Want easy 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio?
 

Womble Mpeg Video Wizard DVD is the ticket. It's the fastest and best standalone mpeg editor.

- Smart rendering
- Fastest scrubbing
- Frame accurate

It's intuitive, easy to learn, multiple timelines, mix and match incompatible video formats on the same timeline, 24F, 60i...no problem.

Select AC3 5.1 audio output, and your stereo camcorder audio is professionally mixed into 5.1 Dolby Digital in one step.

I edit 1080 HDV video, output it to mpeg2 PS with 5.1 audio in one step without rendering the video, then take it into Ulead Movie Factory 6 where it gets authored and burned to HD-DVD format in one step. The non-lossy workflow end to end takes 1/6 the time it takes Vegas to render alone.

Sounds like a plug, but I'm just recommending it as any other paying user. They have a 30 day free trial download, it's 100% functional. If you like it, you just purchase the software key. I've been using Womble for a few years now. It only cost $30 to upgrade to the 5.1 functionality. The full program price is $99.

It is stable, and compatible with Microsoft Vista, which I am using. I recommend it. I'm just very fond of it.

If you want to stay with your current workflow or NLE, that's fine too. Just let Womble re-code the audio track. It won't render the video, so it takes just seconds to pass your finished file through Womble.

Is this a fully Dolby licensed version of AC3, and can you use the DD logo on encoded material? Seems unlikely for the price. Or is it a hijacked version like BeSweet?

Tools?
 

How about video editing tools, like corrections, effects, transitions, etc? I see no info on that on their webpage.

Can you encode genuine 5.1 audio with it? i.e. take 6 mono wav files and have Womble convert those to DD5.1?

You can see the DD logo on the audio receiver. Is that what you mean by logo?

It has good effects, transitions and titling. It's the best for quick cuts and edits. Not good for color correction, although it has those tools as well.

I don't think so Graham but I'm not 100%. It's not primarily a sound line editor, although you can adjust volume, bass treble and a few others. But as for working independently with 6 mono tracks I don't think so. It will pass the 5.1 Dolby audio tracks if you've already mixed them with something else. I think you could probably mix 6 channels of audio PCM/wav with something like Cubase, put it on the Womble audio timeline with the video track to convert it into the Dolby 5.1 audio.

Womble has good tools for demultiplexing/remultiplexing video and audio.

Tom,

What I meant by logo was that Dolby has approved the Womble license and thereby allows users to use the Dolby trailers and logos on their disks for personal use.

Does it offer the same functionality as the Minnetonka Surcode plug-in?
The price difference is so large that it makes you wonder. The Surcode plug-in is $ 299 and stand alone is $ 995, Womble is $ 99.

Here is screen capture from the Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD help screen.

The crux likely is in the wording "consumer software encoder".

Probably is, but the thread title is "easy" 5.1 Dolby audio, which it certainly is. You click the button, your video now gets 5.1 channel sound instead of mpeg1 layer 2.

That's an inportant point for me because it means HD-DVD videos will play with sound without the user having to go into the setup menu of his player and reset his audio output for LPCM.

Checking at Dolby shows that Womble is NOT licensed. That explains the price difference with Minnetonka, who is fully licensed. That does not mean it is an inferior product, but legally you can not use Dolby trailers or Dolby logo's in your productions if your sound was not created with a fully licensed version of Dolby's encoder. So effectively it is a hijacked version like BeSweet.

I appreciate the clarification. The Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD editor includes the AC-3 multi-channel encoder and I would leave it at that.

From the Dolby website it says that if you use a Dolby licensed and approved professional encoder, for example Minnetonka plugin then you can use the Dolby trademark on DVDs if you get a trademark agreement from Dolby. But if it's a movie, you have to have a motion picture service agreement.

Note there are other Dolby licensed companies, for example pegasys, tmpgenc that market AC-3 plugins, that like the Womble example, don't buy you the right to use Dolby trademarks.

It's also fair to note that you owe royalties to MPEG for the distribution of DVDs.

So it's important to know your target audience, family and friends, broadcast or ticket buying public.