AC3 encoding?

[KingTor]

I'm looking into delivering an AC3 file on a 5.1 project we're working on. Any advice on affordable (preferably freeware) tools for the job? Our office Windoze machine is almost certainly not up to the task, so we're looking for something which runs on Mac OS 10.4.8 or 10.4.11.

Thanks in advance.

[IO Composer]

I know nothing about doing this kind of work on no budget, but Apple's Compressor app is the choice for this. If you can find an old version of DVDStudio Pro for cheap, it used to come with a stand alone app for this called A-Pack. Not sure if it would work on Leopard though, so you might have to dig some old gear out of the closet.

[FajitaTone]

10.4 is tiger... I think APack will run on tiger.

[KingTor]

Thanks for the info. I can never keep the kitty names straight...

I seem to have a no-frills version of Compressor on this machine (perhaps it came with the OS or with Soundtrack Pro 1.0?) but it doesn't support ac3 as either a destination or source. Ugh.

I'm assuming APack would also a good way to decode an ac3 file and/or listen to it directly?

I'm also in the market for a way to watch reference DVDs in surround on our Pro Tools system. Can DVDStudio Pro do that?

[quadraphonics]

A piece of software you might want to look into is the SoundCode Dolby Digital by Neyrinck. It is an encoder/decoder package and works right inside of Pro Tools. It allows for faster than real time encodes/decodes and real time decodes/play backs of AC-3 encoded streams as well as DVDs. Not the least expensive software out there, but it works well for what it does.

Randall

Originally Posted by KingTor

Thanks for the info. I can never keep the kitty names straight...

I seem to have a no-frills version of Compressor on this machine (perhaps it came with the OS or with Soundtrack Pro 1.0?) but it doesn't support ac3 as either a destination or source. Ugh.

I'm assuming APack would also a good way to decode an ac3 file and/or listen to it directly?

I'm also in the market for a way to watch reference DVDs in surround on our Pro Tools system. Can DVDStudio Pro do that?