trouble with ac3 audio from an avi

[mr. burns]

i used ffmpegX to encode an avi to mpeg2 for dvd and the video works fine, but i just can't seem to find any way to get the ac3 audio to work. i have quicktime 7 with the ac3 codec. even when i try to do audio encoding only [no video] i press encode and i instantly get the finished sound and nothing in the destination directory. i tried using the mpeg2enc way of encoding but it still does the video even when i don't want it to. it makes a temporary wav file in an audio dump folder but with my aging dual 500 G4, i just can't wait 12 hours for this thing. i've read that it may be a problem with quicktime 7, but if i wanted to redownload and install an older version of quicktime 6, where would i find it? is there a stand alone audio ripper i could use instead? i've read and searched through tons of past topics but just haven't been able to get an audio file i could use to mux with the video file.

:/

[alph]

I'm assuming you have both the Divx and AC3 codecs installed in quicktime. Reverting to an older version of quicktime will not help here.

If your AVI plays in Quicktime with those codecs installed, then there is little chance the problem is with either quicktime or the file.

My suggestion would be to drop your original AVI on ffmpegx, select the "Movie audio to ac3" preset, and try to encode. If that fails do 2 things: 1-click the little i button in the progress window and copy down the error it reported, and 2- go the the audio tab and turn on "invert mapping" and try to encode again. If that second try fails too, go get the error message.

Odds are one of those options will work, or at least you'll have error message to come back and share with us

Alph

[mr. burns]

the movie plays fine in quicktime. got the divx, ac3 and xvid codecs. but i'm just getting the eternal barber pole progress bar now so there's no error message. when i checked invert mapping i just got this instantly:

Encoding started on Sun Jun 26 19:03:04 PDT 2005
Input #0, avi, from '/movies/blah blah':
Duration: 02:10:12.7, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1494 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, 640x272, 25.00 fps
Stream #0.1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5:1, 320 kb/s
Codec type mismatch for mapping #0.0 -> #0.0

[thoughton]

I'd suggest blanking out the movie title next time since your post as it stands will probably be deleted quite soon.

[thoughton]

Oh yes, the "eternal barber pole" you mention. This is normal for the 'movie audio to ac3' preset. There is no progress bar for this preset. You just get barber pole action for a while (10-20 minutes or so for my fairly-slow Mac).

[alph]

What thoughton said.

Just look for the .ac3 file that has been created in your destination folder and get info to see it's size changing if you want to make sure something is actually happening

Alph

[Swanick]

I'm having a similar problem. If I try to encode the video as MPEG 2, the video plays fine, but the audio plays too fast. It sounds like a bunch of chipmunks on acid.

[thoughton]

I'm having a similar problem. If I try to encode the video as MPEG 2, the video plays fine, but the audio plays too fast. It sounds like a bunch of chipmunks on acid.

Err that's not a very similar problem This thread is about missing ac3 audio. Your problem is (probably) incorrect audio frequency, but you really should start your own thread and not confuse any newbies who might be reading this one

[mr. burns]

thanks for the help guys. i think that solved my probs. now i just need to re-encode the video to be NTSC

[Swanick]

I'm having a similar problem. If I try to encode the video as MPEG 2, the video plays fine, but the audio plays too fast. It sounds like a bunch of chipmunks on acid.

Err that's not a very similar problem This thread is about missing ac3 audio. Your problem is (probably) incorrect audio frequency, but you really should start your own thread and not confuse any newbies who might be reading this one

Alright, so how do I fix it?

[terryj]

Hijack the Audio, to AIFF 192khz 16bit Stero, then add scaled back to the video in
QT Pro.

[mr. burns]

eh, when i play my dvd in the computer dvd drive it works fine, but when i put it in the home player it's super skippy and i get these green bars on the top and bottom of the screen. what gives? i'm using sony dvd's so it can't be the media can it?

[terryj]

um, yeah it can.

Taiyo Uden, Maxell, and TDK,
along with
Samsung/Be-All, Apple, and Verbatim
are the most "compatible" Mac brands.

Try re-burning it at 1x speed to the same media.
If it is still craptacular, then you know its the media.

[mr. burns]

hmmm, interesting. well, i have some verbatim dual layer DVD+R. guess i'll try that at 1x and hope for the best. thanks.

[mr. burns]

i'm thinking my drive doesn't like DVD+R media i keep getting a 'lead-in lead-out failed' to write error :/
it's a 108xl and i don't have a pc to update the firmware. think i'll buy some verbatim or different DVD-R media. BLARGH. i've made like 6 coasters.