* Playing AVI + AC3 works... but cannot scan

[Cabadam]

I have made a couple different AVIs with an AC3 sound track that all play correctly, however, if I try to scan to a different part of the movie (using Windows Media Player) I get an invalid file format error. What would cause this???

Thx

[MaTTeR]

Some people on this forum might not have problems using WiMP. However, as I've posted in numerous threads in previous weeks....Try a real player such as ZoomPlayer, BSplayer or PowerDivx3.12

Try it and post your results. If it doesn't work browse through this forum looking for posts in regards to AC3 interleave settings.

[Cabadam]

Alright, I tried using both ZoomPlayer and BSPlayer. I decided quickly that I liked BSPlayer itself better :P but it is having the same problem that WMP did. And I've narrowed it down a little bit. I can scan with no problem in the first 4 minutes or so of the movie. Also, after playing through for about 7 min, 55 seconds, the audio suddenly stops. Also, if I scan to a point well into the movie, where WMP gave me a file format error, BSPlayer simply did not play audio. The video keeps on going fine.

I looked through the forums for several pages, but couldn't find anything about the AC3 interleave settings.


On a side note, I was playing with the InterVideo Audio settings in BSPlayer, and noticed that if I select S/PDIF as my output, the video suddenly starts playing at about 3X. (Instead of ticking 1 second off, it goes in increments of 3). However, if I turn it to 6 Speaker mode (5.1 channel) - which is my speaker setup, it runs at the normal speed.

[Cabadam]

Something else I just found out---
if I scan WAYY WAY into the movie, the audio picks up again-- but not in the right place. I think it *may* pick up the audio where it dropped off.
So basically its doing something like:

Video: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Audio: 1 2 X X X X X 3 4 5

(That make sense? Its late, sorry if it doesn't :P)

[MaTTeR]

Sounds like you might be running the demo filters from WinDVD. I think they have a time limit on them and stop plaing after 7 minutes or something like that. We have several threads in this forum already discussing this for more information.

In short, you might download the Nimo codec pack or Tsunami's codec pack and install the filters.

I have no idea how your missing all the posts about interleave posts in this forum:D Try using an intreleave value of 96/96 when you mux the audio in NanDub. This might be the quick fix for you. Can I assume your using some flavor of a Creative SoundBlaster card?

[Cabadam]

LOL how'd you guess? Yeah, I'm using the Soundblaster X-Gamer Live

Alright and I'll give those other ideas a try.

Thx

[Cabadam]

OK... I tried to install as much of the other players and such as I could (and yes, I did have WinDVD trial installed, was one of the many things I had tried). I installed the Tsunami pack. Now, when I go to the intervideo audio decorder settings in BSPlayer, all I have a choice of is 2 speaker and S/PDIF, which is fine, because S/PDIF is really what I want to keep the full surround sound. But, I still cannot get audio in the end of the movie. And also, when I put it in the S/PDIF mode, the video speed suddenly increases. I'm going to try the 96 interleave option (I don't have the intermediate files anymore, have to re-rip, so go overnight). Perhaps that will solve it? What exactly IS the interleave?



Oops, that first part here should have said "uninstall" not "install"...

[Cabadam]

OK, I tried it with the 96ms value on interleave, didn't seem to make any difference in it. What the 'preload' part (in Nandub)? Is that anything that would make a difference? Its still on the default 500ms.

Also, when I play it through WMP, I looked at what audio codec it said was being used, it says "Morgan Stream Switcher"... now I don't particularly remember downloading anything that said that... I'm thinking maybe the problem is that I still have SOME codec installed somewhere that doesn't really work, and it is still trying to use that one.

I went to Device Manager (in Win2K) and under Sound, Video, and Game Controllers, went to Audio Codecs and looked at the listing of codecs it had there. That "Morgan Stream Switcher" was not on the list anywhere. But then, I also didn't notice anything that would be the AC3 codec either... If I want to try to manually uninstall the 'bad' codec, where would I look, and what would I look for?

Thanks

[MaTTeR]

Dude, I can't really help you much more than this since your obviously not familiar with some of the basic terms. You need to read through some of the various guides and this forum already has some threads on this very topic. If you haven't done so already I'd suggest reading all of Doom9's audio guides. They are very informative.

[pdontthink]

Morgan Stream Switcher was problematic for me
on WinXP at least, so I uninstalled it (it
can be found under Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs)

Now ZoomPlayer works better... not perfect, but better...