Divx - 5.1 AC3 to Spdif Problems...

[dodgey99]

Hi, I have been trying to get my PC to output pure ac3 via my spdiff from ac3 encoded divx movies. Here is the story so far.

1. have Power DVD, Zoom Player , Dixv player and Bsplayer.
2. I can play real DVDs and output via my spdif no problem. My amp recognises them as Dolby digital and all is groovy.
3. Divx's with AC3 - not so fun.

I have installed Nimo pack, and AC3 Divxs play fine, but in Prologic (at least I think they are). They sound a heap better than my non AC3 divx movies but my amp shows it is getting Pro Logic at best from the spdif. If I select "Intervideo Audio" from the filters and then force spdif output I get silence. If I tick prologic or stereo then I get the sound back , but not in AC3.

I did have the stream switcher installed, but that seemed to add problems. Selecting spdif gave me slow motion video and sound.

My results vary with each player. Zoom player is the best so far. I have tried bsplayer but had no luck. Power dvd is a bugger because I can't tweak filter settings as there are no options for this.

It appears to me that the AC3 filters are downmixing the AC3 to Prologic?

Incidentally, my players are definately recognising the AC3. If I select Properties you can see audion is AC3 5.1 channels

I have several different moves for testing.

Any guidance will be much appreciated.!

[dodgey99]

I can now add to this...(remember that I can get sound from AC3 files on all players, just can't get AC3 out of my spdif, just pro logic)

I can get Dolby Digital from BSPlayer ... just.

I have to Uncheck the setting that says "use AC3 settings" and check the "don't Equalise AC3". I have to launch BSPlayer and open an AC3 Divx. If I stop the player, then open another AC3 Divx file it does not work. If I close BSPlayer, re-open , then load, then it works again.

If i put 2 files in a playlist i get loads of errors, the sound from the second in the playlist then all fails.

It is worth noting that whatever type of file I open in BSplayer I get an intial "Overlay failed" message, then the film starts.

... ???

[beatomen]

I've got kinda the same problem

I can't even get the AC3 codec to output 5.1 ANALOG audio (with jack2phono for each channel)... The codec detects the 5.1 audio-stream, but the option to output to 6 channel audio is grayed out, and it defaults to DOLBY_SURROUND (Prologic). There's still an amount of surround in it, but its shitty compared to Dolby Digital.

So HOW THE H*** do I get to codec to output 5.1 signal without using the spdif output???

If I extract the AC3-file (with flaskMpeg) and play it with Creative Playcenter2, it works perfectly!!

Another one: I DO want to use the spdif output, but WHAT CABLE TO USE??? I've tried the usual stereo-jack to phono cable, but each channel represents either front/center or back speakers. If i manually connect the phono-plugs to each other so I get stereo-jack to ONE phono, my reciever don't understand the signal...

Do I have to get a MONO-jack to phono or what???

[dodgey99]

Beatomen - Not sure which card you have, but if is is of the SB family, and supports SPDiff output and you don't have the "drive bay" with loads of sockets (including coax and optical spdiff out) then you do indeed need to use one of the 3 1/2 mil jacks on the back of the card.

You buy or make a lead that plugs into the 3 1/2 mil jack that ends in a mono RCA (phono) plug. Spdiff digital signal is carried on a mono cable.

BUT - you must go into your SB software and tell it that the jack you are using is now for "Digital Out" and not "rear speakers" or whatever.

In other words, you need to tell the SB software that you want to use one of the outputs for spdiff and not speakers.