Your first conversion (Discussion)

Fan51 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:01 am **Posts:** 188

This is the Discussion Thread for the Wiki entry titled "Your first conversion". Please post all questions about your first conversion workflow here in this thread.

To view the original Wiki Entry titled "Your first conversion", click here.

Halloway · **Joined:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:54 pm **Posts:** 13

Hi,

thanks for posting the step-by-step guide - it was clear and easy to follow.

However, when I played the CD I'd burnt in a couple of DVD players, all I heard was a clicking. Does this sound like the CD was burnt correctly but that my players (LG BD370 and Pioneer DV-757Ai) do not support AC3 CDs? If the latter is the case, can I convert the AC3 files to DVD format and try it that way?

TIA,
H.

Fan51 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:01 am **Posts:** 188

Halloway wrote:

Hi,

thanks for posting the step-by-step guide - it was clear and easy to follow.

However, when I played the CD I'd burnt in a couple of DVD players, all I heard was a clicking. Does this sound like the CD was burnt correctly but that my players (LG BD370 and Pioneer DV-757Ai) do not support AC3 CDs? If the latter is the case, can I convert the AC3 files to DVD format and try it that way?

TIA,
H.

First, we need to identify where the problem starts.

At the end of step 2, does the multichannel wav sound good? You can open and play it with an editor like Audacity or Soundforge.
At the end of step 3, can you play the ac3 file and how does it sound? You can play it with foobar and the foo_ac3 plugin. Note the comment about bitrate in the guide: Most DVD players will actually have no problem playing a CD with an AC3 wav encoded at a bitrate of 640 kbps. If your DVD player has a problem, try a bitrate of 448 kbps instead.
In step 6, does the CD play on your PC as explained in the guide? You can test this even if you only have stereo speakers. If it plays, then the problem is with your DVD players or how they are connected to your receiver. As stated in the guide: You can play this CD on a standard DVD player connected digitally to a receiver. You would typically set the receiver to Dolby Digital output.

Before posting it, this method was tested by a few members on different systems. It should work for you too but there's always an exception to everything. We'll know more when we get your answers to my questions.

Halloway · **Joined:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:54 pm **Posts:** 13

Thanks for the tips, Fan51. It turned out that the CD was just fine. My blu-ray player didn't seem to want to play ball at all. The Pioneer is used as a SACD/DVD-A player and is connected to my Denon AV amp with analogue links - it seemingly couldn't decode the AC3 itself. However when I connected the Pioneer with a toslink cable to the Denon everything worked perfectly.

Robert Fripp soundscapes sound very lush in surround.

Fan51 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:01 am **Posts:** 188

Halloway wrote:

Thanks for the tips, Fan51. It turned out that the CD was just fine. My blu-ray player didn't seem to want to play ball at all. The Pioneer is used as a SACD/DVD-A player and is connected to my Denon AV amp with analogue links - it seemingly couldn't decode the AC3 itself. However when I connected the Pioneer with a toslink cable to the Denon everything worked perfectly.

Robert Fripp soundscapes sound very lush in surround.

Excellent. So the guide worked for you 8-)

It actually did mention that the connection had to be digital, didn't it?

Since you have a DVD-A player, you should definitely try authoring your multichannel wav as a DVD-A as per this guide. I'm sure you will appreciate the big jump in quality from AC3 to lossless.

River161 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:01 am **Posts:** 200

Halloway,

I'd be curious to hear about your experience with SPEC itself. What was easy about it? Confusing? Did you make any tweaks, or experiment with any settings? How comfortable do you feel with tweaking and going into a second conversion?

Halloway · **Joined:** Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:54 pm **Posts:** 13

Hi,

no, I didn't touch SPEC at all, I just left it on its default settings (although I did bypass ZPan, I think.) I thought I'd get the hang of the basic stuff first. I've read through the SPEC thread a couple of times already and there are some unfamiliar terms and concepts I am going to have to get my head around.

H.

Fan51 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:01 am **Posts:** 188

Halloway wrote:

Hi,

no, I didn't touch SPEC at all, I just left it on its default settings (although I did bypass ZPan, I think.) I thought I'd get the hang of the basic stuff first. I've read through the SPEC thread a couple of times already and there are some unfamiliar terms and concepts I am going to have to get my head around.

H.

That's fine. Your questions will help us improve the guides.

20271 · **Joined:** Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:48 pm **Posts:** 24

Halloway wrote:

Hi,

no, I didn't touch SPEC at all, I just left it on its default settings (although I did bypass ZPan, I think.) I thought I'd get the hang of the basic stuff first. I've read through the SPEC thread a couple of times already and there are some unfamiliar terms and concepts I am going to have to get my head around.

H.

I always advise newbies to just go with the default settings - it's more important to get a playable disc - you will find that it gets easier and then when you have done a few, then experiment with the settings

forget using AC3 - move on to DVD-Audio - it's considerably better than AC3 which is lossy and compressed!

Oh and congrats on getting your first one done !!! :clap :clap

River161 · **Joined:** Sun Aug 30, 2009 7:01 am **Posts:** 200

Halloway wrote:

Hi,

no, I didn't touch SPEC at all, I just left it on its default settings (although I did bypass ZPan, I think.) I thought I'd get the hang of the basic stuff first. I've read through the SPEC thread a couple of times already and there are some unfamiliar terms and concepts I am going to have to get my head around.

H.

.....as you can see, you've got a team of folks eager to answer any questions on the method you may have. :lol:

best of luck, and I'm sure all of us look forward to hearing from anyone who's taken the plunge into working with SPEC yet.

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