V4 DVDA rendering template

TomG wrote on 9/18/2003, 9:11 PM

I'm getting the hang of burning some pretty good DVDs. I usually render using the NTSC DVD template. I notice that there is a DVDA-ready NTSC video stream template. But this is a video only template. When would you use this? Where does the audio track come from if not embedded in the MPG?

Sorry for what is probably a goofy question but I sure couldn't find an answer.

TomG

Comments

r56 wrote on 9/18/2003, 9:27 PM

After rendering the video stream you select the Dolby AC3 template to render the audio. Save it with the same name you used for the video. When you import the video stream in DVDA it will automatically import and the AC3 audio file.

Sab wrote on 9/18/2003, 9:32 PM

I've been wondering the same thing. Thanks for the tip

Mike

TomG wrote on 9/18/2003, 9:40 PM

Thanks, I totally missed the Dolby AC3 template. Now, once again why would you do this? It seems like you are doubling up on your renderings. Is there any advantage to rendering the the audio and compressing to AC3 in V4 compared to doing the re-compression in DVDA?

TomG

r56 wrote on 9/18/2003, 10:26 PM

There is no double rendering.
In DVDA use the optimize option and check whether your video stream and the AC3 audio are recognized correctly. If the audio in the dialog it defaults to PCM change it to AC3 and there will be no recompression.
If you mean why rendering separately the video and the audio, its simple: If you don't render using the AC3 template for DVDA your audio will remain PCM uncompressed and you'll have less space for video. If your projects are short then its ok, but if you want to fit an hour of video at high quality you will have to use AC3 or otherwise lower the bitrate of the video. Lowering the bitrate of the video might introduce artifacts contrary to the AC3 that when used with the correct parameters won't have any notable audible loss.
You can also render directly from within DVDA but from what I have heard takes longer and also the templates in Vegas are better fine-tuned.

TomG wrote on 9/19/2003, 3:58 AM

Thanks for the info. I'll experiment around with it. I usually render the audio in DVDA during the rendering/preparing phase (I assume it is rendering to AC3). Then I burn multiple DVDs. For a 1.5+ hour DVD, it takes about 1 hour to render/prepare and about .6 hour to burn a DVD-R @2x. Total rendering time in V4 is about 8 hours. I never mess with the bitrate but rely on the templates to give me the optimal results. I use the 'good' level when rendering in V4 and my results have been very good. From what I have heard from this forum the 'best' level usually isn't worth the additional cost in terms of time/quality.

TomG

JJKizak wrote on 9/19/2003, 7:56 AM

I'm not getting it. If the AC-3 default is set in DVDA does that mean the audio is rendered to PCM? I thought you had to render to AC-3 in V-4 in order to burn 5.1 to DVD.

JJK

r56 wrote on 9/19/2003, 1:01 PM

JJKizak, my fault I may have confused you.

After I render my projects using the compliant (PAL) video only stream and AC3 for DVDA templates from Vegas, DVDA imports ok the ac3 audio file when the video file is opened but in the optimize dialog window only the video stream has the green check mark next to it, the audio is assigned PCM with the yellow icon next to it, meaning that DVDA will recompress it. I have to manually change it to ac3 and then everything is ok.
This is a PAL template issue and works this way and defaults to PCM setting for compatibility reasons. According to SOFO: "some PAL DVD players won't play back ac3 audio. To ensure compatibility with PAL DVD players use 48-KHz 16-bit wav (pcm)".

I don't think it is an issue if you use the NTSC templates, but is a good practice anyway to check the optimize window just to make sure that files are compliant as expected to be before preparing the DVD files.

TorS wrote on 9/19/2003, 1:52 PM

Given that it's advisable to render the DVDA video templates and then the AC-3 audio from Vegas before importing the project to DVDA, it would be handy to have a batch process available - especially if you need to do this on a number of avi files.
Tor

jetdv wrote on 9/19/2003, 1:56 PM

There is. Click on Search and type in BatchRender Pro. Or use one of the other scripts available to help automate the process.

r56 wrote on 9/19/2003, 5:04 PM

There is a script inside the package available for download at sofo site. Actually in the package are two scripts for batch render. A sample script that performs batch renders with GUI for selecting render templates and a simpler one. I haven't used any of them though yet.
The Batchrender Pro that jetdv mentioned is shareware and can be found at: http://flash.to/rmtools I don't render that many files to really appreciate the use of such script.
My work usually involves large projects that end in a DV master given for VHS reproduction and a single pair of ac3 and mpg files of the project that I burn on a dvd used for duplication.