Converting a 2 channel audio to 5.1

[src2206]

Hello

I tried to look in this forum, but could not be able to locate any utility to do the above task. I generally convert a lot of AVI clips to DVD and all of those generally contain 2 channel audio.

I understand that I may not get the true Surround Sound effect but still I would like to give it a try.

Please help.

Thank you.

[redwudz]

You might take a look at this thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1536513#1536513

But most home theater amplifiers can do about as well with pseudo surround sound. If you want to try it via software, go ahead.

[src2206]

Very quick redwudz,

Thank you very much

[guns1inger]

I wrote a guide for using it here : https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=292142

[src2206]

Thank you very much guns1inger

I'll post the feedback here

[src2206]

Hello guns1inger,

Thank you very much for that wonderfully written guide. I have converted one of my audio clip extracted from a video to 5.1 Audio. Played using VLC player and seems to be fine.

Just one request, could you please update your guide using Audacity as a option?

Just one questionn: The resultant file has a bit rate of 448kbps. Is it required to be lowred to 224kbps if I want to fit the video [about 2hrs 25 mins] in DVD5? If yes then please tell me how to achive that.

I am going to use the Video encoding method as discussed in this thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=322665&highlight=&sid=6c84a2dc9fdb1326dd37685640affd54

Thank you again.

[guns1inger]

You set the bitrate when you render to ac3 in Vegas. You have to click on the Custom button on the Render As dialogue.

That said, 224 is way too low for 5.1. I would not go below 384 for 5.1. Either split the disc, or encode the video smaller. The difference is size isn't large when you are talking about audio, however the difference in quality is.

[src2206]

Thank you guns1inger

I am not going to lower the bit rate.

[src2206]

Done it guns1inger and thank you very much for your guidance.

[guns1inger]

No probs. Glad it worked. Questions is, how does it sound, and is it better than letting the amp do the matrixing for you ?

[src2206]

Hi guns1inger,

I had the DVD only with the Stereo track, and I listened to it both in my PC as well as the av system. I also did the same thing with the new DVD and it sounded far more clearer and distinct. The channel seemed to be much better. When I allowed my ampli to do the same thing it somewhat gave a messy output. I have good quality system, so no problem in that front. It seemed that while trying to reproduce a 2 channel audio to 5.1 using the Amplifier, it simply distributed the sound in a more or less even manner, hence resulting in less clarity.

So in a nutshell I am much more satisfied by converting the audio to 5.1 as it really gives a far better quality. So I thank you again.

Now may I request you to add the process of adding the plug in chains to Audacity to your excellent tutorial? I tried my best but could not find a way to do it. The vst plug ins are not at all showing in the list of plug in chains of Audacity and I could not find any option to add it. I shall also try again but I think you can find a better solution more faster than I can.

[redwudz]

I played with Audacity a little and was able to use the VST V.I.plugins to create the channels, but I got stuck when arranging the channels spatially and making the 5.1.

I had to save each of the processed channels out individually, but that was as far as I could get. It may be possible, though. If you go to the Audacity site and look around a little, there is a handler for VST plugins that will enable their use,

[guns1inger]

If I get time I will look at trying to use Audacity, V.I and Aften to do the final encoding. It may take a little while though.

[redwudz]

guns1inger, it looks like Audacity has possibilities with this process. It would be nice to have a 'all freeware' approach. Good luck.

[Soopafresh]

That's a great guide, guns1inger! Didn't look at it until now.

redwudz - yeah, it would be great to use Audacity, but I don't think you can get multichannel WAV out. You've probably seen the threads as to why their VST support is so primitive - it isn't a technical issue at all. Steinberg owns a portion of the VST graphical interface code and makes it free, but not GPL - a licensing conflict with Audacity. Too bad. Their newest VST support plugin isn't bad, but it doesn't give you the groovy looking graphics of the VST effect you've loaded for the reason mentioned.

[redwudz]

Soopafresh, I wondered about the minimal V.I. interface. I was only able to export the stereo or single channels one at a time. But it did process them properly, as far as I could tell. Then I was left with all the channels. That's when I gave up. But not all of us can afford Vegas.

[Soopafresh]

If you can export 1 channel at a time, you can then enter the resulting files into EncWAVtoAC3, which uses the Aften encoding engine and sounds terrific. Keeps it all freeware at least

http://thefrontend.sourceforge.net/EncWAVtoAC3/main_wnd-big.png

[redwudz]

I've got to try this. Maybe tomorrow when I have some time. I used a MP3 file from a ripped audio album as a test file. But I deleted them all and will have to start over. Thanks for the reference to EncWAVtoAC3.

[src2206]

Best of luck redwudz