Hello all!
We have Avid Liquid 7 running on a brand new PC, Intel Xeon with 2gb RAM. We usually use an ATI sound card, but that's on the fritz so we're currently using a behringer uca202 USB sound card.
We've authored a number of DVDs and some of them are fine, however we have people sending back certain DVDs because they won't play on certain computers and DVD players properly. The audio is very garbled. We can't figure out why this happens on certain computers and players. The video seems fine.
Does anyone have ideas on this matter?
Cheers

The default audio codec in Liquid is MP2. That does not work well on many DVD players in the U.S. and possibly other NTSC countries. You should create a custom preset and use Dolby Digital for your audio. That will work everywhere.

Thanks for your suggestion, however we're still having garbled audio on some computers (running windows xp and an xp codec pack).

This is quite a situation.  I can't get any customer support without paying extra and we've tried a number of things.  I don't know what to do next. 

I have never seen this problem. Dolby Digital has to work on everything. The Dolby encoder in Liquid has been certified by Dolby. This is not a Liquid issue. What do you mean an XP codec pack? You should be on a clean install of XP without anything else.

The only other possibility if you are using Dolby audio is that these particular players are not compatible with burned discs (some are not) or that you are using poor quality discs.

I meant that the audio is garbled when the DVD is played on a player in a different computer (one that runs XP, and has a codec pack installed on it).  DVDs made with DVD Studio Pro work fine on that computer.  I will follow up on whether or not this issue is with our DVDs.  Thanks again for your help.  Any other suggestions are welcome.

Cheers 

You have not really provided any real information to possibly help. what are your time line settings and your authoring settings? Are you using DVD-r or +r or dual layer disks? Are you outputting with pcm, mpeg or dolby audio? These are basic info that may shed some light on what is happening. I use Liquid to make over 1000 disks a year and I have little or very few issues. Doesn't mean their aren't issues in Liquid just they are usually manageable. Edd

imcbain:

Thanks for your suggestion, however we're still having garbled audio on some computers (running windows xp and an xp codec pack).

This is quite a situation.  I can't get any customer support without paying extra and we've tried a number of things.  I don't know what to do next. 

"xp codec pack" I don't know where you got that from but SOME Codec Packs are notorious for causing all kinds of serious problems. You might want to consider Lews advise.

 

To be clear, when I say there's an XP codec pack, that is on another computer, NOT the one I'm using Liquid on.  The computer with the codec pack on it is not involved in this equation.  There is one computer in the building that will not play these discs properly; the audio is garbled.

I'm capturing from an HDCAM deck, using a Sony HVR-M10U as a passthrough for the 1394.  I have Liquid's capture setting at Full DV.  The media plays fine in Liquid, audio and all.  The timeline settings match the capture settings.   This problem is consistent, no matter what settings I use to capture, or author DVDS.  Lately, I''ve been using the preset with Dolby 2.0 on it.  I am using DVD-R discs.

Just a couple of questions.

I assume you have recieved one of the faulty dvds back, have you tried it on a couple of stand alone players?

 When you encoded the dvd, what bit rate did you select for the AC3.

 Which ASIO driver are you currently using?

What brand media are you using and what software did you use to burn the DVD.

Was it an ISO file or Video_ts folder?

 

imcbain:

There is one computer in the building that will not play these discs properly; the audio is garbled.

If there's only 1 computer that will not play back correctly, and the disks do play back correctly on other computers, then I would tend to think the problem is with that one computer and not the Liquid disks.

The comment about CODEC packs is a valid one. Some CODECs (e.g. AngelPotion) will thoroughly muck up your system, and many CODEC packs include this, as well as other, toxic CODECs.  

dun4cheap:

Just a couple of questions.

I assume you have recieved one of the faulty dvds back, have you tried it on a couple of stand alone players?

 When you encoded the dvd, what bit rate did you select for the AC3.

 Which ASIO driver are you currently using?

What brand media are you using and what software did you use to burn the DVD.

Was it an ISO file or Video_ts folder?

 

 

1.  Yes, the DVD works fine in standalone players that we have, thought the person who reported the problem siad that the DVD would not work in his DVD player or computer.

 

2.  320

 

3.  I checked the PC that Liquid is on, and could not find an ASIO driver.

 

4.  Maxwell DVD-R

 

5.  We used Avid Liquid to burn the disc. 

 

6. Video_ts 

 

 

I have had probs when playing discs on some ( cheap ) dvd players using that fast 320 speed of the audio, a speed of 192 seems to work on all players

FYI, we're going chalk it up to being a problem with the few computers it has errors on.  At least now we can continue shipping.  Thanks for you input all.