Dealing with the Pioneer AC3 Incompatibility

[fluffysnurgle]

My standalone DVD player is allergic to BeSweet (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43466). What is the alternative? I am in a region 1 area so, even though my particular player can handle MP2 audio, it is out-of-spec for me to use it. I don't want to use PCM for everything because of its incredible hugeness. On the other hand I also don't want to buy expensive encoding software since I can do everything else I need with free software. I am not picky about the software as long as it is 1) free and 2) works.

I tried running BeSweet's output through AC3Fix in the hope that it would perturb the problem out of existence, but the output of AC3Fix was bit-for-bit identical to what BeSweet produced, so no luck there.

What free-software alternatives are there? Is there a workaround using BeSweet?

[Sakuya]

Try the ffmpegGUI (or command line). It doesn't have as advance functions as BeSweet. The only thing you can do is change bitrate, sampling rate, and format. The only formats you can convert to are AC3 (2ch) and MP2.

[fluffysnurgle]

I'll try that. If I understand correctly they both are based on ffmpeg's encoder, but with a little luck, this will work. While 5.1 would be a nice ability to have, I don't need it for my application, so if it works, this will be fine. Thanks!

[ursamtl]

You could also try the latest version of HeadAC3he, which is available on Daphy and @ndy's server at http://www.needfulthings.webhop.org/. It has a modified ac3enc.dll that resolves some compatibility issues. Maybe this will work for you.

[fluffysnurgle]

Thanks - I had already tried Headac3e, but it didn't work, probably because I had installed it badly. This version is working better and I will try it also!