Avi with AC3 sound

[zork]

Hi,
got an avi file with AC3 sound and would like to get a VCD for my DVD player, but can not extract the sound of this file. All my decoders ( tmpec, bbmeg etc. ) don't support AC3 sound. So what can I do ??:confused:

[sibe]

Get Nandub.

audio -> direct stream copy
file -> save WAV
rename the resulting file from xxx.wav to xxx.ac3

Sibe

[Tes]

Hey Sibe, I tried your method but the resulting file was not recognized as an AC3 file by softencode. Is there something else that needs to be done?

[sibe]

As you want to do a vcd you will have to decode the .ac3 file to .mp2. This is best done with BeSweet. Have you tried this. What did you do want to do with SoftEncode? It's not needed for this.

Sibe

[sibe]

Sorry Tes,

didn't realize that you were not the author of the original question. I don't know why the file is not recognized, there's nothing else to do, this method doesn't change the ac3-stream. Are you sure you have checked direct stream copy?

What did you want to do with SoftEncode anyway?

Sibe

[Tes]

I actually wanted to check the bitrate and see how many channels were present in the AC3 file. And possibly remove some channels (as I only have 2 speakers) to minimize storage space. The avi file is just over 740MB so I can't burn it on a regular CDR.

Are you sure you have checked direct stream copy?

I followed your directions exactly but the file is not recognized as AC3(I even tried to play it back in WinDVD and it gave me an error).

Edit: It seems that I can playback the AC3 file just fine using ac3dec. But why is the file not recognized by WinDVD and Softencode?
The error Softencode gives me is: "Frame 1: Unknown Frame type".

[st321]

I've tried to extract the Ac3 from an avi too, and it didn't work with SoftEncode.
The reason for this is either the Way Nandub puts the ac3 into the Avi or the way it extracts it and saves it (I guess its the second).
Using the HexEditor I looked at the Header of the resolting .wav and noticed that it seems to be a wav Header. So you can't just rename the file and hope everything is fine. Apperantly some programs read the header and therefore think the rest of the file (being ac3) is incorect.
Other programs obviously skip the header and just go with the Data inside.
Unluckely I couldn't get the Header right, so I can't really help here.

But why don't you make a mp3 with BeSweet. As soon as you edit the ac3 Track it's encoded again, isn't it? So there wouldn't be a better quality.
You could also extract each channel seperatly into a mono .wav using e.g. Azid and load all of these wavs into Softencode and work from there.

[Tes]

You're right, I tried to edit out channels with softencode using an original AC3 file demuxed from a vob and the sound was terrible. I thought softencode had the ablility to remove channels without having to encode the track again but I was wrong. I'll try Vorbis and see if I can mux it using the new direct show filters. ;)

[ChristianHJW]

If you transocde the AC3 to a stereo MP2 or MP3 both BeSweet and HeadAC3he ( using azid.dll ) will automatically downmix the 5.1 AC3 to a stereo file ....

[hyway]

i have 3 mvoies with ac3 sound track that wanted to make vcd's of, theres a progy called AVI2VCD that works for making the audio file readable in tmpgenc. you open AVI2VCD an choose decompress it makes a new avi with the audio as a wave file , thus being able to encode in tmpgenc : ) GL

[Taric25]

That's not such a good idea.

Besweet will give you much better results and the sound quality will be much higher. Just load your AC3 into Besweet, make your settings and AC32MP2. The results are great.

[hyway]

dude r u paying attention ???? we dont have any ac3 files!!! there on the video file!! this is the way to get the ac3 file off of the video file !!!!

[djdd]

regarding, getting ac3 file from divx avi

Your nandub method does not work, Spruce Maestro v2.915a error message when importing ac3 file...

Unsupported Media : Invalid Wave Format (only WAVE_FORMAT_PCM format is supported) (0xc1b0008)