG video (...) and it says:

"If you’re using the MainConcept MPEG-2 encoder in Vegas Movie Studio software, use the DVD Architect NTSC video stream or DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream template to render your video stream. You'll need to render your audio stream separately according to the parameters listed in the AC-3 audio or PCM audio headings in this help topic."

PAL MPEG video has a similar message.

My god, Peter, what are you "inferring?"
-----------------------------------------------------
"I had already seen the section you refer to above (even prior to my original post here), but nothing in any of that tells me explicitly (like you did), that "DVD Architect expects separate audio and video files"."

;?)

Who? Me? Would I infer anything?

Peter, thank you for the info.

Musicdvd...this forum search is indeed very useful. If I search for the word "sarcasm" right now, I get three 'hits' (last 6 months only). You're accused of sarcasm in two of the three results found. This is one of them...

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=12&MessageID=763743

This makes me realise that I'm not the only occasional video editing hobbyist that you've talked down to, and been sarcastic too (and we were only asking for help!).

"Video editing snob" (as 'TxTodd' put it) is an interesing way to describe you. I think it's more complex than that...I think you're one of these people that gets a bit braver when they're behind the safety of their computer screen.

Do you talk to people like that in real life?

You're clearly very knowledgeable and willing to help others (7,762 posts as I write this), but I don't see that as any justification to be sarcastic to one single person. Do you?

Sarcasm is an unwise thing to use on internet forums because we can't see your face so we can't see how you mean things.

Maybe you don't mean to be unpleasant but you could easily be mistaken for coming across that way.

All just my humble opinion of course.