Ultra Noob needing to convert E-AC3 to AC3 (I think)

[QuadcoreHD]

Ok so I've debated posting this for about 2 months now, but out of desperation I've finally given in. I feel that I'm a reasonably intelligent person and reasonably tech savvy, but I absolutely cannot get the Eac3 audio from HD-DVD's to convert to Ac3. FYI I'm using all be standards for backup/demuxing (EVODemux, Anydvd HD) and using PowerDVD to play my blu-rays/hd-dvds.

For this post, I will go over my process for the Bourne Ultimatum and list where I'm getting stuck, hopefully somebody can help.


I demuxed both features with EVODemux and am left with the TrueHD track and several other audio tracks. I set EVODemux to use the .dts extension under options. I have tried muxing both the TrueHD audio track (called "MLP.stream.00" in EVODemux, and is about 2 gigs) and the DD+ track (about 350mb) with the VC-1 video file using Tsmux, Tmpgenc xpress, and elecard, and none of them output a file that plays any audio when using PowerDVD, WMP, VLC, Mplayer etc... - picture looks fine, full 1080p, but nothing for the audio.

I'm able to play the DD+ tracks with Nero Showtime, but the time seems to be all messed up, it says the thing is about 2 hours 40 minutes, which i know is off, but it sounds ok. I havent listened to the whole track uninterrupted, but it is in english and sounds ok to me.

Bottom line:

I realize this is in very poor form as theres a very very exstensive thread on using Eac3to, but can someone please help? I just need the most basic instructions - step-by-step if possible of how to do the following:

1. Demux correctly (what file extensions, options do i select in EVODemux).

2. Most importantly - How do i convert the Eac3 track in to something i can hear? I dont care if its mono, stereo, or 7.1, I just want to be able to hear SOMETHING. Please explain this like you were speaking to a 5 year old or your grandfather, i get nothing but errors when using Eac3to. I know its a very powerful and very useful program but I literally cannot get it to work. Stuff as basic as where the eac3 track needs to be on my system, what other programs are necessary, what folder eac3togui needs to be in, I mean EVERYTHING, please please please.

3. What is the best way to mux the Ac3 (if for the love of god i can get a clean Ac3 track from the Eac3 track) and the Vc-1. I really cannot use commands I'm completely incompetent when i comes to those. I'd like to use a Gui if at all possible, but if it literally is impossible then I'll do my best to deal.

Finally, is this even the proper way to do this? Essentially I just want to be able to back-up my HD-dvds into something i can watch AND listen to. I'm still not sure why these programs won't play the muxed in Eac3 audio directly from the EVODemuxed file. Maybe I'm missing something there?

Again, I know this post is in poor form but I'm at the end of my rope.

Please feel free if anything needs further explanation and thanks so much in advance for any/all help.

[Guest]

i get nothing but errors when using Eac3to. Nobody is going to write a dissertation on this for you and you're right, it's bad form to ask. We expect you to tell us what you tried and what exact problems you ran into. Then we can help you to resolve them. That's also a much better learning process for you.

3. What is the best way to mux the Ac3? Asking that is a violation of our forum rules.

[QuadcoreHD]

Sorry. I will give more details.

I demux both features using EvoDemux and got the following two 3 files:

FEATURE_1_MERGED.VC-1.stream.0.vc1
FEATURE_1_MERGED.DD+.stream.01 (DD+ audio file
FEATURE_1_MERGED.MLP.stream.00 (TrueHD audio file)

I then open up eac3to using eac3to gui (which I have in the same folder as all the files included in the eac3to.zip download). I browse to select the DD+ file described above, which is located in a folder on my desktop) set the AC3 bitrate to 448kbit) and make no other selects, then hit "convert". That results in the following message output text in the command cmd.exe box:

C:\Users\Cmon\Desktop\Bourne_Ultimatum>"UsersUsers\Cmon\Desktop\
\eac3to\eac3to.exe" "C:\Users\Cmon\Desktop\Bourne_Ultimatum\FEATURE_1_MERGED.DD>stream.01.dts" "C:\Users\Cmon\Desktop\Bourne_Ultimatum\FEATURE_1_MERGED.DD>stream.01.ac3"-448
Source file "C:\Users\Cmon\Desktop\Bourne_Ultimatum\FEATURE_1_MERGED.DD>stream.01.dts"
not found.

C:\Users\Cmon\Desktop\Bourne_Ultimatum\

As far as my "what is the best way question" please ignore that, its been a long day. My apologies for including that.

[Guest]

First, rename the DD+ file to:

FEATURE_1_MERGED.DD+.stream.eac3

Then try again. What happens?

[Snowknight26]

It's a problem with the gui, not eac3to.

[QuadcoreHD]

@neuron2

I attempted to rename that file and got the same error message. I demuxed again with .eac3 in options rather than .dts and got the same message.

[Guest]

Please don't delete threads after others have replied.

You state in your deleted comment that you figured it out. For the sake of others following this thread, please explain your solution.

[QuadcoreHD]

I found the following link:

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

It explains everything related to using the command line version of eac3to. It does leave out the following imprtant infromation however:

1. the file you need to convert needs to be renamed "input.dts" (or whatever extension you are working with) and placed in the same folder as the eac3to.exe file.

2. with vista, to properly use the command line you need to hold down the shift key, then right click the eac3to folder on your machine and select something like "Run command line" (I'm at work and using XP and i dont recall exactly what wording is). This will bring up the system32 command line box which is where you enter specific code.


That link was really all I needed, it describes what command line to use for many different specific types of conversion jobs. I will be using the command line eac3to from now on.

[nautilus7]

I found the following link:

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

It explains everything related to using the command line version of eac3to. It does leave out the following important information however:

1. the file you need to convert needs to be renamed "input.dts" (or whatever extension you are working with) and placed in the same folder as the eac3to.exe file.That manual leaves that info out because there's no such things like you say. Who told you that the need to rename your file to input.***? Who told you that using files saved to other paths isn't working?


Judging from your previous posts, you need to learn how cmd works. Not how eac3to works...