AC3Filter prerelease version (ac3/dts/lpcm support)

[Valex]

@Firewave
Fixed

[Valex]

BTW...

RCx versions ARE NOT releases! It is just test versions and may be completely unstable. Please do not include this versions into codec pack, CD-distributions, etc. And it you copy information about rc-versions to other forums, please, inform forum members about this!

[ernstblaauw]

Originally posted by Valex
BTW...

RCx versions ARE NOT releases! It is just test versions and may be completely unstable. Please do not include this versions into codec pack, CD-distributions, etc. And it you copy information about rc-versions to other forums, please, inform forum members about this!
I've posted information about new releases on filesharingtalk.com. They included RC2 in their latest beta Codec Pack. I hope you don't mind. But if you do not want to, I won't tell them if a new RC is released.

Keep up the good work!

[o_owd]

hello,

first - if this is the wrong place please excuse me.

i have a playback problem with ac3 filter.
my config:
Windows XP + SP1 with all updates
DirectX 9.0b
Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1 (driver version 5.12.0001.0290)
analog 5.1 Creative speakers
AC3 Filter 1.01a RC5 (output 3/2+SW 5.1 channel).
setting in Creative Surround Mixer : Advanced EQ : pop.

when i am using ANY setting in Advanced EQ from Surround Mixer i have no sound in AC3 Filter.
if i set Advanced EQ to none i have sound. is the only way i can play movies with ac3 filter.
but if i set AC3 Filter output to 2/0 stereo i DO HAVE sound no matter what is in Surround Mixer.

my question : is this a AC3 Filter bug ? or something to do with no good, full of bugs, useless creative drivers ?
is this happening only to me ? can anyone confirm this ?

note: i did not tested with kx project drivers. i will! :)

sorry for long post and my bad english.

thanks.
OJi.

[Frisco]

Hi Valex

My Setup is :

Main\Output
- Dolby ProLogic II
- PCM 16 bit
- "True" in SPDIF

System\Use AC3Filter for..
- "True" in AC3

System\SPDIF
- "True" in AC3

This, SPDIF passthrougt, work in RC2, but not in RC4 and RC5.

(Input sound is AC3 - 48000Hz)

Hi Frisco

[taz291819]

Does anyone know what's up with WMV-HD files? While AC3Filter(RC5) is working fine during playback of WMV-HD files in WMP, it is only encoding 2-channels (left/right front) to DD5.1.

The folks on AvsForum are saying it is a bug in WMP, that it is only outputting 2-channel stereo, which is causing the problem with AC3Filter. Can anyone verify?

Other than that, AC3Filter works great for me (it is encoding to DD5.1 and playing all the way through).

Now, if we can just get WMV-HD files problem working and maybe implement gaming into AC3Filter (Far Cry in particular), everything would be superb.

BTW Valex, keep up the good work.

[Blight]

Valex:
Usually when naming a version as "RC" it stands for Release Candidate, so saying it's not a release is confusing. You should probably say Alpha 1,2,3 as you know there are bugs, then Beta when you think you've squashed everything and finally RC when you think it's 100% stable and almost ready to be called final.

I'll try notifying gabest about this DTS mis-detection, I think the code is open-source, any chance you could fix the detection code?

[Covak]

This is sweet, thanks Valex. Since the crummy 5.1 system connected to my PC only decodes AC3, and I don't have an nForce mobo, the new AC3 encode option is exciting.

One problem I have with AC3 encoding, though, at least when upmixing stereo 44.1KHz material, is that my rears are always really crackly. L/R/C sound fine, but SL/SR are cracking.

[Gibalou]

Originally posted by Valex
BTW...

RCx versions ARE NOT releases! It is just test versions and may be completely unstable. Please do not include this versions into codec pack, CD-distributions, etc. And it you copy information about rc-versions to other forums, please, inform forum members about this!

Don't know if this was triggered by my request for the source code but I wanted to point out that making pre-release versions available doesn't allow one to ignore the terms of the GPL.
AC3filter is GPL software and is based on other code licensed under the GPL so you are required to release the source code for it if you make binaries available.
As one of the authors of the code you are using in AC3filter (namely libdts), I feel very strongly about it.

Thanks for your comprehension.

[oddball]

Still no AC3 passthru in RC5. Had to go back to old 70b.

[hippoth]

the same problems like I said in my last post (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=76480&perpage=20&pagenumber=5#post500293)!

can anybody help me with my last post (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=76480&perpage=20&pagenumber=5#post500293)?

[taz291819]

Ok, did a little more testing. Anything encoded at 44.1khz will not be encoded to DD5.1 . All the files (WMV-HD) that were encoded at 48khz worked fine (except for the only encoding 2-channel thing I mentioned above).

If anyone else wants to give it a shot, here is what I've tried:

WMV-HD clip of Magic of Flight (48khz) --- Encoded fine
WMV-HD clip of T2:Extreme (48khz) --- Encoded fine
WMV-HD clip of Dawn of the Dead (44.1Khz) --- Did not encode

I also tried a couple of miscellanous videos, some mpeg2 and some divx, with all different types of audio (some mp3 some at 44.1khz) and none of them encoded. I didn't have any at 48khz to try. I even had one that was PCM 16-bit 705kbs audio, it was a no-go also even though AC3Filter was doing the decoding, just wouldn't encode to AC3.

I'm done for the day with testing, but I'll try some more tomorrow.

[oddball]

Screw encoding etc for now. Just gimmie AC3 passthru back ;)

[Blight]

taz:
Dawn of the Dead is DRM encrypted, perhaps that's a reason.

[Rash]

Originally posted by Valex
@Rash
>Just a question. The Bass Redirection is the one that mixes the LFE channel on the other outputs, for those 4.0 with filtered sub-woofer like me?

No. Bass redirection routes basses from all channes to subwoofer (if exists at output). So it is not required for you (it just does not work in your case).
Thanks a lot Valex. ;)

[Valex]

@o_owd
> When i am using ANY setting in Advanced EQ from Surround Mixer i have no sound in AC3 Filter.

It is well-known bug in Creative drivers...

[Valex]

@Gibalou
I don't think that I'm obligated to give you full report about all my actions and reasons. If you're talking about legal questions this project has so much of legal issues you never thought about that I should immediately close it. So if it is official request to stop public testing (or project at all) it is no problem...

[taz291819]

Originally posted by Blight
taz:
Dawn of the Dead is DRM encrypted, perhaps that's a reason.

That was the first thing I thought of, until I saw it was sampled at 44.1khz and all the other encoding problems are with 44.1khz also.

I will try to find a clip that has DRM protection and is sampled at 48khz to see if it encodes.

[yablo]

taz:
About your 44.1khz problem. I believe Valex already commented on this back on the first page.

Also, I am having no trouble with 48khz multichannel DRM protected content.

Originally posted by Valex
But note that encoding may not be possible because some sound cards cannot transmit 44100Hz encoded audio, so if you have such source it will be encoded.

[Gibalou]

Originally posted by Valex
@Gibalou
I don't think that I'm obligated to give you full report about all my actions and reasons. If you're talking about legal questions this project has so much of legal issues you never thought about that I should immediately close it. So if it is official request to stop public testing (or project at all) it is no problem...

I think my request was very clear. I was not asking you to stop pre-releases or to stop your project.
All I'm asking of you is to respect the terms of the licenses of the code you are using. You were not forced to use this code so it is only fair that if you decide to use it, you respect its license.

So again, all I'm asking for is the availability of the source code for binaries you make available, even for the pre-release versions.

PS: I'm not talking about the legal issues regarding the use of GPL code in a DirectShow filter here. I personnaly don't have an issue with this.... although I do have an issue with closed source applications distributing it in whichever form it may be (directly or even just via a web link) because it is simply and purely a violation of the wish and licensing of the original author of the code.
But I'm digressing here...

[taz291819]

Originally posted by taz291819
That was the first thing I thought of, until I saw it was sampled at 44.1khz and all the other encoding problems are with 44.1khz also.

I will try to find a clip that has DRM protection and is sampled at 48khz to see if it encodes.

You're right. After reading about the SB Live! cards, I think it is my problem. Wish Creative had a driver update for this. Damnit!

[frozen5555]

if I switch to the second audio ac3Filter won`t proccess it. my files are MKV movies with 2 Ogg

[yevaman]

Originally posted by Gibalou
I think my request was very clear. I was not asking you to stop pre-releases or to stop your project.
All I'm asking of you is to respect the terms of the licenses of the code you are using. You were not forced to use this code so it is only fair that if you decide to use it, you respect its license.

So again, all I'm asking for is the availability of the source code for binaries you make available, even for the pre-release versions.

PS: I'm not talking about the legal issues regarding the use of GPL code in a DirectShow filter here. I personnaly don't have an issue with this.... although I do have an issue with closed source applications distributing it in whichever form it may be (directly or even just via a web link) because it is simply and purely a violation of the wish and licensing of the original author of the code.
But I'm digressing here...



...........................

STOP IT

Would u like him to stop working?

Go away..

[Wilbert]

...........................

STOP IT

Would u like him to stop working?

Go away..


No, of course we don't. But, Gibalou is correct. Valex should release the source on request because of the above mentioned reasons.

Valex, is there some reason why you don't want to release the sources?

[kopykat]

I just finished downloading Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon DTS version, but when i play it on all players all i hear is static. I thought this ac3 player can play dts as well. what am i doing wrong?

:confused:

[Shayne]

Still no spdif pass thru on Hercules 7.1 card of 48 Hz dts 5.1 files.

Are my settings wrong can anyone else get zoom to output it?

Peace

[merrypig]

Using rc5;

MPG2->3/2+SW SPDIF output is working like a charm for me

DVD with 2 channel AC3 audio (48khz samples) 224kbps -> locks up after 1-2 seconds (spdif output on)


this a known issue?

[Sycho]

Originally posted by kopykat
I just finished downloading Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Rule 6 buddy

[Gibalou]

Originally posted by yevaman
...........................

STOP IT

Would u like him to stop working?

Go away..

Hummm, I think that you are forgetting that Valex is just 1 of the many people working on the code present in AC3Filter. For instance the software DTS audio decoding was taken from libdts (http://www.videolan.org/dtsdec.html) for which I am the author.

And I can tell you that if people start using my work while ignoring the licensing that comes with it, I don't see a reason why I should continue on improving libdts. That would be a shame as well because there are still a lot of things missing in the DTS support (6.1/7.1 and 96kHz extensions, proper downmixing, dynamic range, dialog normalization... just to name a few).

[taz291819]

Originally posted by kopykat
I just finished downloading Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon DTS version, but when i play it on all players all i hear is static. I thought this ac3 player can play dts as well. what am i doing wrong?

:confused:

First, I'm going to 'assume' you paid for that download, though I'm not sure of any legal sites that have dts cds available, but I could be wrong.

Second, what type of soundcard are you using? If it is a card based on the AC97 standard (Creative SBLive!'s are, as are many others), you can't play back DTS cds on your pc. The reason being is that DTS cds are sampled at 44.1khz, and AC97-based sound cards re-sample everything to 48khz. This is the reason for my playback problems posted earlier. You can buy pretty cheap sound cards that aren't based on the AC97 standard for as little as $23 (USD).

Note:
I'm not saying you can't play the DTS track on a DVD, because you can. Just not DTS CDs. Also, you may be able to rip the DTS CD and author it to a DVD and play it back that way.

[GBX]

hi
i am very glad that the development of ac3filter continue
i waited a very long time for bass redirection in the matrix mixer
so i tested a bit around und it seems that all control panels for LFE doesnt take any effect, if the source is stereo.
and another bug is, that audio randomly stops playing, although the media player shows it playing. but this could also be a bug of media player classic

[testis]

Till now i have use those three components :
AC3 Filter 0.70B Main-Spdif output PCM24Bit
Creative Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500
(http://www.thetechzone.com/reviews/speakers/dtt2500/page2.shtml )
(5 speakers + Sub Boofer + Station)
SB Audigy 2 ZS (connect to spidif out)

till now when I have look movies (Divx with AC3 support) start burning Dolby Digital light

Because they are connected SB Audigy 2ZS out and back of creative center with Dolby Digital AC3 input)

But now I have problem when I instal AC3 RC1-RC5 Filter how to setup it.

There is no more SPDIF out seting under MAIN.
Sooo when I run The same DiVx movie with AC3light on DTT decoder doesnt burning anymore.

how should I setup AC3 RC5 filter now

with 0.70B works Dolby Digital light and SPDIF under main in ac3 0.7b filter like cake.

please for help

best ,
testis


sorry about my english

[yevaman]

Originally posted by Gibalou
Hummm, I think that you are forgetting that Valex is just 1 of the many people working on the code present in AC3Filter. For instance the software DTS audio decoding was taken from libdts (http://www.videolan.org/dtsdec.html) for which I am the author.

And I can tell you that if people start using my work while ignoring the licensing that comes with it, I don't see a reason why I should continue on improving libdts. That would be a shame as well because there are still a lot of things missing in the DTS support (6.1/7.1 and 96kHz extensions, proper downmixing, dynamic range, dialog normalization... just to name a few).

OK i understand , sorry about that..

But it seems that valex has quit :(

[taz291819]

Nah, I doubt Valex has quit, he's probably just busy.

Hey Valex, is there any way you could get the AC3Filter DD5.1 encoding feature to work on cards that always re-sample everything to 48khz? A lot of us will have to buy new sound cards if it isn't possible.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

[kopykat]

thanks taz291819. until now i had no problems listening to movies and games in surroud, weather it was prologic II , Dolby Digital or DTS. but this is the first time im trying to playback a dts cd. Im running an onboard sound card based on AC97 like you've mentioned. I output all my sound via the Spdif out i have, and do all the decoding with my receiver. So im assuming i have no choice but to either buy a sound card that will do the job (costs money) or ripp the cd like you said (a matter of time :D ). since i dont have any spare change im gonna go with the ripping part, do you know where i can get such information? on ripping a DTS audio cd that is.

many thanks,
take care.

[Mitchjs]

Please stay on topic!

Valex, passthrough working great on RC5

one thing when i send it a MPEG2 audio track
via zoomplayer.... and it was encoding to AC3

My video played back at 32fps instead of 29.97
and the audio was piched up...

but it didnt hang or stop encoding

I still need that "Disable all ac3 Encode" check box


thanks again!

Keep up the GREAT Work

mitch

[gubbah]

I'm under the impression that "MPEG Audio" means MPEG-1 Layer 2.

I have it enabled in the "Use AC3 Filter for..." section, but when I load an MP2 file it's decoded by the generic (M$) MPEG-1 decoder?

Im trying to get it to pass through the SPDIF.

[taz291819]

Originally posted by kopykat
thanks taz291819. until now i had no problems listening to movies and games in surroud, weather it was prologic II , Dolby Digital or DTS. but this is the first time im trying to playback a dts cd. Im running an onboard sound card based on AC97 like you've mentioned. I output all my sound via the Spdif out i have, and do all the decoding with my receiver. So im assuming i have no choice but to either buy a sound card that will do the job (costs money) or ripp the cd like you said (a matter of time :D ). since i dont have any spare change im gonna go with the ripping part, do you know where i can get such information? on ripping a DTS audio cd that is.

many thanks,
take care.

To stay on topic, I would get a new sound card, which is what I'm doing on Monday. The Chaintech AV-710 will do the trick just fine. It's only like $23 (USD) on newegg. It only has an optical output, but you can buy a converter (to coaxial) at Ratshack for $15. This will work perfectly with AC3Filter.

[oddball]

For some reason I now get SPDIF Paasthru as a tickbox instead of SPDIF disable under the main options. It's not a drop down anymore. It's a tickbox underneath the dropdown.

I think a reboot did it.

Make sure you reboot after installing RC5 people!

AC3 passthru working perfectly in RC5 :)

[oddball]

As to those people talking about licenses etc I say 'GET LOST!'. There are too many bloody goody two shoes out there blowing their own trumpets. If Valex was doing anything for profit then I'd say 'Hell yeah'. Go right ahead and complain.

It's bad enough we have corporate greed from the likes of the RIAA etc with them sueing people left right and centre without some plebs giving others a hard time on freeware. :P

You people who get on your high horses about licenses etc really make me angry!

Now leave Valex alone. GO AWAY and STFU!

[SeeMoreDigital]

Works for me too!

Having said that, the wording might still be confusing some people!


Maybe it should read: Disable S/PDIF

Instead of: SPDIF (disabled)


Cheers

[E-Male]

Originally posted by Mitchjs
...and it was encoding to AC3

My video played back at 32fps instead of 29.97
and the audio was piched up...

but it didnt hang or stop encoding...

29.97/32 ~= 44.1/48

so it might be caused by 44.1khz audio played as 48khz and the video somehow gets synced

[Mitchjs]

YES

so it might be caused by 44.1khz audio played as 48khz and the video somehow gets synced

I was watching(trying) Futurama SVCD encode from TV
44.1k audio

so what happend? i ofcourse went back to something other then AC3Filter rc5 for MPEG2 audio...

mitch

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by oddball
As to those people talking about licenses etc I say 'GET LOST!'. hmm... i cannot agree with you.
Gibalou is the author of libdts, and this community owes him alot ! actually, a dts decoding library was the missing ingredient of our community for years.
Valex is aware of the GNU PUBLIC LICENSE and i have no doubts that the source code will be available someday. but Gibalou, being libdts author, which the addition of thiZ component into the new version of ac3filter has the biggest effect, has all rights to ask Valex to credit him for his awsome work, and also publish the sources.

so, please, i suggest that we let the two gentelmen discuss this without our intervention.

[Jvdhorst]

Hi Valex,

I love the ac3 codec, but I have some issues using the new versions. I use Joveplayer (http://www.8dim.com) beta3 in pc display mode to play my avi's. It uses direct3d and VRML to display the movies. When I start using the new releases of ac3filter however playback is allways very choppy. When playing a DVD (using opensource DVD video decoder) in combination with the AC3filter RC5 the program shows the first frames of the dvd and then freezes on 100% cpu usage. All is fine if I just use AC3filter 0.7. But then my dts dvd's don't have sound (I use Cyberlinks Powerdvd 5 audio decoder for that now to passthrough). I'v used Radlight filtermanager 1.4 to remove all other possible ac3 decoders and other redundant decoders. Play back in wmp9 is fine. So maybe it's a incompatibilty with the direct3d/VRML renderer? Or would it be joveplayer not handling the codec well, being beta and all?

I use ffdshow of 20-5-'04 to decode the video (of course with ac3 decoder disabled). Furthermore my winxp SP1 is patched to the max.

edit: using another MPEG4 or dvd video decoder doesn't make a difference at all.

[basje]

I think everybody should stop the assholing about the sourcecode. I am a coder myself and I can understand if Valex wants to wait with publishing the sourcecode right away, while he is still doing RC releases.

Eventually when there is a final version, he will post the sourcecode. Until that time I think everybody should stop asking for it and just eagerly wait for a new RC or Beta release.

Groeten,

Bas

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by basje
I think everybody should stop the assholing about the sourcecode. I am a coder myself..you might be a coder, but you are not libdts's coder, so this makes your argument completely irrelevant.
and you should also watch your langauge! dirty talks will not help you to convince anyone.

now, personally, i have no interest in ac3filter's source-code. even if i had, i could wait until the code become public. but as for Gibalou, i think he deserves to get an email from Valex with current sources.

i think Gibalou is right - with this kind of community - you just don't deserve his work. i won't be surprised to find out he lost motivation to continue his work on this library.

@basje
idea : if you're a coder, how about you read the dts spec, then implement a dts decoder, then release it with a i-dont-care-about-anything license ?!
i'm sure this could solve all problems..

[basje]

OK, maybe I let myself go a little bit to far with the language, I just don't want anybody, especially Valex and Gibalou, to stop there good work because of this discussion.

now, personally, i have no interest in ac3filter's source-code. even if i had, i could wait until the code become public. but as for Gibalou, i think he deserves to get an email from Valex with current sources.

I totally agree with you on this.

So to make this to an end: Valex mails the sourcecode, an admin closes this thread and Valex starts a new one when he finishes RC6. This way this discussion ends and I hope everybody is happy.

Groeten,

Bas

[Evil Andy]

Can we all put a lid on the source code argument? To quote from the copy of the GPL that COMES with AC3Filter.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

Valex has a duty to supply source code to anyone who asks for it, or remove all GPL code from his program which at this stage would be rather difficult.

Now, it's a great program which many people have helped create and would like to go on helping to improve so can we all please just settle this and get back on track.

[tiny]

Hi there,

I took AC3Filter_1.01a_RC5 and did some tests with it. I specificly tested the passthrough of non-pcm streams to the SP-DIF output of my soundcard. Here are my results:

AC3 44.1 KHz: no passthrough, always decodes
AC3 48 KHz: passtrough ok

DTS 44.1 KHz: no passthrough, always decodes
DTS 48 KHz: passthrough ok

MPEG1 layer II 44.1 KHz: no passthrough, always decodes
MPEG1 layer II 48 KHz: passthrough ok (my amp has a MPEG Multichannel decoder)

soundcard: Terratec EWX24/96
player software: GraphEdit

The emerging pattern is clear, SP-DIF passthrough only works for streams at 48 KHz. AC3 encoding also only works at 48 KHz. This is a bug perhaps?

greatings,
tiny