eac3to - audio conversion tool

[d9rook]

You can try to extract the track first, for instance:
eac3to input.mkv 2:output.eac3
or
eac3to input.mkv -demux
and do the reencoding afterwards. There is also mkvextract if you want to demux the streams, but I haven't used that myself.
I personally have no experience with MakeMKV, so I can't help you specifically with that. I use AnyDVD HD, but there is no reason you shouldn't be able to get MakeMKV to work.

Also make sure that you have the latest version of eac3to. Maybe MakeMKV uses Header Removal Compresson, which eac3to only supports since version 3.23.

Ok I extracted the track as you said using -demux. Then I used the 300.eac3 300.ac3 -448 command. Then I muxed them back together to a .mkv. Is this the only way I will be able to do this? It seems like I doing something too many times.
Anyway to speed up the process? Thank you so much for the help, cant wait to see if this works on the 360 with no stutter.

[d9rook]

I used eac3to 300.vc1+300.ac3 300.mkv
Was this incorrect? Not hearing audio.

[DVDBob]

I hope someone will post a step by step guide to how i can get AAC decoding to work in eac3to???

[d9rook]

You can try to extract the track first, for instance:
eac3to input.mkv 2:output.eac3
or
eac3to input.mkv -demux
and do the reencoding afterwards. There is also mkvextract if you want to demux the streams, but I haven't used that myself.
I personally have no experience with MakeMKV, so I can't help you specifically with that. I use AnyDVD HD, but there is no reason you shouldn't be able to get MakeMKV to work.

Also make sure that you have the latest version of eac3to. Maybe MakeMKV uses Header Removal Compresson, which eac3to only supports since version 3.23.

What do you recommend for reencoding? I got the streams seperate and tried to put em back together as a mkv but there is no sound..

[nurbs]

I kind of lost track of the discussion, sorry. Could you sum up what you want to do and how far you got again?

Do you mean you got no sound after you reencoded the track ac3 and then muxed to a mkv again, or did you mux the eac3 track and that didn't play?

[d9rook]

I kind of lost track of the discussion, sorry. Could you sum up what you want to do and how far you got again?

Do you mean you got no sound after you reencoded the track ac3 and then muxed to a mkv again, or did you mux the eac3 track and that didn't play?

Overall goal: Take a HD-DVD disc to a format that plays stutterfree over the 360.

I rip the hd-dvd using Makemkv, the result is 1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9) with pulldown flags
2: EAC3, English, 5.1 channels, 48kHz, -83ms
"3/2+1"

This file stutters like crazy when I try to playback via 360.
I had to seperate then do eac3to input.eac3 ouput.ac3 -448
So now I have the vc1 file and ac3 file. What is the best way to put these back togther properly? My end desired format is .wtv so that I can ff/rw on the 360, but I dont think most people here are using 360 as extender so they dont have this issue. Thanks.

[nurbs]

I'm not familiar with WTV, but maybe this thread (http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/81225.aspx?PageIndex=1) can help. The way I see it you'd have to mux the files (video and ac3) via MKVMergeGUI (turn off header removal compression in the options to be safe) and then do step 6 in the thread I linked. That's assuming you can mux VC-1 the same way as H.264.

[rapscallion]

Sorry guys but couln't see an appropriate place to ask this question so I'm trying here.

I have 2 versions of the Blade Blu-ray. The Alliance (Canadian) release which is NOT the OAR (1.88:1),
but with an excellent DTS-MA track and the Dutch release which is the OAR, but with a low bitrate DTS-MA,
just barely above the core br.

So I want to mux the Alliance DTS with the Dutch video, so I can have the best of both.
However the movie lenghts are slightly different, by 3 sec !
The framerate on both is 23.976

The Dutch= 2.00.16.0.........Alliance=2.00.13.0

Obviously, when I mux the 2 together, the audio is out of sync (certainly not by 3 sec)

Is there a way to make this in sync ? Thanks

[Adub]

Uh, that looks like 3 milliseconds. You shouldn't be able to hear that.

Unless you wrote the time wrong?

[rapscallion]

Yes, I wrote it wrong...corrected. It is 3 sec difference

[jj666]

Given both tracks are lossless, can you hear a difference?

The way I'd do it would be to demux both tracks with EAC3TO, demux to .WAVs and waveform compare in Audition to verify either an initial +/- delay and/or cuts necessary to sync.

Cheers,

-jj-

[rapscallion]

Thanks, good suggestion jj.

Difference? I'm not sure, maybe it's just psycological but one track is ~1576 kps, 16 bit, while the other is ~ 3700 kbps, 24 bit. Hard to believe that the first one is truly lossless, but I guess when I demux to wavs I'll see.

I've been playing around with the track sync in VLC and +900 ms puts it just about spot on, even when I slow down playback. But if I can get it exact in Audition, I'll give it a shot.

Edit : pm sent

[kypec]

I usually open both video sources via Avisynth -> StackHorizontal(a,b) and time/scene shifts can be immediately seen. I then cut/append blank frames as necessary while leaving audio track untouched.

[rapscallion]

I usually open both video sources via Avisynth -> StackHorizontal(a,b) and time/scene shifts can be immediately seen.

Thanks, but that's something I don't know how to do.

[kypec]

Well, then it's about time to start learning :p

Install Avisynth (http://sourceforge.net/projects/avisynth2/files/AviSynth%202.5/AviSynth%202.5.8/)
Download some universal source filter, I'd suggest FFMpegSource (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127037)
Download AvsPMod (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=153248) or VirtualDub
Open AVS scriptLoadPlugin("path\to\plugins\ffms2.dll")
a=FFVideoSource("first video.mkv")
b=FFVideoSource("second video.mkv")
StackHorizontal(a,b)

[rapscallion]

I apologize again for the OT of this subject.

Thanks for the info kypec.
Already use #'s 1 & 2.

I've heard of VirtualDub but never used it because it doesn't support *.m2ts video sources, which is the subject of my op.

[Midzuki]

I've heard of VirtualDub but never used it because it doesn't support *.m2ts video sources,

I am sure phaeron won't mind if you write a .(M2)TS source plugin :)
Watches pelcome :D

[kypec]

I've heard of VirtualDub but never used it because it doesn't support *.m2ts video sources, which is the subject of my op.
Well, VirtualDub supports AVS scripts, right?
AVS supports FFMS2 plugin, right?
Finally, FFMS2 supports M2TS & TS streams (maybe not frame-accurate when seeking though), or you can try DGDecNV if you have compatible nVidia GPU which is frame-accurate with all supported file formats.

[Weirdo]

Eac3to reports: "Haali Matroska Muxer (2010-11-07) is installed, There's a new version (2010-11-21) available". However, I have installed the latest 21/11/2010 version from http://haali.su/mkv/.

[jeremy33]

Madshi,

Can you add my little GUI eac3to µGUI (http://www.homecinema-hd.com/eac3tougui_en.html) to your first post please ?

[afonic]

Hi,

sorry to "hack" this thread, but it is kind of eac3to related.

It reports I have ArcSoft:

[a03] Extracting audio track number 3...
[a03] Decoding with ArcSoft DTS Decoder...
[a03] Encoding AC3 <448kbps> with libAften...
[a03] Creating file "D:\Movies\xxxx\1_3_audio.ac3"...
[a03] The original audio track has a constant bit depth of 24 bits.
Video track 2 contains 141706 frames.
eac3to processing took 11 minutes, 7 seconds.
Done.


And it appears I have. However I didn't install anything from them. Any idea what could have installed it? I have Nero, AnyDVD and DVD Fab from commercial applications.

[Delta2]

I don't know if this is a bug of eac3to or not, my current version is 3.17

In some sources I get this error log message :

eac3to v3.17
command line: "C:\eac3to\eac3to.exe" C:\SAMPLE~2\CTU-X2~1.MKV 1:"C:\AAA_TE~1\dolby_ac3_1.ac3" -448 -down6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MKV, 1 video track, 1 audio track, 0:01:05, 24p /1.001
1: h264/AVC, English, 720p24 /1.001
2: AC3, 5.1 channels, 448kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, 2ms
This video conversion is not supported. <ERROR>


That's correct because I'm trying to reencode stream nº 1 that eac3to identifies as VIDEO H264, of course that is not supported

The problem is that Mediainfo and MKVToolnix identifies the streams as 1 = audio and 2 = video, i.e., the streams order are different

Here is the log of mkvinfo of that sample movie :


+ EBML head
|+ Doc type: matroska
|+ Doc type version: 1
|+ Doc type read version: 1
+ Segment, size 28039868
|+ Seek head (subentries will be
|+ EbmlVoid (size: 4027)
|+ Segment information
| + Timecode scale: 1000000
| + Muxing application: libebml
| + Writing application: mkvmerg
7 09:35:09
| + Duration: 64.610s (00:01:04.
| + Date: Fri Feb 22 04:21:20 20
| + Segment UID: 0x66 0x07 0x99
7 0xfe 0xd0 0xd0
|+ Segment tracks
| + A track
| + Track number: 1
| + Track UID: 376306038
| + Track type: audio
| + Enabled: 1
| + Default flag: 1
| + Forced flag: 0
| + Lacing flag: 1
| + MinCache: 0
| + Timecode scale: 1
| + Max BlockAddition ID: 0
| + Codec ID: A_AC3
| + Codec decode all: 1
| + Default duration: 32.000ms
| + Language: und
| + Audio track
| + Sampling frequency: 48000
| + Channels: 6
| + A track
| + Track number: 2
| + Track UID: 1
| + Track type: video
| + Enabled: 1
| + Default flag: 1
| + Forced flag: 0
| + Lacing flag: 0
| + MinCache: 1
| + Timecode scale: 1
| + Max BlockAddition ID: 0
| + Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
| + Codec decode all: 1
| + CodecPrivate, length 39 (h.
| + Default duration: 41.708ms
| + Language: eng
| + Video track
| + Pixel width: 1280
| + Pixel height: 720
| + Interlaced: 0
| + Display width: 16
| + Display height: 9
|+ EbmlVoid (size: 1024)
|+ Cluster

[nurbs]

I guess eac3to always uses the same order (chapter,video,audio,subtitles) regardless of what the track order in the container is. If eac3to lists the audio as track 2 then that's what you'll have to use in your command line.

[Delta2]

I guess eac3to always uses the same order (chapter,video,audio,subtitles) regardless of what the track order in the container is. If eac3to lists the audio as track 2 then that's what you'll have to use in your command line.

but if you make a gui that uses eac3to how do you know the track order, i.e., if there is more than 1 audio type ?

[tebasuna51]

First run:

eac3to v3.17
command line: "C:\eac3to\eac3to.exe" C:\SAMPLE~2\CTU-X2~1.MKV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MKV, 1 video track, 1 audio track, 0:01:05, 24p /1.001
1: h264/AVC, English, 720p24 /1.001
2: AC3, 5.1 channels, 448kbps, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB, 2ms

and analize the log.

[sl1pkn07]

Eac3to reports: "Haali Matroska Muxer (2010-11-07) is installed, There's a new version (2010-11-21) available". However, I have installed the latest 21/11/2010 version from http://haali.su/mkv/.

same here

[GRKNGLR]

Eac3to reports: "Haali Matroska Muxer (2010-11-07) is installed, There's a new version (2010-11-21) available". However, I have installed the latest 21/11/2010 version from http://haali.su/mkv/.

I have same problem too.

[Midzuki]

@ madshi (feature request) :

why not make eac3to look for mkvtoolnix in the folders covered by the "PATH" envinronment-variable? In the same way it looks for neroaacenc.exe. I am sure I'm not the only one who uses mmg.exe without the help from an "installer". :)

[ketchup318]

Hi

I'm trying to extract DTS-HD audio from a m2ts file so that I can mux it with my compressed video stream (MKV).

Using MediaInfo, the original m2ts file displays this for audio
Audio #1
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 134
Duration : 50mn 23s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 3 688 Kbps / 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy
Language : English

But using eac3to, I only get this in my converted file
Audio
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 747 Kbps / 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy

This is what I input for eac3to. The funny thing is that it doesn't seem to be using the Arcsoft Decoder that I bought with TMT.


eac3to.exe C:\makin.m2ts 2: C:\test.dts
M2TS, 1 video track, 4 audio tracks, 6 subtitle tracks, 0:50:23, 24p /1.001
1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
2: DTS Master Audio, English, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 48kHz
(core: DTS, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 1509kbps, 48kHz)
3: AC3, French, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48kHz, dialnorm: -27dB
4: AC3, Spanish, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48kHz, dialnorm: -27dB
5: AC3, Portuguese, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48kHz, dialnorm: -27dB
6: Subtitle (PGS), English
7: Subtitle (PGS), French
8: Subtitle (PGS), Spanish
a02 Extracting audio track number 2...
a02 Creating file "C:\test.dts"


When I convert it to flac, it says this. It seems like now it's using the decoder.

eac3to.exe C:\makin.m2ts 2: C:\test.dts
M2TS, 1 video track, 4 audio tracks, 6 subtitle tracks, 0:50:23, 24p /1.001
1: VC-1, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
2: DTS Master Audio, English, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 48kHz
(core: DTS, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 1509kbps, 48kHz)
3: AC3, French, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48kHz, dialnorm: -27dB
4: AC3, Spanish, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48kHz, dialnorm: -27dB
5: AC3, Portuguese, 5.1 channels, 640kbps, 48kHz, dialnorm: -27dB
6: Subtitle (PGS), English
7: Subtitle (PGS), French
8: Subtitle (PGS), Spanish
a02 Extracting audio track number 2...
a02 Decoding with ArcSoft DTS Decoder...
a02 Encoding FLAC with libFlac...
a02 Creating file "test.flac"...

Is it not possible to extract the full DTS-HD track in it's pure form? Is flac the only way to get the lossless track out or is reduced DTS track all I can get? Thanks in advance

[TinTime]

The funny thing is that it doesn't seem to be using the Arcsoft Decoder that I bought with TMT.

If you're demuxing then the decoder won't be used.

As for the bitrate discrepancy, perhaps Mediainfo isn't reporting it correctly. As you know the length and size of your demuxed file you can work out the actual bitrate and check against what Mediainfo says. 1747Kbps sounds very low for a 6 channel, 24 bit lossless track.

EDIT: nurbs beat me to it!

[nurbs]

Decoders aren't used when you just extract the file. From personal experience mediainfo isn't good at determining the bitrates of arbitrary files correctly.
You could try to run
eac3to.exe C:\makin.m2ts -demux
and check if the dts-hd track you get is the same size as the one you got before.

[tebasuna51]

...
As for the bitrate discrepancy, perhaps Mediainfo isn't reporting it correctly....

Yes, to know the exact bitrate average from an audio track with variable bitrate (like DTS-MA) inside a container (like a m2ts, mkv, ...) the soft must analize all the frames and this take a long time, then make some aproach sometimes wrong.

When the track file is extracted out of the container is very easy know the bitrate average (file size / duration).

[ketchup318]

nurbs, tintime, tebasuna: thanks for the quick responses.

I ran it my way and ran eac3to -demux and they both produced files the same size. Can you check my math really quick...

Original File = 3688kpbs in 50m23s
Output File = 1371MB

50m23s = 3023s
1371MB / 3023s = .4535 MB/s * 8Mb/MB = 3.628Mb/s = 3628kpbs

Sounds about right, but there is a problem that I've noticed...

Audio
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA / Core
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 747 Kbps / 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless / Lossy

For some reason, MediaInfo thinks the file is now 1hr and 47min. When I play it on VLC, VLC thinks its 2hr 4min. What the heck is going on?

I'll try muxing back together and maybe it'll all end up correct...

[nurbs]

Raw tracks usually don't come with duration embedded, so the player has to estimate it if the track is VBR. Same goes for mediainfo. Depending on how you do it that can be very inaccurate.

About the duration: 1371MB are roughly 1h47min at 1747 kbps or 2h4min at 1510 kbps. VLC takes the bitrate from the core to estimate the track duration, but the file also contains the extension so it comes out wrong. Mediainfo takes the other value which seems to be what Mediainfo thinks the average bitrate of the track is. I'd guess it's the bitrate of core + extension at the beginning of the track.

You don't have any real problems with your audio processing and stuff like that isn't worth worrying about. It also has nothing to do with eac3to. Zenitram has a Mediainfo thread in the "Containers" subforum if you want to ask more questions about it.

[sfcav]

Error when trying to slowdown 25 fps AC3

I routinely take 25 fps 720p files and slow them down to 23.976 fps so I can burn AVCHD discs that play in my blu-ray player, and have rarely had a problem. Oddly, I am consistently having the same problem with all season 3 episodes of the UK series "Being Human". The files open fine in tsMuxR and can be demuxed to 23.976 video and unchanged ac3 audio, but when I try to use eac3to to slowdown the audio, I get the following error message with all 5 episodes to date:

"The AC3 encoder received a non-supported data format (float, 5, 64, -)"

After which the conversion stops.

I had no such issues with earlier episodes of this series or, for that matter, any other UK series.

Thoughts?

[tebasuna51]

...
"The AC3 encoder received a non-supported data format (float, 5, 64, -)"
...
Seems you have only 5 channels audio, eac3to work only with 2.0 and 5.1.

Use a external Aften.exe encoder.

[sfcav]

Quote:
Seems you have only 5 channels audio, eac3to work only with 2.0 and 5.1.

Use a external Aften.exe encoder.
___________________________________________________________--

Thanks tebasuna51 - your help is greatly appreciated!

I took a look at AftenGUI but don't see a way to slowdown from 25 to 24.976 fps. Is there something else I should try (or are there other steps)?

[tebasuna51]

You can use the stdout from eac3to:

eac3to input stdout.wav -25.000 -changeTo23.976 | Aften -readtoeof 1 - output.ac3

or you can use BeHappy also.

[rapscallion]

I have a BD LPCM 7.1 audio track that has 3 ms delay relative to the video.

If I demux to wavs, and then re encode to DTS-MA, do I reapply the 3 ms, when remuxing with the video ?

I ask because of this line in the log file : [a06] Applying RAW/PCM delay...

Edit : If I decide to downmix to 5.1, am I better off using eac3to or DTS-MA Suite ?

[setarip_old]

@rapscallion

Although I don't know the answer to your question, I CAN tell you with certainty that a human being cannot discern a 3 millesecond asynchronous audio/video situation...

[73ChargerFan]

Ignore the 3ms delay.

I'm interested in the downmix also, my receiver doesn't like my 7.1 audio tracks and I am forced to use the ac3 track. I'd prefer to downmix to 5.1 dts. If you try both, post which you think is better please.

[rapscallion]

@setarip_old & 73ChargerFan

Thank you both for the responses.

I'll play around with the downmix and see what kind of results I get.

My gut tells me that, because it's a professional program, that the DTS MA will yield better results.
But, hey, you never know.

Edit: Well, there's only one choice and that is to downmix via eac3to. Then use the resulting 6 wavs to create the 5.1 DTS HD track via DTS-MAS. That's because the MAS doesn't have an option to take 8 wavs and create a 5.1 track. You can only change the downmix settings of the core. You still get a 7.1 track. Which I found kind of strange, that they would omitt that "feature".

[Snowknight26]

eac3to v3.24
command line: eac3to.exe "Dwm 2011-02-27 15-49-52-61.final (1).mkv" 1: temp.mkv -keepFullRange -changeTo60.000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MKV, 1 video track, 0:00:33, 60p
1: h264/AVC, 1600x900 60.062p /1.001
[v01] The video bitstream is encoded in a non-standard framerate. <WARNING>
[v01] The video bitstream framerate field doesn't seem to match the timestamps. <WARNING>
[v01] The video track contains the (probably incorrect) "full range" flag. <WARNING>
[v01] Extracting video track number 1...
[v01] Writing new framerate "30fps" to bitstream.
[v01] Muxing video to Matroska...
Added fps value (30) to MKV header.
Video track 1 contains 1978 frames.
eac3to processing took 1 second.
Done.

If you try to change it to 30...

eac3to v3.24
command line: eac3to.exe "Dwm 2011-02-27 15-49-52-61.final (1).mkv" 1: temp.mkv -keepFullRange -changeTo30.000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MKV, 1 video track, 0:00:33, 60p
1: h264/AVC, 1600x900 60.062p /1.001
[v01] The video bitstream is encoded in a non-standard framerate. <WARNING>
[v01] The video bitstream framerate field doesn't seem to match the timestamps. <WARNING>
[v01] The video track contains the (probably incorrect) "full range" flag. <WARNING>
[v01] Extracting video track number 1...
[v01] Writing new framerate "30fps" to bitstream.
[v01] Muxing video to Matroska...
Added fps value (30) to MKV header.
Video track 1 contains 1978 frames.
eac3to processing took 1 second.
Done.


Bummer. Guess you can't do 60.

[mindbomb]

quick question:
I got a lossless check failed when decoding a 24 bit truehd audio with libav, this is safe to ignore?
i was using eac3to 3.24.

[Thunderbolt8]

when it only appears once and the process doesnt get canceled, just ignore it.

[mindbomb]

ok, thanks, thats what i thought since libav should be decoding truehd perfectly.

[73ChargerFan]

Does eac3to support WAV files as input yet?

[nandroltom]

Hi,
I have a question about the 24p to 25p conversion function. I have already converted a few mkvs. However, the process involved is very tedious. The biggest problem is, that a lot of my mkv files are encoded with a 23.975 framerate in the video stream and eac3to refuses to change the framerate in the audio streams:
Was asked to modify track 2: to 25.000, but the original FPS is not supported.
So what I have to do now is to first demux the mkv and then process the individual streams. Is there a better way that does not involve demuxing the files?

[rickardk]

I have two releases of the same movie on Blu-ray.

R1:
H264 24/1.001fps (best PQ by far after comparison)
16bit DTS-HD MA

R2
H264 24fps
24bit DTS-HD MA (best AQ after comparison)


I would like to speed up the video stream from R1 from 24/1.001fps to 24fps and then mux the audio from R2.

But after using "-changeTo24.000" the video does not playback as it should. A jerky pattern. Plays for a couple of seconds then halts for a couple of ms etc

Is there another way to change the frame rate?

[Midzuki]

@ rickardk :

give a try to the modded ffmpeg build by roozhou :

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=152419