How much audio can fit on a DVD?

Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:24 am

I have a DVD feature that I'm working on. It's about 1:48 long. I want to have 2 stereo versions and 2 surround versions. Is that possible on 1 DVD or would it have to be very compressed and compromised?

Will I have enough room for 5 minutes of deleted scenes (just 2 stereo verions).

Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:22 am

Are all your files Wav or Bwav files? Also what is the quality of the deleted scenes? I think as far as audio goes it is 10-12 MBytes for a minute of stereo tracks as a wav file, the best thing to do is get all the stuff you want to do atleast 1 version of each and then also the deleted sceens if that is what you want to add then see how much space you have, then determin based on space what else you can put on.

Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:09 pm

I believe they hold around 8 hours of music.

Kyle

Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:39 pm

Are you mastering your own DVD? Try the Guys over at Jam Sync Audio in Hollywood. They are a new company and pretty reasonable. Did you manage to get more volume out of your mix?

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:26 pm

Quote:

I believe they hold around 8 hours of music.

Is it true that if you are doing a surround mix then you don't need a stereo mix? ... and that a DVD player will sort of just "mix" it for you when you select "stereo" from DVD options at start up?

Quote:

Try the Guys over at Jam Sync Audio in Hollywood

I'm going to do as much as I can with Nuendo then go to a pro place and let them master it.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:26 am

[quote="Dr_Willie_OBGYN"]

Quote:

I believe they hold around 8 hours of music.

Is it true that if you are doing a surround mix then you don't need a stereo mix? ... and that a DVD player will sort of just "mix" it for you when you select "stereo" from DVD options at start up?

yup the dvd player could do a downmix Smile

hmmmm....its 1 hr 48 mins long? plus 2 stereo mixes and 2 surround mixes? a dual layer disc can hold that and an interactive menu to boot Smile

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:05 pm

I don't know about DVD players or decoder boxes doing down mixes. Usually what DVD authoring companies are looking for is the discrete 6 channels of the 5.1 mix and an LtRt, which is the AC3 encoding of your surround mix to 2 channels which is decoded into a 4 channel surround. LCR and surrounds. The sub channel is dropped and the left and right surrounds are summed into a mono channel. Go to the Dolby website and search their library for AC3.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:09 pm

Since DVD players mix 5.1 into stereo then I don't need to do stereo mixes.

When they do audio in different languages is it possible to change only the front wall speakers (L, R, C) where the speaking parts are? That would save DVD space by not having to do an additional (duplicate) mix for the back 3 speakers (where the music is). Not sure if you can do that in DVD authoring or not.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:58 pm

If this DVD is going commercial, mandatory requirements are:

A Dolby Digital encoded AC3 stream, that originated from any of these formats 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, LCRS, 5.0, or 5.1
PLUS a PCM encoded stereo or mono comaptible track.

Yes the DVD palyer can downmix th 5.1, but we use the LCRS matrixed LTRT (stereo compatible) for the PCM audio.

You can NOT commercially release a DVD with ONLY AC3 encoding.

There are STILL DVD players out there that do not have decoderss. Thats the reason for the PCM requirements.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:26 pm

Charles

Take this a constructive suggestions, not critisism.
When a "Dolby Prologic" LCRS is made, you should downmix it your self from 5.1 to LCRS, then you would use the Dolby surround encoder to encode to LTRT.
That consist of you either dropping the LFE, or mixing a little in the left and right, and mono summing the surround yourself to avoid pahsing and steering.
Then encoding to LT RT to listen for anomilies, and decoding again to verify your intended mix.

The LTRT is then encoded to PCM with a "surround" flag allowing DVD players with "Prologic" support to decode it, otherwise the LTRT is played back as a 2 channel stereo.

The 5.1 AC3 stream should not be left to the DVD player to "downmix" as it will not reflect what you intended.

I hope I didnt confuse you regarding encoders, there is a surround encoder (PROLOGIC) and an AC3 encoder. They are used for different things above.

Peace

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:11 pm

I guess then I will do my two surround mixes then create 2 stereo mixes, and then I will take it all to a pro post house to figure out the rest and do the authoring as well. I work with Nuendo. That's it.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:26 pm

I'm always glad to learn from someone who knows more than I do. I take my lessons as I get them. Thanks for the advice. I had been running the 5.1 mix through the Dolby plugin at the mix stage, or through the box the Dolby tech brought to the mix stage to create the LtRt. How much time do you usually allow to do your own mixdown?

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:41 pm

Quote:

the box the Dolby tech brought to the mix stage

The DP569?? or Cinema processors???

Quote:

How much time do you usually allow to do your own mixdown?

Les than double real-time. It's mostly set and QC, stop at problematic moments, and correct!!!!

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:51 pm

The DMU for the print master.

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:36 pm

Oh, ok, yes the DMU can downmix 5.1 to LTRT without the issues we have
using the DP569 downmix, therefore we have to hand mix the LCRS,
then use Dolby SurroundTools or SRS Circle Surround to matrix to LTRT.

PS
Dr_Willie I apologize for hijacking your thread Sad

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