Help converting a "HDTV" non-DRM WMV to a PS3 friendly format

[FulciLives]

Hello

I downloaded this 1080p WMV file that supposedly is 100% compatible when streaming to an XboX 360 but I don't have an Xbox 360 and when I try to stream it to my Sony PS3 I get beautiful video but no audio.

Here is what I know about the file. It was created/encoded with Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder with no DRM nonesense. The video is VC-1 with a resolution of 1920x800 (I believe the aspect ratio is square pixel 1:1 at approximately 2.35:1 give or take). The audio is WMA 10 Professional DS 5.1 according to the person that did the encoding. I have no idea how to use Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder but somehow I figured out how to demux the original file which gives me a video only file (wmv) and an audio only file (wma) and when I open the WMA with GoldWave it says, "Windows Media Audio WMA 10 Professional, 640 kbps, 48 kHz, 5.1 channel 24 bit 1-pass CBR"

Here is the WMV (video and audio) as it looks in GSpot:



So here is the deal. I want to play this on my Sony PS3 and the video apparently works "as is" but not the audio. I really don't care if I leave it WMV or make it MP4 etc. but I want it PS3 compatible. I'd like to do this without having to re-encode the video although I realize and I am OK with the fact that the audio will need to be re-encoded. I'm just not sure how to go about it.

I couldn't find much of nothing on-line about what WMV specs the PS3 expects or will work with so after demuxing the video and audio I tried to use the MS Windows Media Encoder to re-encode the audio to another WMV format that I hoped would be compatible with the PS3 but each time I tried something and remuxed I once again got no audio. I can't remember all what I tried but I tried at least 3 or 4 different audio options. I finally figured that since the PS3 does have WMV support that it would have to support the CD profile so I did that and viola the sound works. Only it is a far cry from the 5.1 audio that the file comes with. But it sounds good enough I suppose. Yet I can't help but think that there is a better way.

For instance the PS3 supports the MP4 format which as I understand it uses AAC audio which as I understand it supports 5.1 audio so I wonder is there a way to convert from the 5.1 WMA to a 5.1 AAC audio file then mux that with the VC-1 WMV to create a MP4 file? If this is possible then I surely have no idea how to do it.

Unless some ingenius person comes up with a solution I have a feeling I am stuck with re-encoding to the WMA CD standard but I worry how this affects the audio. What happens to the 5.1 ??? ... In other words is it getting correctly downsampled to 2 channel stereo? Also the original is 48kHz whereas the CD profile I am assuming is 44.1kHz so what ill effect does that conversion have?

I can of course open the original WMA with MS Windows Media Encoder and re-encode but I want to make sure I'm doing it as best I can to a format that the PS3 can read. I'm not sure simply selecting the CD profile is doing that.

Also I can open it with GoldWave but I get a standard 2 channel stereo audio file that way ... so how is the 5.1 downsampling being handled there?

Or maybe this is all mute if it is possible to go from 5.1 WMA to 5.1 AAC and remux as a MP4 file.

In the end though I'd be happy with 5.1 to 2.0 as long as the downsampling (I guess I should be saying downmixing) is being done "correctly" as I don't really require 5.1 per se to be happy.

Anyone have any ideas?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[aedipuss]

not having it to try... maybe avidemux? load the original. set video to copy. set audio to aac/configure - bitrate 384/filters - mixer - 5.1

give it a shot. it will keep the original video and mux it with the 5.1 aac.

[FulciLives]

not having it to try... maybe avidemux? load the original. set video to copy. set audio to aac/configure - bitrate 384/filters - mixer - 5.1

give it a shot. it will keep the original video and mux it with the 5.1 aac.

A great idea only I probably should have mentioned I tried it only to get the following error upon loading the file into AviDemux:



It will not let me do anything but save it "as is" and even that doesn't work correctly although that is no big deal as I can use the Windows Media Stream Editor to demux. If I try to change the audio properties to AAC or anything else I get another error msg about it not being able to decode the audio.

I should point out that the file plays fine (with audio) using the built-in Windows Media Player (version 11). So although the AviDemux error might appear to be some sort of "codec error" ... well ... that doesn't explain me being able to play it back with WMP does it?

This is really ticking me off

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

When opening/playing the file in WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER there is an INFO screen and this is what it says:



Pretty much already knew that but I thought it might be helpful to add this to the discussion.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[pxx]

Any luck on this topic yet? Im kinda having the same problem...
Got a great video, but no audio... and even though it's a great movie to see, some sound would be appriciated

[Ai Haibara]

If you've been keeping your PS3's system software relatively up-to-date, you should have an "Enable WMA Playback" option under Settings > System Settings. Is that enabled? If not, does enabling it help you hear the audio portion?

[FulciLives]

Sorry I never got back to this but I found a work-around a long time ago.

Basically the 1080p WMV had 5.1 WMA and apparently the PS3 doesn't support that so ...

When it was all said and done I used XVID4PSP to copy the audio to a standard 2.0 stereo PCM WAV audio file (using Dolby Pro Logic II downmixing) then used GoldWave to convert to 192kbps WMA using 9.2 WMA I think then muxed the new audio with the original video.

In the end it works but no 5.1 WMA on the PS3

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I'll add a guide perhaps on how I did this but it wasn't that hard ...