Finishing 24p DV with 5.1???
 

The Basics:

24p feature, shot on DVX-100A
Edited in Final Cut Pro 4
Audio Mastered in Pro Tools in Dolby 5.1

The Question:

If I want to finish to SD DV what is the best way to do this while maintaining the 5.1 audio? I am assuming I will just "print to tape" to a DVCAM deck, but I am not very saavy with 5.1 standards and how this will affect the finishing process.

Also, does anyone have any experience with DVD Studio Pro and can tell me if 5.1 is even possible on this app?

EDIT: One additional question, will printing to tape running at 29.97 be a sufficient conversion to NTSC?

SDDV only has 2 Channels of audio at 16 bit, and 4 channels at 12 bit, so 5.1 surround recording won't transfer to regular DV25 (or DV50?) formats.

I'm not sure about DVHS because it can hold considerably more data than MiniDV, or DVCPRO50 and uses MPEG2 recording like a DVD.

I don't know the specifics of that DVD program, but isn't 5.1 surround authoring one of the pros of the MPEG2 medium, and therefore shouldn't the program have that capability?

29.97 fps is an NTSC standard.

Also, if you're intending to go straight to DVD you probably want to shoot and edit at 30p. I think MPEG2 for DVD is usually 30fps. 24P is mostly for film transfers (or the possiblity of future transfers). Somebody please set me straight if I'm wrong.

A compromise could be converting the 5.1 AC3 file to a 2.0 Dolby Prologic Surround file, that's the way I do it (on a Windows system). My workflow is as follows:
1. make a 5.1 surround mix with Vegas
2. render the audio to a 5.1 AC3 file with the Dolby Digital encoder inside Vegas
3. convert (downmix) the 5.1 AC3 file with the freeware tool AzidLame to a 24 bit stereo WAV file.
4. Import the WAV file on an empty track in my Vegas projectfile and mute all the other audiotracks.
5. Render the complete video with the audiofile to a AVI video/audiofile (with 16 bit stereoaudio) that can be printed back to a mini-DV tape.
6. Playback the mini-dv on my cinema-tv homeset to check the final quality on the downmixed surround field. Most of the times the results are pretty okay (for a videotape).

Just my 2 cents....

Peter

Thanks Peter that is an interesting workaround.

DVD studio pro 3 comes with A.pack
 

When you install DVD studio pro 3 you need to install A.pack which is an add on install that comes with DVDsp3. This is a dolby digital 5.1 encoder especially for use with this program.

Say guys,

I've never mixed in 5.1 and I'm not sure where to start. Got a powermac g5 with final cut pro hd. What software should I get? Pro tools? Suggestions? Thanks!