eac3to - audio conversion tool

[madshi]

the video muxing frame rate change is a bit odd.. using -slowdown on a 25fps file and it seems to play fine at 24/1.001 and is synced to the the 24/1.001 audio file but mpc hc properties, haali splitter, ffdshow and evr all still report it as 25fps
This is a bug in the current eac3to version. It does everything right, but just writes the wrong framerate info into the MKV file. Will be fixed in the next eac3to build.

[rickardk]

No. What happens if you split the movie into two parts: (1) the whole movie except the last second (2) the last second. Does the first part play then and the last part not? Maybe the problem is in the very last part of the movie?

(1) The main part will not play
(2) The main part will not play

But as I said. If I skip forward a second (even if the first second already is cut with mkvmerge) it will play.

[madshi]

(1) The main part will not play
(2) The main part will not play

But as I said. If I skip forward a second (even if the first second already is cut with mkvmerge) it will play.
So in other words there's no way for you to create a sample with which I can reproduce the problem? :(

Have you tried the ffdshow FLAC decoder instead of madFlac? Does that make things work?

[Skinleech]

Hmmmmm... Does this happen only with this specific MPEG2/FLAC combination? Do you have another MPEG2/FLAC movie you could cross check? I'm not sure if this is a problem with madFlac or maybe with the Haali Media Splitter?

You could try GraphEdit. Only connect audio there from Haali Media Splitter to madFlac to DirectSound renderer (or any other audio renderer). Does it play that way?

Thanks for the reply. I have since tried with another mpeg2/flac combo & get the same thing.

Haali to Madflac to default direct sound device does play the audio on both files.

If I disable Haali & enable the internal MPC mkv filter the same thing happens with Hostel (the 1st file I converted). The Terminator is the most recent one I tried, and the audio plays, but no video filter loads!

[rickardk]

So in other words there's no way for you to create a sample with which I can reproduce the problem? :(

Have you tried the ffdshow FLAC decoder instead of madFlac? Does that make things work?
You nailed it!

I was using ffdshow FLAC decoder...
By switching to madFlac the mkv start to play without using skip.

Strange though that just 2 movies (I guess that it was the same with Enron) suffers from this problem.
And the fact that by muxing H264 with mkvmerge it plays perfect when using ffdshow FLAC decoder.

[madshi]

Thanks for the reply. I have since tried with another mpeg2/flac combo & get the same thing.

Haali to Madflac to default direct sound device does play the audio on both files.

If I disable Haali & enable the internal MPC mkv filter the same thing happens with Hostel (the 1st file I converted). The Terminator is the most recent one I tried, and the audio plays, but no video filter loads!
I'll give it a try, but it will have to wait until Sunday.

You nailed it!

I was using ffdshow FLAC decoder...
By switching to madFlac the mkv start to play without using skip.

Strange though that just 2 movies (I guess that it was the same with Enron) suffers from this problem.
And the fact that by muxing H264 with mkvmerge it plays perfect when using ffdshow FLAC decoder.
Honestly, I don't know what's going on. It's sure strange.

[scarbrtj]

Madshi:

I am taking many EVOs video only straight into mkv. The mkv files play fine, seem fine. But if I try to import them into AviMUX Gui 1.17.7, it crashes AviMUX Gui. I have to import the mkv into mkvmerge GUI, make a new mkv from there, then this mkv will go into AviMUX Gui.

Why does this bother me?

I like the ability to see the duration of a .mka file, down to the millisecond, that AVIMux Gui offers. So, I like to do my audio/video muxing in AviMUX Gui.

Minor issue, not stopping me from getting to my desired end product, but it does seem the "long way around." Why won't video-only mkv's from eac3to work in AviMux Gui?

[madshi]

Madshi:

I am taking many EVOs video only straight into mkv. The mkv files play fine, seem fine. But if I try to import them into AviMUX Gui 1.17.7, it crashes AviMUX Gui. I have to import the mkv into mkvmerge GUI, make a new mkv from there, then this mkv will go into AviMUX Gui.

Why does this bother me?

I like the ability to see the duration of a .mka file, down to the millisecond, that AVIMux Gui offers. So, I like to do my audio/video muxing in AviMUX Gui.

Minor issue, not stopping me from getting to my desired end product, but it does seem the "long way around." Why won't video-only mkv's from eac3to work in AviMux Gui?
It's a crash in AviMux Gui, so in someone else's software. I'm not the right person to ask about that. You might want to ask the AviMux developer about it. It would help if you could upload a little sample for him which reproduces the problem. If he finds out that there's something wrong with the MKVs created by eac3to then I'd be glad to hear about that and I'll work on fixing that. But at this point in time I rather think there's a bug in AviMux Gui.

[Skinleech]

I'll give it a try, but it will have to wait until Sunday.

Thanks madshi, not a problem.

If you need samples of either files, just let me know.

[nautilus7]

I am trying to use the new aften build (762), but i get this error:

eac3to input.eac3 output.ac3
E-AC3, 5.1 channels, 1:42:01, 2046kbit/s, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
Removing dialog normalization...
Decoding with DirectShow (Nero Audio Decoder 2)...
Disabling DRC for Nero (E-)AC3 decoding...
DirectShow reports 5.1 channels, 24 bits, 48khz
Encoding AC3...
invalid number of channels
Initialization of the AC3 encoder failed.


eac3to is latest (2.30) and this happens with all libaften builds (generic, SSE3 etc). It also happens when i use as input wav or raw or ac3 files. In other words always. But if i use aften.exe and encode to ac3 outside eac3to everything works fine.

Does it seem as a libaften or an eac3to problem?

[Inventive Software]

@madshi: What are madFlac and eac3to written in?

[madshi]

If you need samples of either files, just let me know.
I have at least the Terminator Blu-Ray, so I hope I'll be able to reproduce the problem. Let's see. Of course if you have a small sample with which I can reproduce the problem, it would be helpful if you could upload it. In that case I'd prefer to get the sample in its original form (EVO or VOB or m2ts). Thanks!

I am trying to use the new aften build (762), but i get this error [...]
Newer libaften builds often break compatability with older builds. Personally I don't really like this approach, but well, that's the way it is. It allows the libav developers to be more flexible. Anyway, in order to support newer libaften builds I sometimes have to update eac3to. Of course then older builds won't work, anymore.

The question is: Is there anything worth updating to in the newer libaften build? I don't think I'll invest the time to update to a newer lib for just 0.5% of speed improvement.

@madshi: What are madFlac and eac3to written in?
Delphi 7.

[Inventive Software]

OK, what about the E-AC3 and TrueHD decoding parts? Cos if they're not Delphi, I might be able to port them to ffdshow........

[madshi]

OK, what about the E-AC3 and TrueHD decoding parts? Cos if they're not Delphi, I might be able to port them to ffdshow........
Those decoders are not integrated in eac3to. They're part of ffmpeg/libav, which is written in C. Both decoders are preliminary patches, though, and not yet in the official ffmpeg/libav svn.

[Inventive Software]

Thanks, that makes things clearer. I was just horrified that they'd be Delphi! :D

[madshi]

Delphi is the best programming language ever, so there's nothing horrific about the thought of having the decoders written in Delphi... :p

[Inventive Software]

Delphi is the best programming language ever, so there's nothing horrific about the thought of having the decoders written in Delphi... :p

There is when you've been taught C++ the last 2 years, and self-taught C, so I have a rather one-sided view. ;)

[Thunderbolt8]

tried to remux the Freedom vol.4 HD DVD and got 1 frame of audio overlap for almost each second of playtime. don't know if this can be considered as normal or is this is due to bad authoring or something else. so apart from that eac3to reports these problems, are they also solved or do these overlaps still exist when eac3to processing is finished? from what I was able to make out (anime lip sync and japanese language T_T) i'd estimate its out of sync for about 1 second.
though this problem only seems to occur with the dd+ track, when I encode the 2.0 pcm track to flac no such error is reported.

heres the complete log:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/y9gbqx

and heres a 30mb sample:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/51n7yt

[madshi]

tried to remux the Freedom vol.4 HD DVD and got 1 frame of audio overlap for almost each second of playtime. don't know if this can be considered as normal
No, when there's a constant flow of overlap/gap warnings this is always a strong sign of a general problem (probably due to an eac3to bug).

Thanks for the sample. I've found that with the bitrate of the E-AC3 track in this sample (about 2.0 Mbit/s! first time I've seen this bitrate) the overlap/gap calculation of eac3to was slightly inprecise which resulted in these overlap warnings. This will be fixed in the next build.

[Thunderbolt8]

you should have seen this with equilibrium already, its the same there :P yes, I just tried to mux it again, but I get the same problems as with freedom vol.4 here. also with the machinist (the bitrate, but havent tried the remux now).

btw. was there any (documented or undocumented) switch or anything which I need for equilibriums strange video timestamps additionally? there was much said about it, but I cant recall what the final result was in the end :S

[BlackJack1]

Short question: is 1536kbps set always as default when I'll not put -1536 switch in "track_id: audio.dts" string?

[nautilus7]

Yes, it is. As 640 is the default for ac3.

[BlackJack1]

Thanks for reply nautilus7 :)
another one: do I need Nero decoder and HD Nero plugin for convert TrueHD 5.1 track from EVO file to dts?

[bmnot]

Thanks for reply nautilus7 :)
another one: do I need Nero decoder and HD Nero plugin for convert TrueHD 5.1 track from EVO file to dts?

No, the built-in libav decoder produces the exact same results as Nero for TrueHD.

[BlackJack1]

OK. I just did my first EVO to mkv process with dts sound.
All passed OK but... unfortunately picture looks like washed out, not so sharp... I'm playing it using KMPlayer with ffdshow decoder. I've got ESiRs x263 encode and it looks far better! Do you know why? My mkv is pure source VC-1 and not encode... so can anybody explain me why please...?

[madshi]

btw. was there any (documented or undocumented) switch or anything which I need for equilibriums strange video timestamps additionally?
No.

OK. I just did my first EVO to mkv process with dts sound.
All passed OK but... unfortunately picture looks like washed out, not so sharp... I'm playing it using KMPlayer with ffdshow decoder. I've got ESiRs x263 encode and it looks far better! Do you know why? My mkv is pure source VC-1 and not encode... so can anybody explain me why please...?
Which movie is this?

The reencodes are often using sharpening filters to make the reencoding look more pleasing to some people's eyes at a first quick glance. That's what you may be seeing here. As a result many 720p reencodes appear to be sharper than the 1080p original on a quick check. However, the detail level is usually lower. And when you apply a good sharpening filter to the 1080p original, it usually beats the reencoding easily. While if you add the same sharpening filter on top of the reencoding, it looks awful because it was already sharpened...

Some people actually prefer the look of the (good) reencodes over the originals. However, the bigger your screen is, the more you'll probably like the original over the reencoding cause the detail level is higher...

P.S: That said, some movies are so soft in their original that there's nothing lost when reencoding them even to 720p. In such cases reencodes can easily match the originals. However, you always need to be aware of that the reencodings are just that: Reencodings of the originals with maybe some clever post processing added on top of them. If you have e.g. a good projector with e.g. a Realta HQV or Gennum VXP chip in them, you can sharpen the originals on the fly in realtime, if you like that look.

[qyqgpower]

I encountered a strange problem in a HDDVD title with TrueHD audio : Vexille - 2077

there are two EVO files for main movie: L0_MainMovie.EVO and L1_MainMovie.EVO

using eac3to to demux the first EVO, encode thd to flac, everything went fine.

but when encoding the thd file from the second EVO, eac3to says:
TrueHD, 5.1 channels, 48khz
[libav] No restart header present in substream 0.
The libav decoder reported an error while decoding.

then I tried to remux both EVO to one mkv, after a period of time(encoding audio tracks of the first EVO), the same happened:

eac3to L0_MainMovie.EVO+L1_MainMovie.EVO muxed.mkv
EVO, 1 video track, 3 audio tracks, 1:49:48
1: Joined EVO file
2: h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)
3: TrueHD, 5.1 channels, 48khz, dialnorm: -29dB, -83ms
4: RAW/PCM, 2.0 channels, 16 bits, 48khz, -83ms
5: RAW/PCM, 2.0 channels, 16 bits, 48khz, -83ms
Extracting primary video track...
Extracting audio track number 5...
Extracting audio track number 4...
Reading RAW/PCM...
Muxing video to Matroska...
Reading RAW/PCM...
Swapping endian...
Swapping endian...
Applying RAW/PCM delay...
Applying RAW/PCM delay...
Encoding FLAC...
Encoding FLAC...
Extracting audio track number 3...
Removing dialog normalization...
Applying RAW/PCM delay...
This audio track contains more than 16 bit of information.
Encoding FLAC...
Creating/writing file "audiotrack 1.24bit.flac"...
Creating/writing file "audiotrack 2.flac"...
Creating/writing file "audiotrack 3.flac"...
[libav] No restart header present in substream 0.
The libav decoder reported an error while decoding.

I tried tsMuxeR 1.4.6, it couldn't even recognize the TrueHD and 2 LPCM audio tracks. tsremux 0.0.20 also failed to open the EVO. EVOdemux managed to demux the TrueHD track("rebuild" gives me a huge garbage EVO), but eac3to threw the same error after some encoding(so again failed in second part)

I can confirm EVO itself is free from error. So is there any method left to try?

[Inventive Software]

Try demuxing it again. Sounds like a bad rip.

[BlackJack1]

Which movie is this?.

Training Day


And when you apply a good sharpening filter to the 1080p original, it usually beats the reencoding easily.

Do you know good sharpening filter I can use?
I need to do something with colors on this movie because they are look washed out.
BTW source playing using PowerDVD looks very good.... mayby ffdshow codecs and wrong renderer i used in KMPlayer...?

[Thunderbolt8]

I always use ffdshows sharpening and im quite happy with it. just beware that you need some additional cpu power for it. still, I can play almost all sources with my c2d @2.8GHz with sharpening, only for some I need to overclock further to 3.2 (e.g. band of brothers, babel, ghost in the shell and some other AVC movies with high bitrate)

[BlackJack1]

I always use ffdshows sharpening and im quite happy with it. just beware that you need some additional cpu power for it. still, I can play almost all sources with my c2d @2.8GHz with sharpening, only for some I need to overclock further to 3.2 (e.g. band of brothers, babel, ghost in the shell and some other AVC movies with high bitrate)

And what kind of soft. player are you using and what renderer?

Other question: can I make flac or dts audio from BD rip on HDD?

[Thunderbolt8]

media player classic and haali renderer

[act.anon]

I have another messy evo that seems to stump eac3to:

D:\utilities\eac3to230>eac3to "E:\test.EVO" 1: "D:\test.mkv" 2: "D:\test.ac3"
EVO, 1 video track, 1 audio track, 1:39:19
1: h264/AVC, 1440x1080 30p /1.001 (16:9)
2: AC3, 5.1 channels, 384kbit/s, 48khz, dialnorm: -27dB
Extracting primary video track...
Extracting audio track number 2...
Removing dialog normalization...
Muxing video to Matroska...
Creating/writing file "D:\test.ac3"...
----------------------This EVO file contains authoring faults. Will try to work around that.
This doesn't seem to be a valid EVO file.
This doesn't seem to be a valid EVO file.

Error occurs mid-file, so here is the full file:
link (http://peaches.labs.acomp.usf.edu/erik/test.mkv) (rename to .evo)

[Sephiroth0000]

Right I am ripping audio from HD DVD and the E-AC3 applys the audio delay it has found for the EVO but my question is when I extract the audio to AC3 from the EAC3TO audio do I have to reapply the audio delay?

[BLKMGK]

Right I am ripping audio from HD DVD and the E-AC3 applys the audio delay it has found for the EVO but my question is when I extract the audio to AC3 from the EAC3TO audio do I have to reapply the audio delay?

I have yet to be forced to apply any manual delays using eac3to ripping the audio to AC3 and using eac3to for the MKV. I usually compress the resulting MKV and use the calculated frames from eac3to in my AVIsynth script. So far no synch issues.

[Sephiroth0000]

I have yet to be forced to apply any manual delays using eac3to ripping the audio to AC3 and using eac3to for the MKV. I usually compress the resulting MKV and use the calculated frames from eac3to in my AVIsynth script. So far no synch issues.

I am ripping EVO to MKV video only file and then ripping the audio to AC3 then running MKVMerge and muxin the two in then putting through MKV2VOB to make it PS3 compatiable. But you say there is no need to apply the delay?

[BLKMGK]

I am ripping EVO to MKV video only file and then ripping the audio to AC3 then running MKVMerge and muxin the two in then putting through MKV2VOB to make it PS3 compatiable. But you say there is no need to apply the delay?

I am doing much (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=135361) the same thing. Much of the difference is that I compress my video with x264 using meGUI. I do not use MKV2VOB and cannot comment on anything it might introduce. I can tell you that when I've not compressed and simply muxed the audio and video together with MKVMerge I've not needed to add any delay.

P.S. madshi I can hardly wait for you to tackle BD as you have HD-DVD video. So far nothing I'm trying is working out well and your tool has made HD-DVD VERY easy to work with!

[Thunderbolt8]

usually if there is a delay its listed after all other information of that audio track. so if theres nothing written, then no delay is needed for that movie. and afaik when demuxing or converting the audio from the .evo source then eac3to adds or substracts the delay needed automatically already (should be indicated by a message like "applying (e)ac3 delay" or something like that).

[Usa1955]

Is it possible with or with help of eAC3to to convert "WMA 6ch" to some AC3 or DTS stream?

[Yraen]

I am ripping EVO to MKV video only file and then ripping the audio to AC3 then running MKVMerge and muxin the two in then putting through MKV2VOB to make it PS3 compatiable. But you say there is no need to apply the delay?

If you're taking the audio from the EVO then there is no need to apply the delay.

[nautilus7]

Is it possible with or with help of eAC3to to convert "WMA 6ch" to some AC3 or DTS stream?eac3to can do the wav to ac3/dts part, but you need another program to decode wma to wav (don't know which).

[Sephiroth0000]

T H A N K Y O U ! ! Everyone for your comments! Always get an answer here :)

[rickardk]

"No Country For Old Men" suffers from the same problem as "Sum Of All Fear" (and "Enron - The Smartest Guy In The Room" did before forced 24p).

[Thunderbolt8]

what problem is it? ive already remuxed and watched this one (not with 2.28-2.30 though), but havent encountered any problems afaik.

[rickardk]

Used latest eac3to to mux H264 and to create a FLAC track from the LPCM track.

They play perfect on their own. But when muxed together with mkvmerge the resulting mkv will not start to play when using ffdshow (libav) to decode flac.

If you skip/fast forward a second or two the movie will start and play to the end without problems.

(Not sure this is a eac3to bug/problem. It might be the splitter, mkvmerge or ffdshow (libav))

[Thunderbolt8]

I had no problems with madflac, maybe try this.

[BLKMGK]

Why FLAC over AC3? I have used both and cannot hear a difference although I know that AC3 is lossy. Size difference is huge however. AC3 may come in at around 700megs vs 1.5Gig for a FLAC track. Am I missing something significant using AC3? I simply use the -libav switch to do this too, works well.

[BlackJack1]

Can I make flac or dts audio with no DRC if I've got BD rip on HDD? What kind of string must I use?
Thx in advance...

[Thunderbolt8]

mostly you should be able to hear a difference, especially the more your sound system goes into the direction of high-end. so even if you dont have that yet, then you are on the save side for the future.

[nautilus7]

Can I make flac or dts audio with no DRC if I've got BD rip on HDD? What kind of string must I use?
Thx in advance...
Yes. Make sure you don't use -sonic for dd+ and you 'll be fine.

Almost all of the questions you ask have been answered in the 1st post. Reading it, will be a great benefit for you.