Audio DVDs?

[Joe Bannon]

What program can I use to burn an audio DVD like you would with a CD?

[samh004]

Can't you do this in iTunes ? If not, probably Toast, although I'd imagine there are cheaper methods out there.

[WinterMute]

Do you mean a DVD-a disc, high def audio or multi-channel audio, or just a high capacity disc with lots of aiff files?

[Joe Bannon]

Do you mean a DVD-a disc, high def audio or multi-channel audio, or just a high capacity disc with lots of aiff files?


I have no idea what you're referring to. All I know is that my Acura can play audio DVDs. As the manual says, DVD-A.

[NotChemist]

Video DVDs use lossy compression (e.g. AC3) for 5.1 audio. DVD-Audio can include an audio stream with lossy compression as well, but the primary advantage of DVD-A is that the audio stream can be compressed with a lossless compression algorithm for better quality. It's possible to have 24 bit audio in stereo at 192kHz, or in 5.1 at 96kHz on a DVD-A disk.

Unfortunately, the software needed to produce proper DVD-A's is extremely expensive and doesn't usually run on Mac OS X. Three examples are discWelder (http://www.discwelder.com/), Sonic DVD-Audio creator (http://www.sonic.com/products/Professional/DVDA/), and Dolby Media Producer (http://www.dolby.com/professional/pro_audio_engineering/products_mastering-DVD_HD.html) (runs on Mac OS X).

[bgalizio]

Video DVDs use lossy compression (e.g. AC3) for 5.1 audio. DVD-Audio can include an audio stream with lossy compression as well, but the primary advantage of DVD-A is that the audio stream can be compressed with a lossless compression algorithm for better quality. It's possible to have 24 bit audio in stereo at 192kHz, or in 5.1 at 96kHz on a DVD-A disk.

Unfortunately, the software needed to produce proper DVD-A's is extremely expensive and doesn't usually run on Mac OS X. Three examples are discWelder (http://www.discwelder.com/), Sonic DVD-Audio creator (http://www.sonic.com/products/Professional/DVDA/), and Dolby Media Producer (http://www.dolby.com/professional/pro_audio_engineering/products_mastering-DVD_HD.html) (runs on Mac OS X).


Not exactly correct. There is a free DVD-A authoring program (by xACT creator) called DVD-Audiofile. You should be able to download it here:

http://satellite.epix.net/~scb/index.php?path=dvd-audiofile/

This will create a disc image of a DVD-A that you can then burn with Toast, Disc Utility, etc. It was designed for the live audio recording folks who trade in FLAC files, and seems to work best if your audio is already in FLAC.

[NotChemist]

Not exactly correct. There is a free DVD-A authoring program (by xACT creator) called DVD-Audiofile. You should be able to download it here:

http://satellite.epix.net/~scb/index.php?path=dvd-audiofile/

This will create a disc image of a DVD-A that you can then burn with Toast, Disc Utility, etc. It was designed for the live audio recording folks who trade in FLAC files, and seems to work best if your audio is already in FLAC.
That software can burn limited DVD-A's, but since it can't apply MLP compression to the audio, it's not possible to use 5.1 with higher sample rates. Also, without compression, playing time will not be as long.

[WinterMute]

Discwelder Bronze isn't particularly expensive.

The DVD-a standard is quite wide, and I assume your stereo is set up for stereo playback, so the files you want to use are just .aiff from CD's.

If they are MP3's you'll need to convert them to .aiff first, then use the aformentioned package to create a DVD-a disc which will act like a high-capacity CD in your player.

[bgalizio]

That software can burn limited DVD-A's, but since it can't apply MLP compression to the audio, it's not possible to use 5.1 with higher sample rates. Also, without compression, playing time will not be as long.

I don't think 5.1 will be used here. It sounds like the OP just wants to burn a high capacity stereo DVD-A disc. He/she should be able to use DVD-Audiofile and fit quite a lot of 16/44.1 tracks on it.