How to determine AC3 bitrate

[1loser]

I do a lot of DivX to SVCD conversions and when the source has AC3 sound I'm not sure what the bitrate is so I never know what to use. Is there a program that will read the AC3 file and tell me? Also I'm not sure if I should select joint stereo or just stereo. When do I use one instead of the other?

Thanks in advance.

[DSPguru]

there's an option in AZID to get the BSI from ac3. bsi includes bitrate.
if you're using a dolby surround (1/2) downmix, you should select stereo when encoding to mp2.

[1loser]

Can I also tell by the size of the file? [/b]yesIs it safe to say that the bitrate of an AC3 will probably never be less than 224?noAlso if it's not "dolby surround (1/2) downmix" should I select joint stereo? What happens to the sound if I choose the wrong mode stereo vs joint stereo?it says "dolby surround compatible", so you should use 'stereo'.
on mp2, joint stereo, would end up with bad quality when playbacking using a dolby pro-logic reciever.