Need 5.1 AAC to 5.1 AC3 Converter

[prabs]

MP4 files with 5.1 AAC play without Audio on my WD Media Live.

To play the files with Audio I do the following:

1. Use Yamb to split the file into 2 files - h264 and AAC
   
2. Convert AAC to AC3 using Winff.
   
3. Join the AC3 file and h264 file using Mkvmergegui.
   

In the process the 5.1 AAC gets converted into stereo AC3.

Please suggest a way to convert the files without loosing channel mapping and quality?

 

[sheeniz]

I use PopCorn MKV AudioConverter all the time for converting my mkv's audio as they usually are not compatible with PS3.

Moreover, this can be helpful to you:-

http://www.hifivision.com/av-lounge/10051-aac-5-1-ac3-5-1-conversion.html

 

[prabs]

^ Thanks for replying. How much time does - PopCorn MKV AudioConverter take to convert only the audio of the file and also is there any loss of quality.

I can skip step 2 and use the resultant mkv file with - PopCorn MKV AudioConverter.

 

[6pack]

you can use this to directly extract the audio from source as ac3 - http://www.videohelp.com/tools/eac3to

it comes default with megui. converts to around 384KBps bitrate

 

[prabs]

@6pack don't have nero installed. Is there any other work around?

@sheeniz - Here is the Progress log from PopCorn Audio Converter

Progress log:

Extracting Information for file "D:\Videos\Test 2\Test_track1.mkv"

Video Track:

Track Number: 0

Codec: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Pixel Resolution: 1920x818

Aspect ratio: 2.35

Display Resolution: 1920x818

Frames per second: 23.976

Audio Track #1

Track Number: 1

Codec: A_AAC

SampleRate: 48000

Channels: 6

DeMuxing tracks

Extracting time codes for audio tracks for proper handling of audio delay

Track #1 wasn't delayed

Decoding Audio Track #1 to WAV

Encoding Audio Track #1 WAV to ac3

ReMuxing new audio tracks into Test_track1

I wish they had added an alert box telling if the process has finished or not. Since Remux is mentioned at the end I am guessing it is done.

Off to test it.

Update : - Didn't work

Spoiler

WD Live was supposed to be a plug and watch affair not this.

 

[prabs]

Tried again last night. In mediainformation I can see there are 6 channels but the output is still in stereo.

I checked with another file that had 5.1 DTS audio and that plays perfectly.

I have attached the mediainformation log.

Please advice.

 

[6pack]

#prabs, neroaac can be downloaded free from their site. its just 1.5MB

http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nerodigital-nero-aac-codec.php

Also i think your player is not capable of outputting dolby streams. this is what comes up in their specs

An audio receiver is required for multi-channel surround sound digital output.

so you need to pass the 5.1 sound over spdif to an audio receiver to get surround sound. wd live cannot do 5.1 surround.

See this link: http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Live-Plus-Ideas/Live-decoding-AAC-5-1-gt-PCM-5-1/idi-p/717

 

[prabs]

^Thanks for the link.

What do you mean by Dolby Stream?

The WD Live is connected to the system (Sony DAV-DZ510) by an optical cable s/pdif cable.

I have attached the mediainformation details of the file that plays perfectly. I get 5.1 Audio for both tracks.

 

[6pack]

About Dolby Digital: http://www.dolby.com/us/en/consumer/technology/home-theater/dolby-digital.html

and the file you were playing actually had DTS audio. Its similar to dolby digital.

http://www.audioholics.com/educatio...s-dts-a-guide-to-the-strengths-of-the-formats

 

[booo]

did you try eac3to - audio conversion tool ?

 

[prabs]

Apologies for disappearing for a while.

The reason the ac3 converted files were playing in stereo was a setup mistake in WD Live.

In - 'Digital Pass Through via Optical Only (S/PDIF)' I had initially selected all 4.

Then I unselected everything except - 'Dolby Digital capable receiver'.

When I had selected 'AAC capable receiver' there was no audio for youtube,shoutcast etc.,

To further complicate the matter my desktop hdd conked off (which was long time overdue anyway) when I tried to demux on the very day of buying the WD Live. So on my netbook didn't go beyond the steps I had mentioned in the first post. Since WinFF was creating audio in Stereo I had no way to check with converted files.

Yesterday I selected - 'DTS capable receiver' and played the video that was converted using PopCorn Converter and it played correctly in 5.1 Audio.

Thanks for helping guys.

The only 2 questions that remain are:

1. Why does AAC files or streams using AAC have no Audio when 'AAC capable receiver' is selected considering Sony mentions that AAC is supported. If that would work then it would really solve the entire headache.

2. Why does WD Live have problems with AAC when they mention AAC as supported? People have been complaining about it for years and they still haven't solved it. I only wish I had found the wd forum entries of those complaints before I bought it. Not to mention the reviews term the device as great but they never mention this.