AVI (DivX/AC3) to Hi-Q WMV (with 5.1 aud intact)

[Vchat20]

So as the title states, im looking to convert this avi file Ive got here which uses divx and ac3 for its vid and aud codecs to a high quality wmv with the 5.1 audio intact.

First thing I did of course was to toss the avi directly into WME, but it started having major fits with 'input media format invalid' and all this junk. After fighting with that route, I decided to demux the video and try encoding the video and audio separately and rejoin it later (should be possible to join the wma and wmv later with WME's stream editor iirc).

I got the video encoded just fine. The problem im running into is converting the ac3 audio to multichannel wma. trying the ac3 file on its own in WME seems to make it spaz out. Next thing I tried was a program called Hypercube Transcoder to convert the ac3 to multichannel mpeg2. But once again, WME is having a fit.

I'm just curious if anyone has a decent solution for this dilemma.

Oh, and if anyone asks why I am trying to convert from divx to wmv, its because Ive got a newly built media center machine here and Im hating the fact I dont have any FF/REW functions on my divx videos. First thing that came to mind was converting to wmv to solve the issue and possibly make it integrate that much better into MCE.

[Cornucopia]

Try this (but you need drive space):

In Virtualdub, convert to Uncompressed/HuffYUV/Lagarith. Run that through WME.
In HypercubeTranscoder, convert AC3 5.1 to 6-channel WAV using the "WAV Engine 6-ch" output type., That should run through WME ok. If not, output to 6 Mono WAV files and use Microsoft's 6chWAV-->AVI utility and then run through WME.
Then, use MS WM Streams editor to mux the 2 together.

Scott

>>>>>>>>>>
divx should be able to be encoded differently to make use of FF/RW. has to do with Open/Closed GOPs, buffersize/Iframe spacing.

[Vchat20]

thx. thats kind of what I figured. I tried the single 6ch wav file earlier, but for whatever reason it wouldnt play in media player or convert in WME. Im now trying the 6 mono wav files bit and ive got the wav>avi combiner you mentioned. Ill try that and see how it works.

And WME seemed to have no problem converting the divx only part of the video. Ive got a nice 2mbit VBR wmv file of the video here on my desktop. Just need the audio sorted and mux it together.