Dolby 5.1 .ac3 encoder for OS X????

[PHead14006]

I do a fair amount of surround mixing on Pro Tools as well as DVD authoring on Sonic DVD Fusion for Mac. Since my Sonic system has only a two channel hardware audio encoder I needed a software solution for encoding 5.1 ch. audio for DVDs. Universal Audio's SmartCode Pro (formerly Kind Of Loud) is perfect and works like a champ. At $500 it ain't cheap, but it works perfectly and has a lot of Dolby spec. parameters that can be customized.

Here's the problem: Like any good Digidesign customer I saw the walls closing in for Mix hardware and OS 9 software, so I bit the bullet and got an HD system. I thought I had thought of everything (no more Fuse video, among other things) until I found out that Universal has no plans to release an OS-X version of Smart Code Pro.

What I have had to do is get UA to send me a new authorization code to set up SCPro on my old PM 9600 that has Pro Tools LE and an Audiomedia III. Yes, the system is only 2-in/2-out but since SCPro is an RTAS plug-in I never have to actually play the audio. This is a big pain, as getting six large files of a two-hour movie from one machine to another involves an overnight 10 base-T ethernet transfer or moving a SCSI drive between computers. Hardly a slick workflow. Yes, I know about firewire drives, and no I can't put a firewire card in the 9600.

So in my state of poverty and near Dolbylessness I look to the esteemed DUC for snappy banter on what y'all are using for a REAL multichannel .ac3 encoder for PTHD/OS-X....Maybe if we all scream at Universal Audio they will realize that they can make a ton of money and/or keep present customers happy if they get it together and offer an OSX upgrade to SCPro!!!!

Question to Digi: Can I install and run Pro Tools Free for OS9 on the same machine my OSX PTHD system lives on if I boot in OS9? Will SCPro work as an RTAS plug in for PT Free?

Thanks, I'll take my reply off the air...


smm [email protected]

[soundeziner]

That wasn't the only plug they dropped for OSX. I really like(d) their stuff too....

In the interim I think you can upgrade the 9600 to 100 base T.

[JSProductions777]

Try a-pack from DVD studio pro for oSx it works great...

[john1192]

hey buffalo,

why don't you just boot into OS9 (or maybe you cannot with your computer) and use smartcode there ... or you could find a G4 for cheap and have firewire support ...

peace from former Falls resident now west coast ... 16 years and you will never see me again ...

peace john

[PHead14006]

Hey West Coast John,
My G4 can be booted into 9 or 10, and although the OS9 Pro Tools 5.1.1 is still installed and untouched by the OSX PT6.4 install, OS9/5.1.1 doesn't recognize the Accel cards, and therefore I cannot launch PT in OS9 any more. Growing evidence seems to suggest, however, that a PTFree install in the OS9 partition would run SmartCode as RTAS which would be fine-I don't need to hear audio for the Dolby encode render process, and I would have the six huge channel files of an hour show final 5.1 mix right on that machine, so Monday when I have time I plan to give it a try. I will post my results for those who care.

Thanks for the reply....BTW, I was born in LA and grew up in NY and settled in Buffalo-never going back, 25 years!!

smm

[minister]

hey PHEAD! did you test the OS9 PT Free thing? i am curious..... long time MIX user, i am about to dive in to HD land myself, with 5.1. i may have to check out a-pack.

has anyone checked out SRS Circle Surround TDM Pro Surround Sound Plug-in for Pro Tools The only real-time surround encoder for Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel that is at the DIGI website????

[PHead14006]

I have not yet tried Pro Tools Free in the OS9 partition of my PTHD/OSX G4. I still hope to do so, but pre-experiment questions include: Will my SCPro authorization still work with PTFree? AND: I seem to remember reading that you can't install PTFree on any machine that has PT hardware installed. I'm too busy with paying projects right now to risk messing around with my main machine, but when I have time to play around with it I will post another post with the results.

[matt connolly]

I recently put a cheap PC firewire card in a 9600. It was the pyro card that is recommended by Avid. I had to use the latest firewire extensions from OS 9.2.2 in an old 9.1 installation. No problems.

Pro Tools Free does not work in Classic mode.