HELP: 5.1 and SGI

[escalonab]

Hello

A few questions:

Does anyone know if there is an AC3 player for Unix (Irix) out there? I created a test ac3 fiile because i need to test the sound card in our SGI Onyx, but dont have the software to play it.

This sound card is 100% digital and has only one optical output. To split the digital signal into its 6 analog components a decoder is needed (which we dont have). Anyone know of a device that can do this? (hardware wise)

A more technical question for the programmers out there: Will an OpenAL application generate the sound in 5.1 provided i have the proper sound card? How does OpenAL know how many channels it should be pumping the sound into?

Lastly: is AC3 the only file format which supports 5.1? I read about "enhanced wav" formats or something like that, anyone know about these?

Thanks in advance for the info!

[BJ_M]

you might be able to compile xine http://sourceforge.net/projects/xine -- it supports ac3

or ac3dec has been already compiled for irix http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa/tools-source/ac3dec/

see also (i copied) on sgi site: "Check out the SGI Movie File Library.

The mvIntro(3dm) man page is a good introduction.

You can also see the Digital Media Programmer's Examples and Digital
Media Programming Guide in InfoSearch. "


good info on your next question here http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=OpenAL+irix

5.1 is supported by mpeg audio, DTS and a couple other formats ..

[sterno]

mplayer probably also works in Irix. Off the top of my head I'm not sure if it will read a raw AC3 file or if it always expects to find it inside a container. I'm also not sure if it will know how to talk to your SGI's fancy sound card - that's likely to be a bigger problem if you want multichannel output. You might double check the accessory software SGI includes to see if they give you a media player that can handle AC3, or see if it gives you a device file you can just cat the file to.

The last time I looked at OpenAL (which was quite a long time ago, I admit) it didn't support Dolby audio. It only supported 3D positional audio like games use.

[escalonab]

Thanx for the info.

I compiled Mplayer but it doesnt seem to be able to play raw AC3 files... it gives a "LMLM4 Stream Format not found" error.

[escalonab]

I tried Xine on linux and it does play AC3 files. I wasnt able to compile it on Irix though.. not yet anyway, i think i have a trick up my sleeve.

I couldnt get ac3dec to work on irix either.

[escalonab]

Nope, Xine doesn't compile on Irix.

Anyone else have more ideas?

[BJ_M]

ok -- try this one http://www.blackboxcentral.com/sgimonkey/

i forgot about this player -- which supports ac3 btw .(see changelogs)...


Currently supported formats:
============================
AVI Streams
MPEG Streams (including VCD, SVCD, and DVD)

Video
=====
DiVX 4.xx Video
Indeo 3.2 Video
Cinepak Video
Uncompressed Video
MPEG1 Video
MPEG2 Video

Audio
=====
MPEG Layers 1, 2, and 3 Audio
Dolby AC3 Surround
Uncompressed Audio

[escalonab]

> ok -- try this one http://www.blackboxcentral.com/sgimonkey/

Thanx!
However, i tried it and i couldnt get it to play raw ac3 files.. i get this error:

nino@xitle (~) >irixdivx /tmpu/nino/audio_tests/pruebaac3.ac3
IRIX Media Player 0.96 -> Copyright 2001-2003 by Brandon Corey. (OpenGL)
Video HW : Unknown Video
Unknown Movietype
Movie Type : Unknown


And when i play DVDs, there is no audio, only video.

[BJ_M]

im stumped at this point .. perhaps a sgi news group (there are a couple) could help ...

we have rather dropped using sgi (anyone want octanes - anyone?) in favour of cheaper hardware ...

[escalonab]

Just checking if any new members knew of any ac3 players for irix other than the ones mentioned above.

[anubis13]

you mentioned that your workstation only has optical out. my yamaha reciever for my entertainment center can accept optical and"convert" to 5.1 out of the rca ports.

might be a cheap alternative once you solve the compiling issue