All audio tracks revert to AC3 2.0

[ingemar]

I rip a chapter with mac the ripper, open it in ffmpegx and hit encode. Audio codec is set to AC3, bitrate to 224, Sampling to 44.1 and channels to 5:1, mode VBR. Track is set to 0. Video codec if you need to know is set to AVI (mencoder). This is the output:

Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
AC3: 2.0 (stereo) 48000 Hz 224.0 kbit/s
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 224.0 kbit/14.58% (ratio: 28000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)

This is actually good. The source is 2.0.

I then select track 1, change nothing else. The output is:

Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
AC3: 5.1 (3f+2r+lfe) 48000 Hz 448.0 kbit/s
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 448.0 kbit/29.17% (ratio: 56000->192000)
Using MMX optimized resampler
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Try adding the scale filter, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
(AC3-liba52)

Why is the video codec incompatible? Why does this cause a revert to 2.0 when the source is 5.1?

I select the third audio track, track 2. The output is:

MPEG: No audio stream found -> no sound.

Track 0 is Digital Dolby 2.0. The next is DD 5.1. The third is DTS. I already know Mac users have never heard of DTS so I forget about that. But I can at least enjoy DD 5.1 or is that unheard of too? Even if I select passthough I get 2ch only.

This program is really getting on my nerves. What can I do to fix this?

Thx in advance for any help.

[Case]

mencoder currently only supports stereo ac3 in AVI. As far as I know, this hasn't changed since the date of that post. Try "AVI (ffmpeg)" instead.

[ingemar]

Case,

Thx, I tried ffmpeg with passthrough AC3 and that works great.