AC3 problems

[Jobs]

I have a problem with a movie I am trying to convert to VCD.

I rip the sound from the AVI file with VirtualDub and save it as a .Wav file.
Then I rename it to AC3 and load it into HeadAC3he to convert it to a Wav file again as needed.

HeadAC3he reports an error on the file when I am halfway through it.

Is there any way I can fix this problem?

There are no audio problem in the problem when watched as AVI and I have 8 others in this series, but this movie is the only one where an error is reported by HeadAC3he.

Thing is, as soon as I pick the .ac3 files as source, HeadAC3he notes that there is a problem with them, but it accepts all the other .ac3 files for the other movies and converts them just fine.

Is there a tool that can check and possibly fix problems in audio files?

[scissors]

possible bad frame.

there are a cuppla tools perpoting to fix ac3 files but the links i have are down.

[Jobs]

Could I have the links anyway so I might monitor them?

[boylemeister]

I'm struggling with AC3 too. I've downloaded a version of John Q - found that it played with no sound and then discovered I needed the AC3 codec.

I downloaded the Nimo pack but something went wrong during installation and it prompted me for my Win 2000 CD to correct some files - now when I play John Q it plays fine with sound but VirtualDub and TMPGEnc don't recognise the audio stream on it when trying to split it.

Are there any d/l locations for the AC3 codec on it's own or does anyone have any other suggestions?

All help appreciated as it will return some of my sanity.

Stevie

[Martyn1980]

I just recently started using HeadAC3he, but it sometimes gives me errors from what i hear is a fine ac3 file, so i usually just let DVD2SVCD extract the ac3 file then let it encode it with Besweet, i cant guarentee it will sound as good, i havn't ran any tests yet but its not as prone to errors and i had to use it on my second disc of Blade 2.

[Jobs]

Besweet is a dosbased proggie, right?

Whats the command line to decode it with that proggie?

I repaired the AC3 with Besplit but it only messed up the AC3 fils even more.

It made HeadAC3he accept the file, but when converted to a VCD the audio was completely messed up.

How do I do it with Besweet?

[Jobs]

The command line I used with Besplit that fixed the ac3 so HeadAC3he accepted it but messed the sound completely up was:

BeSplit -core( -input e:\audio.ac3 -prefix e:\1\audio.ac3 -logfile BeSplit.txt -type ac3 -fix )

[Martyn1980]

Im not too knowledgable on dos based programs and imnot too sure if this is what you need but this is the best i can do

BeSweet.exe" -core( -input "C:\Extracted_audio_1.ac3" -output "C:\ENCODE~1\AUDIO\Encoded_audio_1.mp2" -logfile "C:\MYDOCU~1\MYMOVI~1\LONGTI~1\ENCODE~1\AUDIO\Enco ded_audio_1.log" ) -azid( -L -3db -c normal -g max ) -2lame( -e -b 192 -m d )

I recommend you download DVD2SCVCD and use the avi conversion part of it, especially if the ac3 file might be messed up.

Load the avi into DVD2SVCD and go to the audio tab, choose your bitrate, encoding type and pick a directory to put this stuff, dont worry about the video stuff, your going to cancel before it starts.

Click on Go in the Conversion tab and first it extracts the ac3 file the converts it to mp2 using BeSweet, once its done, cancel the video encoding part, and you can either use the mp2 it gives you or try the ac3 file it extracted in Headac3he.

hope this helps, im not familiar with dos commands do sorry.

[Jobs]

Thanks a lot for the reply

Another question surfaced while reading it.

What bitrate and such should I choose. Does it matter or is it a personal preference?

[Jobs]

Where might I find this DVD2SVCD proggie?

[Mikeg3963]

Try this link for AC3 codec, it's an FTP page.


http://www.starbots.org/files/DivX/

[Martyn1980]

It depends on how fussy you are about sound, i personally like High Quality sound and use at least 192k Dual Channel, you could go as low as 96k Joint Stereo, if your not that bothered.

I personally recommend using 192 or 224 Dual Channel because it gives a much clearer stereo image than Joint Stereo which sounds warped at times, but i imagine you could go lower if its a drama film or something, but for action stick to 192 or above.

For DVD2SVCD go here

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd.htm

[scissors]

i'll try and find those links.

Meanwhile, if you have windvd you can just drag and drop the ac3 file onto it's shortcut. I /think/ all dvd players automatically install and ac3 decoder and mpeg2 decoder.

(i THINK)

[Jobs]

Thanks people. You've been a tremendous help to me