Convert .dts->dtswav & .ac3->ac3wav

[ontherocks]

I am trying to convert DVD audio tracks 5.1 DD or 5.1 DTS to multichannel wav (not 6 mono wavs).

This is what I tried in a two step process.
1) Step #1 - Demuxed the DVD tracks to .ac3 or .dts (according to the track) using DVDdecrypter.
This step was smooth.
2) Step #2 - Convert the .ac3 or .dts to wav. The step is driving me nuts.
Whatever method I choose (eac3to, VirtualdubMod, Foobar, PX3Convert, Belight, Besweet) I always get a "stereo" wav file. Not actually stereo 2 channel but some kind of weird wav file.
The wav file properties in MPC or VLC or Foobar tells me its 6 channel. But I do not get 6 channel audio in my HT receiver while playing those wav files. I only get 2 channel.
I have a lot of multichannel wavs from other sources (e.g. swedish radio website) which play just fine (6 channel) in my HT receiver.

Am I doing something fundamentally wrong?
Is there a single step process?

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by ontherocks

I always get a "stereo" wav file. Not actually stereo 2 channel but some kind of weird wav file.
The wav file properties in MPC or VLC or Foobar tells me its 6 channel. But I do not get 6 channel audio in my HT receiver while playing those wav files. I only get 2 channel.

If MPC/VLC tells you 6 channel the problem is in your player system.
How connect the PC to the receiver?
With SPDIF or 6 analogic conexions?
If you have 6 analogic conexions configure your sound card to output 6 channels.
With SPDIF you need reencode to ac3 to send the digital signal, use Ac3Filter or ffdshow.

I have a lot of multichannel wavs from other sources (e.g. swedish radio website) which play just fine (6 channel) in my HT receiver.

Wav is a container and these wav files are really ac3/dts with a little wav header.

Am I doing something fundamentally wrong?

Play directly the ac3/dts files.

Is there a single step process?

I don't know. The first step DVD -> PC maybe not legal in some countries.

[ontherocks]

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

If MPC/VLC tells you 6 channel the problem is in your player system.

I think my HT receiver is just fine. Its the problem with the converted wav file. The reason I say this is because if I don't choose SPDIF passthrough and play these wavs though my PC stereo speakers they play just fine exactly like a regular stereo wav file, which is wrong. I should get static noise with multichannel wavs (which I get while playing the wavs from swedish radio).
Even Windows Media Player plays the converted wavs (and we know Windows media player doesn't have the capability to play multichannel wavs)

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

How connect the PC to the receiver?
With SPDIF or 6 analogic conexions?

I connect them via SPDIF (coax).

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

Wav is a container and these wav files are really ac3/dts with a little wav header.

How do I make those wav files exactly as in the swedish radio website? Actually that would be my goal I guess.

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

Play directly the ac3/dts files.

If I play the .ac3 or .dts files directly through MPC/Foobar, I still get 2 channels. I do get 6 channels with VLC though. This is expected because I get the same results with .dts/.ac3 obtained from other sources.

My goal is to get 6 channel output through all the players MPC/Foobar/VLC as I get with the wavs from swedish radio website.
So how do I convert the demuxed .ac3/.dts to wav (exactly in the format swedish radio website has)?

[tebasuna51]

You don't need change the files, only configure your players.

VLC: Settings -> Preferences -> Audio -> Use SPDIF when available.
MPC: View -> Options -> Internal Filters -> AC3/DTS (double click) -> SPDIF
ffdshow: Codecs -> AC3/DTS -> SPDIF

[ontherocks]

Thanks a lot.
My bad I just forgot about the AC3/DTS setting in MPC.
Foobar is my preferred audio player. I don't want to install any extra filters like ffdshow/ac3filter to play multichannel audio, and without that I guess I cannot get 6 channel out of Foobar with .ac3/.dts files.

Hence please tell me how to make wav containers for the .ac3/.dts exactly the way its in swedish radio website. I really want to do this, pls.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by ontherocks

Hence please tell me how to make wav containers for the .ac3/.dts exactly the way its in swedish radio website. I really want to do this, pls.

Search a little dts2wav.exe to do the job.
I never use this.

For what need you the dts -> wavdts (or ac3)?

If you want burn a CD the samplerate must be changed from 48KHz (DVD) to 44.1KHz (CD) then you need decode, resample, encode and transform to dtswav. If you have Surcode DTS encoder can output directly to dtswav.

[ontherocks]

Unfortunately dts2wav crashes with 48kHz files
I guess its only for 44.1 kHz .dts files.

[daphy]

tranzcode should do the job correctly

[tebasuna51]

@Daphy
The links in your post don't work.

ontherocks want dts to dtswav, not decode to wav.
I don't found how convert dts -> dtswav with Tranzcode.

[ontherocks]

@tebasuna51
I was about to say exactly the same thing

One more thing....
If you take the DD/DTS wav files at http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/mall/index.asp?ProgramID=2446
and look at their file properties in MPC or Foobar, it tells they are 2 channel/stereo. Thats strange to me.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by ontherocks

One more thing....
If you take the DD/DTS wav files at http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/mall/index.asp?ProgramID=2446
and look at their file properties in MPC or Foobar, it tells they are 2 channel/stereo. Thats strange to me.

Like I say dts/ac3wav are dts/ac3 with a little wav header marked like stereo. The purpose is cheat a CD burner and write the dts/ac3 stream like uncompressed stereo standard CDAaudio. The player must recognize the stream and decode as multichannel.

At least dtswav can be renamed to .dts and play, and show, like multichannel in Foobar/MPC.

[ontherocks]

Thanks tebasuna. Got the fundamentals. (maybe I should modify my thread heading not to mislead people in what I am trying to do)

It looks like a simple job to make a wav container for .ac3/.dts and put a wave header (or maybe its a difficult job)

Headac3he was able to somewhat convert .ac3 to ac3wav. I was somewhat happy since the wav file was @44.1 kHz and played slower than the source .ac3 (sadly Headac3he doesn't support .dts yet)

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by ontherocks

It looks like a simple job to make a wav container for .ac3/.dts and put a wave header (or maybe its a difficult job)

The header is simple, the problem is:
- the standard dts use 16 util bits from 16 stream bits and big-endian format.
- the standard dtswav use 14 util bits from 16 stream bits and little-endian format.

Then all the data must be converted. This 14/16 bits is the reason for dtswav big size than equivalent dts.

But, for what do you need these old formats?
I think is only need to burn CD's

[ontherocks]

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

But, for what do you need these old formats?
I think is only need to burn CD's

Yeh, thats what I want to do.

[ontherocks]

I was able to make dtswav & ddwav from .dts & .ac3 (wav containers of .dts/.ac3 with false headers) with spdifer.
But the dtswav & ddwav are @48kHz.
I now need something to downsample these to 44.1kHz without messing with anything else and my work will be done.

EDIT: spdifer did something wrong. Process failed !!

[ontherocks]

Any more ideas to convert .dts->dtswav & .ac3->ac3wav ?

[ontherocks]

I succeeded in converting .dts->dtswav & .ac3->ac3wav using spdifer from AC3filter tools using the commands

spdifer filename.ac3 filename.wav -wav
spdifer filename.dts filename.wav -wav

The wavs were @48kHz. This caused static noise when I tired them to play them through the HT system via SPDIF as well as gave input file read errors when I tried to burn them as AudioCDs. I then changed the wav header to 44.1kHz using a hex editor. The wavs now played fine in through the HT system and I was able to burn them as DD/DTS AudioCDs.

The problem is they play a little longer because they play @44.1kHz.
The question is, why would they play @44.1kHz, since inherently they are .dts/.ac3 @48kHz in the wav container. Is it just because the wav header tells it is @44.1kHz??