ac3 avi movies don't play back in 5.1 on divx dvd player

[funkyspaceman]

hi all,

thanks for reading this and for any replies i get.

i have just bought a divx dvd player (toshiba sd-270e) so that i can stick 5 or 6 avi movies onto a blank dvd and free up space on my hard drive. some of the avi files say they are ac3 encoded, which as far as i understand, means that with the correct equipment, they should play back in 5.1 surround. the dvd player is hooked up to a yamaha rx-v357 home cinema receiver with a digital coax lead. when i watch original dvd's, they are played back in 5.1 surround, but when i watch the ac3 avi movies they only play back in boring old 2 channel left and right stereo.
i have also tried burning a single ac3 avi movie onto a dvd as a dvd movie. i used winAVIvideoconverter to create the required dvd files, and then nero to burn the files onto dvd to play back in the dvd player. this method only gives me 2 channel stereo as well.
where am i going wrong? any answers/solutions i get would be grately received!

cheers,

funkyspaceman

[guns1inger]

First, don't expect much success using WinAVI COnverter, it is a poor quality piece of software.

Second, are you sure that the audio in the Divx files is 5.1 channel ? Open one in g-spot and confirm.

Finally, not all Divx players will play multi-channel AC3 audio from Divx files. I know of some that will not play ac3 audio at all when it is a Divx container, and others that will only output 2 channel audio from Divx files.

[funkyspaceman]

hi

according to gspot, the audio codec says '0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3' and the info below it reads '48000Hz 192 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)'
if the divx dvd player won't play the ac3 audio channels from a movie file, is there any way to burn it to disc as a dvd movie and play back with ac3 channels? what software would you use if you say winAVIvideoconverter is pants?

cheers,

funkyspaceman

[mats.hogberg]

stereo (2/0)

There you go - 2 channels (stereo) AC3. Not all (far from) AC3 audio is 5.1.
You can never recreate the full 5.1 audio once it's been downmixed to 2, but I think I saw someone (here at VideoHelp) who's created a 2 -> 5.1 upmix script, that I suppose will give you some kind of faux 5.1 sound.
Yes; here it is: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic326127.html

/Mats

[funkyspaceman]

hi, sorry about replying late - just finished my shifts at work

so if a 2 channel avi says '0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3' and the info below it reads '48000Hz 192 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)', what would it say for a 5.1 avi movie file?

cheers for your help

funkyspaceman

[mats.hogberg]

Something along the lines of '48000Hz 448 kb/s tot , 6 chnl(5/1)'

/Mats

[funkyspaceman]

hey, i just had an idea... i searched google for 'avi 5.1 test' and found a short avi file, which is ac3 5.1 encoded, and when i copied it as an avi file onto dvd and played it back - woohoo! surround sound! am i allowed to put the link here for other people? if so, here it is...

http://www.tfm.ro/ac3/

i have also found a torrent which looks like it's gonna do the same kinda thing, although i haven't tried that yet as it's still downloading as it's a much bigger file. here's the link for anybody that needs it...

http://www.torrentportal.com/details/915747/Ac3+Dolby+Digital+5.1Ch+Sound+Test.avi.torrent.html

hope this helps others that have the same question that i did

funkyspaceman

[mlmiller707]

I thought all ac3 was 5.1 surround. I have just dled two files that say ac3. In Mediainfo it says 2 channels. I am going to buy me a laptop with dual monitors, hdmi, and stop all this troubleshooting to watch free movies.

[jagabo]

I thought all ac3 was 5.1 surround.

No.

[mlmiller707]

I thought all ac3 was 5.1 surround.

No.

Thanks that's almost as helpful as the ja who posted the jpg of a purple ghost.

[jagabo]

So you're looking for a 5.1 AC3 sample?