Re: 5.1 an AC3 confusion

Maverick wrote on 3/17/2003, 10:23 AM

Hi all

Reading the SoFo sight I was ledto believe that to take advantage of the 5.1 surroun I would needthe AC3 plug-in that, apparently, is around $300 (£200).

But I also read somewhere (Can't remember where now) that if you select 'Render as' and Sonic Foundry AC-3 is in the drop down menu then you already have the plug-in.

Please would someone give a definitive answer to this as I would like to use 5.1 in my SVCDs and print to tapes.

Cheers

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/17/2003, 10:28 AM

I said in a couple posts ago that the Ac-3 plugin is selectable, BUT you NEED to buy to to use it. You can still make 5.1 surroud mixes though, but no AC-3. Sorry.

mvpvideos2007 wrote on 3/17/2003, 10:35 AM

So the new Vegas 4.0 with DVD+ has both 5.1 and AC3 plug-ins right?

Maverick wrote on 3/17/2003, 10:44 AM

I only purchased the V4 upgrade.

kkolbo wrote on 3/17/2003, 11:04 AM

Vegas 4 has the ability to mix and render 5.1 audio without the AC3 plug-in. It will output seperate Wav files for each channel or you can render it in 5.1 windows media format. See the help file under 5.1 rendering for instructions. The key here is what you are going to do with it. Windows Media 5.1 is fine for distribution to other folks with 5.1 systems for their windows computers. The seperate wav files are good to feed to an encoder of your choice. To render to a standard compliant DVD you will need AC3 encoding for 5.1.

You can not print to tape any form of 5.1 from Vegas at this point. SVCD does not support any form of 5.1 at this point either (someone may prove me wrong there, but if it did you would probably have to have AC3 encoding).

5.1 has always involved some form of encoding beyond PCM for any comercial system to play it back. Unless you are going to feed your seperate PCM wave files to an encoder, your only choice for encoding of a 5.1 mix with Vegas 4 and no AC3 pak is the Windows Media 9 Files. This format is very good and I am pleased that SoFo supports it, but it does not work for tape or for SVCD's.

K

kkolbo wrote on 3/17/2003, 11:06 AM

Vegas 4 has the surround mixing capability. You need the AC3 surround PAK or +DVD to encode it to Dolby AC3.

These are two seperate issues.

K

Maverick wrote on 3/17/2003, 11:09 AM

Thanks for all the input but I am still confused. Why do I have AC-3 in the Render as drop down menu when I haven't purchased this pack or the DVD Acrchitect add-on.

Cheers

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/17/2003, 11:22 AM

The same reason you have the Mpeg encoder even if you are using the demo or an illegal copy. It's written into the software, and all you need is a # to enable it. You can purchage the AC-3 encoder seperatly if you don't want DVDA. You only save about $30 though.

vitalforce2 wrote on 3/17/2003, 4:56 PM

Can anyone say if AC-3 encoders are standardized enough to be interchangeable between V4 and other software? I'm thinking of upgrading my sound card and I note that some of them install an AC-3 encoder with the hardware drivers. Is that usable from within V4 as in a plugin?