AC3 Encoding w/ NERO WaveEditor v3.10.1.0 ?

[zoinbergs]

Hey guys.. I gotta a question for ya!

I just updated my NERO 7 Ultra Edition to v7.10.1.0 -- and low and behold my WaveEditor program was updated to v3.10.1.0 as well!

What stumps me though is that a new file appeared in my C:\Program Files\Common Files\AudioPlugins directory -- ac3.dll. It's version is v2.10.1.0 -- and when I curiously went to save a 6ch wav file with it (produced by upmixing a stereo input using WaveEditor's Convert Sample Format feature) the resulting file was encoded perfectly! I had just created a normal (I presume DPLII-upmixed) 6ch ac3 file!

(Just so you guys know, no ac3enc.dll based besweet/azid plugin is loaded into my system, which to my knowledge has been the only way (to date at least) to achieve multichannel ac3 files via NERO's WaveEditor.)

So, does anybody have any information pertaining to this new file ac3.dll? Is the encoding process any good? Can anybody figure out if the output is a standard / compliant ac3 file? What about Nero Vision.. does it use the same file?

I wonder these things because it seems to me like this method of encoding into ac3 could be a big improvement in the ac3 community, as well a cheap replacement to that non-compliant opensource project ac3enc.dll!

I personally can't find anything wrong with my newly encoded ac3.. and when I go to decompress it again it even keeps it's volume normal!

So if anyone has the expertise and a little time to fiddle with it, the NERO update can be downloaded here (you have to own the original software suite of course though):

http://www.nero.com/nero7/enu/nero7-up.php

I personally can't find any information on this fantastic new way to encode in ac3.. but I must say, it looks promising. :)

Thanks to anyone who dives into this subject with me!

Later,
Will

PS- My newly created ac3 file is 24bit, which is odd because I started with a 16bit wav and never changed it on my own. Anybody know why they chose 24bit? I thought 16bit was the DVD standard.

[tebasuna51]

If you want a free ac3 encoder use Aften (search in this forum: standalone, with GUI, with BeSweet-BeLight, with AviSynth-BeHappy/Wavi, ...), ac3enc.dll is deprecated now.

I don't know the Nero ac3 encoder. Can you select the Dialog Normalization and the Dynamic Range Compression when encoding?

PS-And uninstall the software that say you the ac3 is 24 bits, the max bitrate for standard ac3 is 640 Kb/s, only 2.2 bits for a 5.1, 48 KHz ac3 stream.

[zoinbergs]

If you want a free ac3 encoder use Aften
Hmm, I admit I've never heard of Aften.. thanks for telling me about it! How does it stand up to being DD compliant?

Can you select the Dialog Normalization and the Dynamic Range Compression when encoding?
Nope, you can *only* select the bitrate for some reason: 384 or 448

And uninstall the software that say you the ac3 is 24 bits

It was NERO WaveEditor itself that reported back the "24bit / 48kHz / 5.1 Surround Sound" stream.

[tebasuna51]

Hmm, I admit I've never heard of Aften.. thanks for telling me about it! How does it stand up to being DD compliant?
Is A52 compliant, DD is a trademark.
To be DD compliant the requisite is pay.

Nope, you can *only* select the bitrate for some reason: 384 or 448
Well, maybe is a first attempt to do ac3 encode by Nero.

It was NERO WaveEditor itself that reported back the "24bit / 48kHz / 5.1 Surround Sound" stream.

The Nero engineers must learn to not confuse the users. The 24 bit depth is a precision measure for uncompressed data in time domain.
The ac3 streams are codified in frequency domain and have a Dynamic Range equivalent, more or less, to 24 bits in time domain but don't keep the precision from the original source, is only the recommended precision to decode.

[DeathTheSheep]

I would have been a heck of a lot more confused if at playback it reported my audio was 2.2bit! Most folks are used to seeing 16, 24, and 32 on occasion (dithered-up mp3 playback)...

[tebasuna51]

I would have been a heck of a lot more confused if at playback it reported my audio was 2.2bit! Most folks are used to seeing 16, 24, and 32 on occasion (dithered-up mp3 playback)...

Of course is a joke :rolleyes: , but after encode to ac3 (or standar mp3) you never know what is the original bitdepth from the uncompressed audio because is a data not preserved in header of the compressed stream.

DTS have a field in the header "Source PCM Resolution" to store this info but not ac3.

With uncompressed audio 24 bit implies you use 24 bits for each sample of audio then the bitrate is always = BitDepth x Samplerate x NumChannels and is a measure of quality.

With compressed audio the quality measure is the BitRate. I choose a mp3 192 Kb/s at 16 bits better than a 128 Kb/s dithered up to 64 bits.

[DeathTheSheep]

True, because in compressed formats there is no static bitdepth at all; the only "bitdepth" some encoders report is via the input raw stream. :)