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  1. Hello-

    I seem to be having difficulty getting Windows Media Center (Windows 7) to play my converted .mp4 videos using all 5.1 channels.

    I am converting the video from DVD using an up-to-date version of DVDFab9. The video is converted using the H264 codec. The Audio has been tried using both the AAC and the AC-3 codec. The MediaInfo utility has confirmed that the .mp4s created contain 5.1 channels of audio.

    I have installed the Shark007 codec management utility on my HTPC. Using both the Windows default settings and the Shark007 recommended settings, I get the same results.

    My HTPC uses a Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio soundcard with up-to-date drivers, connected to a Yamaha 5.1 channel receiver via an optical TOS-Link cable. The main method I am relying on to verify that all six channels are playing is to look to the channel indicator LEDs on the display of the receiver.

    These are the results I get:
    - If I have DVDFab9 simply copy the entire contents of the DVD to a folder and tell Windows Media Center to play the DVD folder contents, the audio plays using 5.1 channels.
    - If I have DVDFab9 convert the DVD to .mp4 (using the H264 video and either the AAC or AC-3 audio codecs, as mentioned before) and tell Windows Media Center to play that file, the audio plays in 2 channels. Again, as I mentioned before, I am verifying the presence of all six channels in the converted file using the MediaInfo utility and relying on the receiver's display to verify that the channels are (or aren't) playing.

    At this point, I'm unsure of what to try next. I would appreciate any suggestions.

    Thanks!
    SRD
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  2. DECEASED
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    Have you already run the "Preferred Filter Tweaker" thing

    And a better option IMHO --- stop using WMC and WMP
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  3. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Use MPC-HC and forget about wmp and wmc,they are really crappy for playing media files,i haven't used them for 15 years.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  4. Member Krispy Kritter's Avatar
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    I don't use WMC/WMP either (another MPC-HC user), but you often have to configure the player for surround output and/or have the proper codecs installed and configured for proper support.
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  5. The way I understand it, if you play a type of audio the receiver it can't decode, you'll probably find the output defaults to stereo PCM (it'll be decoded and mixed down to stereo by the player), as stereo PCM seems to be the best TOS-Link can do for uncompressed audio. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSLINK

    That'd explain AAC being stereo, but not so much AC3. It's kind of like the player knows to bitstream AC3 when it's in it's original form (part of a DVD video) and let the receiver decode it, but not when it's AC3 inside an MP4. Mind you I'm guessing as I don't use WMP or a 5.1ch receiver (I let the PC decode everything and send an analogue signal). Or maybe it's your sound card's fault, re what gets bitstreamed. Does it have much in the way of S/PDIF settings?

    I'd try MPC-HC to see what happens. You may need to enable bitstreaming for certain types of audio in the audio decoder setup. Options, Internal Filters, Audio Decoder.

    A similar topic was discussed here very recently. Maybe you could try some of the suggested decoding methods until someone who really knows what they're talking about comes along.
    In theory though, you should be able to bitstream supported formats (DTS, Dolby Digital etc) and for other 5.1ch audio (ie AAC) it could be decoded and re-encoded as AC3 on the fly, then bitstreamed for your receiver to decode, and for other stereo audio types (ie AAC) the output could be lossless PCM.

    I assume WMC is a DirectShow player as is WMP is, so you could probably coax it into using a third party filter for decoding, Otherwise, MPC-HC can.

    Hopefully something in the above post might help.... or help you find the cause of the problem.
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