eac3to - audio conversion tool

[madshi]

the pcm file from the first m2ts = 2 294 179 654 bytes

2294179654 / (8 * 16 / 8) = 143386228,375 so yes, indeed, therein lies our bug.

the file from the second m2ts is correctly dividable
Ok, now you can use e.g. a hexedit to cut off the last 6 bytes. Afterwards the channel mapping should be correct when the files are joined. E.g. personally, I'm using this free hexeditor:

http://www.mh-nexus.de/

Also you might want to contact the xport author and ask for a fix. Should be really easy for him to fix.

[madshi]

so xport is currently not recommended to use for joined .m2ts files?
I don't know. It usually works for me. But seamless branching can be problematic.

are there other, more reliable demuxers at present?
You could try Haali Media Splitter -> Dump. Don't know if that's more reliable or not.

[shambles]

The log.txt is written to the "current" folder. The one where the command prompt is at. E.g. if the command prompt sais: "C:>" the log file it written to "C:\log.txt".

you can actually see in my post that the eac3to dir was the current dir.. no log file anywhere :confused:

[Thunderbolt8]

hm use the windows file search "log.txt" :P

[madshi]

you can actually see in my post that the eac3to dir was the current dir.. no log file anywhere :confused:
I'm confused. Is it really 2.03? :confused:

[Thunderbolt8]

new haali version is out btw :D (doesnt really belong here, but its so universal :P)

[shambles]

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/592/eac3tobh0.png

[shambles]

Ok, now you can use e.g. a hexedit to cut off the last 6 bytes. Afterwards the channel mapping should be correct when the files are joined. E.g. personally, I'm using this free hexeditor:

http://www.mh-nexus.de/

Also you might want to contact the xport author and ask for a fix. Should be really easy for him to fix.

using bla1+bla2 in eac3to after cutting off the last 6 bytes works perfectly. channel mapping and everything perfect. :D

i'll report the bug to the xport author asap

[madshi]

new haali version is out btw :D (doesnt really belong here, but its so universal :P)
This is actually a VERY important release. I'll post details in a few minutes in the Haali thread.

[madshi]

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/592/eac3tobh0.png
There really IS something strange with your PC. Can you please test logging on that other PC, too? :D

[drmpeg]

Ok, now you can use e.g. a hexedit to cut off the last 6 bytes. Afterwards the channel mapping should be correct when the files are joined. E.g. personally, I'm using this free hexeditor:

http://www.mh-nexus.de/

Also you might want to contact the xport author and ask for a fix. Should be really easy for him to fix.
I have a fix for the LPCM channel mapping issue with concatenated .m2ts files.

Version 0.99

http://www.w6rz.net/xport.zip

I wasn't able to fully test it, since I don't have any full movie .m2ts files. However, I did regress it with the samples I do have, so it shouldn't be any worse.

The error message "LPCM sample resync, adding x samples" will occur when xport detects a mismatch (it looks for a match at the beginning of every PES packet). It just adds enough samples to pad out to the expected number of channels. A/V sync should not be affected too much, since it's only 1/48000 of a second (20 microseconds).

The error message should only occur at concatenation points. xport will not pad the end of a demuxed LPCM file.

Ron

[Thunderbolt8]

thanks!

[Rectal Prolapse]

When combining Ratatouille files you need to run the resultant large m2ts file through tsremux again - rewriting the timestamps. This is NEEDED to fix playback in Haali and many other players, and will probably fix demux issues when using xport on the big file.

[madshi]

I have a fix for the LPCM channel mapping issue with concatenated .m2ts files.

Version 0.99

http://www.w6rz.net/xport.zip

I wasn't able to fully test it, since I don't have any full movie .m2ts files. However, I did regress it with the samples I do have, so it shouldn't be any worse.

The error message "LPCM sample resync, adding x samples" will occur when xport detects a mismatch (it looks for a match at the beginning of every PES packet). It just adds enough samples to pad out to the expected number of channels. A/V sync should not be affected too much, since it's only 1/48000 of a second (20 microseconds).

The error message should only occur at concatenation points. xport will not pad the end of a demuxed LPCM file.

Ron
Thanks, Ron! :)

[序列人]

There really IS something strange with your PC. Can you please test logging on that other PC, too? :D

Me too, everything goes well before v2.0!

[shambles]

There really IS something strange with your PC. Can you please test logging on that other PC, too? :D

logging works on the other pc, except it seems to just print out the log in the command prompt window, it doesn't make a file.

[Murleen]

Is it possible to get the runtime from those DTS bytes? I mean could I just search in the file for the first and last sync word, substract the DTS values and convert them to a runtime somehow? That would be nice.

Alas no - there's only two bytes, which tend to wrap every 1.4s - I think the value is used to perform bitrate smoothing, telling a decoder to decode some samples and buffer them earlier...

[madshi]

Me too, everything goes well before v2.0!
And it does not work for you with v2.0? Can you give me a bit more details, please?

[madshi]

Alas no - there's only two bytes, which tend to wrap every 1.4s - I think the value is used to perform bitrate smoothing, telling a decoder to decode some samples and buffer them earlier...
Ah ok, thanks. Do you happen to be the ffmpeg TrueHD decoder author? :)

[madshi]

logging works on the other pc, except it seems to just print out the log in the command prompt window, it doesn't make a file.
Don't understand that. But I'll make a new build which will write the log file to the eac3to folder.

[killa_kid]

I'm trying to convert the DTS-ES audio from my HD DVD of Face/Off and i get the following:

DTS-ES, 6 channels, 2:19:25, 24 bits, 1536kbit/s, 48khz
AC3 encoding only supports 6 channels. Will mix the surround channels.
Decoding with DirectShow (Sonic Audio Decoder)...
DirectShow reports 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 48khz
Encoding AC3...
Mixing surround channels...
The channel modder was started with incorrect parameters.

I tried messing around with a few options (including -downmix and the remapping) but it did not work. I do have Sonic installed, so I am not sure why this is happening. Unless, you can only pull the core DTS out of this? I looked for log.txt but it was not in the directory I ran eac3to in.

The program is working fantastically for my other audio files. This is my only DTS-ES audio, so I can't even try any others.

Any help is appreciated!

[madshi]

I'm trying to convert the DTS-ES audio from my HD DVD of Face/Off and i get the following:

DTS-ES, 6 channels, 2:19:25, 24 bits, 1536kbit/s, 48khz
AC3 encoding only supports 6 channels. Will mix the surround channels.
Decoding with DirectShow (Sonic Audio Decoder)...
DirectShow reports 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 48khz
Encoding AC3...
Mixing surround channels...
The channel modder was started with incorrect parameters.

I tried messing around with a few options (including -downmix and the remapping) but it did not work. I do have Sonic installed, so I am not sure why this is happening. Unless, you can only pull the core DTS out of this? I looked for log.txt but it was not in the directory I ran eac3to in.

The program is working fantastically for my other audio files. This is my only DTS-ES audio, so I can't even try any others.

Any help is appreciated!
Can you send me a small sample of that DTS file? 5MB should be plenty.

P.S: Just as a short explanation: eac3to fails because it expects 6.1, but DirectShow only delivers 5.1. I'll work around that problem. But I'll also like to check out that DTS-ES file. There must be something special about it.

[Murleen]

Ah ok, thanks. Do you happen to be the ffmpeg TrueHD decoder author? :)

Yeah - now know all too much about MLP/TrueHD! Hopefully should be able to get the decoder merged into FFmpeg soon.

[madshi]

Yeah - now know all too much about MLP/TrueHD! Hopefully should be able to get the decoder merged into FFmpeg soon.
Yeah, you must be the TrueHD guru now... :) I had spent several hours on finding out the CRC algorithm for the TrueHD header myself, so I could patch dialog normalization away. I don't want to know how many hours you've spent!! :scared:

Btw, I had tried your decoder patches and got it to compile, but the decoding didn't really work for a test TrueHD file I tried. It always decoded one frame and then aborted, complaining about something (don't remember the exact message). I tried to cut the first few TrueHD frames but that didn't really help much. If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know. I don't like C++, though... :D

[Inventive Software]

@madshi: Do you ever sleep? :D Good work BTW. :)

[idbirch2]

When combining Ratatouille files you need to run the resultant large m2ts file through tsremux again - rewriting the timestamps. This is NEEDED to fix playback in Haali and many other players, and will probably fix demux issues when using xport on the big file.Unfortunately, not so. TSRemux does not fix the sync issues encoutered when dealing with multiple .m2ts movies. I have used TSRemux for both Spiderman 2 and Ratatouille and in both cases, a great deal of time was required to manually fix sync in VideoRedo after re-encoding. I really hope someone figures out a proper way to join .m2ts file soon, these multi-file releases are really annoying!

[Thunderbolt8]

i also experienced that, when I put that tsremux file in tsremux again after that the displayed video length is 2 seconds too short compared to the orginal movie length. and this 2 missing seconds result in 2 seconds audio delay throughout the movie.

someone suggested that overclocking could be an issue because of silent data corruption at the joining stage. I already clocked by system down again, but the result is still the same. will do a reset to bios defaults and test again.

[idbirch2]

My experience is slightly different because the audio skew is not a constant throughout the whole movie. If it was, this would be very easy to correct.

In the movies I have done, the audio is knocked foward of backwards at certain join points. Not all join points of course, that would make sense, no, this is "random".

[killa_kid]

Can you send me a small sample of that DTS file? 5MB should be plenty.

P.S: Just as a short explanation: eac3to fails because it expects 6.1, but DirectShow only delivers 5.1. I'll work around that problem. But I'll also like to check out that DTS-ES file. There must be something special about it.

Here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/mzzmzp. I hope it helps, I'd prefer to use the DTS as my source!

The tool is amazing thanks a lot madshi! The fact you're willing to do things like this, is great.

[Thunderbolt8]

i also experienced that, when I put that tsremux file in tsremux again after that the displayed video length is 2 seconds too short compared to the orginal movie length. and this 2 missing seconds result in 2 seconds audio delay throughout the movie.

someone suggested that overclocking could be an issue because of silent data corruption at the joining stage. I already clocked by system down again, but the result is still the same. will do a reset to bios defaults and test again.
tried it all, but still same results. just wont sync :/
ffs how did some people manage to join that successfully then?

[nautilus7]

I have a problematic eac3 track.
I am triyng to convert it to ac3 and eac3to stops saying that i should use delaycut to clean the track.
I load the eac3 track to the latest version of delaycut that supports eac3 and it recognize 2 frames as problematic and drops them whatever mode i choose (fix, ignore, silence). Is there a bug there?

I can't cut a sample with these frames in it, because delaycut drops them whatever i do.

[Thunderbolt8]

take a hex editor and cut out the rest :D
e.g. if its a the beginning, then cut away the rest after 5 mb or something like that. this sample you can send madshi then

[nautilus7]

Yes, you 're right. Didn't think of that.

Here's a sample: http://rapidshare.com/files/70928211/sample.zip.html

It contains only 1 of the 2 problematic frames. The other was way too far, so i had to make another sample, or a very big one.

[nautilus7]

@ madshi

You haven't update the first post to latest version and also in the ac3 bitrate options you don't mention 384 kbps.

[xkodi]

Btw, I had tried your decoder patches and got it to compile, but the decoding didn't really work for a test TrueHD file I tried. It always decoded one frame and then aborted, complaining about something (don't remember the exact message).

i tested the open source MLP/TrueHD decoder with "V for Vendetta" MLP track and the output is byte by byte identical to the output of eac3to 2.x, with previous eac3to 1.23 the output was different, but that was because of the first 4 bytes cut issue, so that is a huge prove for both eac3to and the open-source MLP/TrueHD decoder, because they use so different approaches and produce the same output.

[menlvd]

try to reencode dts-hd and got that

D:\minep\me_gui\tools\eac3_to>eac3to.exe i:\hair.dtshd g:\hair.ac3
DTS Hi-Res, 5.1 channels, 5:44:36, 24 bits, 1914kbit/s, 48khz
Decoding with DirectShow (Sonic Audio Decoder)...

but its only 1:56:06. From hairspay BD movie

[Thunderbolt8]

hairspray is Blu-ray 7.1 DTS-HD MA afaik, not yes implemented in eac3to.
please cut a 50mb sample from the beginning of the demuxed track and send it to madshi, then this is probably also supported soon.

[menlvd]

50mb of hairspray dts-hd ma 7.1
hairspray (http://rapidshare.com/files/71122156/hairspray.dtshd)

[Thunderbolt8]

gogogo madshi :>

with a bit luck the next version might feature nice 7.1 truehd and dts-hd support ;)

[Blue_MiSfit]

I'm having problems converting E-AC3 to AC3. The source is Black Snake Moan from HD DVD. I'm using Nero decoders.

Basically, it starts to decode the E-AC3, but never starts encoding with Aften - so I get no output file.


eac3.exe "i:\feature.ddp" "feature.ac3"


Running Vista x64... latest version of eac3to and Nero 7.

Suggestions?

~MiSfit

[Falcon4]

I'm having an impossible (LITERALLY) time trying to figure out how to get past the first major hurdle with eac3to. Finding a compatible decoder. It seems literally impossible. The links in the first post are completely useless and it doesn't seem to be compatible with the only two Blu-Ray compatible "DVD" player programs I know of - WinDVD HD and PowerDVD. There's mention of Nero, which burns discs, and Sonic, which who knows what it does (and the website is far from helpful). All over the place here I'm seeing mention of "sonic demuxer" and "sonic decoder" but yet there's not a single useful Google result for such terms. Sonic doesn't even seem to have a player of any form available to buy or otherwise.

How the hell is everyone else here seeming to have so many further problems when the post introducing eac3to isn't helpful at all in even setting the software up?

All I want is to decode the mysterious format that my blu-ray movie's audio came in (DTS Master Audio, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 1536kbits/s, 48khz), into something I can put to VirtualDub and encode into a more universally compatible XviD format with 2 channel MP3 audio (hopefully I can convince it to do some dynamic range compression too, because let me tell you how much I HATE that "loud gunshots and quiet voices" bullcrap).

And before anyone even says it, there's no way in heck I'm buying a $500 authoring suite just to get a stinkin' DTS decoder. I just want to know what program people here are even USING, because "sonic.com" is a hell of a worthless link to be putting up to say "here's what I'm talking about".

Other than that, hey, thanks. :P

edit: Here's what I have so far...
DTS Master Audio, 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 1536kbit/s, 48khz
Decoding with DirectShow (Sonic Audio Decoder)...
Getting "DTS/AC3/DD+ Source" instance failed.
Whatever that means.

[Beastie Boy]

The easiest way is to install Nero 7 (I believe the Essentials version is OK) and purchase the HD-DVD/BluRay plugin.

The sonic site can be hard to navigate, so I would suggest a Google search as this will also search inside a domain name. Try something like "Sonic.CinePlayer.HD.DVD.Decoder.v4.3" and see if it turns up something on their site.

Cheers, Beastie.

[Falcon4]

But, according to eac3to...
The Nero Audio Decoder doesn't support DTS-HD decoding.

So, fortunately I saw that error before I went on a small spending spree... and the version of CinePlayer you can buy on Sonic's site doesn't claim to support HD discs at all. So as for the "buying" thing, I'm up sh*t creek (still). But with the pointing-in-the-right-direction of Cineplayer, I may be "acquiring" a CinePlayer of some kind that may just do the job I need.

But damn if it hasn't been the past 5 hours of looking.

[honai]

How the hell is everyone else here seeming to have so many further problems when the post introducing eac3to isn't helpful at all in even setting the software up?

You know, it's a fantastic way to introduce yourself to this forum by bashing a free product (which you intend to use, anyway) in your very first post.

Whatever that means.

Post #1 of this thread tells you exactly what it means.

I'm having an impossible (LITERALLY) time trying to figure out how to get past the first major hurdle with eac3to.

The actual problem is between keyboard and chair.

[Falcon4]

Post #1 tells me absolutely nothing more than "here's the puzzle box full of assorted pieces, have fun seeing if they're all there and no, I won't help you find the others". It gives me a command line program that spits out unhelpful error messages that could mean pretty much anything from the codec being installed but not working, to the codec not even being installed. It tells me "Install Sonic" which is like telling someone to install "Microsoft" when they really need Microsoft SQL Server. It dangles this beautiful carrot called "decoding this piece of crap DTS file" in front of me and then teases me with not being able to actually DO it.

Oh, and as for the "free product" thing? Earth to honai: MOST software IS free. While the author has no obligation to create a program for free that actually works, it's definitely in their best interest if they don't want a little thing called a "bad reputation" following them around. Now I do believe that eac3to does actually work, but it's the documentation that's sorely lacking - especially for it not to work on a PC (such as mine) that's actually designed from the ground up, by Sony, to play Blu-Ray movies. I'm not trying to get around any hardware limitations with this software - I'm trying to make it do what it already does in a different context.

Now if you continue to think that PEBKAC, then you need to STFU and GTFO the internets. Srsly.

[honai]

Oh, and as for the "free product" thing? Earth to honai: MOST software IS free. While the author has no obligation to create a program for free that actually works, it's definitely in their best interest if they don't want a little thing called a "bad reputation" following them around.

The only bad reputation eac3to is getting from the tens of thousands of people who downloaded it so far is ... from you.

And let me refer you to this post, written by the maintainer of this forum:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=52597

"General conduct - or how to accept a gift properly"

Those who only aim to take will eventually be singled out and will most likely run into a strike or two along the way. Not knowing the value of community and the rules governing it they will not use the proper channels to lodge a complaint but just start throwing insults around on this board, other boards or their own personal websites and they will eventually find themselves on a suspension.

So far I fail to see any kind words from you for the author of eac3to, or any polite request for help from the community that supports the program. It's especially rich because obviously you did download eac3to ... without paying a single dime for it, while in actual fact the author spent a great deal of unpaid time making it the fantastic product that it is.

[Falcon4]

Right, now how about you actually address the points of my posts instead of just whining about my complaining about the author's lack of coherent documentation?

[honai]

At this point I don't feel inclined to help you out. Hurling insults and then asking for help, that's rich.

The answer to all of your problems lies in the pages 1 to 78. Happy reading.

[Beastie Boy]

Seriously Falcon4, I gave you the benefit of doubt as it was your first post, but with your post-count now at 4, I think they may be the worst and most offensive first posts I have seen. I agree with Honai 100%. Perhaps you should just move along and find some other software to solve your problem. Oh wait, there isn't any.

Perhaps if you eventually get this working, you could write the guide that you think is sorely lacking. Or better still, dedicate hours writing your own piece of software that you could share with the rest of the world.

[Falcon4]

And just to compare pots with kettles...

So far I fail to see any kind words from you for the author of eac3to, or any polite request for help from the community that supports the program. It's especially rich because obviously you did download eac3to ... without paying a single dime for it, while in actual fact the author spent a great deal of unpaid time making it the fantastic product that it is.

Software authors should be expected to provide their bits of code for free. How can I be such an asshole to say this? Because I'm a developer myself - you can see my "portfolio" of current work at falconfour.com (http://falconfour.com) or just go straight to my best site, hostfile.org (http://hostfile.org). I don't charge a damn dime for anything I provide, and I never will either. I think if people really like it, and I've done a good enough job on it, people will use the shiny "donate" link. Now, I may be way off here, but I'd have to say that I put a freaking shitload of a lot more time into Hostfile than the author of eac3to put into that program, considering eac3to is practically a front-end for two audio decoders and a handful of encoders, and my site is a complex system of inter-working scripts and databases using almost entirely my own code. If you'd like to keep going on about the whole "free" crap, then the spam is on you.

In the meantime I'd like to know what crap people have installed on their computers that allows them to "magically" use this program without any further problems beyond just "waah, it introduced a 20ms delay that's making my nose hairs tingle". If I could get it to actually spit out a single byte of audio data, or even begin decoding the original audio, I'd have no complaints with eac3to. Meanwhile... it simply does not work.

edit: And yes, as you can see from the previous statement above, I have spent hours going through, searching, and reading all ridiculous 78 pages of this thread trying to find out how the heck to make it work.