Encode HD-DVD to WMV for 360 playback? [Archive]

ACrowley

30th March 2007, 07:16

I made a few WMV9 AP (WVC1) HDDVD reencodes.

1 Demux HDDVD with EVodemux and note the calculated Framecount

2. Create a Graph with Filesource-ElecardMepgDemultiplexer-SonicVideoDeocder 4.2

3. Create a AVS with
DirectShowSource("G:\yourvideo.grf",fps=23.976,framecount=xxxxxx,seekzero=false,seek=true,audio=false)

4. encode it to WMV MP or AP with the Settings you want.
For Advanced WVC1 Settings like Bframes etc use Zambellis WMV) AP Settings Editor.
I use ProCoder 2 for encoding

works perfect on 360 GameDrive / Streaming

NHRaider

6th April 2007, 13:15

ACrowley

6th April 2007, 13:32

I've been doing some testing and it seems these WMV HD files are huge... Can you tell me the size of the .EVO you converted and the size of the resultant .wmv file?

Simply use Bitrate controlled encoding. Use a Bitrate Calculator and you can calcualte the Output Filesize.
Nothing Special ,its the same as with as other Codecs
Zambellis online Bitrate Calculator :
http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/WMVBitCalc.html

I use 1pass CBR WVC1 (WMV9 AP) with a 60000Buffer and Preset "better"
720p needs min 7-8Mbps ,1080p around 14Mbps
I encode to DVD9 Size (8138MB). With high Bitrate, 60000Buffer it looks better as 1pass VBR CQ ,imho

My Commandline for the latest wmcmd.vbs

cmd /k cscript.exe c:\windows\wmcmd.vbs -input inputvideo.avs -output g:\encodedvideo.wmv -v_codec WVC1 -videoonly -v_mode 0 -v_preset better -v_bitrate 8000000 -v_keydist 30 -v_buffer 600000 -v_quality 75

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123812

AVS Script Input something like that (it was Batman.Begins.HDDVD):

DirectShowSource("G:\batman.grf",fps=23.976,framecount=201467,seekzero=false,seek=true,audio=false)
Crop(0, 128, -0, -152)
spline36resize(1280,536)
converttoyv12()
Removegrain(mode=2)
Asharp(1,3)

Here is a sample from one of my WVC1 720p encodes, looks very nice and plays perfect on Xbox360 via stream or Gamedrive
Its from Superman.Returns HDDVD VC1 :
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WL2GNL38

NHRaider

6th April 2007, 13:43

Use Bitrate Controlled encoding. Use a Bitrate Calculator and you can calcualte the Output Filesize.
Nothing Special ,its the same as with as other Codecs
Zambellis online Bitrate Calculator :
http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/WMVBitCalc.html

I use 1pass CBR WVC1 (WMV9 AP) with a 60000Buffer and Preset "better"
720p needs min 7-8Mbps ,1080p around 14Mbps
I encode to DVD9 Size (8138MB)
It looks ,imho ,better as VBR CQ 1pass when you use the 60000Buffer for CBR and a high Bitrate.

My Commandline for the latest wmcmd.vbs

cmd /k cscript.exe c:\windows\wmcmd.vbs -input inputvideo.avs -output g:\encodedvideo.wmv -v_codec WVC1 -videoonly -v_mode 0 -v_preset better -v_bitrate 8000000 -v_keydist 30 -v_buffer 600000 -v_quality 100

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123812

I need to use the WM9 for my codec since I'm streaming to a helios player... quality = 100? I've been using 96 since I was told that is a huge difference in file size.

ACrowley

6th April 2007, 14:06

It makes a differerene in Filesize for VBR CQ ,cause the CQ definies the Filesize in this mode

For CBR ,the Bitrate controlls the Output Size ,the Quality Settings plays no Role for the Filesize

The CBR encode is good for your streaming, perhaps you test it with my sample.
When you want VBR CQ ,use around 90 and your Filesize will be smaller. For a 720p encode it could match DVD9

zambelli

7th April 2007, 09:28

It makes a differerene in Filesize for VBR CQ ,cause the CQ definies the Filesize in this mode

For CBR ,the Bitrate controlls the Output Size ,the Quality Settings plays no Role for the Filesize
Right. It's important to note that -v_quality in CBR mode controls the threshold for dropping frames. The WME9 documentation refers to this as "smoothness/crispness" factor, implying that your video is "smooth" if no frames are dropped or "crisp" is some frames are dropped to leave more bits for the encoded frames.

Basically, when in CBR mode the codec needs to balance its bit budget very carefully. In an I-P-B GOP structure not all frames end up being the same size so its the job of the ratecontrol algorithm to plan ahead so that the video buffer would not overflow unexpectedly. When dealing with low bitrates or short buffers, the encoder might find itself in a situation where the buffer is nearly full and the new frame being encoded is too big in size to fit into the buffer without overflowing it. In that situation, the encoder has only two choices: use higher compression ratio to further shrink the frame size, or drop the frame entirely and just move on to the next frame. The -v_quality parameter controls the balance between those too. If you set it too high and you try to encode something challenging - you may end up with dropped frames. If you set it too low - you might end up with some frames being encoded with a conservatively high QP (perhaps unnecessarily so). The trick is to find the sweet spot - the highest value at which there are no dropped frames. 75 works well in most cases, but I typically recommend 50 as a safe general value.

ACrowley

7th April 2007, 14:30

THX..thats what i wanted to know for sure...very good explained !

Now i understand how it works in CBR, i will use v_quality 75 for CBR Mode, but i had no dropped Frames in the past with 100 ,so far i can see

THX Zambelli

EDIT
When somebody will use Q 80 on CBR 1pass...you can read in the wmcmd.vbs Thread ,that i ve Problem with Quality 80 on 1pass CBR.
Filesize is s by far to low. Q100 gives exactly the calculated Filesize

twan69666

9th April 2007, 20:26

As I try to do these encodes, I learned I really need a new cpu. My oc'd p4 2.4c just aint cutting it anymore. :(

jokin

10th April 2007, 03:58

In other news the Spring Dashboard update will enable support for H.264 and MPEG-4 simple profile playback.

alan_erickson@hotmail.com

10th April 2007, 04:08

In other news the Spring Dashboard update will enable support for H.264 and MPEG-4 simple profile playback.

Does this mean that the xbox360 will be able to play back divx/xvid? Also, I do some encoding with wmv9 and ac3. Would that be supported?

jokin

10th April 2007, 09:43

Probably not. Unless the Xvid does not use and of the Advanced Simple Profile features such as QPEL. But at least this will open the road for many different types of encoders instead of the limited few there are now.

twan69666

12th April 2007, 15:14

Hey guys, I gotta question.

After reencoding my HDDVD rip using crowley's settings. It looks great and plays wonderful. When I did the reencode, I used a video only version. But when I try to mux the audio back in, it plays fine on my cpu, but my 360 keeps on giving my an error saying it may not be supported.

I have the audio in ac3 as well as wma, and I have only been able to mux them together using the wma (using wm stream editor). Anyone have any ideas how I can make my audio + video work? Ive tried using a handful of muxer's in grapedit, but none of them seem to like to video, and only a handful take the audio. Thanks!

zambelli

12th April 2007, 18:41

twan69666

13th April 2007, 19:41

ACrowley

13th April 2007, 19:55

Thanks Zambelli,

The problem is Ive tried both of those. The video plays fine without audio. Then I use stream editor to mux. The final file plays fine on my cpu, and my 360 see's it, but my 360 gives me an error saying "this may not be supported" once I try to play it. The solveig filter wont accept my video, since its been reencoded to a lower bitrate. Any other ideas?

360 has no Problem with any WMA10Pro Audo i reencoded from HDDVD Audio.

I made a lot of WMA10Pro 768kbps 24bit 48khz Audio Tracks and all they are playing wonderfull on 360 from Dashboard or XP/Vista MediaCenter streaming
.

There must be a mistake in your WMA encoding.

Use WindowsMedia10 Profesionell 16 or 14Bit 48khz

Dont use Solveig Muxer, use WMStreameditor
Note :
Xbox360 CANT play WMV Video with any other than WMA Audio! No AC3/ in WMV (from SolveigMuxer)
Also the Dashboardplayer only recognized .wmv extension, not .asf

twan69666

13th April 2007, 21:50

Thanks, I'll start from square one with the audio. I think that I used 9.2 lossless to the encode. Think that may be why.

twan69666

14th April 2007, 00:11

Yep, sure enough. I was using windows audio 9.2 lossless to encode, but as soon as I switched to windows audio 10, everything works great. :thanks:

bill55

14th April 2007, 15:02

I can finally post after my 5-day waiting period. :-)

I am not having much luck. First, I would like to encode to 1080p and not 720p. I have a couple encodes in 1080 that look awesome so I should be able to keep these in full 1080 instread of scaling them down to 720, right?

Also, I am having no luck with the audio. I have read numerous posts about people only being able to get 2 channel audio to work. I am having those same issues. I tried using graphedit and used the DD+/DTS source plugin > Intervideo Audio decoder, but it only works with 2 channel audio. I have seen 5.1 wmv's made from hd-dvd's so I know there is a way. Do we have a solution for this yet?

Thanks to all who have posted such good info. I can't wait to be able to stream or play these wmv's on my 360.

Thanks again!!
Bill

ACrowley

14th April 2007, 19:41

Thanks, I'll start from square one with the audio. I think that I used 9.2 lossless to the encode. Think that may be why.

i encode Dolby Digital Plus 1536kbps to WMA10Pro 5.1 768kbps 24bit 48khz
Sounds excellent, works perfect on Xbox360

@bill55
Its only Problem with InterVideoAudioDecoder. It only outputs 2.0
You must use Orbitlees DTS/AC3/DD+ Source Filter -SonicCinemasterAudioDecoder 4.2

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123812&page=2

bill55

15th April 2007, 16:12

I think I found some good helpful info for the audio encoding!!!

I found ths on AVS Forums:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/printthread.php?t=227837&page=3&pp=30
This is your problem. The easiest way to fix this is to use Zoom Player. Open Zoom Player and go to the player options and then the external properties section. Set WinDVD for 6 speaker (5.1 channel) mode and then click apply. Exit Zoom Player and then re-run your graphedit test. The audio decoder should now be in 6 speaker mode.

Now one thing I noticed was after I did the settings like mention in this post was that I had to go to my control panel sound properties and set my speaker config to 5.1 (even though the pc doesn't have 5.1 speakers set up). Once I did that when I went to the IntervideoAudioDecoder filter properties in Graphedit, the filter was set to output 5.1!

I ran my AVS script and did not get the invalid file format error this time!!! It is now encoding. I have not tested the output, but I wanted to post this before I left the house for the day. Give it a shot.

Here is my AVS script I used for just testing the audio encode (I did this for Batman Begins HD-DVD).
Directshowsource("D:\Batman\Audio.GRF",audio=true,video=false)

I attached pics of my Graphedit window and the Intervideo filter properties window.

I hope this helps and I'm not posting something we already knew.

Bill

ps- I want to encode to 1080p and not downscale to 720p. Can someone post the best command line I should use? I want it to looks as good as possible, but I don't necessarily want the output file to be 20 gigs either. Thanks so much to all!

twan69666

16th April 2007, 02:15

Hey guys,

Any of you been using AutoMKV? It seems to use the exact same features/opions that a few have been using. Anyway to make a "xbox 360 setting" right now that will do all of the video/audio reencoding? Maybe(doubtful) even get lucky enough that it will accept an .evo or mkv?

After the spring update, then of course there will be changes and maybe even no need for reencodes. But May 7th still seems like quite awhile away. Thanks!

bill55

16th April 2007, 02:46

I have not tried AutoMKV yet. I will try it out. Will it do a good job of converting .TS HD files to WMV-HD or convert HD-DVD to WMV-HD? Are you saying that you made a xbox360 setting for this app?

ACrowley

16th April 2007, 09:45

@bill55

Intervideo Decoder cant decode 5.1 from DolbyDigital Plus Audio !
Its only a surround Upmix

You "must" use SonicAudioDecoer 4.2, its the only Way

twan69666

16th April 2007, 20:36

Well, I havent made a setting yet, but I was asking if someone wanted to. Someone who might understand the program and what they're doing a little more than me. Otherwise, its been great for just just regular encodes/reencodes. I havent tried with .ts files yet though.

bill55

16th April 2007, 21:47

@bill55

Intervideo Decoder cant decode 5.1 from DolbyDigital Plus Audio !
Its only a surround Upmix

You "must" use SonicAudioDecoer 4.2, its the only Way

I got the modified DD+/DTS/AC3 source filter by Orbitlee. I can now create my graph from the Orbitlee DD+ source filter -> Sonic Cinemaster Audio Decoder 4.2.

The audio is encoding now! After this I will convert the video, then mux them afterwards.

Does this script look good for video?
cscript.exe "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\wmcmd.vbs" -input "d:\Batman\Video.avs" -output "e:\BatmanBeginsVid.wmv" -v_bframedist 1 -v_bdeltaqp 1 -v_mslevel 1 -v_codec wvc1 -v_keydist 3 -v_mode 2 -v_quality 90 -v_mmatch 0 -v_msrange 0 -v_performance 20 -v_loopfilter 1

I attached a screenshot of my video.grf file. Tell me if this looks correct to you if you don't mind.

I am using the newest Zambelli WMCmd.vbs. I'm no expert on settings so I thought I'd see what you thought of what I have there.

Thanks again for the help!. I feel like I am slowly making progress and getting closer to an actual working conversion! :-)

Bill

ps- When I tried to run that setup the video only encoded like 10 frames. I removed the Null Renderer from the graph file and it's now encoding. It shows like it's going to take like 60 hours to encode! Does that seem too long? P4-3ghz machine.

pss- One more quick question. Using the constant quality encode that I am doing is there any way to predict an output file size? This is a 2:20 movie (Batman Begins) and I was just wondering if there is a tool to calculate how big the output file size will be. Thanks!!!!

ACrowley

17th April 2007, 14:11

most of your Settings are included in the presets.

i suggest to use 1pass CBR with a -v_buffer 60000 Buffer and -v_quality100, preset better

1pass CBR with a high Buffer looks, imho, better compared to 1pass VBR CQ, and you can calculate the Filesize.
Zambellis Bitrate Calculator :
http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/WMVBitCalc.html

I would not use 2pass VBR at the Moment, cause 360 cant handle high Peak Bitrates above ~12Mbps

1pass CBR with minimum 7Mbps on 720p delivers excellent Results

On my A64 X2 @4800 i encode a 120min in around 17h

-v_codec WVC1 -videoonly -v_mode 0 -v_bitrate 8000000 -v_preset better -v_buffer 60000 -v_quality 100

bill55

17th April 2007, 16:24

Thanks for the advice. My encode time decreased significantly as it got past the first hour or so of the encode. Total time should be about 25 hours.

I am encoding at 1080 and not 720 so I'm not sure if you'd adjust any of your settings based on that or not.

Here is the command I will use after this encode finishes (with your settings this time):

cscript.exe "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\wmcmd.vbs" -input "d:\Batman\Video.avs" -output "e:\BatmanBeginsVid.wmv" -v_codec WVC1 -videoonly -v_mode 0 -v_bitrate 8000000 -v_preset better -v_buffer 60000 -v_quality 100

That look good to you? The -v_bitrate 8000000 should keep the bitrate at 8mpbs correct? That way I don't get near the 12mbps problem on the 360 like you mentioned. I hope I am understanding the 8000000 setting as 8mbps. Since I am doing 1080 and not 720 would I want to raise that number to say 10000000 instead (which would still keep me below 12mbps)?

Thanks so much for the help and all the tips! It's been hard to get straight answers from people and you've been a tremendous help. Once I am done I'd like to put a little guide together to help out others who had the same issues as myself.

Bill

Clown shoes

17th April 2007, 17:11

I think the playable bitrate limit before stutter is actually closer to 13Mbps, but seeing as you are using -v_quality 100, I would definately keep it closer to 12Mbps just to be safe (-v_quality is a trade off between quality and motion. 100 being highest quality) If you are just streaming this across your network and don't need it small enough to put on a DVD9, then I would definately keep it at a constant 12Mbps, especialy seeing as you are encoding at 1080p. Lower than that and you notice the quality suffers. :)

I can't believe I never saw this thread before!

bill55

17th April 2007, 19:11

So I should change the -v_bitrate 8000000 to -v_bitrate 12000000? Just want to make sure I am changing that correctly.

Maybe I should change it to -v_bitrate 11000000 just to be safe? I think the audio bitrate would count towards that 12-13mbps max also wouldn't it?

ps- This thread has really helped me as well! I want to make a guide that will hopefully help others too. I found a few guides out there, but none were complete. All skipped steps and apps that you needed.

twan69666

17th April 2007, 19:33

No, you want to leave the bitrate at 8mbps. The encode is being done at a constant bitrate, so there will be a little fluxuation. If you bump it up to 12mbps, you will likely have the video studdering when you try to play it on your 360. Yes, the audio will factor in as well

Clown shoes

17th April 2007, 19:51

ACrowley

17th April 2007, 20:10

I have done many encodes at 12Mbps without any problem. 8Mbps is unnecesarily low in my opinion. Why don't you try it out Bill55. There will be some fluctuation in the bitrate, but that's why I said keep it under the 13Mbps limit.

8Mbps CBR definitely is not to low for 720p. Its perfect!

Over 8-9Mbps is oversized for a 2,35:1 720p encode imho.
7-8 Mbps CBR on 720p / min 13Mbps CBR for 1018p (on 2pass VBR Peak you can do 1080p with lower Bitrate ~ 10-11Mbps)

13Mbps is to much for the current 360 Decoder

@bill55
Stay with -v_quality 100
You can read in the wmcmd.vbs Thread that there are Probles with lower Quality Setting in CBR Mode
The Output File is to low ,the averge Bitrate is to low. Hells know why...
I neved had any Problmes with Quality 100

bill55

17th April 2007, 20:20

Since I am encoding at 1080 and not 720, that do you think?

Is 8mbps still sufficient or should I up it a little?

ACrowley

17th April 2007, 20:31

Since I am encoding at 1080 and not 720, that do you think?

Is 8mbps still sufficient or should I up it a little?

No, 8 mbps is by far not enough for 1080p

Use 12Mbps CBR ..should be ok for the Quality ,(cause most HD is 2.35:1) and for playback on 360

-v_mode 0 -v_bitrate 12000000

bill55

17th April 2007, 21:02

No, 8 mbps is by far not enough for 1080p

Use 12Mbps CBR ..should be ok for the Quality ,(cause most HD is 2.35:1) and for playback on 360

-v_mode 0 -v_bitrate 12000000

I'll give it a shot tonight. Will 12mbps be ok though? If you add in the audio bitrate I will be over 12mbps. I want to make sure the 360 can handle it.

How does this look:
cscript.exe "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\wmcmd.vbs" -input "d:\Batman\Video.avs" -output "e:\BatmanBeginsVid.wmv" -v_codec WVC1 -videoonly -v_mode 0 -v_bitrate 12000000 -v_preset better -v_buffer 60000 -v_quality 100

Will the 360 be able to handle that with 5.1 768kbps audio?

twan69666

17th April 2007, 21:53

good question. It looks good but let us know because I was going to use the same settings for another encode I was getting ready for. As slow as my cpu is, I may start a higher encode now and it will be ready may may 7th :)

Clown shoes

17th April 2007, 22:01

Like I said, test it out first but I truly believe that less than 12Mbps would not be worth it, if your encoding to 1080p.

@Crowley, I'm working on a way of encoding directly to VC1 with Cinevision 1.2 and then transfering to WMV. The potential quality will be amazing but the process is currently long winded.

bluesk1d

19th April 2007, 02:19

That 5 days was excruciating!

@ACrowley and Zambelli

I had been digging around the internet for days looking for exactly what you described. I am in the process of researching how to convert the various media I have to be able to stream to my 360 (HD DVD being one of them).

I seem to have your video encoding part down with no problem. I also don’t have any drop frame issues with having the v_quality set to 100. Maybe it’s the buffer size allowing it time to determine if it needs to increase compression for a complex scene coming up. Who knows?

The audio on the other hand is driving me crazy…
I searched around and got Orbitlee’s source filter and used it to add an AC3 to my graph and then connected that to the sonic audio decoder 4.2 as recommended. If I have the default direct sound renderer attached I can hear the audio just fine but when I remove the renderer and save the graph, I get this error when running my wmcmd.vbs (I have the one released a few days ago):

“Prepare to encode failed with error -1072882832 Cannot find a valid output stream from the source.”

My AVS is this (I totally guessed here and this may be my problem):

DirectShowSource("g:\staging\audio.grf")

My GRF looks like this:

Orbitlee’s source filter (Opening the AC3 file) > Sonic Audio Decoder 4.2 >

My command is this:

cmd /k cscript.exe c:\Windows\wmcmd.vbs -input "g:\staging\audio-test.avs" -output "g:\staging\audio-test.wma" -a_codec WMAPRO -a_mode 0 -a_setting 440_48_6_24 –audioonly

I have also tried AC3Filter since it also seems to clearly be outputting 6 channels.

Anyone have any thoughts? I couldn’t find anything relevant regarding this error message and Windows Media Encoder 9.

I have WME 9, WMP11, and the latest VC-1 SDK from Microsoft.com.

Regarding converting existing media, what do you recommend for quickly displaying the frame rate and frame count of AVI and other files? Also, I have an older AVI file that contains a WMV3 video and an AC3 stream. Is there anyway to demux that without re-encoding the video and then just encoding the AC3 into WMA Pro and remuxing (trying to avoid the 30 hour encoding time and the quality loss in the conversion process since it’s already WMV)?

Thanks in advance for all your wisdom :thanks:

ACrowley

19th April 2007, 13:05

That 5 days was excruciating!

@ACrowley and Zambelli

The audio on the other hand is driving me crazy…
I searched around and got Orbitlee’s source filter and used it to add an AC3 to my graph and then connected that to the sonic audio decoder 4.2 as recommended. If I have the default direct sound renderer attached I can hear the audio just fine but when I remove the renderer and save the graph, I get this error when running my wmcmd.vbs (I have the one released a few days ago):

“Prepare to encode failed with error -1072882832 Cannot find a valid output stream from the source.”

My AVS is this (I totally guessed here and this may be my problem):

DirectShowSource("g:\staging\audio.grf")

My GRF looks like this:

Orbitlee’s source filter (Opening the AC3 file) > Sonic Audio Decoder 4.2 >

My command is this:

cmd /k cscript.exe c:\Windows\wmcmd.vbs -input "g:\staging\audio-test.avs" -output "g:\staging\audio-test.wma" -a_codec WMAPRO -a_mode 0 -a_setting 440_48_6_24 –audioonly

I have also tried AC3Filter since it also seems to clearly be outputting 6 channels.

Anyone have any thoughts? I couldn’t find anything relevant regarding this error message and Windows Media Encoder 9.

I have WME 9, WMP11, and the latest VC-1 SDK from Microsoft.com.

Regarding converting existing media, what do you recommend for quickly displaying the frame rate and frame count of AVI and other files? Also, I have an older AVI file that contains a WMV3 video and an AC3 stream. Is there anyway to demux that without re-encoding the video and then just encoding the AC3 into WMA Pro and remuxing (trying to avoid the 30 hour encoding time and the quality loss in the conversion process since it’s already WMV)?

Thanks in advance for all your wisdom :thanks:

About the Audio

Dont encode the graph directly via AVs..
Decode the EAC3 to wave (use eac3to.exe).
Then use Tranzcode to decode the big 5.1 24bit wave to 6 mono waves, and encode the 6 monos with wmencoder.

About wmv/ AC3 in avi.
Demux the wmv Video with AviMux.
Then you can remux wmv wit wma withg wmstreameditor

bluesk1d

19th April 2007, 15:14

Thanks for the reply! What was it you guys were using the Orbitlee>Sonic 4.2 graph for? I found eac3to and tranzcode so I will have to give those a shot. I don't think the file in question is E-AC3. I am pretty sure its just regular AC3. I also have the same problem with DTS. Is there no other way to retain the 6 channels in AC3/DTS while converting to WMA Pro without first going to 6 mono wavs?

I did try decoding the AC3 file with BeSweet and that was able to create 6 WAVs. Do you combine them with the WME9 GUI or do you use the command line vbs? I looked around in the GUI but didnt see the option to encode to WMA Pro or create a 5.1 file out of 6 wavs.

Also, what happens if my "framecount" value is more than the video actually is? If you do not know the frame count is it ok to overshoot the value or will that mess up the VC-1 encode when it unexpectedly reaches the end?

twan69666

19th April 2007, 16:30

bluesk1d

19th April 2007, 18:22

Oh yeah I forgot to ask anyone that plays these with a Xbox 360... How does it handle outputting the 5.1 channel WMA content in some fashion that lets you hear all the channels? Does it have to transcode it back to AC3 on the fly to be able to be decoded by a stereo/receiver? If so, its kind of silly that they dont allow AC3 in media files.

twan69666

19th April 2007, 18:32

Mine sounds great with 5.1 wma's. The whole WMA->AC3 thing Im not sure about though.

bluesk1d

19th April 2007, 19:20

You need to use wmencoder. Choose a custom session. Under the audio option you need to select "both device and file" and in the drop down menu there should be an option to select 6 wavs. Im doing this from memory because Im not on my cpu.

As far as the frame count issue, my audio is like .059 seconds off and it was fine

I was able to combine 6 mono wavs created from an AC3 source in BeSweet to a 5.1 channel WMA in WMEncoder with no problem. When I create 6 wavs from a DTS file in Tranzcode, WMEncoder throws up an error saying:

"The source must be a mono channel .wav file"

even though they are 6 mono wavs...

Any ideas?

twan69666

19th April 2007, 20:14

Im not sure. Ive never used tranzcode. When I have a dts file, I use "eac3to" then used the besweet gui to go back to 6 mono wavs, then to wmencoder. Never any problems for me.

bluesk1d

19th April 2007, 20:31

Im not sure. Ive never used tranzcode. When I have a dts file, I use "eac3to" then used the besweet gui to go back to 6 mono wavs, then to wmencoder. Never any problems for me.

Oh nice. I didn't realize eac3to would also accept regular AC3 and DTS as input. I will have to give it a whirl when I get home from work.

Mine sounds great with 5.1 wma's. The whole WMA->AC3 thing Im not sure about though.

Cool thanks for the info. Do you play back your 5.1 WMAs from your 360 through a 5.1 receiver/speaker system? If so, are they still 5.1 when you hear it? If they are, you might take a look at the front of your receiver and see what kind of signal it says it's receiving from the 360 (DD, DTS, etc.). Just curious.

twan69666

19th April 2007, 20:44

Oh yeah, I love my audio. They are 5.1 all they way! My yamaha shows a 5.1 signal being sent no matter what (I have it hooked up optically) . But when its stereo, it only comes out 2 channel. I dont have any extra processing turned on until I start watching a movie/playing a game

zambelli

19th April 2007, 21:41

I have also tried AC3Filter since it also seems to clearly be outputting 6 channels.

Anyone have any thoughts? I couldn’t find anything relevant regarding this error message and Windows Media Encoder 9.
There's more to it then just the number of channels. The actual output and formatting of the PCM samples is also important. 16-bit? 24-bit? Floating point? Etc.

I have WME 9, WMP11, and the latest VC-1 SDK from Microsoft.com.
Latest VC-1 SDK? What exactly are you referring to?

Regarding converting existing media, what do you recommend for quickly displaying the frame rate and frame count of AVI and other files? Also, I have an older AVI file that contains a WMV3 video and an AC3 stream. Is there anyway to demux that without re-encoding the video and then just encoding the AC3 into WMA Pro and remuxing (trying to avoid the 30 hour encoding time and the quality loss in the conversion process since it’s already WMV)?
You can use GSpot or VirtualDub to check out your source AVIs for information.
You can use Solveig Multimedia's ASF Multiplexer to simply copy streams from AVI to ASF without recompression.