Conflicting AC3 Codecs? Uninstall Protocol?

[DrDr]

I have had video but no sound when playing/editing .VOB files with associated AC3-encoded audio tracks within Intervideo WinDVD Creator Plus. However, LPCM-encoded .VOB files play audio without difficulty.

I ran GSpot and found I have no less than 3 AC3 codes installed:

AC3 Filter (ac3filter.ax)
Morgan Stream Switcher (MMSwitch.ax)
AC3 from AVI XForm (mpgaudio.ax)


There is also an Intervideo Audio Codec: (iniaudio.ax)

I only note MMSwitch.ax as one since when I run GSpot on one of the AC3-encoded VOBs, this is the filter that is shown under Audio Codec in the "Direct Show Render" box.

I tried deleting and reinstalling the AC3 filter (from this site) but to no avail (this was prior to my using GSpot). My guess is I have aconflicts and should delete these other two codecs and try running the AC3 filter solo.

What are all the necessary files/keys I need to delete?

Thanks!

[stegre]

For any of those three all you need to do is this:

From the "Start > Run" box (or a command prompt if you prefer), type, for example:

regsvr32 /u mpgaudio.ax

That "unregisters" mpgaudio.ax, which is, to a large extent, like a clean & instant un-install. In fact, if you manually remove the file afterwords, it's VERY much like an uninstall, if not identical.

If you want to put it back, type the same thing again without the /u ("uninstall") option, e.g. "regsvr32 mpgaudio.ax". You can individually enable or disable various combinations of the three using this method. In fact, this should work with most any ".ax" DirectShow codec file.

One slight complication: Typing it as I've shown above works if it's installed in a default location such as C:\winnt\system32. If it's someplace in Program Files or something (some codec pack install packages do this), then you'll have to type the exact full path to the filename, with quotes around it, e.g.

regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Some App\somecodec.ax"

I'm adding a right click option to GSpot right now to selectively disable codecs in this manner, though far more conveniently. That'll be in the next version.

Steve G (author, GSpot)