AAC 5.1 to AC3 5.1 on the fly

[mitch2471 9]

I have a number of video files that were encoded with aac 5.1 for the audio. I used to use ffd with Windows Media Centre/emby browser to convert the AAC 5.1 on the fly to AC3 5.1 so that my AV would output 5.1 correctly.

There does not seem to be an option to do this with Theatre. I believe there was/is an option to have it convert all audio to 5.1 on the fly but that seemed to encode all AAC including 2 channel files to AC3 5.1 which is not what I am looking for.

Is there a way to have Theatre convert only 5.1 acc to AC3 5.1 on the fly?

 

Cheers

[Luke 37155]

HI, there is currently no option for this, but it is certainly possible for future updates. Thanks for the feedback.

[mitch2471 9]

That's good to hear. From what I have read ffdshow is used in theatre so it has the  capability. Is there any temporary work around that I can use until you have time to officially do something?

[Luke 37155]

30 minutes ago, mitch2471 said:

That's good to hear. From what I have read ffdshow is used in theatre so it has the  capability. Is there any temporary work around that I can use until you have time to officially do something?

Hi, to be honest I'm not sure I can think of one, other than setting up an external player in Theater.

[mitch2471 9]

Fair enough.  I'll keep an eye on any updates that roll out

[dansblackcat 37]

There's a setting in ffdshow that can output AAC as AC3.

AC3 (SPIDIF encode mode), Encode 5.1 streams only.

Should be found under the "Output' tab

Edited August 12, 2022 by dansblackcat

[mitch2471 9]

Thanks dansblackcat. That was what I had previously been using before switching over Emby Theater. Theater uses its own built-in codecs that I believe are ffdshow but as of yet we do not have the level of access needed to enable that option. 

[serpi 72]

I think I had something in my mpv.conf, that would convert (AFAIR) everything to AC3, keeping the number of channels:

af=lavcac3enc=bitrate=auto:encoder=ac3

It's a long time I used ET, so not sure about it.

I think it would also convert DTS to AC3, but AFAIR it's somehow possible to set up codec specific rules (my TV didn't support DTS, so AC3 was the best option).

Ciao, Alfred
 

 

[mitch2471 9]

Thanks serpi. I saw something similar mentioned in another thread on the forum but I couldn't tell if it was for changing all to AC3 or something specific. I was hoping Luke or some other experienced members would be familiar with the mpv.conf edits/hacks that people have used to overcome certain obstacles.

My AV receiver can handle anything I throw at it bar aac 5.1 so converting all to AC3 is not ideal. 

Where what you posted does not necessarily solve the issue it does point in the right direction so its appreciated. 

[generiq 113]

On 8/12/2022 at 10:10 AM, mitch2471 said:

Thanks serpi. I saw something similar mentioned in another thread on the forum but I couldn't tell if it was for changing all to AC3 or something specific. I was hoping Luke or some other experienced members would be familiar with the mpv.conf edits/hacks that people have used to overcome certain obstacles.

My AV receiver can handle anything I throw at it bar aac 5.1 so converting all to AC3 is not ideal. 

Where what you posted does not necessarily solve the issue it does point in the right direction so its appreciated. 

@mitch2471

Two ways to achieve this.

in your mpv.conf, add:

af=lavcac3enc=yes:640:4

or add this to the very bottom of the mpv.conf:

[AAC 5.1 to AC3]
profile-desc=AAC to AC3
profile-cond=(p["audio-codec-name"]=="aac") and p["audio-params/channel-count"]==6
af=lavcac3enc=yes:640:4

 

The first is the easiest.

Edited November 15, 2022 by generiq

[mitch2471 9]

@generiq

Thanks a lot. I'll give it a try when I get a chance.  

[generiq 113]

And to clarify, Theater uses mpv, which is built on ffmpeg. So you can use any ffmpeg filters.