I kind of assumed this would be possible in DVDA2 with it's support of multiple audio tracks, but haven't been able to figure out how to do it. That is, have a director's commentary running under a movie while the movie's audio also plays. Is this possible?
I believe that is correct. Director's audio tracks are separate tracks that also include the movie sound, which is faded up and down, depending on whether the speaker is talking. DVD players do not mix two separate sound tracks in real time.
Hmmm. When I add a video in DVDA2 that has been encoded in Vegas, the audio AC3 file seems to be automatically recognized - and more importantly, synched with the video file. If I create the new audio track as suggested, any hints on how to make sure my synch is preserved (I'd hate to have my actors' dialogue off by a few frames or whatever when people watch my commentary.)
Are you editing in Vegas 5, if so just lay out your Dir. commentary in the timeline under your main audio track(s)* sync up then click the automate recordable thingy (sorry still Vegas 4 here) then adjust the main audio track volume level as it plays. Then create a new AC-3 file, insert new file in DVD-A 2s timeline as second audio.
*If you have multiple main audio tracks you'll need to set up a second audio bus in Vegas for main audio tracks.
In Vegas 4 can you render the audio tracks on the timeline seperately then include them in DVDA to make each selectable for like multiple language, music on/off, comentary on/off etc?