AC3/DTS to AAC 5.1 with correct channels?

[refulgentis]

Hi,
I have many DVD backups already with 5.1 channel AC3 mostly and some DTS. I'd like to convert them to 5.1 channel AAC. What is the best way to do this on a Mac/Linux box? I've tried using ffmpeg/mencoder but that messes up the channel mapping.

I've seen some old posts on here that indicate other ways but don't seem to be correct, or have ambiguous debate on how the channels should be mapped. I hope someone can answer more clearly now.

Thanks for your time.

[nm]

I have many DVD backups already with 5.1 channel AC3 mostly and some DTS. I'd like to convert them to 5.1 channel AAC. What is the best way to do this on a Mac/Linux box?
Nero provides 32-bit Linux binaries for their AAC encoder, or you could use Wine to run the Windows version. The command-line encoder should accept 6-channel WAV files as input. Here are some tips to get the correct channel order (if there are problems with the default mapping): http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=131547

Then there's 3GPP's reference implementation (http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/26410.htm) (the release archives (http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/26%5Fseries/26.410/) include source code). A Mac build is available here: http://massanti.com/2007/09/30/he-aac-plus-encoder-mac-universal-binary/

I've tried using ffmpeg/mencoder but that messes up the channel mapping.
Are you already using the latest SVN revisions? The channel mappings might have been fixed already (at least for a while). Have you tried the mapping suggested above?

Anyway, FAAC is not a very good choice quality-wise if you can use other AAC encoders.

[cacepi]

I have many DVD backups already with 5.1 channel AC3 mostly and some DTS. I'd like to convert them to 5.1 channel AAC. What is the best way to do this on a Mac/Linux box?
Don't know about DTS, but QuickTime Pro + A52Codec (http://trac.cod3r.com/a52codec/) works for me every time.