I am going to try to start pre-rendering video files right out of Vegas so as to speed up my DVD Architect project creation. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting 4 to 7 hours for DVD-A to render a project with AVI file input only to see a typo on a DVD menu…

I found a Java app bit rate calculator on DVDhelp.com. It looks pretty good, but I am curious as to the sound bit rate to enter.

Seeing I am not interested in 5.1 sound, I would just want to use Stereo sound… or so I think.

According to the DVD-A manual:

AC3 Audio:

Number of channels: stereo or 5.1 surround
Bit rate: 64 kbps to 448 kbps inclusive

Question:

1.) Does this mean that if I desired stereo sound, this would be rendered from Vegas at 64 kbps and that if I desired 5.1 surround sound, that would be rendered from Vegas at 448 kbps?

2.) What are the ramifications of the “inclusive” term here?

(Number of channels is also a variable for this particular bit rate calculator.)

3.) If I did decide to go with 5.1 sound, would this be a single (1) channel of 5.1 sound? Six (6) channels?

4.) Would stereo sound be two (2) channels?

I have always let DVD-A do these calculations automatically, but now I am going to try to start doing them myself.

Thank you very much for any help you can offer.