Cirlinca released HD-Audio Solo Ultra 4.1 - High-definition Media Authoring

Cirlinca's HD-Audio Solo Ultra 4.1 is released. This new version adds Blu-ray menus and enhanced Blu-ray support.

Overview
HD-Audio Solo Ultra is designed to master high-definition audio to music Blu-ray, DVD discs and streaming files. Music is the focus, from stereo to 7.1 surround and many resolutions, but it can be augmented with visual material (pictures, menus). The key milestone in this release is the ability to export the same project to most media : Blu-ray, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, streaming files, CD (without pictures).

Features highlight

• Import from files (wav, flac, aif, aac, wma, DTS-HD Master Audio for Blu-ray) or CD, resolution up to 32bit/192kHz.
• Resample up to 24bit/192kHz, upmix from stereo to 5.1.
• Add pictures to tracks and menus optimized for music navigation.
• Author and burn to music Blu-ray, DVD-Audio and DVD-Video discs. Audio resolution : Blu-ray up to 7.1/24bit/96kHz, DVD-Audio up to 5.1/24bit/96kHz (some restrictions), DVD-Video up to stereo 24bit/96kHz. Video resolution : Blu-ray up to 1080p.
• Or export the same content to ISO files and Blu-ray BDMV folders with menus or files, for streaming by Blu-ray or media players (e.g. on USB key or media server).
• Accessibility is optimized for visually impaired users.
• Supported OS: Windows XP to Windows 7, Mac OS X with VMware Fusion

For more information visit www.cirlinca.com

Sounds like it just keeps getting better!

(Is there still no MLP support?)

JonUrban said:

Sounds like it just keeps getting better!

(Is there still no MLP support?)

Click to expand...

No MLP support. By the way, where/how would you get MLP files ? Interestingly, MLP is getting a new life as Dolby TrueHD, as far as I know. But then, most Blu-ray titles seem to have DTS-HD Master Audio rather than Dolby TrueHD. Not entirely clear why, other than DTS-HD MA having a DTS core that is backward compatible.

Some folks have SurCodeMLP

I've just been playing with this and it's an extremely competent application. Support for MLP and DTSHD would be lovely though.

Halloway said:

I've just been playing with this and it's an extremely competent application. Support for MLP and DTSHD would be lovely though.

Click to expand...

It does support DTS HD MA - it will pass it through - you'll need a DTS HD MA file to start with of course. Both 4.0 and 4.1 do this.

Been playing around with this today - a few observations;

- The menu process for BD is pretty much the same as it is for DVD - rudimentary but it does the job. I still haven't mastered the setting for color/hue/brightness for text over images but I can get around it OK.
- I discovered after not a little bit of transcoding (via several other programs - DB poweramp/DTSParser/Audiomuxer/DTS HD encoder suite) that you cannot combine tracks/albums with different sampling rates. If for example, you are making a compilation BD Audio disc, as in my case, DTSHD MA conversions of Sting's Nothing Like The Sun DTS CD, Brand New Day DVD Audio, Bring The Night BD Video and Live in Berlin BD Video - they must all have the same sampling rate. This means that in order to matchthe 24/96 sampling rate of Live In Berlin, I have to up-convert 16/44 (Nothing Like The Sun) 16/48 (Bring On The Night) 24/48 (Brand New Day) all to 24/96. Not undo-able via Audiomuxer) but it takes up alot of unnecessary space for no real upgrade in sound. It's just an exercise but it is rather time consuming.

- there is a cool bit of BD Menu authoring software (freeware) called mulitAVCHD that will allow for multiple codecs - you can combine DTS/DTS 96/24/DTS HD MA/Dolby/Dolby TruHD even PCM 2.0 if you like all on the same disc. The trade off of course is a steep learning curve, alot of patience (very limited tech support), more than a few spent BD-Rs (not cheap), and a less than intuitive GUI - of course it is free and the end result is far more sophisticated than Cirlinca HD Solo Ultra 4.1 ( it's nice to be able to include Music Videos). I've made several homebrews utilizing this resource (ie. The complete Talking Heads Brick w/Videos, The Doors Perception Box, etc) all on a single BD-R 25 - in lossless DTS HD MA (you of course need to utilize several different programs (some free, some not) to get from the original source to the DTS HD MA starting line). Definitely worth checking out.

I was looking at some comments about multiAVCHD the other day; was going to download it but got sidetracked. Like you say, I got the impression the learning curve was a little steep.
I don't have a BD burner but I do create music AVCHD's on DVD-R, sometimes with images. If you can get all the music encoded as DTS-HD then AudioMuxer makes creating the AVCHD easy.
Anyway I was looking for something that would allow a little more flexibility and was thinking of checking out multiAVCHD.

@Elmer

Interesting point about mixing multiple codecs. One of the issue is that Blu-ray is not as focused on audio, as say DVD-A. For instance, each Blu-ray title or clip must have the same video and audio codec within (not so with DVD-A). So different track resolutions -> different titles. It's doable but then we suspected that this may not be too good to play gapless tracks (to be verified). For Solo, the highest object = title is an album/group, and tracks are elements of that album. I suspect that for multiAVCHD, each track is a title. What could be done as an answer to your remark is for each group to have its own resolution, there are up to 9 groups. Then you don't have to resample and all of that, simply put in different groups. We could add this in one of the next releases, it's a good point.

hirezguy said:

@Elmer

Interesting point about mixing multiple codecs. One of the issue is that Blu-ray is not as focused on audio, as say DVD-A. For instance, each Blu-ray title or clip must have the same video and audio codec within (not so with DVD-A). So different track resolutions -> different titles. It's doable but then we suspected that this may not be too good to play gapless tracks (to be verified). For Solo, the highest object = title is an album/group, and tracks are elements of that album. I suspect that for multiAVCHD, each track is a title. What could be done as an answer to your remark is for each group to have its own resolution, there are up to 9 groups. Then you don't have to resample and all of that, simply put in different groups. We could add this in one of the next releases, it's a good point.

Click to expand...

I just finished my first BD Audio with the new 4.1 version (as noted in my previous comment). I very much like the ease of creating the menu - and it's a fair trade off (IMO) to the MUCH more complex multiAVCHD - and for the purposes of a multi title BD Audio collection - quite adequate. I should point out the multiAVCHD is also very focused on the video side. Creating BD Audio in a satisfactory way was quite a challenge. Basically, I create individual MKV files/movie for each "album" utilizing audiomuxer which also allows me to add a background image and song title. I then add the MKV file as a "video" into multiAVCHD -from there I can create individual menu pages for each album renaming chapter time codes to song titles. Another useful feature that they include is a "pop up menu" which allows you to navigate on the fly while the disc is in operation. But back to Cirlinca...

Being able to create a separate resolution for each group would definitely be a plus. I noticed that the next and previous buttons do not appear on the group title page - so I cannot just click forward to the next title. I may be doing something wrong but I cannot find any options to modify this. Thanks again for stopping in - look forward to hearing more!

@elmer

The next and previous buttons do not show in the group title page because all the group thumbnails are resized to fit on one page, depending on the number of groups from 1 to 9. Give a try. Regarding each group having its own resolution with Blu-ray, agreed, it will appear soon. For menus in general, they appeared in 4.0 as the first generation, more features will be added. If you have suggestions, wishes, ... let me know.

I agree with being able to have different resolutions for each group. I want to put multiple DVD-Audio rips onto a single blu ray. Problem is some are at 24/48 some at 24/96 and some at 16/48. Being able to put each title into their own group with a different resolution would be ideal.

Is this the real deal?
Specifically, can I author a blu-ray disc image and/or MKV file with HD video content along with 24/96 4.0 or 5.1 sound? Completely lossless? No dumbing down the audio?

The price is certainly right. The free demo version does not run on the Mac (a bug they admit to on their page but offer no fix) so I'd have to take a chance and buy it untried. And with all the bait and switch apps out there that restrict lossless audio I have to ask - does this really work?

Again, blu-ray disc with HD video AND HD surround sound audio. These would be the same program. The audio is in sync with the video. It would need to continue to be in sync with the video when played. It would need to remain 24/96 and remain discreet 4.0 or 5.1 (as I produced it). I am not in any way talking about fake upmixing here. No dolby or dts.

Think those are all the disclaimers... Is this the real deal?

Currently running OSX 10.6.8
Their demo launches, accuses you of "clock manipulation" and quits. They acknowledge this bug but offer no solution. (If you encounter the message "Time Manipulation detected", ensure the clocks are properly set.) Well, there's only one clock and it's properly set. Unless this is a read-between-the-lines suggestion TO reset the clock. They do mention running this with a virtual simulator (VMware) which I do not have and am not interested in using. My Win apps are run in OSX with help from Wine.

Hi everyone,

I have recently purchased version 4.4 of HD-Audio Solo Ultra, but I have a a huge problem with it. The trial version worked fine, but now I can't write anything to an ISO or BD. I have 16 Quad tracks, 16 Stereo tracks, and 3 Quad tracks, in 3 groups, all in 96/24 resolution, a bunch of JEPG images, and that's it. It always shows me this message after it has read all the audio tracks just fine:


I ahe had my PC checked for viruses, and the C partition checked for errors, still the same message.

It's my own music, and I have been working on these mixes for a year now, so I'd really like this resolved. I have sent Cirlinca several messages as well, but zero response so far.

Please help me out!!!

what is the error message?

Surroundjediguitarlord said:

Hi everyone,

I have recently purchased version 4.4 of HD-Audio Solo Ultra, but I have a a huge problem with it. The trial version worked fine, but now I can't write anything to an ISO or BD. I have 16 Quad tracks, 16 Stereo tracks, and 3 Quad tracks, in 3 groups, all in 96/24 resolution, a bunch of JEPG images, and that's it. It always shows me this message after it has read all the audio tracks just fine:


I ahe had my PC checked for viruses, and the C partition checked for errors, still the same message.

It's my own music, and I have been working on these mixes for a year now, so I'd really like this resolved. I have sent Cirlinca several messages as well, but zero response so far.

Please help me out!!!

Click to expand...

MC Maniac said:

what is the error message?

Click to expand...

Lol I can't believe I forgot to mention that. It's:

Error creating menu m2ts-2
Internal error in BDPhase 0 16 2 0 3 - section 3.3
Please submit an incident report in OnLine/Support
Build aborted

hmm..never seen that one

I would suggest you experiment by adding just one group and see if it will create the ISO

do this for each group

then try 2 groups and see if it is one group causing the issue

Surroundjediguitarlord said:

Lol I can't believe I forgot to mention that. It's:

Error creating menu m2ts-2
Internal error in BDPhase 0 16 2 0 3 - section 3.3
Please submit an incident report in OnLine/Support
Build aborted

Click to expand...

Yes, there is something it doesn't like about what you're doing. Try the one group as suggested and see how that works. That menu error could prevent success when everything else seems right.

MC Maniac said:

hmm..never seen that one

I would suggest you experiment by adding just one group and see if it will create the ISO

do this for each group

then try 2 groups and see if it is one group causing the issue

Click to expand...

I have tried everything. Just one group, even with the default pictures of the menu. Groups 1 and 3, which are both Quad with the default menu. No track pictures, etc..

I works fine to burn a BD with Groups 1 and 3, as long as I don't use any menu. As soon as I use a menu I get the blasted error message.

EDIT: On second thought, I will try your experiment. Thanks.

I just had success with Group 1 and 3, and most likely Groups 1, 2, and 3. That's without the track images or menu photos. I just had the default pictures for those.
Also the track names were the default ones.
Now, I am writing the three groups with their suposed names, but still no images on my part.

OK, there is something seriously weird here. I tried to wirte the same exact project to ISO, yet build aborted again.

What the heck? No BD disc in the tray, just like last night. Exactly the same, yet it aborted. I don't get it.