Dolby Digital and PAL DVD question

John_Cline wrote on 3/19/2008, 11:52 PM
I've been producing a lot of PAL DVD projects lately and I've been authoring them using MPEG audio at the request of the client. I know at one time all NTSC DVD players were required to support PCM and .AC3 audio and PAL players were required to support PCM and MPEG audio.

Now I'm curious... do most (or all) PAL DVD players now support .AC3 or is it still a better bet for compatibility with older PAL DVD players to continue to use MPEG audio?

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 3/20/2008, 12:12 AM
Most PAL DVD players support AC3.
FWIW, we bought a couple last year, one in Oz and the other in Israel. Both read AC3, and they weren't picked for AC3 support, it just happened that way. Salesman at DSE in Oz told me most players now support it, and a search on the web seems to support his comments.
Marco. wrote on 3/20/2008, 12:53 AM
Yes, better use AC3.

Marco
Dave Jones wrote on 3/20/2008, 1:00 AM
It seems that they all do ac3 and I am surprised that you guys seem to think it isn't part of the PAL DVD specification (I thought it was).

As a matter of fact, I have a friend who mastered a product using mpeg and had a few bounce back with customers complaining of no audio.

I've been using ac3 exclusively for the last 3 years and haven't had a single problem. In particular, I have one product where 1,500 copies were made and no complaints were experienced.

DJ
Canberra, Australia
owlsroost wrote on 3/20/2008, 3:37 AM
Use AC3 (or LPCM if you've got the space/bitrate budget)

MPEG audio on commercial DVDs never really caught on, and I haven't come across a commercial DVD with MPEG audio for years. In Europe, most commercial DVDs have used AC3 right from the early days, so I doubt very much you could find a standalone player which couldn't decode it.

The problem with using MPEG audio is that very, very few home theatre amps/receivers/systems can decode it. If the DVD player is set up for digital audio 'bitstream' output it sends the MPEG audio stream to the amp etc - which can't handle it and just mutes the sound....some players allow different settings for each audio type e.g. 'bitstream' for AC3/DTS/LPCM and internal decode to PCM for MPEG (so the external amp gets PCM instead of MPEG).

Tony (from the UK)
DJPadre wrote on 3/20/2008, 3:46 AM
PCM and AC3 are mandatory formats and MUST be compatible with any player bearing the DVD logo.

MPG audio is only elective and does not requrie 100% support.

AC3 in Pal or NTSC will ensure compatibility regardless of the playback device
MarkWWWW wrote on 3/20/2008, 7:47 AM
You're correct that "PAL" DVD players aren't technically required to support AC3. The official list of requirements can be found on the MPEG website here.

But in practice there were only ever a few early "PAL" machines that couldn't handle AC3 and as far as I know every "PAL" player that has been available for many years has been able to cope with AC3 just fine.

Mark
John_Cline wrote on 3/20/2008, 11:01 AM
"The problem with using MPEG audio is that very, very few home theatre amps/receivers/systems can decode it."

Thanks, Tony! That is just the ammunition for which I was looking. The client has been informed (educated) and I will be using .AC3 for all the PAL DVDs.

I happen to use Adobe Encore to author DVDs and it will do either MPEG-2 or .AC3 (as well as PCM.) I noticed that DVD Architect has no option for creating MPEG-2 audio at all, just PCM and .AC3. Anyway, it appears from the responses in this thread that .AC3 is as universal across the pond as I had hoped it would be.

John