5.1 AAC to 5.1 AC3

[Kairo]

Does anyone know of a quick and easy way of converting 5.1 AAC to 5.1 AC3 without destroying the channel structure? I already know of several ways of doing this but all of them involve a lengthy process using multiple apps or somehow degradates the channel information.

[johdeck]

If anyone still wants to know, VLC can do that

[FulciLives]

If anyone still wants to know, VLC can do that

Could you explain the steps as to how to do this?

I would appreciate it

Also might be handy if you note what version of VLC media player was used and on what O/S

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

I wanted to update this.

I found a guide over at the doom9 forum that worked for me in regards to 5.1 AAC to 5.1 AC-3

Here is a direct link: CLICK HERE

I used the GraphEdit method described in that post but I didn't realize that if you simply scroll up one post that there is yet another method using a program called aacDecDrop along with the oldie but goodie program BeSweet. This method makes more sense to me but I haven't tried it yet. However I can confirm that the GraphEdit method did work for me although to date I've only had one occasion to try this type of audio conversion.

Cheers !!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
The AAC audio file was in a MKV file and when I demuxed it and tried to load it into GraphEdit I was getting an error however when I opened the MKV file into GraphEdit it worked. Might have been the way I demuxed the AAC (seems like a sound guess to me) but I didn't try exploring other demuxing options since I got it to work by loading the MKV file. I just wanted to point out this "pitfall" for others that might be trying the same method at some point.

[naskad]

i've tried vlc to convert my aac file to ac3, but i couldn't find how to do that. then i read somewhere that the windows 7 version can't do that. is it true?

[Zetski210]

I use aacDECdrop to convert to WAV, then eAC3to to convert to AC3, but sometimes I have to re-map the channels.

[DarrellS]

A post above in that link says that Nero doesn't decode correctly but Nero Wave Editor works just fine and is the easiest way to convert AAC to AC3 but it is not free.

If you look hard enough, you might be able to find an old free version of dbpoweramp and with the CLI plugin (and other plugins like aac) and an AC3 encoder like Aften, you can convert aac to ac3. You'll need to change the extension from aac to m4a (at least I did) or you'll get an error that it couldn't open the aac file (maybe because I created my aac with Nero).

When you first run the CLI plugin it will tell you to change the extension in the text file. I changed mine to .ac3. dbpoweramp puts a "convert to" option in explorer so all you do is right click on the file that you want to convert and click "convert to". There is a dropdown window with a list of file types you can convert to. The more codecs (plugins) you download and install, the more file types you can decode and encode.


EDIT: There is always Foobar 2000. Kinda hard to set up the encoder if you don't know what settings to use.

Set up Aften AC3 encoder

You need the Aften AC3 Encoder
-Copy the file into the Foobar2000 directory
-Under "Output Presets" click on "Add New" and choose "Commandline Encoder" from the drop down list



-Select "Aften.exe" from the directory
-Adjust the settings for AC3 conversion according to the figure shown below (adjust path to Aften)



-Extension: "ac3"
-Parameters: -v 0 -b 448 - %d
For other bitrates as 448KBit/s use desired number from list below!
Allowed bitrates: 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320, 384, 448, 512, 576, 640
-Dispay name: Aften
-Bitrate: 448
-Settings: Leave Blank

Conversion:
In the playlist right click on the file/files you'd like to convert and choose "Convert->Run conversion". Select "Aften" from the list. Choose directory and name your output file.
Finished.

This guide is made for an older version but works for 0.9.6.3.