Audio out of sync after burning disc

Leatherhead wrote on 9/6/2020, 1:24 AM

Hello everyone,

Today I burned my first film with DVD Architect (v7 Build 100). It came out excellent, except for one problem - the audio is out of sync! Here are the steps I took:

1) Exported the film from my editing software with perfect DVD settings so it doesn't need to be re-encoded by DVDA.
2) Test played the video in VLC Media Player. It plays perfectly.
3) Imported the film into DVDA. It previews perfectly.
4) I burn the DVD (whether ISO or DVD-R) and when I playback the disc on any of my standalone DVD player units, or even playing the DVD in VLC - the audio is delayed by just a hair, no more than 0.5-1 second

Interestingly enough, if I use MakeMKV to rip the DVD back into a file, the audio plays perfectly again!

How can I fix this?

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/6/2020, 8:29 AM

Can you be more specific about "Exported the film from my editing software with perfect DVD settings so it doesn't need to be re-encoded by DVDA"?

If you are exporting files to be used in a DVD project, did you output the Main Concept MPEG2 DVD Architect Video Stream for your video and the Sony Wave64 Stereo template for your audio? Did you ensure that you have the right aspect ratio for your video stream?

Leatherhead wrote on 9/6/2020, 10:50 AM

Can you be more specific about "Exported the film from my editing software with perfect DVD settings so it doesn't need to be re-encoded by DVDA"?

Exporting from Adobe Premiere:
MPEG-2 (.mpg)
720x480
29.97 fps, Lower field first
8Mbps CBR
AC3 224kbps, 48kHz, Stereo, 16-bit

It indeed burns immediately without re-encoding, so my assumption is that the format is right, but some setting in DVDA is incorrect

EDIT: Forgot to mention, yes, it is 16x9. I export using the "square pixels" option since exporting with the 16x9 preset adds thick horizontal bars, and the "square pixels" option adds thin bars on the side that are not as intrusive. DVDA accepts this as 16x9. So no problem with the video.

Leatherhead wrote on 9/6/2020, 12:36 PM

It's definitely a DVD Architect problem. I just threw the file onto DVDStyler and it burns and plays flawlessly on all players. So something is wrong in DVDA

Jack S wrote on 9/7/2020, 5:12 AM

@Leatherhead I burn the DVD (whether ISO or DVD-R). Try just preparing your output with DVDAS then burn using a proprietary burning application (eg imgburn) and see if the problem still exists. It's long been a standard recommendation that DVDAS shouldn't be used to burn.

Leatherhead wrote on 9/7/2020, 3:25 PM

@Leatherhead Try just preparing your output with DVDAS then burn using a proprietary burning application (eg imgburn)

Hi Jack, the problem still persists. The problem exists in the ISO, and also if I just use the "Preparation" function, the problem is visible in the VOB file that DVDA is outputting.

Since DVDStyler's output works perfectly, I'm going to assume this is a bug in DVDA that the developers need to fix. I've opened a support ticket.

set wrote on 9/7/2020, 5:44 PM

AC3 224kbps, 48kHz, Stereo, 16-bit

If I remember, I usually export to AC3 in 192kbps...

Could this be the issue?

Leatherhead wrote on 9/7/2020, 5:54 PM

If I remember, I usually export to AC3 in 192kbps...

Could this be the issue?

Just tried it. The problem still persists. This has to be a bug in DVDA if all other DVD software understands the file perfectly.

EricLNZ wrote on 9/7/2020, 10:00 PM

Searching back through the forum there were a couple of posts many years ago now. The only suggested possibility I could pick up was a 29.97 v 30.00 framerate problem?

Anyway it's obviously not a common problem so there must be something unique with your files that upsets DVDA. Sadly you will note from this thread https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/dvda-development--123071/ it is most unlikely there will be any further development on DVDA. So even if it is a bug it's not likely to ever be looked into.

DVDA is no longer readily available for sale now. It's no longer listed but I understand it can be obtained if one approaches Magix Sales.

Leatherhead wrote on 9/8/2020, 1:30 AM

I have my solution, well, not a real solution but a work around. It's clear that DVDA is not liking the audio that I have exported from Premiere - and this is clearly a bug in DVDA since all other DVD software plays and burns the file perfectly. Regardless - I paid for this stinking software, so I'm gonna use it!

My work around:

I simply export the audio from Premiere in a non-compliant format like MPEG2 audio. That's it. DVDA will simply transcode/re-encode the audio to AC3 to make it compliant and work properly. This is the only way (without developer intervention to fix the bug).

Thankfully, modern processors (like my Ryzen) kick ass with audio encoding. So at the end of the day, it only adds a minute or two to the final authoring process for an hour long DVD, which I can live with.

EricLNZ wrote on 9/8/2020, 3:06 AM

@Leatherhead You can force DVDA to to recompress audio or video even if it doesn't need to. File/Optimize Disc. Might be worthwhile doing an experiment to see if it fixes your audio as it would then avoid having to do your mpeg2 export.