Making music-only DVDs

[macrman]

Hi,

Is it possible to create a "music only" DVD using a lossless audio format that would play in a regular DVD player?

This would overcome the 80 minute/700mb CD limit for AIFF.

I know Toast lets you make "music DVDs" but I'm not sure if that's MP3 only.

Does iDVD let you do this?

Thanks.

 

[quigleybc]

i just did it using AIFF tracks,

not sure if it will work with FLAC or Lossless.

try it out.

 

[WinterMute]

You'll probably need to add some black .jpg's to a slideshow, thats the best way I found, each track needs some graphics to run.

You also need to use 48Khz .aiff files as thats what the DVD standard uses, so Lossless or FLAC is out it simply gets re-coded.

iDVD works fine, convert your tracks to 48K in iTunes, use a 720x576 blank .jpg (for PAL, don't know the numbers for NTSC) and simply add a different tune to the .jpg till you run out of space. Should work for double layer too.

 

[thepope]

You'll probably need to add some black .jpg's to a slideshow, thats the best way I found, each track needs some graphics to run.

You also need to use 48Khz .aiff files as thats what the DVD standard uses, so Lossless or FLAC is out it simply gets re-coded.

iDVD works fine, convert your tracks to 48K in iTunes, use a 720x576 blank .jpg (for PAL, don't know the numbers for NTSC) and simply add a different tune to the .jpg till you run out of space. Should work for double layer too.

Do you lose any sound quality converting MP3's to 48KHz .aiff? I'm wondering because you can do this in toast using the DVD Music setting but I don't know how much is lost in the converting process.

 

[WinterMute]

Do you lose any sound quality converting MP3's to 48KHz .aiff? I'm wondering because you can do this in toast using the DVD Music setting but I don't know how much is lost in the converting process.

No, MP3 is a lossy format and degrades the audio quality, .aiff is lossless and will not change the quality of the MP3 in any significant way, but the quality of the audio would be better if you go back to the original CD (if you have it) and rip at 48K in the first instance, as this wil avoid another layer of format conversion in the process.

 

[thepope]

No, MP3 is a lossy format and degrades the audio quality, .aiff is lossless and will not change the quality of the MP3 in any significant way, but the quality of the audio would be better if you go back to the original CD (if you have it) and rip at 48K in the first instance, as this wil avoid another layer of format conversion in the process.

A lot of my collection is high quality MP3 files because I was an emusic subscriber for years. My purchased CD's have been ripped to lossless flac files.

I really like the idea of putting a wack of music on a DVD, but I don't want to waste my free time if its going to degrade the sound. Toast 9 does the conversion when you burn, so what settings would I use in Toast 9 to get the best SQ if this is attainable.

 

[SigmundFraud]

Pcm 48, 16

You really don't want to waste more bits on the problem than PCM 48khz, 16 bit. A bit like a 5 megapixel camera on a phone, you'd just be capturing the limitations of the media in exquisite detail if you went further than this. The source material is almost always 44.1Khz/ 16 bit, so you're not going to get better than that. As others have said, there will be no loss of quality with PCM conversion - an MP3 is a series of time and frequency-sliced descriptive equations of wave-forms that cannot be "directly" played; it is always "translated" to PCM in the player just before you hear it. All you are doing is capturing that translation for your DVD. The output will be identical. All the audio degradation happened long before conversion back to PCM.

 

[thepope]

Thanks SigmundFraud for the detailed explanation, I will use the PCM 48khz, 16 bit setting in Toast 9.

I have purchased a portable DVD player that has video input, and hooked this up to my stereo + DVD player in my gym. Its great being able to put a hole bunch of CD's on a DVD with the ability to navigate the menu's.