2thfixr

You guys lost me in the technical mumbo jumbo but I tried making a audio DVD with Audio DVD Creator and have to say that the sound quality is substantially worse than a MP3 burned onto a CD-R. At louder volumes, there was no distortion with a MP3 but there was definite distortion with the Audio DVD. IMO, there is no advantage to any of this because the problem with the ML system has poor imaging with 2ch audio so nothing can be done to improve the situation even with lossless, high quality this and that or even the original CD track. Do you guys know if it's possible to create a 4.7gb DVD full of MP3 files?

DrexLex

Yes, while transferring MP3 to DVD-A cannot make it sound better, it can make it sound worse. But that problem can probably be avoided. Most audio production tools have some processing menus that allow you to set up dynamics processing, EQ, etc. You need to make sure all of that stuff is off. Also, you have to avoid adding any gain at all--you want the decoded PCM from your MP3 to record directly with no changes. It could also be that whatever tool you are using to decode the MP3 in the PC is not playing nicely with the DVD Creator for some reason. How do they interface? If you do all that, the discs you burn should sound as good as the decoded MP3. Have a poke around before you give up on burning PCM DVDs. Failing that, try some other disc creation software.

You can create it, but the ML system cannot play it. It only plays PCM or MLP from DVD-A; or PCM, Dolby Digital, or DTS from DVD-V. At least that's the case for 2006 ML. I thought someone here said they use MP3 discs in their 2007 GS.

A.C Milan

lot's of info here ...

i'm really not following you guys . i tried making a dvd audio mp3 disc by Nero but it didn't work on the ML .

as drex said there is no diffrence in quality between burning mp3 CDs an DVD's .? if true what's the point of making dvd-a's?

or is it the software that i use?if true what's the best audio dvd burning software that i can use to notice the dvd-a quality?.

DrexLex

The 06 ML in GS cannot play MP3 files--it has no MP3 decoder. Not sure about the 07.

There is no point in making DVD-A regarding sound quality unless the source is better than 48/16 PCM. Although one can burn either DVD-A or DVD-V with 2-ch 48/16 and that would increase playing time x7 compared to regular CDs--so that's a good reason.

A.C Milan

no i've got a 07 IS that plays mp3's.

so this "48/16 PCM" thingie i will find at the burning software's settings before burning?

and when you say better you mean the numbers should be lower or higher?
i know i am a newbie in these things but i am trying at least.
burning CD's is all that i know.

DrexLex

If you are sourcing your music from MP3 files, or you want to use MP3 so you can carry as much music as possible on a disc, then by all means leave the files in MP3 format, and forget about putting them on DVD-A discs as PCM. You'll have more playing time from an MP3 coded CD than a PCM DVD.

As for the troubles with putting MP3s onto a DVD disc, I can offer no other ideas other than to check the owner's manual to see exactly what types of discs the player can use. If it says MP3 CD and does not say MP3 DVD, it might not be an oversight.

jerfitz

Another way to burn music disks. I have the Mark Levinson (ML) audio system and have experimented with burning music to both DVDs and CDs. Even though you can get 600 plus songs on a single DVD I personally do not like music DVDs. This is because they are recorded as if they were a Video File (a movie) and I could not see the song titles as they played plus I had no other control over them. It may be somewhere but I couldn't even get DVD recorded songs to play in a random sequence like you can with CDs. The only consistant thing I was able to do is get the DVD to AUTO START so the music starts and plays without fiddling around trying to get the DVD to start.

I now burn my music on CDs in the MP3 format. Depending on the MP3 file sizes it appears that you can get about 250 songs per CD. I have already tested a CD with 204 songs on it and it plays perfectly. That means with a six-disk CD changer I can have 1,500 songs in my ML Audio system. You can easily choose to play the songs sequentially, random, or repeat even when driving. When the car is moving the song title that is playing is shown on the screen.

On the other hand, when the car is NOT moving I can view and scroll through the entire list of song titles on the CD because you can access the FOLDERS and FILES menu, which is grayed out when the car is moving. See last paragraph for how to do this while driving.

THIS IS MY EXPERIENCE: I could not get Windows Media Player 11 to work with the Lexus Audio system because it wants to use the .M3U playback format. I found buried at the end of a sentence somewhere in the Lexus manual that .M3U playback will NOT work. NOTE: the playback format for songs is different from the MP3 recording format for the songs.

I used Sonic System’s Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 to burn a music CD with 204 songs on it and it both plays and shows each song's title as it plays even when driving.

Here's how I did it. Start Roxio, click on AUDIO, choose MUSIC DISK CREATOR, choose MP3/WMA disk, click FILE (upper left), click IMPORT AUDIO in the drop down menu, in the left pane of the two panes that just appeared click on My Computer to get to your C: drive and find you music files (songs) you want to burn, choose the songs you want to burn by clicking on them (they change color), click on ADD (middle right of screen).

If you want to edit any song's title, before burning the CD, click on that specific song and then click on Edit Audio Tags.

Then choose PROJECT SETTINGS. Here you name your disk, choose convert all to: MP3 (good quality), uncheck .M3U and leave only .PLS and .WPL playback formats checked, for file use Joliet and press okay to return to the previous screen.

Next, look at bottom left of the screen to make you have an 80 Min (703 MB) CD in the CD burner. Now click on BURN (right middle of screen). You probably should not use a rewritable CD-R.

This worked very well for me!

Furthermore, you may be interested in this detailed HOW TO description on: Enabling access to the Music Folders, Phone Dialing, Calendar and Maintenance Menus while Driving the Lexus ES350.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=276775

steverhode

3 questions please about DVD-As and ML:

1. What audio quality advantage, if ANY, is there for making a DVD-A from a CD?

2. Will a purchased DVD-A have been audio quality than a CD?

3. Where can one buy DVD-As on the internet?

Bottom line: Are DVD-As noticably better than CDs on ML, and, if so, where can I buy the DVD-As?

DrexLex

None. Only a quantity advantage--more music on a single disc.

Yes, almost without exception. Otherwise they would not have bothered to invest in releasing the DVD-A version.

Amazon has them. Search for "DVD Audio."

Not much. The ML system is limited to 2-ch DVD-A playback, so much of the 5.1 discrete benefit of DVD-A is lost. One of the other benefits of DVD-A is that the music is often less compressed/clipped than the CD version, so it can indeed sound better than CDs, but that's not due to CD vs DVD-A technical issues, it's due to hamfisted CD mastering techniques, over compressing peaks so the discs sound louder. Idiotic! Some of this will depend a lot on your musical tastes and how producers treat the genre. Country is clean, but pop/rock is usually hammered.

steverhode

How about classical music?

DrexLex

Classical recordings are usually the least compressed, so they sound quite good. It's due to this that it's more difficult to enjoy classical music (or movie soundtracks) in cars, since they loudness ebbs and flows over a greater range. If you are asking if classical music benefits from DVD-A, surely it does. Can you really hear that difference in a car compared to a CD? Rather less than one can appreciate from the same comparison in a home playback system, I'd say.

unknown2

niceeeeeeee

steverhode

People help me out please. I listen almost exclusively to classical music and would like to get the best sound possible from my ML in my new 2008 GS350.

1. Should I buy classical music Dolby Digial DVDs and play them? If so, how do I skip tracks when the car is moving (assuming I do no mods on my leased car).

2. Would DVD-A discs be almost as good? If so, where would I find these strange beasts that I've barely heard of before?

3. Just play normal (commerical) CDs?

4. Would most people be able to tell the difference between 1, 2 and 3?

I'd love lots of advice please.

RenatUSSR

I USE -
ImgBurn for burning all DVD-A images.
DigiOnAudio2 - for creating DVD-Audio with Vinyl Rips

96/24 sounds awesome

nehal51086

i cant wait to try this...only thing holding me back from not using my old ipod that has a messed up center key....ipod wasnt nearly as great as cd