eac3to v3.24 Bugs & Improvements

[BigPines]

One very small enhancement request that would make my life easier is to change the names of the surround output wav files. The output wavs are currently named as follows: audio.L.wav, audio.R.wav, audio.LFE.wav, audio.SL.wav and audio.SR.wav.

The DTSEncoder looks for different names in the surround channel. It would be as simple as changing the output names as follows:

from audio.SL.wav to audio.LS.wav
from audio.SR.wav to audio.RS.wav

This would enable us to drop a single file (the left channel) onto the DTS encoder window and the rest of the files would load themselves automatically.

Just a small thing that would make a BIG difference to those of us using the DTSEncoder.

Thank you for your consideration.

Mike

[shon3i]

make it opensource ?

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by xkodi

... take even for example "Qtec Hi-Definition Reference Disc" - it has the same 24-bit/96kHz multi-channel track in LPCM, TrueHD and DTS-HD MA which is set to "strange setup" - LPCM and TrueHD are correctly decoded bit-perfect, but Arcsoft 1.1.0.0 decode is not bit-perfect. however, the channel order seems wrongly set in the DTS-HD MA to "strange setup" and it doesn't reflect the true channel order of the recording inside

If I understand correctly, you say than this DTS-HD was erroneusly coded to Ls,Rs,Lsr,Rsr when it must be encoded to Lss,Rss,Lsr,Rsr?

All "strange setup" DTS-HD have the same problem and Ls,Rs (110º) must be decoded directly to SL,SR (90º)?

... when 'eac3to' decodes all 8 channels of DTS-HD MA "strange setup" bit-perfect then people like "tebasuna51" that believe that's wrong can mix them to their liking.

I don't have the problem because I have only 5.1 audio systems.
But I think is more important preserve the channels positions than the samples was "bit-perfect".

Originally Posted by BigPines

The DTSEncoder looks for different names in the surround channel. It would be as simple as changing the output names as follows:

from audio.SL.wav to audio.LS.wav
from audio.SR.wav to audio.RS.wav

Take in mind than SL (M$ definition) means SideLeft (90º) but Ls (DTS definition) mean LeftSurround (110º).
The correct equivalence to SL is Lss (LeftSurroundSide, 90º).

BTW this is not important for 5.1
And my preference is use M$ names por wav files: FL,FR,FC,LFE,SL,SR (or FL,FR,FC,LFE,BL,BR both the same for 5.1 files)

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by Atak_Snajpera

...
I would really prefer to use eac3to instead of outdated/buggy flac.exe but i need at least -block switch

And this 2 pass procces can work for you?

eac3to input.flac stdout.wav | lossywav.exe - intermediate.wav

eac3to intermediate.wav stdout.wav | flac -b 512 -o output.lossy.flac --ignore-chunk-sizes -

Because I think more dificult to implement the input.stdin.

[Atak_Snajpera]

eac3to intermediate.wav stdout.wav | flac -b 512 -o output.lossy.flac --ignore-chunk-sizes -

ok this creates correct flac at least. Nevertheless exposing -block switch for user is just a 10 min work (libFLAC has it anyway). Madshi could also implement automatic block size for extension .lossy. (44.1/48Khz - 512 , 96Khz - 1024 , 192Khz - 2048 and so on...)

eac3to input.flac stdout.wav | lossywav.exe - intermediate.wav

This does not work yet but author is working on compatibility with eac3to.

[Chumbo]

I had posted this request in the original thread as I didn't know about this one. Not sure if this is a small or large effort.

Any chance of adding chapter detection/extraction from MKVs please? Thanks for considering it.

[sneaker_ger]

Not to keep madshi from adding mkv chapter extraction, but I think mkvtoolnix does it just fine.

[BigPines]

What is this DTS strange setup people are talking about?

Mike

[Revgen]

Originally Posted by Snowknight26

- Use ffmpeg/libavformat for MKV muxing

Is it better than MKVToolnix?

[tebasuna51]

- Any chance of adding chapter detection/extraction from MKVs please?
Yes we now than eac3to mkv support is not complete, not only with chapters. Pending, not urgent because there are mkvtoolnix.

- Is it (ffmpeg to mux) better than MKVToolnix?
I don't think so, but eac3to uses Haali mux.

- What is this DTS strange setup people are talking about?
The standard 7.1 DTS channel configuration 1 (see attached image) have a exact equivalence with M$ WAV channels:
L,C,R,LFE,Lss,Rss,Lsr,Rsr -> FL,FR,FC,LFE,BL,BR,SL,SR

The strange 7.1 DTS channel configuration 5 don't have a exact equivalence with M$ WAV channels:
L,C,R,LFE,Ls,Rs,Lsr,Rsr -> FL,FR,FC,LFE,BL,BR,?,?

[BigPines]

Thanks for the DTS strange setup explanation tebasuna51.

That is indeed a strange setup. Not sure why anyone would set up their system like that (or encode for that) since there is so little separation between speakers, it would probably not make any difference to have the rear channels at all if you were using that config. So how do we know if an audio stream has been encoded for strange setup?

Mike

[tebasuna51]

eac3to say you when is a 7.1 strange setup:

DTS Master Audio, 7.1 (strange setup) channels, 24 bits, 48kHz

[BigPines]

eeeewwwww. I've never noticed that. I'll definitely have to check that out. Someone should start a list of titles that have this "problem".

So, you are saying eac3to will decode a 7.1 file differently depending on if it is strange setup or not? Shouldn't levels and delays be handled by the producer/artist? What does the encoder/decoder do differently for these type of streams? Why does eac3to need to know the difference? In my mind, the encoder should just combine 8 discrete channels of audio and it shouldn't be messing with the content at all but maybe I am wrong.

Mike

[Chumbo]

Originally Posted by sneaker_ger

Not to keep madshi from adding mkv chapter extraction, but I think mkvtoolnix does it just fine.

So does MKVExtract, but it would be nice to just use one tool.

[Hobbe]

Use ffmpeg (libav) instead of aften when encoding AC3?

[phate89]

I have 2 improvements
1) i use a lot eac3to editing and it's a pain actually that the point you use have to be bigger than the edit you do. So if you have to add 2 seconds of silence after the first second you can't, if you have to add 11 seconds of silence after 10 second you cant', if you have to add 31 seconds of silence after 30 seconds you can't and so on.

2) (probably it's not even fixable by eac3to but from the decoder), to be able to manage mixed content, i work a lot with mixed ac3 (both 2.0 and 5.1 from tv transmission recordings) and i always have to use besweet because is the only tool i know that can decode to wav without destroy the audio or to have to clean the stream. if i pass for example an audio that is all 5.1 but have a frame 2.0 at the start it considers all frames as 2.0 so the length is 3 times the original. instead besweet leave where is only 2.0 puts the sound in l and r channel and leave with silence the other 4 channels so you'll get in output a full 5.1 good track.

[tebasuna51]

1) Already included in first post: Bad checking between edit position and duration.

2) Yes, is a decoder issue.

[BigPines]

I stumbled across what appears to be another eac3to bug. This time it showed up on The Lorax 3D. Although the disc is 3D and has an SSIF folder in the STREAM folder, eac3to does not appear to recognize it as a 3D disc. The right eye does not show up in the list of tracks nor can it be demuxed using eac3to.

Z:\Internal HD\Volumes\LORAX_NA_3D\BDMV\PLAYLIST>"C:\Program Files (x86)\eac3to\
eac3to.exe"
1) 00031.mpls, 00028.m2ts+00035.m2ts, 1:26:19
- Chapters, 20 chapters
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48kHz
- DTS, Spanish, multi-channel, 48kHz
- DTS, French, multi-channel, 48kHz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48kHz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48kHz

2) 00027.mpls, 00028.m2ts, 1:02:37
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48kHz
- DTS, Spanish, multi-channel, 48kHz
- DTS, French, multi-channel, 48kHz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48kHz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48kHz

3) 00030.mpls, 00035.m2ts, 0:23:42
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
- DTS Master Audio, English, multi-channel, 48kHz
- DTS, Spanish, multi-channel, 48kHz
- DTS, French, multi-channel, 48kHz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48kHz
- AC3, English, stereo, 48kHz

Mike

[DarkSpace]

BigPines, does that also happen when you select a playlist or only in the general overview? Try e.g.

Z:\Internal HD\Volumes\LORAX_NA_3D\BDMV\PLAYLIST>"C:\Program Files (x86)\eac3to\eac3to.exe" 1)

It may simply not show the right eye stream because it only parses the playlist files* and not the actual files on the disc, whereas it will analyze the actual files when you specify a playlist.

* The Playlist files may or may not contain incorrect data about the streams. I think I remember a case in the eac3to thread where the Playlist file specified an AC3 track but the actual format of the track was DTS-HDMA (as correctly detected by eac3to when parsing the files).

If I may, I would like to suggest some features that I think are important. Consider these, please:

1) avi, mp4, mov, mpg, flv support for demux(maybe even muxing, that would be fantastic). Basically, avi/mp4 support is most important feature I think eac3to is lacking, along with..
2) Proper ac3 decoding. As a freeware progs like azid or tranzcode can properly decode ac3, it's a real shame such powerful instrument as eac3to uses nero/libav for that.
3) ac3(maybe also dts)dialnorm applying. There's also a freeware tool ChangeDN(I think it's even opersourced), which can simply apply a given dialnorm to ac3 without decoding.

/Thanks in advance