AC3 to DTS conversion problems

[EuropeanMan]

Just for kicks in my boredom...I ripped an AC3 file from one of my DVDs...

I separated the 6 .wavs via BeSweet.

I have SurCode DTS encoder...and when I preview the sound for output, it gives just a horrible horrible sound...any idea what this could be...

I ended up encoding the file anyway...crackly horrid sound...

[tebasuna51]

1) If wav's sound ok -> SurCode problem

2) If ac3 sound ok -> Decoder problem

3) If ac3 sound bad -> Ripper problem

Please, data like 'horrible' and 'crackly' don't help to match to diagnose the problem.
Upload samples, send logs or technical info about the files: samplerate, channels, duration, size.
Remember DelayCut to fix ac3.

[EuropeanMan]

Wav's sound okay --> sample here from center .wav http://www.sendspace.com/file/zep0j3

AC3 sounds okay

DTS final product sample --> http://www.sendspace.com/file/sy692l

What can I do?

[tebasuna51]

Wav's sound okay --> sample here from center .wav http://www.sendspace.com/file/zep0j3

Is a correct monowav, 48 KHz, 16 bit int and 10 exact seconds.
But is only silence.

DTS final product sample --> http://www.sendspace.com/file/sy692l
Is a correct dtswav 5.1, 48 KHz, 768 Kb/s and 9.995 seconds.
Is only silence also (max rms channel < -96 dB)

What can I do?

If the rest of the file contain sound (seems first sec. are silence) you can rename "DTS Heyy Babyy_fixed.wav" to "DTS Heyy Babyy_fixed.dts" and tray to play it.

You can also select DTS padded .dts (or DTS compact .cpt and after rename like .dts) instead DTS WAV .wav, when you encode with Surcode DTS Encoder.

[EuropeanMan]

wait, why is it that YOU hear silence on the dts sample? and i hear just an angry doorbell that goes on forever?

[EuropeanMan]

i just renamed one of the 6 .wav files to a .dts extension and it played fine...at present time, ATTEMPTING to use BeSure to encode this .dts file

[EuropeanMan]

this is so strange...
the encode via BeSure didn't work out, because when it wanted to make the .wav file at the end via SurCode, that software chose my old 48KHz files and not the ones I had prompted BeSure in the beginning...and again it failed.

NOW, i began SurCode by itself and selected the .wav files @ 44.1KHz...and it seems to work now. Please correct me if I am wrong...but I can also rename the final .wav file to .dts and then mux, correct?

[tebasuna51]

wait, why is it that YOU hear silence on the dts sample? and i hear just an angry doorbell that goes on forever?

Because the player think is a wav file and not a dts file with a wrong wav header.

i just renamed one of the 6 .wav files to a .dts extension and it played fine...at present time, ATTEMPTING to use BeSure to encode this .dts file

One monowav file renamed to dts?
For wath do you need this?

NOW, i began SurCode by itself and selected the .wav files @ 44.1KHz...and it seems to work now. Please correct me if I am wrong...but I can also rename the final .wav file to .dts and then mux, correct?

Mux where?

If you want a wavdts 44.1 KHz is for burn a CD.

[EuropeanMan]

I need a dts track to mux with m2v to make a new DVD9...that's why i'm re-encoding the ac3 to dts...IF you have a better way or rather, a correct way to do this...please let me know...thanks

[unskinnyboy]

Not only that you won't gain anything, you will lose quality by transcoding from one lossy format (AC3) to another (DTS). Just bloating up the bitrate wouldn't result in better quality. You can only hope to make DTS sound better than your original AC3, if you were to properly encode your DTS from the original lossless PCM source from which the AC3 was made.

[EuropeanMan]

^ understood :) thanks...i think i'll keep the original AC3 file...the DTS does sound better to my ears...I wonder if many BluRays out there carry PCM audio...

I knew encoding from one format to another always has the given ability to lose quality...I just am the type of person to do something 'different'. I'd rather do something unique and just be proud of the fact that I was able to do it...

Now...I gotta figure out a way for my CCE to work :)

[tebasuna51]

^ understood :) thanks...i think i'll keep the original AC3 file...the DTS does sound better to my ears...I wonder if many BluRays out there carry PCM audio...

I knew encoding from one format to another always has the given ability to lose quality...I just am the type of person to do something 'different'. I'd rather do something unique and just be proud of the fact that I was able to do it...

Now...I gotta figure out a way for my CCE to work :)

Exact, like unskinnyboy say you never can gain quality transcoding.

If you have pcm and want use dts (less quality, less size) you can use Surcode with DTS compact (.cpt) output, and after rename like .dts to mux.

[EuropeanMan]

Perhaps I don't understand quite completely...whats the difference between using SurCode to .wav format and then renaming it to .dts? versus .cpt --> dts? Which would be better in your opinion?...or perhaps more the correct way to do it...

[tebasuna51]

Perhaps I don't understand quite completely...whats the difference between using SurCode to .wav format and then renaming it to .dts? versus .cpt --> dts? Which would be better in your opinion?...or perhaps more the correct way to do it...

Compact DTS: 20sec-5.1-768Kbps.cpt 1886250 bytes

DTS wav: 20sec-5.1-768Kbps.wav 2155758 bytes
(wav header + 16 for each 14 bytes in compact dts, inverse byte order, used only to burn CD dts audio)

Padded DTS: 20sec-5.1-768Kbps.dts 3840000 bytes
(Each compact dts frame (1006 bytes) is padded with 1042 '0's to reach the 2048 sector boundary)

The audio info is the same in the three formats.

[EuropeanMan]

thanks for the information...i wish i knew more about audio encoding to make more sense of what you just typed... :lol:

[unskinnyboy]

Let me try...

Surcode has 3 output options - DTS Compact (*.cpt), DTS Padded (*.dts) and DTS WAV (*.wav).

You should choose the *.cpt output and later rename to *.dts. This is to keep the file size minimal, while retaining all the needed audio information and none of the unwanted padding, wrapping and headers. Only audio + timecode + header is written in the Motorola byte order (Most Significant Byte first). The reason for renaming is that most DVD authoring applications will accept only *.dts extensions. If your authoring application will accept *.cpt (which I doubt), then you can import it as is. No need to rename.

If you choose *.wav output, the encoder will write out the output in the standard WAV format so that you can use the file in applications which expects WAV format input. Audio is padded, wrapped in the WAV header and written in the Intel byte order (Least Significant Byte first -> byte order for WAV format).

If you choose *.dts output (and while this looks like the most obvious choice to the untrained eye, it isn't), audio will be written in the Motorola byte order, but padded again with zeros.

Bottom line - encode to *.cpt and rename to *.dts.

[EuropeanMan]

^ now this i can understand :) crap...now i gotta re-rip the audio, convert to .wav (mono) then mux to .cpt...as it was, the .wav turned out to be 1.2GB which is fine...perhaps i'll just stick with it for muxing purposes - but will still re-encode to get practice...

thanks both of you for being patient with a n00b :)