eac3to - audio conversion tool

[Snowknight26]

No, because of the size of AC3/DTS frames. I can't remember if AC3 is 32ms per frame or not, but if you have an AC3 track that has a -40ms delay, adding 32ms would yield an unfixable -8ms delay unless you reencode the audio. Same goes for DTS.

Not like you'd be able to hear the difference with an -8ms delay anyway.

madshi, would it be possible to parallelize audio conversion and gap fixing? I noticed that when converting a track to AAC and extracting a DTS track that had gaps, the 2nd pass for the DTS gap fixing only started after the 2nd pass of the AAC encoding/gap fixing finished.

[crasus]

eac3to reports that both tracks have a 83ms delay on the BluRay. Should I try to encode the DTS-HD to an ac3 5.1 448kbps track?

[Snowknight26]

Why are you trying to reencode? If it's to remove that miniscule delay, I suggest you rethink what you're doing.

[dcmo]

I'm pretty new to this, but I have a pretty big issue with the sound quality which I am getting. I'm using eac3to, pcm2tsmu, and ts muxer to get my backup. When running an
eac3to test it shows I have the Arcsoft Decoder, Haali Matroska Muxer, Nero AAC Endoder, and the MkvToolnix as up to date or working fine. The picture comes out great but the sound is definitely lacking. The channels being mapped wrong on some of the movies is merely an annoyance, I can just switch the cables; but the poor quality coming out of the center channel is almost a deal breaker. I'm re-encoding them all as lossless pcm to stream to a PS3, for that matter they may still be lossless. However the center sounds boxy, or boomy; after searching thru this thread it could be it has a kind of mono sound to it. I don't know what to call it, but I do know that it pales in comparison to the disc. I've got a pretty nice little set-up and I don't want to lose anything quality wise. Is there something I'm doing wrong while backing these movies up. Any help is much appreciated on this end.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Post the exact command line you're using, including the output of eac3to and what it reports about the source and destination files.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by dcmo

I'm pretty new to this, but I have a pretty big issue with the sound quality which I am getting. I'm using eac3to, pcm2tsmu, and ts muxer to get my backup.

Pcm2Tsmu now is obsolete, the last TsMuxer accept .w64 files to avoid the problem with .wav files greater than 4GB.

Use eac3to to output .w64 files instead .pcm+pcm2tsmu

I'm re-encoding them all as lossless pcm to stream to a PS3, for that matter they may still be lossless. However the center sounds boxy, or boomy; ...

I think PS3 only support PCM 2.0, if you have an audio equipment with 5.1 speakers use ac3 640 Kb/s instead PCM.

If you want only stereo sound you need use :
eac3to input.file output.w64 -down2 -normalize
to obtain a PCM 2.0 with all the channels mixed.

[KidKappa]

i'm having troubles getting eac3to to recognize my arcsoft dts decoders/encoders, i have TotalMedia Theatre (2.1.6.131) and eac3to (v3.17) and running on Windows 7 64bit, when I run the -test i get that arcsoft is not installed and and error saying that magcore.dll cannot be found. i've looked through this thread but alot of it is over my head. i noticed that the arcsoft common files are in the "program files (x86)" folder and not in the "program files" folder. Also the missing magcore.dll is in there as well. could someone please give me a nice step by step on how to get this working. thank you.

[dcmo]

Post the exact command line you're using, including the output of eac3to and what it reports about the source and destination files.

eac3to v3.17
command line: eac3to.exe E: 1) 2: C:\movie\HIC.h264 3: C:\movie\HIC.pcm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M2TS, 1 video track, 4 audio tracks, 3 subtitle tracks, 1:42:50, 24p /1.001
1: Chapters, 16 chapters
2: h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
3: DTS Master Audio, English, 7.1 channels, 24 bits, 48khz
(core: DTS, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 1509kbps, 48khz)
4: AC3, French, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
5: AC3, English, 2.0 channels, 224kbps, 48khz
6: AC3, English, 2.0 channels, 224kbps, 48khz
7: Subtitle (PGS), English
8: Subtitle (PGS), English
9: Subtitle (PGS), Spanish
[a03] Extracting audio track number 3...
[a03] Decoding with ArcSoft DTS Decoder...
[v02] Extracting video track number 2...
[a03] Swapping endian...
[a03] Remapping channels...
[a03] Creating file "C:\movie\HIC.pcm"...
[v02] Creating file "C:\movie\HIC.h264"...
[a03] The original audio track has a constant bit depth of 24 bits.
[a03] Audio overlaps for 9ms at playtime 0:21:31. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 10ms at playtime 0:23:05. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 10ms at playtime 0:39:41. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 9ms at playtime 0:40:32. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 10ms at playtime 1:03:57. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 8ms at playtime 1:16:14. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 9ms at playtime 1:20:34. <WARNING>
[a03] Audio overlaps for 8ms at playtime 1:25:34. <WARNING>
[a03] Starting 2nd pass...
[a03] Extracting audio track number 3...
[a03] Decoding with ArcSoft DTS Decoder...
[a03] Swapping endian...
[a03] Remapping channels...
[a03] Realizing RAW/PCM gaps...
[a03] Creating file "C:\movie\HIC.pcm"...
[a03] The processed audio track has a constant bit depth of 24 bits.
Video track 2 contains 147951 frames.
eac3to processing took 51 minutes, 59 seconds.
Done.

MUXOPT --no-pcr-on-video-pid --new-audio-pes --vbr --vbv-len=500
V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC, "C:\Movie\HIC.h264", fps=23.976, insertSEI, contSPS
A_LPCM, "C:\Movie\HICUPDATE.pcm"


SmartLabs tsMuxeR. Version 1.10.6 http://www.smlabs.net
Decoding H264 stream (track 1): Profile: High@4.1 Resolution: 1920:1080p Frame rate: 23.976
H.264 stream does not contain fps field. Muxing fps=23.976
Decoding LPCM stream (track 2): Bitrate: 9216Kbps Sample Rate: 48KHz Channels: 7.1 Bits per sample: 24bit
Processed 147951 video frames
Mux successful complete.
Muxing time: 8 min 43 sec


I've only backed up a few movies so far, this is the only one where the audio was overlapping. I used Clown BD to do this one the first time, said the blu-ray structure wasn't recognized when I tried to use Eac3to with it the first time. The log files indicated wav files with Clown BD so I re-ran it.

I think PS3 only support PCM 2.0, if you have an audio equipment with 5.1 speakers use ac3 640 Kb/s instead PCM.

If you want only stereo sound you need use :
eac3to input.file output.w64 -down2 -normalize
to obtain a PCM 2.0 with all the channels mixed.

I've got multiple channels working now out of the PS3 with this, would the other channels be active if the PS3 only supported 2.0. Downgrading my sound quality is unacceptable, I enjoy the sound more than I do the picture. There are times when I will just shut my eyes and let the sound sink in. If this can't work I will just rip to a back up disc with BD Rebuilder.

[Inspector.Gadget]

What about taking the DTS core? You'll have known surround compatibility at the cost of the lossless data that you probably can't ABX against the core. That said, tebasuna 51 knows more than I do about the PS3, so I'll defer to him.

[dcmo]

A little more follow-up. I have a 7.2 system set-up and was testing (receiver set to MCH PCM) out the new results this morning. I had to switch the center and the RF channel to get the dialog coming out of the center channel. All speakers were active except for the LS (for further clarification not the LBS speaker) speaker, which was completly dead. As I had suggested earlier about the sound not sounding right when coming out of the center (possibly being mono) I wanted to hear what the mono would actually sound like so I changed my selection on my receiver to mono. While listening to it in mono I don't believe it is quite mono sounding when it is set to MCH PCM, and more than that the dialog changed from the center channel back to the RF channel with everything coming out of the RF speaker. So to sum it all up:

MCH PCM: have to switch C and RF speakers to get dialog out of center.

Mono: With the C and RF speakers switched (have to switch them to get MCH PCM), the sound now comes out the RF.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by dcmo

command line: eac3to.exe E: 1) 2: C:\movie\HIC.h264 3: C:\movie\HIC.pcm
...
[a03] Creating file "C:\movie\HIC.pcm"...
...

MUXOPT --no-pcr-on-video-pid --new-audio-pes --vbr --vbv-len=500
V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC, "C:\Movie\HIC.h264", fps=23.976, insertSEI, contSPS
A_LPCM, "C:\Movie\HICUPDATE.pcm"

How do you convert HIC.pcm to HICUPDATE.pcm?

Try with:
eac3to.exe E: 1) 2: C:\movie\HIC.h264 3: C:\movie\HIC.w64

TsMuxer 1.10.6 accept w64 like PCM container.

[dcmo]

How do you convert HIC.pcm to HICUPDATE.pcm?

Try with:
eac3to.exe E: 1) 2: C:\movie\HIC.h264 3: C:\movie\HIC.w64

TsMuxer 1.10.6 accept w64 like PCM container.

I've been converting with pcm2tsmu. My question now is is
.w64 going to be equivalant to DTS HD MA/PCM or is it a lower grade sound quality. I'm really not interested in a 2.0 solution or any loss in sound quality.

[nurbs]

It's going to be exactly the same as the source.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by dcmo

I've been converting with pcm2tsmu.

Please put command line

My question now is is .w64 going to be equivalant to DTS HD MA/PCM or is it a lower grade sound quality.

PCM in WAV or W64 container and raw LPCM have absolutely the same uncompressed audio data. You can verify the sizes, only differents by a few bytes for the header.

[dcmo]

Been pretty busy working today, just realized what you meant by command line. I just assumed it was pretty universal on pcm2tsmu input. Here is what was input:
pcm2tsmu.exe C:\movie\hic.pcm C:\movie\hicupdated.pcm -i 24 -c 8 -s 48000

Getting ready to give w64 a try now, hope it comes thru for me.

[arty]

D:\util\eac3to>eac3to i:\temp\movie.mkv 3:d:\trans.flac
MKV, 1 video track, 2 audio tracks, 2:30:25, 24p /1.001
1: h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
"movie h264 stream"
2: DTS, English, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 1509kbps, 48khz
"dts core track"
3: FLAC, English, 5.1 channels, 2:30:25, 24 bits, 48khz
"FLAC created by eac3to3.17 + Sonic 4.3.0 filters"
a03 Extracting audio track number 3...
a03 Decoding FLAC...
a03 Encoding FLAC with libFlac...
a03 Creating file "d:\trans.flac"...
----------------------------------

is this "demux" method lossless? couldn't find any other way to demux a flac from mkv - mktoolnix creates flac inside ogg

[Snowknight26]

Originally Posted by arty

is this "demux" method lossless?

Of course it is, you're going from lossless -> lossless.

Originally Posted by arty

couldn't find any other way to demux a flac from mkv - mktoolnix creates flac inside ogg

You didn't look hard enough then. There's a switch to have it just write a raw FLAC track without doing an OggFLAC.

[arty]

Originally Posted by Snowknight26

Of course it is, you're going from lossless -> lossless.


You didn't look hard enough then. There's a switch to have it just write a raw FLAC track without doing an OggFLAC.

thank you!

ahh, the --no-ogg param, so true

[dcmo]

.w64 was a complete bust for me, TS Muxer locked up on two different movies on me (one with TrueHD and the other with DTS HD MA). Both times with this:

LPCM bad frame detected. Resync stream.

Settings for TS Muxer:

MUXOPT --no-pcr-on-video-pid --new-audio-pes --vbr --vbv-len=500
V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC, "C:\Movie\ppl.h264", fps=23.976, insertSEI, contSPS
A_LPCM, "C:\Movie\ppl.w64"

SmartLabs tsMuxeR. Version 1.10.6 http://www.smlabs.net
Decoding H264 stream (track 1): Profile: High@4.1 Resolution: 1920:1080p Frame rate: 23.976
H.264 stream does not contain fps field. Muxing fps=23.976
Decoding LPCM stream (track 2): Bitrate: 6912Kbps Sample Rate: 48KHz Channels: 5.1 Bits per sample: 24bit

Actually though it wasn't a complete bust, it did about 35% of the THD version and about 25% of the DTS before it locked up on me. Both played fine on the computer, haven't checked it out on the PS3 as of yet.

Okay, played it on the PS3 and it came out great for what was there, does anyone know what caused TS Muxer to stop muxing. Or rather why a bad frame was detected. How do I solve this problem.

On what was there, there didn't appear to be any mapping problems (I really like that). The sound sounded pretty much identical, I think I would need two audio systems to be able to check it out.
However the tv upstairs still didn't play it properly, it was like the center channel (main dialog) was missing although on the system downstairs it came thru properly. It's an older receiver (5 years maybe, no hdmi, no advanced audio). Should I swap cables around or do I just need a new receiver.

Thanks to all for you help!

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by dcmo

...
LPCM bad frame detected. Resync stream.
...

Seems a TsMuxer problem. LPCM (or WAV or W64) don't have frames, only audio data. The audio data can be correct (music, voices, ...) or incorrect (noise, wrong channels, ...) but don't exist a method to detect a bad frame.