eac3to - audio conversion tool [Archive] - Page 165

Snowknight26

11th February 2009, 17:35

Edit: I can download that Youtube video as FLV, but not as MP4. How can I get that in MP4 format?

Fastest way is probably to do this:
Visit the URL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU&fmt=22) then type copy/paste this into the address bar:
javascript:document.location.href='http://www.youtube.com/get_video?fmt='+(isHDAvailable?'22':'18')+'&video_id='+swfArgs['video_id']+'&t='+swfArgs['t']
Should prompt you to download it.

liquidator87

11th February 2009, 18:06

May be a stupid question, but reading from bluray folder from hard disk is still supported? Cause I get "Error reading file ".\BDMV\STREAM\xxxxx.m2ts" with latest versions, but for example v3.01 works good

madshi

11th February 2009, 19:00

just out of curiosity - do you use asynchronous I/O (ie. overlapped I/O) when reading and writing streams?
No, but I'm reading/writing in different threads, at least when multiple tracks are demuxed.

I can easily saturate RAID0'd hard drives if I have 3 pending I/O requests going at the same time, using 32 megabyte buffers each request. Going from 50 MB/sec to 160 MB/sec is amazing! :)
How many MBs does the current eac3to build do when doing simple demuxing (no audio transcoding)?

May be a stupid question, but reading from bluray folder from hard disk is still supported? Cause I get "Error reading file ".\BDMV\STREAM\xxxxx.m2ts" with latest versions, but for example v3.01 works good
Should still work, and it seems to work for me. From which folder did you call eac3to and which command line did you use?

Fastest way is probably to do this
That works, thanks.

Rectal Prolapse

11th February 2009, 19:11

madshi, I actually haven't done any tests with recent builds of eac3to - sorry! I'll get around to it, one day... I do recall eac3to 2.xx was fairly decent for speeds.

For reference, I have 2 Samsung 1 TB Spinpoint F1 drives in a RAID0 configuration on a motherboard with Intel ICH8 SATA controller. File copies with Windows Explorer is dreadfully slow - 50 MB/sec, so it is pretty clear Windows XP doesn't do multithreaded or asynchronous I/O.
But Teracopy, which does asynchronous I/O, is roughly twice as fast.

honai

11th February 2009, 19:24

"A lot of effort" is a relative term. It would be possible and doable, but it would cost some time, and I still have so many other things on my to do list. However, I could use some very limited cutting functionality myself for cleaning up the beginning of self-recorded broadcasts. So it might come sooner or later, but not too soon...

Yes, that's my intention, too. :)

yonta

12th February 2009, 07:31

madshi, Can you take a look at this sample (http://www.sendspace.com/file/uc953c)?
It seems to be a 29.97p but eac3to doesn't seem to properly handle it.

hubblec4

12th February 2009, 12:19

@madshi

Vorbis (ogg) support. i mean only for decoding. encoding is not necessary.

hubble

T800

12th February 2009, 12:36

I've tried "The Getaway" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" HDDVD's but get the same error on both. I've tried eac3to 3.03, 3.07 and 3.08

"AC3 overflow in the thd ac3 joiner."

It always aborts very near the start

Am I doing something wrong?

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr75/T800mc/Picture1-1.png

EDIT:
These are discs that have also failed using ToNMT.

T800

12th February 2009, 14:55

You decode Track 4 to THD+AC3, but you use an HD-DVD, so there is no AC3 inside THD. EAC3TO does also not show that it should be (in Track 4).

Try to use only "audio.thd" or (better) "audio.*", that should work. EAC3TO cannot mix AC3 into THD by itself.

How do I create a Blu-ray style THD track from the HDDVD THD track?

mbcd

12th February 2009, 18:34

Sorry, my fault ... eac3to can handle it (read about many times its not possible to do without an "special" encoder.

madshi

12th February 2009, 18:53

It seems to be a 29.97p but eac3to doesn't seem to properly handle it.
Interlaced VC-1 streams are currently not properly handled by eac3to. Fixing that is on my to do list.

I've tried "The Getaway" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" HDDVD's but get the same error on both. I've tried eac3to 3.03, 3.07 and 3.08

"AC3 overflow in the thd ac3 joiner."

It always aborts very near the start
It's good that it aborts very near the start, because this means that you can probably create a little sample for me, so that I can reproduce the problem on my PC... ;)

EAC3TO cannot mix AC3 into THD by itself.
WRONG.

How do I create a Blu-ray style THD track from the HDDVD THD track?
Just as T800 tried to do.

Thats nor possible until you habe an Authoring-Program für BLURAY or DOLBYDIGITAL-HD.

The only way is to store it as normal HD-DVD-THD without AC3-Core inside. But TSMuxer will not accept that if you`d like to use it there.

So there is no "official" way at this moment until you have one of those Authoring Programs.
Wrong again. eac3to can convert TrueHD tracks to TrueHD+AC3 just fine.

Jeff Flowerday

12th February 2009, 20:39

Interlaced VC-1 streams are currently not properly handled by eac3to. Fixing that is on my to do list.

Would that explain why I've never been able to get my 1080i VC1 AC/DC No Bull blu-ray muxed into a mkv/flac without sync issues on play back?

T800

12th February 2009, 23:38

It's good that it aborts very near the start, because this means that you can probably create a little sample for me, so that I can reproduce the problem on my PC... ;)

Should I just put the small TrueHD+AC3 files on Mediafile that were produced?

Atak_Snajpera

13th February 2009, 00:00

send him iwo1.evo sample (50mb for example) You can use DGsplit

13th February 2009, 04:26

I have tried different Nero 7 versions (rebooting and using General-CleanTool after each uninstall)

7.2.7.0
7.5.1.1
7.5.9.0
7.7.5.1a
7.8.5.0
7.9.6.0
7.11.10.0

and eac3to always response with "Nero Audio Decoder (Nero 7) is not working correctly"

Special test - I choose Nero Audio Decoder as preffered in MPC and ...
if I am using mpc.exe to open MKV file with AC3 and MP3 track - only MP3 decoded by Nero Audio Decoder
if I rename mpc.exe to recode.exe and open the same file, then both type of tracks is decoded by Nero

And the most interesting thing, some time ago I have 7.11.10.0 installed and it was working for some time (eac3to), and then later it stopped working like this (renaming eac3to.exe to recode.exe don't help).

Any ideas?

kypec

13th February 2009, 09:36

Would moderators be so kind and make this thread sticky, please? This project tool is being heavily developed for quite long time, I think it deserves to stand above most others.

T800

13th February 2009, 10:40

It's good that it aborts very near the start, because this means that you can probably create a little sample for me, so that I can reproduce the problem on my PC... ;)

Hopefully I've done this right.

The Getaway Sample:
http://www.mediafire.com/?tm1zdtm3mtm

Iwo Jima Sample:
http://www.mediafire.com/?emod3nxdiwd

madshi

13th February 2009, 11:49

Would that explain why I've never been able to get my 1080i VC1 AC/DC No Bull blu-ray muxed into a mkv/flac without sync issues on play back?
Yes.

And the most interesting thing, some time ago I have 7.11.10.0 installed and it was working for some time (eac3to), and then later it stopped working like this (renaming eac3to.exe to recode.exe don't help).

Any ideas?
I don't really know why it's not working for you. You don't need to rename eac3to. eac3to works around that file name requirement.

Hopefully I've done this right.

The Getaway Sample:
http://www.mediafire.com/?tm1zdtm3mtm

Iwo Jima Sample:
http://www.mediafire.com/?emod3nxdiwd
You have done it right. But it seems that the samples are too small, cause I cannot reproduce the problem on my PC:

C:\Desktop>eac3to iwo1sample.EVO 3: test.thd+ac3
EVO, 1 video track, 2 audio tracks, 4 subtitle tracks, 0:00:43
1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
2: E-AC3, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
3: TrueHD, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
4: Subtitle (DVD)
5: Subtitle (DVD)
6: Subtitle (DVD)
7: Subtitle (DVD)
a03 Extracting audio track number 3...
a03 Extracting audio track number 3...
a03 Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
a03 Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
a03 Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
a03 Encoding AC3 <640kbps> with libAften...
a03 Creating file "test.thd+ac3"...
a03 The original audio track has a constant bit depth of 16 bits.
Video track 1 contains 1034 frames.
eac3to processing took 3 seconds.
Done.
You can easily try this yourself. Please try to cut a bigger samples, maybe 100MB, then check if you can reproduce the problem with the bigger sample. I can only fix the problem if I can reproduce the problem on my PC.

I don't need two different samples from 2 different movies. One sample from one movie is all I need, as long as I can reproduce the problem with that sample...

T800

13th February 2009, 12:45

You have done it right. But it seems that the samples are too small, cause I cannot reproduce the problem on my PC:

C:\Desktop>eac3to iwo1sample.EVO 3: test.thd+ac3
EVO, 1 video track, 2 audio tracks, 4 subtitle tracks, 0:00:43
1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
2: E-AC3, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
3: TrueHD, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
4: Subtitle (DVD)
5: Subtitle (DVD)
6: Subtitle (DVD)
7: Subtitle (DVD)
a03 Extracting audio track number 3...
a03 Extracting audio track number 3...
a03 Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
a03 Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
a03 Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
a03 Encoding AC3 <640kbps> with libAften...
a03 Creating file "test.thd+ac3"...
a03 The original audio track has a constant bit depth of 16 bits.
Video track 1 contains 1034 frames.
eac3to processing took 3 seconds.
Done.
You can easily try this yourself. Please try to cut a bigger samples, maybe 100MB, then check if you can reproduce the problem with the bigger sample. I can only fix the problem if I can reproduce the problem on my PC.

I don't need two different samples from 2 different movies. One sample from one movie is all I need, as long as I can reproduce the problem with that sample...

It must be something I'm doing wrong then, I just tried the sample I put on Mediafire and get this:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr75/T800mc/Picture1-2.png

nautilus7

13th February 2009, 13:06

madshi

13th February 2009, 15:29

It must be something I'm doing wrong then, I just tried the sample I put on Mediafire and get this
Strange. Why does it work for me? Are you sure that you're using the latest eac3to version? Check "eac3to -test".

T800

13th February 2009, 15:55

Strange. Why does it work for me? Are you sure that you're using the latest eac3to version? Check "eac3to -test".

Here:
http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr75/T800mc/Picture1-3.png

Jeff Flowerday

13th February 2009, 16:37

Yes.

Do you have a sample to work with if not I can give you one?

madshi

13th February 2009, 16:44

It must be something I'm doing wrong then, I just tried the sample I put on Mediafire and get this:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr75/T800mc/Picture1-2.png
Can somebody else please try this? Can you reproduce the problem with the sample T800 uploaded?

@T800, you didn't replace any files in the eac3to folder, did you? E.g. libAften DLL or something like that? Please try deleting the whole eac3to folder and redownloading it, just to be safe... For me the samples you uploaded definitely convert just fine!

Do you have a sample to work with if not I can give you one?
I would have asked for a sample, if I needed one... ;)

T800

13th February 2009, 16:51

I haven't changed anything.

I will delete and download again on Monday (no access to Windows at home).

TinTime

13th February 2009, 17:20

Can somebody else please try this? Can you reproduce the problem with the sample T800 uploaded?

Got these results:
eac3to v3.08
command line: "D:\Vtemp\programs\eac3to\eac3to.exe" iwo1sample.evo 3: zi.thd+ac3
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVO, 1 video track, 2 audio tracks, 4 subtitle tracks, 0:00:43
1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
2: E-AC3, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
3: TrueHD, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
4: Subtitle (DVD)
5: Subtitle (DVD)
6: Subtitle (DVD)
7: Subtitle (DVD)
[a03] Extracting audio track number 3...
[a03] Extracting audio track number 3...
[a03] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[a03] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[a03] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a03] Encoding AC3 <640kbps> with libAften...
[a03] Creating file "zi.thd+ac3"...
[a03] The original audio track has a constant bit depth of 16 bits.
Video track 1 contains 1034 frames.
eac3to processing took 3 seconds.
Done.

eac3to v3.08
command line: "D:\Vtemp\programs\eac3to\eac3to.exe" getawaysample.evo 2: zg.thd+ac3
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVO, 1 video track, 3 audio tracks, 3 subtitle tracks, 0:00:35
1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
2: TrueHD, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
3: E-AC3, 5.1 channels, 384kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
4: E-AC3 Surround, 2.0 channels, 384kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
5: Subtitle (DVD)
6: Subtitle (DVD)
7: Subtitle (DVD)
[a02] Extracting audio track number 2...
[a02] Extracting audio track number 2...
[a02] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[a02] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[a02] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a02] Encoding AC3 <640kbps> with libAften...
[a02] Creating file "zg.thd+ac3"...
[a02] AC3 overflow in the thd ac3 joiner. <ERROR>
Aborted at file position 55574528. <ERROR>

So in the first run Iwo Jima worked but The Getaway failed. However I ran both again and they both worked this time.

Gave it a third go and Iwo Jima failed but The Getaway worked.

Gave it a fourth go and Iwo Jima worked but The Getaway failed.

So an intermittent problem - good luck!

Also, as this is my first post in this thread, I want to say a big thank you for this tool. It's incredibly useful. :thanks:

madshi

13th February 2009, 17:25

So in the first run Iwo Jima worked but The Getaway failed. However I ran both again and they both worked this time.

Gave it a third go and Iwo Jima failed but The Getaway worked.

Gave it a fourth go and Iwo Jima worked but The Getaway failed.

So an intermittent problem - good luck!
Thanks, that helps. I'll increase some internal buffers for the next build, that might fix the problem (I hope).

TinTime

13th February 2009, 17:39

Ok. I'll hang on to the samples and give them a few runs through with 3.09 when you release it.

T800

13th February 2009, 18:15

Thanks, that helps. I'll increase some internal buffers for the next build, that might fix the problem (I hope).

I'm using Windows via Parallel Desktop on a mac if that makes any difference.

13th February 2009, 20:38

Anyone can confirm that eac3to+nero7 combination works without Microsoft NET Framework 2 and 3?

dat720

13th February 2009, 21:41

Snowknight26

14th February 2009, 01:20

Even with v3.08, eac3to seems to lot take a lot longer (5+ seconds) to start.

14th February 2009, 01:31

madshi, not sure if you've noticed but the Nero AAC Codec link has changed on the Nero site, after a quick google i found:
http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nerodigital-nero-aac-codec.php

Where eac3to still reports:
http://www.nero.com/eng/nero-aac-codec.html

http://www.nero.com/eng/nero-aac-codec.html
-> changed to ->
http://www.nero.com/eng/technologies-aac-codec.html

DrNein

14th February 2009, 02:50

Anyone can confirm that eac3to+nero7 combination works without Microsoft NET Framework 2 and 3?

I am not aware of any NET dependency. They certainly work without version 3. I just have version 2 SP2 installed and that covers the few apps I use including ATI CCC. I have not come across any needing 3 or 3.5 yet.

kypec

14th February 2009, 07:22

Hello madshi, first I want to thank you for such an excellent tool.
I use it only for very simple decoding of AC3 (within VOB) to WAV, however, there is some bug in the output header of WAV file occuring.
According to this RIFF WAVE specification details (http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/wavefiles.html#fmt) the Compression code in Format chunk should be 1 (0x0001) for standard uncompressed PCM.
When I run eac3to something.vob something.wav -libav -down16 the resulting wav file has Compression code set to -1 (0xFFFE) which is wrong. All other attributes are just fine (Number of channels=2, Sample rate=48000, Average bytes per second=192000, Block align=4, Bits per sample=16). Consequently, some apps like normalize (http://savannah.nongnu.org/download/normalize/normalize-0.7.7-win32.zip) for instance refuse to work with such WAV files. Is this related to libav or is it your WAV output writer which produces such corrupted header values?

Jeff Flowerday

14th February 2009, 07:58

I am not aware of any NET dependency. They certainly work without version 3. I just have version 2 SP2 installed and that covers the few apps I use including ATI CCC. I have not come across any needing 3 or 3.5 yet.

.NET 3.0 and 3.5 both still use the CLR of .NET 2.0. So you can think of them as additions to 2.0

Yes this is confusing but . NET 2.0 is really that last base .Net version we've had. 3.0 and 3.5 being supersets on top of 2.0

That said I'm pretty sure madshi develops in a non managed code version of delphi so there is no dependency on the .NET Framework.

madshi

14th February 2009, 11:02

madshi, not sure if you've noticed but the Nero AAC Codec link has changed on the Nero site, after a quick google i found
I was already using the new link to check for new Nero AAC versions. I just output the wrong URL to the command line window. Will be fixed in the next build.

Even with v3.08, eac3to seems to lot take a lot longer (5+ seconds) to start.
Can you please post a few more details? Does it occur with all kinds of source files? Or just with physical Blu-Ray/HD DVD discs? Or [...]? What part of the processing exactly takes longer? Etc...

I use it only for very simple decoding of AC3 (within VOB) to WAV, however, there is some bug in the output header of WAV file occuring.
According to this RIFF WAVE specification details (http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/wavefiles.html#fmt) the Compression code in Format chunk should be 1 (0x0001) for standard uncompressed PCM.
That documentation is outdated. The WAV file created by eac3to is perfectly fine. It just uses a newer revision of the WAV file format, which is not supported by some applications. If you run into trouble you can use the eac3to "-simple" switch which will make eac3to output "old style" WAV files (with Compression code 0x0001). Please note that old style WAV files do not have a field to store the channel configuration of the channels. So for multichannel data, using the new file format revision is recommended. See also here:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/multichaud.mspx

kypec

14th February 2009, 11:40

That documentation is outdated. The WAV file created by eac3to is perfectly fine. It just uses a newer revision of the WAV file format, which is not supported by some applications. If you run into trouble you can use the eac3to "-simple" switch which will make eac3to output "old style" WAV files (with Compression code 0x0001). Please note that old style WAV files do not have a field to store the channel configuration of the channels. So for multichannel data, using the new file format revision is recommended. See also here:http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/multichaud.mspx
Thanks for your explanation, I noticed there are some Extra format bytes in the header present. It's also nice that there is -simple option switch prepared already. Unfortunately its existence is well hidden in the documentation (usage help). Could you please make it visible in further releases (and maybe also other undocumented switches which there possibly are)?:thanks:

:::EDIT:::
I do not want to sound rude, yet I still think that the Compression code should be set to 0x0001.This is standard value meaning Uncompressed PCM. It has nothing to do with number of channels, sample rate, bit depth of samples, or mapping of the channels in case of WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE enhancements. Therefore I see no reason why you set it to 0xFFFE for standard uncompressed PCM Windows WAV file, it just doesn't make sense.
:::EDIT 2:::
Sorry, now I found that 0xFFFE designates that WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE additions. Sorry for being such dumb ass.:o

honai

14th February 2009, 13:25

Can you please post a few more details? Does it occur with all kinds of source files? Or just with physical Blu-Ray/HD DVD discs? Or [...]? What part of the processing exactly takes longer? Etc...

I have also noticed that on certain inputs, e.g. demuxing a playlist from the German WALL-E from HDD (lots of small segments), eac3to seems to do nothing for a few seconds first, then outputs the stats and continues as usual. Seems like there is a pre-check at this moment that takes longer than expected therefore you didn't see the need to include a progress bar for this step ...

Snowknight26

14th February 2009, 19:21

Can you please post a few more details? Does it occur with all kinds of source files? Or just with physical Blu-Ray/HD DVD discs? Or [...]? What part of the processing exactly takes longer? Etc...

All files. I'm mostly running eac3to over a gigabit network, but it happens even when running it directly to/from an incredibly fast RAID. As soon as I type any command, eac3to sits there for several seconds before even showing the progress bar.

DrNein

14th February 2009, 19:31

You need Nero 7.8.5.0 or later installed + the HD DVD/Blu-ray plug in registered!

See: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1238209#post1238209

eac3to 3.06 and later apparently do not work with Nero Audio Decoder. Please take a look madshi.

magic144

14th February 2009, 19:52

Hi, I'm wondering if I've found something useful.
I was curious as to why eac3to reported 47 chapters on a BD title (X-Files 2) when in fact standalone-player playback (and PowerDVD 8) offers only 27 - I started to poke around in BDInfo and BDedit.

BDInfo (0.5.2) reported the correct number of chapters (27) for playlist 00004.MPLS (playlist 00002.MPLS is a monolithic 1-chapter playlist of the same content by the looks of it, even though eac3to reports 47 chapters for it too)

Upon closer inspection, BDedit reveals that playlist 00004.MPLS has 46 of what it calls PlayListMarks. However, of those marks, only 27 are identified as having type "Entry-Mark" and these seem to tie up with actual chapter points, whereas the other PlayListMark types, which BDedit calls "Link Points", do not/should not feature in a chapter list.

(by the way, I think eac3to has 47 chapters here because it has created 1 extra timestamp at the very end of the playlist times - also note that playlist 00002.mpls only has 1 Entry-Mark and 46 subsequent Link Points showing in BDedit, which also ties up with BDInfo's reporting of only 1 chapter for that playlist)

Do you think this is right madshi? And can you/should you therefore exclude these "link point" types from your chapter lists??

Thanks,
m

laserfan

14th February 2009, 20:38

...BDInfo (0.5.2) reported the correct number of chapters (27) for playlist 00004.MPLS ....BDedit reveals that playlist 00004.MPLS has 46 of what it calls PlayListMarks...27 are identified as having type "Entry-Mark" and these seem to tie up with actual chapter points...I looked to BDInfo for chapters on this one (those are accurate), but I can't correlate the "mark times" for entry-marks in BDedit to any actual chapter mark in the movie. So I dunno if these relate to chapters at all, or if maybe something's wrong with BDedit.

magic144

14th February 2009, 20:53

@laserfan,

the "Entry-Mark" "mark times" in BDedit are always shown relative to a particular PlayList item (PI),
so in order to work out the absolute time to which they refer, you need to know:-
a) the PlayList Item absolute start time as well as
b) the "mark time" (also taking the PI's "IN time" into account which always seems to be an offset of 2 seconds in this case)

for example, in playlist 00004.MPLS, PlayListMark 002 (the second actual entry-mark in the list, PlayListMark 000 being the first, and 001 being a link-point) is an "entry-mark" referencing PI 001 and having a "mark time" of 00:01:43.351
We know that PlayList Item (PI) 001 (00018.m2ts) starts at 00:02:47.417 (basically, the length of PI 000), with its usual IN time of 00:00:02.000

so PlayListMark 002 occurs at absolute time 00:01:43.351 - 00:00:02.000 + 00:02:47.417 = 00:04:28.768 (exactly as BDInfo shows for the start time of Chapter 2) - what eac3to refers to as Chapter 3

m

laserfan

14th February 2009, 22:52

Good job, sir... I had tried (and failed rather miserably) to find that relationship! :o

magic144

15th February 2009, 03:50

well like I said, I'm just inferring things from the outputs of these progs - hopefully I've found something that might improve madshi's chapter list output!

madshi

15th February 2009, 13:50

I have also noticed that on certain inputs, e.g. demuxing a playlist from the German WALL-E from HDD (lots of small segments), eac3to seems to do nothing for a few seconds first, then outputs the stats and continues as usual. Seems like there is a pre-check at this moment that takes longer than expected therefore you didn't see the need to include a progress bar for this step ...
Yeah, for seamless branching titles eac3to opens every m2ts file and searches for the first and last video timestamp etc. That is done before the first progress bar appears. I guess I could add just another progress bar for this initial file scan. It usually causes a noticable delay only for seamless branching titles.

All files. I'm mostly running eac3to over a gigabit network, but it happens even when running it directly to/from an incredibly fast RAID. As soon as I type any command, eac3to sits there for several seconds before even showing the progress bar.
I can't reproduce that. For me eac3to starts processing at once, except - see above.

eac3to 3.06 and later apparently do not work with Nero Audio Decoder. Please take a look madshi.
The Nero Audio Decoder works just fine for me in v3.08.