alternative PC AC3 decoders

[jansb000]

Concerning DD audio CD's I received different replies (in different forum threads). I enclosed quotes from this thread and from the other:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15309

Originally posted by jansb000
It also says that CD sampling frequency = 48khz (should be 44.1 ???) ... snip ...
Originally posted by DSPguru
Sampling Frequency should be 44.1khz, Channels count should be 2.
try plaback that wave in winamp/wmp and check its properties.
if sampling frequency is different than 44.1khz - that's the source to your problem.
Originally posted by MaTTeR
The AC3 must stay at 48kHz to be DD compliant, so that should definitely not be a problem. Have you not tried playing a movie with AC3 with a better player such as TCMP, ZP or BSP? I think you'll find them much more useable and less problematic.
@MaTTeR & @DSPguru
As a junior member of the forum I am a bit confused. Should a audio CD, that I create with BeSure in AC3 format, be 44.1khz or 48khz?

[DSPguru]

music on CD is always 44.1khz.
music on DVD is always 48khz.

i guess we both (MaTTeR & I) right :)

[MaTTeR]

@jansb000,

Sorry for the confusion, Dg is correct in the post above. I have a bad habit of assuming all posts here are DVD related;)

@Valex,

MasterChief's PC is running WinXP. I'll have him try the AC3 dump tests this weekend when he returns home hopefully. As for me, I'm getting ready to test your latest version with the speaker change tool.

[MaTTeR]

@Valex,

Just tested the latest 0.54b filter out and it works perfectly on my Win2k/TB Santa Cruz system with SPDIF. Maybe a stupid question...Anyway at all to report interleaving values used for the AV muxing on a container such as Ogg or AVI (ie. NanDub preload, etc)? Wish I knew how to extract this information in some fashion but I'm not even sure it's possible. Just a thought:)

[Palikrovol]

Originally posted by Valex
New version:
http://xvalex.hotbox.ru/download/ac3filter_0_54b.zip
Also I tried to support multichannel in w98 in this version.


I'm having problems to download anything you post here ("Document not found"). Is the server down at night in GMT+1 (Madrid)?

(Now i can't download it)

[MaTTeR]

Just checked here, link works fine.

[Suiryc]

@Palikrovol
I have the same problem to access hotbox.ru (any links goes to "Document not found").
But maybe your ISP is like mine and don't like hotbox.ru (or maybe hotbox.ru don't like our ISP) because using an anonymizer this works :/

[MaTTeR]

@Valex,

Still having problems getting SPDIF to work on MasterChief's system. He is running WinXP(Service Pack1) on an single CPU AMD system. The audio card is the Hercules GXP fully featured with the latest driver(v5.02). Had him try to play an AVI/AC3 and he just gets garbled sound when SPDIF is selcted in SpeakerSetup, using the filters 2/0 mode worked fine though. I also had him try the CLI spdif_test with spdif_dump and it errors out stating "can't create sound buffer". So using the CLI app he was not able to hear anything at all due to the error. Hercules audio drivers are sometimes strange(not worse than Creative though;) ). I hope this helps a bit...let me know if you need any other info or testing.

[Valex]

@MaTTeR

"can't create sound buffer" - it means that DirectSound does not support multichannel format :(. (drivers?) Maybe waveOut will work? To set WaveOut as default renderer run set_waveout.bat (and then restart!).

@all
Maybe someone know good hosting?

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by Valex
Maybe someone know good hosting? you'll get more responses if you had posted in here ;) :
http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8

[Apfelstruhdl]

i'm currently using dekoda for ac3 and it is working afaik pretty well. but when someone is doing the work :D i'd really like to use the new thing he's creating. but is it stable atm or would it be better to wait some more time until theres a more or less complete version??
what will be implanted in the near future?
i don't know if it is allready implanted but audio dekoda has't got a thing like dynamic compression. would be cool if that would be in.

[MaTTeR]

Dynamic compression, gain, etc. is already implemented in this filter. In fact it has features I would have never thought of...

Stable? Stable enough to allow me to use it on a daily basis now and never have a problem over SPDIF. Its very easy to install and give it a go.

[Brandon1984]

I am unable to change from 2 Speaker setup option to any others with the AC3Filter v0.54b. The radio options will not change when clicked. I am using WMP6.4, any idea why I am having this problem?

[Valex]

@Brandon1984
Try to setup speakers before with ac3speakers.exe program.

[Apfelstruhdl]

the current download location seems to be broken. maybe too much traffic. ( i couldn't understand any of that russian stuff)
so is there an alternate homepage???

[Alestrix]

Originally posted by Apfelstruhdl
the current download location seems to be broken.
I tried accessing Valex' page unsuccessfully several days (a week?) ago. Seems like the user "xvalex" is deleted from hotbox... :-(

@valex:
Any luck with new webspace? I'd give it to you if I had some.....

EDIT:
Ok, site's up again at http://xvalex.hotbox.ru - just disregard my post above...

- aL

[stargazer]

Is there any way to disable DRC (or any other feature) by default?
Maybe a registry hack?

I don't use DRC so it's complicated unchecking it every time my movie starts... or am I just blind and don't see something that's just in front of my face? ;)

[Valex]

@stargazer
Maybe you use old version. Last versions save settings to registry.
http://xvalex.hotbox.ru/download/ac3filter_0_54b.zip

[stargazer]

@valex

As I've said: it was in front of my face! :)
Great job done, man!

Thanks

[Apfelstruhdl]

sorry but i think the page is down again....

[Suiryc]

@Apfelstruhdl
If you have a "Document not found" Page (written in Russian, that redirect you to hotbox.ru main site 5-10 s after) I have the same problem.
But as I said earlier this seems to be a problem between my ISP and hotbox (maybe it is your case too) because when using an anomymizer I can access the page ... :(

[Alestrix]

@Suiryc:
Wow, I kept having the same problem over and over, but after using the-cloak.com, I could few the content and download the filter from the page again. Using a proxy also worked (but 212.250.159.129:80 is a weired one, fast pings but blocks content from special sites - like the-cloak.com :-) ).

Anyway, thanks for the good hint...

- aL

[Satlover]

http://xvalex.hotbox.ru/programs/ac3filter/ac3filter_eng.html

[Valex]

Because of hotbox hosting have problems with availability outside of Russia I moved project to Sourceforge. New addresses are:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ac3filter or
http://ac3filter.sourceforge.net

[ookzDVD]

@Valex,

Thanks,

btw, about your winamp plugin for ac3,
I got the wrong channel mapping on my machine.
It seems the sounds only from left channel.

[Valex]

Strange. Is it the same on all ac3s? Can you try test file:
http://xvalex.hotbox.ru/download/ac3test.zip

[MaTTeR]

Originally posted by ookzDVD
I got the wrong channel mapping on my machine.
It seems the sounds only from left channel. I thought I remembered reading about this before some months ago, it had to do with Creative drivers mapping the input/output channels incorrectly when playing back Vorbis 5.1; not sure about AC3. Unfortunately I dont remember which driver versions was causing the problems. Are you using a Creative card? SPDIF?

[ookzDVD]

@Valex,

No, it's not the DS filter problem,
I got the problem with the Winamp's plugin.

[Valex]

@ookzDVD
I understood, and I need some more info about problem, because at my computer everything works well.

[ookzDVD]

@Valex,

I'm using Peter's out_ds.dll Ver. 2.2.6 for output.
My card is Creative Audigy, Win2k Sp3.
Windows's Speaker setting: 5.1 Speakers.

Ps.
I can use InterVideo, Cyberlink, & Moonlight DS filter
with no problem.

I also try on my other PC with 2 speaker system,
same problem, most sound is heard from the left channel.

[exrty]

GREAT tool ! congratulations

But it has creashed my windows 2000. While i was setting to stereo and just at the moment i click on subwoofer radio button : blue screen.

Another thing. This is not possible while un 3_2 mode to change LFE, voice or surround gain. The buttons move but the matrix is not updated.


Regards


exrty

[Valex]

2exrty

Sound card? (Audigy?)
What happens if set speakers with speakers.exe before playing or it crashes only when you press on LFE checkbox at propery page? Does it crash when you just change speakers (not LFE)?

What is the input ac3 format?

[exrty]

standard SB Live 5.1!

It has crashed one time. I've try to redo the same thing but i has no crash. It seems to be more complex to reproduce and to determine the reason of crash.

Is it normal the gain control of LFE, surround and central seems not to be activated in 3_2 mode ?

exrty

[Valex]

@exrty

Is it normal the gain control of LFE, surround and central seems not to be activated in 3_2 mode ?

No it is bug. Strange that nobody did not report about it before.

It has crashed one time. I've try to redo the same thing but i has no crash. It seems to be more complex to reproduce and to determine the reason of crash.

If you'll find crash conditions please give me know.

[Trebort]

Valex

Fantastic job, works realy well for me in 2K with a cheap CMI8738 based sound card. I am not using SPDIF but get good AC3 playback to the 6 line outputs. It would be great to get access to the individual outputs with other software, the CMI8738 is very popular, maybe you could write a multi channel wave driver!!!:) :eek:

Cheers

Rob

[FLeXO]

This filter seems to work just fine .. tough i had some problems with it while watching bad company the audio stops over something like 15minutes when i press the pause button and then resume the movie the audio works again! (audigy1 card with the latest drivers)

[dTb]

This filter's working great for me with 5.1 ac3 downmixing to 2 channels. I'm having a problem with a 2 channel ac3 though.
When playing the file it's a little bit like the balance between left & right is varying, maybe more to do with gain jumping up & down. For awhile I thought the headphone jack was faulty as it sounded like the problem you can have with one channel cutting in and out.
The file plays back fine if I uninstall the filter.
Any help would be appreciated.:)

Forgot to mention the ac3 in particular is a live Queens of the Stone Age concert from the dvd included with their latest album. I tried listening to a 2ch movie soundtrack and it didn't seem anywhere near as bad, maybe generally unnoticeable. Could be the nature of the music highlights something you usually wouldn't notice watching a movie.

[Valex]

@dTb
Yes, it was a bug with stereo ac3 files decoding just found and fixed in my winamp plugin.
Now I did a quick bugfix of ac3filter too:
http://xvalex.hotbox.ru/download/ac3filter_0_55b.zip
It is not a new version I'm now working on, but simple bugfix of v0.54. I did not test it at all so it is not published at my site by now and I would be be glad if you can test it.

You also can try to turn DRC off.

@exrty
Gain controls are also fixed.

@FLeXO
Is it errors in stream? (You can see it at main configuration page).

@Trebort
Thanks!

[dTb]

Just tested 0.55b and it sounds good. Tried listening to the track alternating between this version and the default cyberlink filter and couldn't notice any difference.:D
I'll use this version for now, should I grab it again once you put it up on your site?

Btw, I assume listening to something like this concert I'm better off leaving most of the options like 'DRC', 'Voice Control' etc. unchecked. Is this correct?

Thanks for the speedy response!

[666luc]

@xvalex:

First many thanks for the great filter and sorry for the technical stupidities I'm about to blurb about below:

1) Can you please :) add a feature to save the matrix information for poor people like me (have a 6 channel analog out card and 5.1 speaker system but no surround sound processor - Pro Logic or so).

When I play a 2 channel (stereo) AC3, the matrix defaults to 5.1 channel out.

When I play a 2 channel (surround) AC3, the matrix defaults to 2 channel out and wouldn't it be better to have the same matrix here as for 2 channel stereo (sort of poor's man Pro Logic or something like that?)

2) Is there any way to add mp3 decoding then process them through the same matrix as a stereo AC3? (2 channel mp3 to 5 channel upmixing)? (maybe use the MAD project decoder source here...)

[Valex]

@666luk
When I play a 2 channel (surround) AC3, the matrix defaults to 2 channel out and wouldn't it be better to have the same matrix here as for 2 channel stereo (sort of poor's man Pro Logic or something like that?)[i]

Will be in new version.

[i]Is there any way to add mp3 decoding then process them through the same matrix as a stereo AC3? (2 channel mp3 to 5 channel upmixing)? (maybe use the MAD project decoder source here...)

I planned to make matrix mixer as an independent filter so it can be connected to any audio source (not only mp3). And the only problem to do this is lack of free time.

@dTb
Btw, I assume listening to something like this concert I'm better off leaving most of the options like 'DRC', 'Voice Control' etc. unchecked. Is this correct?

Voice Control and Expand stereo are just mixing options. So if you want to listen stereo concert with all speakers you have you may want to enable it (it acts like Dolby Surround decoder). But if you want to listen it is it was recorded you need to disable it.

DRC may be noticable with good equipment so in this case you need to disable it. But on other hand DRC values are set by audio producer made this record, so in most cases it does not make sound worse.

[666luc]

Originally posted by Valex

I planned to make matrix mixer as an independent filter so it can be connected to any audio source (not only mp3). And the only problem to do this is lack of free time.




Thanks again :)

Would it be feasible to have the Matrix Mixer as a pseudo-sound card driver?

[Alestrix]

I planned to make matrix mixer as an independent filter so it can be connected to any audio source (not only mp3). And the only problem to do this is lack of free time.

Before possibly reinventing the wheel have a look at the Channel Downmixer at Trombettworks' page:
http://www.trombettworks.com/directshow.php

- Alex

[Alestrix]

I just created a surround-upmix matrix which should work with the Trombetworks Channel Downmixer (which can also upmix channels :) ) to create 5 output-channels from two input channels similar to a simple surround processor.
I don't have 5.x equippment so I can't test it and maybe one of the people more knowledgable about this stuff can have a look at the matrix.
I also edited the original downmix matrix some time ago to create a DPLS2 output (just for fun, only have a DPLS1 amp :) ), which I also added to the archive. No warranty for that one either...

Have fun with it, ;)
Alex

Attachment visible once approved by mod.

[Alestrix]

Hi all...

so I see the file has been downloaded 16 times during the last 2 1/2 days - can anyone confirm or (whatever the opposite of confirm is) whether it works or not?

- Alex

PS: Just in case (name not displayed) :) reads this - this post is not in violation of rule 12... *g*

[666luc]

so I see the file has been downloaded 16 times during the last 2 1/2 days - can anyone confirm or (whatever the opposite of confirm is) whether it works or not?

It's ok very nice I might add... Now if I could also put winamp & games through that...

[Snakeisthestuff]

@Alestrix

If tested you Mix Matrix with 2ch ogg, mp3 and ac3 files, all works great! got good sound in my FrontCenter Speaker, many thx for this!

btw mentioned a bug in Trombettworks' Channel Downmixer:
if i open an avi with mplayer2, and then open an second avi in the same player window the sound from the first avi wont stop, so i have the sound for the avi i watch and the sound from the avi watched before :) .

[Valex]

New version of AC3Filter 0.6b was released. It was much changes in decoder and some new features was added: equalizer and audio delay adjustments. Also it now supports different output sample foramts: PCM 16 bit, 24 bit and float. Frequently asked Dolby downmixes was added. And of course some bugfixes. Especially most troublesome bug with WMP9 was fixed (I hope :).

Download it here:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ac3filter/ac3filter_0_6b.zip?download

[MaTTeR]

Valex,

Thx so much for the new build. Looks like lots of new toys to play with, especially the DPLII downmix:) Great work!

[MCFish]

Hi Valex
I have tried most of your versions with mostly negative results.
MaTTer previously mentioned me as Masterchief and im still using XP sp1 with a Hercules GTXP. I have been using iviaudio.ax for some time now, since it has worked ok. One version i got working trough spdif was(if i remember right) 0.54b or 0.54(could be wrong), and then i had to select 1/0 mono in speakersetup for it to output ac3 trough spdif. I then had trouble when changing from ac3 to mp3(or other nonAC3) sources. Mp3 sources always sounded ok, but when playing a ac3 after some other format, it made my amp (or computer) only produce noise even tho amp recogniced the stream as ac3. So mostly i have been using intervideo's filter, but with same noise problem. Well enough about this.....

Tried your new version today, and got a strange result. I installed it without unregister iviaudio.ax. I configured it for DPL-II(curious),loaded a ac3 movie, and filter loaded ok and worked like it should i guess, sending dpl-II to my amp. Then i tried to select spdif, loaded same movie and amp recogniced 5.1 stream, but i noticed then that the player was using intervideo's filter :(
So, i unregistered iviaudio and uninstalled ac3filter.
After a reboot i installed ac3filter. selected spdif loaded movie again, and no there was no sound at all. If i selected dpl-II instead of spdif, the filter was working again. I then registered iviaudio again, and selected spdif in ac3filter, played movie, and i got 5.1 sound again but player had selected intervideo filter again.
As soon as i selected dpl-II in ac3filter, it got loaded instead of intervideo filter.
So selecting spdif in your filter, made player use iviaudio, and selecting something else in your filter, made it use yours. Tried several movies, both 2ch and 5.1 ac3's, but same thing happened.
And as i said,without iviaudio.ax there was no sound at all using spdif in your filter.
U have any clue?
Sorry for the long post, but felt like i had too.

Fish