eac3to - audio conversion tool

[tebasuna51]

...
I archive all my movies as DTS 1.5mbps because I can't hear the difference above that even with DTS-MA or TrueHD. The DD (480,640) and DTS (768) are different story. I can hear those being softer when compared to HD audio but anything at 1.5mbps I can't hear it.
Is your choice.
But try encode a DTS-MA or TrueHD to AC3 640 Kb/s and compare with DTS 1.5Mb/s

[raquete]

Is your choice.
But try encode a DTS-MA or TrueHD to AC3 640 Kb/s and compare with DTS 1.5Mb/s
i never could hear differences using wave sources in 24b/48k.
AC3 640K is really "the way to go" with short size and play in all standalones(i never saw standalones that can't play 640K but i can be wrong as i don't know all models(of course)).

observation: i only use AFTEN(WAVtoAC3Enc) for AC3.(is the same AC3 encoder used in EAC3to)
with others encoders used before i always found "issues" and was posted somewhere in this audio forum.

[yesgrey]

try encode a DTS-MA or TrueHD to AC3 640 Kb/s and compare with DTS 1.5Mb/s
Just for curiosity, do you think that AC3 640kbps sounds better than DTS 1.5Mbps?

[tebasuna51]

I just say: AC3 is more efficient than DTS.
I think I put this comparative 3 times in this thread:
http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3324.pdf

[Blue_MiSfit]

I usually keep the AC3 track for compatibility purposes - and S/PDIF transport. At 448+kbps it's honestly "good enough" for me! If I must transcode something, it's always to Nero AAC-LC. The default Q=.5 sounds very good to me, and it's almost always smaller than 640kbps AC3.

I find the tasty high resolution / bitrate audio tracks tempting, but I'm rarely impressed by the difference. Once in a blue moon I'll FLAC a high-res track - but AAC is usually awesomely awesome for my tastes!

BTW - excellent link, tebasuna51! It was an interesting read, and further substantiates what folks have been saying on doom9 for years :)

~MiSfit

[yesgrey]

I think I put this comparative 3 times in this thread
Thanks! and sorry to make you repeat yourself...;)

[Bozster]

I just say: AC3 is more efficient than DTS.
I think I put this comparative 3 times in this thread:
http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/tec_doc_t3324-2007_tcm6-53801.pdf

I read the comparison..however I can tell you that DTS 1.5mbps is virtually indistinguishable from DTS-MA or TrueHD even in controlled conditions and blind tests by experts.

DD/DD+ at 640kbps can indeed be better than DTS 768 but based on tests the only versions that provided maximum quality at lowest sizes without sacrificing quality were DTS 1.5mbps and DD+ 1.5bmps and above.

You can read about comparisons here:
http://www.hemagazine.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM

They visited both DTS and Dolby labs.

They did say that even though DTS-MA, TrueHD and LPCM offered high bitrates and excellent quality, DD and DTS held very good even at 448/640/768 bitrates. Even though they could distinguish the audio difference with these lower bitrate codecs (they say it did sound a bit softer and flatter) they would be good enough to majority of people while DTS 1.5 and DD+ 1.5+ couldn't be spotted at all in blind tests against DTS-MA/TrueHD/LPCM.

This is why I chose to encode my movies with DTS 1.5mbps. I even have SurCode encoder where I encode TrueHD as DTS 1.5mbps.

Just some thoughts.

[Bozster]

Is your choice.
But try encode a DTS-MA or TrueHD to AC3 640 Kb/s and compare with DTS 1.5Mb/s

So you think that I wouldn't hear a difference between AFTEN'ed TrueHD track as AC3 640 vs DTS 1.5?

I mean, I'd definitely do that because it would mean better compatibility with PS3 and xbox 360 which i have everywhere around my house as extenders but based on above articles I'm feeling more confident encoding as DTS 1.5 as I'm trusting these blind tests myself so I want to be sure.

[yesgrey]

DD/DD+ at 640kbps can indeed be better than DTS 768 but based on tests the only versions that provided maximum quality at lowest sizes without sacrificing quality were DTS 1.5mbps and DD+ 1.5bmps and above.
That's not what I've read...
They weren't capable of hearing the difference between the lossless formats and DTS-HD High Resolution / DD+ 1.5mbps.
DTS-HD High Resolution is between 2.0 and 6.0mbps, and the core DTS are 768kbps (DVD) and 1536kbps(BR). They were capable of noticing a slightly difference between the core DTS's and the lossless, but between DD 640kbps and the lossless only one of them was able to tell the difference. So, that test also seems to indicate that DD 640kbps is equal or slightly better than DTS 1536kbps.
There was an important distinction in the two tests, though. In Dolby it was a blind test, but in DTS it wasn't. It's "easier" to spot a difference when you know that should be there...;)

Edit: Don't forget also that in Dolby it was only a 10s test, and by their description of the sound it did not seem to be a very hard to compress piece. A soundtrack is more than 1H30m, so maybe it's not such a good idea to relly your decision in a comparison made with only 10s of a soundtrack...;)

[tebasuna51]

...
You can read about comparisons here:
http://www.hemagazine.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM
...
This is why I chose to encode my movies with DTS 1.5mbps. I even have SurCode encoder where I encode TrueHD as DTS 1.5mbps.

Maybe my english is so bad, but at the link you provide there aren't comparasion between DTS and AC3, only between uncompressed audio and AC3/DTS and the conclusion is:

"The lossless, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD High Resolution compressed tracks were just a little more open and airy. I hate to say it, but they just sounded more realistic and transparent. The 448 kbps Dolby Digital and standard DTS tracks were less so, a little more closed off. Between the 640 kbps Dolby Digital and the uncompressed, the difference was even less noticeable."

I think he compare 448 Kb/s DD with 1.5 Mb/s DTS, and say 640 Kb/s DD is better.

[raquete]

That's not what I've read...
@ Bozster
chose one music(send me some options, maybe i have here)
i will encode in 5.1 and send: AC3-640k, DTS-1.5Mb, the seperateds waves useds as sources (L,R,C,LFE,LS,RS) and multichannel wave too.
after hear AC3 and DTS, tell us "who is who". after that compare the sound with the waves.
deal? :-)

[RonaldoSan]

I have a 6 channel wav file (created with eac3to) that I need to cut up into 6 wav files containing each their own channel.

Is this possible with eac3to?

[G_M_C]

I have a 6 channel wav file (created with eac3to) [...]

Reprocess the source, and use the commandline to save "WAVs" in stead of "WAV".

[RonaldoSan]

Reprocess the source, and use the commandline to save "WAVs" in stead of "WAV".
I was looking to avoid that, but I guess that is what I have to do.

Thanks for you help.

[tebasuna51]

I was looking to avoid that, but I guess that is what I have to do.
You can use the multichannel wav like input because is a lossless process:

eac3to multichan.wav mono.wavs

[amgeex]

Just a quick question. When one does a eac3to -demux movie.mpls, the audio is not touched, right? The .dtsma audio I get is pure and not dependant on any decoders I have (or don't have) installed on my computer, right?

Thanks in advance!

[Bozster]

I think he compare 448 Kb/s DD with 1.5 Mb/s DTS, and say 640 Kb/s DD is better.

Nope I disagree.. he meant in comparison to 448k DD and 768 DTS (as that's the standard DTS). The 1.5mbps DTS is not really standard.

[yesgrey]

The 1.5mbps DTS is not really standard.
It's the standard for Blu-ray.;)

[raquete]

It's the standard for Blu-ray.;)
and DTS 1.536 Mb/s (we can name as 1.5Mb) for dvd.
if DTS 768 is the standard, DD 448K win for miles and the competition between formats is without sense.

[Snowknight26]

A nice feature for eac3to would extracting a FLAC stream from an mkv file. Currently, the FLAC stream is decoded then encoded back to FLAC.

[hoju3508]

That's correct.

Just a quick question. When one does a eac3to -demux movie.mpls, the audio is not touched, right? The .dtsma audio I get is pure and not dependant on any decoders I have (or don't have) installed on my computer, right?

Thanks in advance!

[Killroy™]

A nice feature for eac3to would extracting a FLAC stream from an mkv file. Currently, the FLAC stream is decoded then encoded back to FLAC.

Does it do this if you just do a -demux? I have been using that when I know the mkv has a flac already and it did not appear to be re-encoded.

[Snowknight26]

It does.

[tal.aloni]

is there actually a way not to have eac3to apply a delay at all at demuxing

I found one way:
using a delay opposite to the audio delay,

for example:
4: AC3, English, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, 83ms

if you use -83ms at the command, no delay will be applied to the AC3.

[<><]

I seem to be having some trouble w/ DTS Master Audio, which seems to affect 6.1/7.1 chan audio. Using Arcsoft Decorders.

For example, X-Men: The Last Stand has a DTS Master Audio 6.1 ch, which I conver to FLAC, but is not playable w/ madflac thru WMP12 and also gives an error in GraphStudio saying it cannot open the file.

Again, same movie/same audio track still converting to FLAC, this time using the -core flag, same results as above.

Again, same movie/same audio track still converting to FLAC, this time using the -libav flag, this time audio is playable and also is able to be graphed using GraphStudio. (but audio is out of sync when merged w/ movie using mkvmerge)

Rush Hour 3, same issues as above, DTS Master Audio 7.1 ch, converted to FLAC, not playable or graphable.

Death Race, which contains DTS Master Audio 5.1 ch converted to FLAC, no issues, is playable and graphable using GraphStudio (used ArcSoft decoders)

Any ideas?

[Mark_A_W]

I seem to be having some trouble w/ DTS Master Audio, which seems to affect 6.1/7.1 chan audio. Using Arcsoft Decorders.

For example, X-Men: The Last Stand has a DTS Master Audio 6.1 ch, which I conver to FLAC, but is not playable w/ madflac thru WMP12 and also gives an error in GraphStudio saying it cannot open the file.

Again, same movie/same audio track still converting to FLAC, this time using the -core flag, same results as above.

Again, same movie/same audio track still converting to FLAC, this time using the -libav flag, this time audio is playable and also is able to be graphed using GraphStudio. (but audio is out of sync when merged w/ movie using mkvmerge)

Rush Hour 3, same issues as above, DTS Master Audio 7.1 ch, converted to FLAC, not playable or graphable.

Death Race, which contains DTS Master Audio 5.1 ch converted to FLAC, no issues, is playable and graphable using GraphStudio (used ArcSoft decoders)

Any ideas?

I can playback Xmen3, with 6.1 FLAC with madFLAC and Zoom Player.

I have to ask, why on earth are you trying to do this with WMP???

Please try a player where you have proper controls over the filters that are being loaded!

[Snowknight26]

You have enough control with WMP to know that madFLAC will be loaded for FLAC streams, so that's most likely not the issue, especially when he mentioned GraphStudio.

[Mark_A_W]

Yeah, but no control after that..

What audio renderer is being loaded? Can it handle 6.1? Can the soundcard driver?

If ffdshow audio processor is loaded after madflac, then you can experiment with the channels setting in the Mixer controls and see what's happening.


WMP is good for casual use, but not for this.

[Snowknight26]

What audio renderer is being loaded? Can it handle 6.1? Can the soundcard driver?

If ffdshow audio processor is loaded after madflac, then you can experiment with the channels setting in the Mixer controls and see what's happening.

And those have nothing to do with WMP. Even if it does, it should be in it's own thread because its off topic.

[setarip_old]

- can extract Blu-Ray and HD DVD chapter information and subtitlesWhat would be the commandline entry for extracting the subtitles from a BluRay/.M2TS disc/file?

[Snowknight26]

Same as extracting any stream, but you have to use the correct extension (pgs for PGS, srt for SRT, sup for SUP, etc).

[setarip_old]

This is the example provided in the first post that includes extracting subtitles:eac3to source.evo 1: chapters.txt 2: video.mkv 3: audio.flac 5: subtitle.supWhat is the significance of the "5:"?

What would be the specific commandline entry for extracting the PGS subtitles from a BluRay/.M2TS disc/file? Would it be:

1) eac3to source.m2ts 5: subtitle.pgs

2) eac3to source.m2ts 1: subtitle.pgs

3) eac3to source.m2ts subtitle.pgs

4) Or, if something else, what?

[nurbs]

4) eac3to source.m2ts 5:subtitle.sup or eac3to "C:\path\source.m2ts" 5:"C:\path\subtitle.sup" for Blu-Ray

The 5: is the tracknumber. eac3to numbers all tracks in an m2ts file starting with the chapters, followed by video tracks, audio tracks and subtitles. You first use eac3to to open a file (eac3to source.m2ts) or select a folder (eac3to "C:\Path"). If you do the former you see a tracklist, if you do the latter you see a title list. In that case you select a title by its number (e.g. eac3to "C:\Path" 2) selects the 2nd title on the disc) to get to the track list.

[setarip_old]

@nurbs

Thank you ;>}

[tebasuna51]

...What is the significance of the "5:"?

What would be the specific commandline entry for extracting the PGS subtitles from a BluRay/.M2TS disc/file?
The track number, first you need run (to know the tracks):

eac3to source.m2ts

Please read http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Eac3to/How_to_Use

[73ChargerFan]

Or if you're not in a hurry, and will leave the computer unattended anyway, use -demux to get everything, and then delete the unwanted files later.

[YukonTrooper]

Hey, guys. Just wondering if using Nero's decoders for extracting the core DTS and DD audio streams will give me better sound-quality opposed to using eac3to's. I'm not doing any conversions, just extracting those core streams and remuxing them into .m2ts files with the untouched video stream.

Also, I realize I'll need Nero's decoders for 1.0 streams (Dog Day Afternoon), but how I do make eac3to point towards the decoders once I have them? Does eac3to automatically search for those decoders first if they are in the eac3to folder? I'm using Nero 8 Ultra right now, but the eac3to Wiki says that won't work.

[TinTime]

If you're just demuxing then no decoders will be used. They're only used for conversions.

[wolfbane5]

I've been using eac3to for a while now on vista and it works great; however, I'll be switching to windows 7 in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if anyone has encountered any issues running eac3to on 7?

[Jeff Flowerday]

I've been using eac3to for a while now on vista and it works great; however, I'll be switching to windows 7 in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if anyone has encountered any issues running eac3to on 7?

No it works fine.

[buzzqw]

same here...

just installed haali, ffdshow tryouts, xvid.. and used clsid reg tools for windows 7

BHH

[magic144]

hi,
just been converting an HD-DVD I own (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and I came across the following issue.

Here's the log of eac3to's operation:
eac3to v3.16
command line: eac3to.exe L: 1) 2: chapters.txt 3: video.mkv 4: audio.dts 8: subs08.sup
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVO, 1 video track, 4 audio tracks, 3 subtitle tracks, 1:54:50
1: Joined EVO file
2: Chapters, 20 chapters with names
3: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
4: TrueHD, English, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
5: E-AC3, English, 5.1 channels, 384kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, -8ms
6: E-AC3, French, 5.1 channels, 384kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, -8ms
7: E-AC3 Surround, English, 2.0 channels, 192kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, -8ms
"Director Commentary"
8: Subtitle (DVD), English, "SDH"
9: Subtitle (DVD), French
10: Subtitle (DVD), French, "Forced"
Creating file "chapters.txt"...
[v03] Extracting video track number 3...
[a04] Extracting audio track number 4...
[v03] Writing new framerate "24fps /1.001" to bitstream.
[a04] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[v03] Removing VC-1 pulldown...
[a04] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a04] Writing WAVs...
[v03] Muxing video to Matroska...
[a04] Creating file "audio.C.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.L.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.R.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.SL.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.LFE.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.SR.wav"...
[s08] Extracting subtitle track number 8...
[s08] Creating file "subs08.sup"...
[a04] Original audio track, L+R+C+LFE: constant bit depth of 16 bits.
[a04] Original audio track, SL+SR: constant bit depth of 24 bits.
[a04] Audio has a gap of 10ms at playtime 0:00:00. <WARNING>
[a04] Starting 2nd pass...
[a04] Extracting audio track number 4...
[a04] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[a04] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a04] Writing WAVs...
[a04] Realizing RAW/PCM gaps...
[a04] Creating file "audio.L.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.SL.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.C.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.R.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.SR.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio.LFE.wav"...
[a04] Processed audio track, L+R+C+LFE: constant bit depth of 16 bits.
[a04] Processed audio track, SL+SR: constant bit depth of 24 bits.
Encoding DTS <1536kbps> with Surcode...
Found Surcode DTS Encoder version 1.0.29.0.
Surcode encoding successfully started. Please wait...
Closing Surcode...
Added fps value to MKV header.
Video track 3 contains 165207 frames.
Subtitle track 8 contains 1093 captions.
eac3to processing took 43 minutes, 37 seconds.
Surcode encoding took 14 minutes, 35 seconds.
Done.

now everything appears fine, but when I later compared the .dts file here with the equivalent .ac3 file I got when separately extracting track 5 - the English E-AC3 audio is perfectly in sync with the video, whereas this .dts audio is 89ms too early (it needs a +89ms delay to be in-sync with the E-AC3 and the video) - I measured this delay by comparing the .wav versions
eac3to audio.dts audio.wavs
eac3to audio2.ac3 audio2.wavs
of the centre-channels of each soundtrack, using a multichannel .wav file editor.

I watched the original disc on my HD-DVD HD-A30 player and there was no noticeable sync issue with the TrueHD track.

The 89ms sync issue was noticeable when watching the video muxed with this derived .dts audio on my PC. (Again, the same video muxed with .ac3 derived from the E-AC3 track was also in-sync on my PC)

Can it be that eac3to hasn't read/observed some kind of delay (separate meta-data?) that should apply to the TrueHD track in this case? And would this delay/offset only turn up when extracting TrueHD from HD-DVD sources (vs BluRay TrueHD tracks)?

(has the HD-DVD side of the code been abandoned anyway?!)

Thanks in advance of any help or feedback.

ps - probably an easier question - what does (DVD) signify in the subtitle track listings? Obviously, these extract as HD subs in a .sup file (albeit presumably an HD-DVD specific .sup variant)

[magic144]

just tried another HD-DVD disc
"Pride & Prejudice" - this also has both TrueHD and EAC-3 English audio alternatives.
Extracted both audio tracks directly to .wavs using eac3to 3.16 (latest). Here is the log.

eac3to v3.16
command line: eac3to L: 1) 4: audio_thd.wavs 5: audio_eac3.wavs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVO, 1 video track, 4 audio tracks, 3 subtitle tracks, 2:08:18
1: Joined EVO file
2: Chapters, 16 chapters with names
3: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
4: TrueHD, English, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
5: E-AC3, English, 5.1 channels, 448kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, -8ms
6: E-AC3, French, 5.1 channels, 448kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, -8ms
7: E-AC3 Surround, English, 2.0 channels, 192kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, -8ms
"Director Commentary"
8: Subtitle (DVD), English, "SDH"
9: Subtitle (DVD), French
10: Subtitle (DVD), French, "Forced"
[a05] The Nero decoder doesn't seem to work, will use libav instead.
[a04] Extracting audio track number 4...
[a05] Extracting audio track number 5...
[a04] Removing TrueHD dialog normalization...
[a05] Removing E-AC3 dialog normalization...
[a04] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a05] Decoding with libav/ffmpeg...
[a04] Writing WAVs...
[a05] Remapping channels...
[a05] Applying RAW/PCM delay...
[a05] Reducing depth from 64 to 24 bits...
[a05] Writing WAVs...
[a04] Creating file "audio_thd.L.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio_thd.R.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio_thd.SR.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio_thd.C.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio_thd.LFE.wav"...
[a04] Creating file "audio_thd.SL.wav"...
[a05] Creating file "audio_eac3.L.wav"...
[a05] Creating file "audio_eac3.LFE.wav"...
[a05] Creating file "audio_eac3.SR.wav"...
[a05] Creating file "audio_eac3.C.wav"...
[a05] Creating file "audio_eac3.SL.wav"...
[a05] Creating file "audio_eac3.R.wav"...
[a04] Original audio track, L+R+C+LFE: constant bit depth of 16 bits.
[a04] Original audio track, SL+SR: constant bit depth of 24 bits.
Video track 3 contains 184586 frames.
eac3to processing took 22 minutes, 25 seconds.
Done.
Whilst the centre-channel audio was distinctly closer in time in this case, there was still a measurable 10ms gap between the THD and EAC3 variants, again with the THD lagging (i.e. it would need a +10ms audio delay to match the EAC3).

As a complementary test, last night I compared the centre-channel of the separate THD and AC3 tracks from my BluRay version of 2010 (the THD track actually has AC3 embedded, but I used eac3to to only extract the THD for comparison with a separate AC3 track). In this case, there was no measurable time lag between the two.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don't have any more HDDVD discs with THD audio, however I will dig out a few more BluRay discs for comparison over the coming days/weeks and report any significant discrepancies if I find any. Perhaps others could repeat my experiment with their own HDDVD THD/EAC3 discs and report their findings.

[magic144]

FYI, just compared the distinct TrueHD and AC3 Japanese audio tracks from my Letters from Iwo Jima BluRay - another small measureable difference of -9ms (THD actually is AHEAD of the AC3 in this case), this would be very hard to detect perceptually - nothing like the 89ms from eac3to's audio extractions from the Elizabeth HDDVD.

Maybe the "Audio has a gap of 10ms at playtime 0:00:00. <WARNING>" message in the Elizabeth HDDVD THD track extraction log is a clue to the discrepency.

[HunterXXX]

Help me extract to E-ac-3 to Wav???

Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
File size : 1.16 GiB
Duration : 1h 47mn
Overall bit rate : 1 536 Kbps

Audio
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 1.16 GiB (100%)

[Beastie Boy]

See the first post of this thread for eac3to usage examples.

Cheers, Beastie.

[Nnoitra]

I notice that in some movies, like Kill Bill 1&2, forced subtitles are not detected. There is one big English subtitle track with all subs, and another much smaller track with just the forced subs, but eac3to does not detect it as forced (nor does any other tool like BDSupToSub). Yet standalone Blu-Ray players somehow figure this out... how?

[TruckChase!]

Hey guys; I've searched the thread and addressed all the concerns regarding this issue that have been posted already with no luck.

OS: Win7 x64 (I had this working fine with Vixta x64 with the same installs)

E:\Encoding\video\eac3to>eac3to.exe -test
eac3to (v3.16) is up to date
Nero Audio Decoder (Nero 6 or older) doesn't seem to be installed
http://www.nero.com/eng/store-blu-ray.html
CAUTION: You need Nero 7. Nero 8 won't work with eac3to.

Nero 7.8.5.0 installed, including showtime, and the BluRay/HDDVD plugin is successfully "unlocked". The codecs are showing up correctly, but eac3to doesn't seem to like 'em.

Like I said, I have the same config installed in Vista x64 and it works fine. Has anyone else had probs with Win7?

[JoyMonkey]

I've got the same problem with Win7 x86.
I'm using Nero Ultra 7.10.1.0 and the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD plugin license, which was working fine with Windows XP.

[JoyMonkey]

I found a solution to the Windows 7 problem!

For some reason the file...
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\DSFilter\NeAudio2.ax
didn't get installed with Nero on my Windows 7 machine. This is Nero's DirectShow audio filter module. I copied that file over from my XP machine, then registered that module as a service with Windows by opening a command prompt in that folder and using the command...
regsvr32 neaudio2.ax

Now when I run eac3to -test it says that Nero Audio Decoder is working fine.
:)