How to check if 5.1 AC3 file actually has rear sound?

[tondinh]

Does anyone know the fastest way to check if an AC3 file actually has rear (surround) sound?
The only way I know now is to use BeSweet to split it to 6 WAV files and open the SR and SL files in some graphical WAVE editor to check.
Thanks for your input.

(The reason I'm asking this is because when I make divx, I'll keep the original AC3 only if it has all 6 discrete channels. Otherwise, I'll just encode it to MP3.)

[Fox Mulder]

You metod is fine I think, but you can use azid.exe to check channels individually.

[hitch]

if you can find "softencode" (comercial ac3 encoder, but not sold anymore I think) it has a function to verify an ac3 file is encoded properly. It shows what channel was encoded and the db offset I think as well. Before you ask, I don't have it.

[Palikrovol]

Here is a demo version (Version 1).
http://www.sweetwater.com/products/sonicfoundry/downloads.html