Where is this ac3 support?

farss wrote on 8/5/2009, 6:45 AM
I keep hearing about it but danged if I can find it and the online help says naught as well.

I setup a 5.1 project, fathomed out how the panning works etc and rendered out a 5.1 ac3 file. Nothing new here, Vegas has been able to do this for ages.
I then opened a new V9.0a project, set audio to 5.1 and attempted to get the ac3 file onto the timeline. That refused to work. I sent the ac3 file to the trimmer and the best it could manage was "Media Offline". I could add the ac3 file to the Project Media. R Clicking the file reveals 'media attributes could not be determined'.
What I expected Vegas to do was decode the ac3 and give me x tracks of audio that I could verify or mix. Apart from wanting to see this new feature in action I may have a practical use for it. Oddly enough some master tapes contain Dolby Digital with no stereo mixdown tracks. If the need arises to mix these with some VOs it would be mighty handy to be able to handle it natively. I'm hoping to join a lot of dots I know.

Bob.

Comments

Jøran Toresen wrote on 8/5/2009, 7:23 AM
Bob, Vegas can only save AC3, not read / import. See:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/techspecs

under "Supported File Formats".

Jøran Toresen
kdm wrote on 8/5/2009, 7:42 AM
Mpeg Streamclip (www.squared5.com) will demux AC3 to AIFF allowing you to pull out L/R, Surround, C, LFE separately.
blink3times wrote on 8/5/2009, 7:49 AM
"Bob, Vegas can only save AC3, not read / import. See:"

Not entirely true.

Vegas will not accept a AC3 file on its own but will if it is encased in a vob, mts, or m2ts container. (I'm assuming this has something to do with licensing)

You can use dvda... throw a ac3 file into dvda.... you don't even really need a video file and creat a disk to the HDD, then import the vob to vegas.

You can also use TSmuxer to stick the ac3 into a m2ts container and get it into vegas that way.

When the ac3 file opens you will see it represented by 4 different tracks.... L and R front (stereo). L and R rear (stereo), center (mono), LFE (mono)
farss wrote on 8/5/2009, 2:56 PM
Muxed it into a VOB and it did work, thanks.
No access to the DD metadata, no doubt Dolby aren't giving away the keys to that without some serious cash changing hands.

Bob.