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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
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    Americas
    Search Comp PM
    Hi,

    I understand that the correct channel naming for 5.1 layouts is: FL, FR, FC, LFE, SL, SR. The last two being "surround", not "back". It's 7.1ch that adds the back channels as BL and BR (or whatever letters are the standard). SL and SR are actually in the "middle" and the added two in 7.1 are placed at the back. Like this diagram. Everything makes sense and we're happy.



    BUT, in the old days the common belief was that 5.1 had the "back" channels (BL and BR in the above diagram) and 7.1 added the "side" ones (the word "surround" didn't appear at all). Idk if that was some kind of old standard before the advent of 7.1 or it was wrong all along.

    Thing is, some programs still carried the old standard into the era of the "surround" naming convention. Back when I made my own BD remuxes I had quite a lot of discs with LPCM 5.1 which I converted to FLAC. I don't remember which program(s) I used, ffmpeg, foobar probably, but all my FLACs ended up as "L R C LFE Lb Rb". Those last two should really be "Ls Rs". Assuming the program(s) didn't mess with the channels order then it isn't a real issue, the layout is correct, but is there a way of renaming the channels? If I re-encode the FLAC the channel layout carries along and I don't see how to alter it.

    Nowadays I convert all LPCM with eac3to which writes the proper channel data as "L R C LFE Ls Rs".

    Thanks
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  2. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    You got it reversed.

    Originally, it was L C R S (surround), w/ surround as center back, immedately opposite C. Like a cross.
    Then L C R Ls Rs (left & right surround), w/ surrounds as 15-45degree back of sides (usu. 30). So whereas the the front arc between L & R was 60-90degrees, the back arc was ~120.
    This stayed this way until 6.1, 7.1 made it confusing.


    Scott
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