How to Convert 2 channel stereo wave into DD5.1 AC3 448 / AC 640

[Bonie81]

As I was enjoying fruits from Open Source Community since long...
It would be my pleasure to share a little guide with you all.

Tools Required :
--------------------
1) SOX
2) Either BeSweet or EncWAVtoAC3
3) test.wav (2 channel stereo preferably @ 44100Hz for testing purpose.)
4) DD5.1 AC3 448 Test Sample to test 5.1 speaker system hook-up : HERE
just in case, if anyone wanna test 5.1 surround sound system and test surround speakers hook-up.
( Direct Download : url= http://www.sendspace.com/file/77dqe6 ]

[ Above sample is composed by me using the methods stated here.
This sample must not be used for any commercial purposes by any means or not to be shared online except VideoHelp & SendSpace.
It is free for personal use for surround system calibration.]

(http://img.techpowerup.org/110624/5.1_Speakers_Arrangement.jpg)




MONO TO STEREO (just in case, if anyone needs it).
sox mono.wav -c 2 stereo.wav

CONVERTING 2 CHANNELS wave stereo AUDIO TO DD5.1 AC3 448 AT 48 KHZ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 1 : Resampling at 48000Hz.
sox --no-dither test.wav -b 16 -r 48000 output.wav

Step2 : Extracting Left Front and Right Front mono Channels out of stereo
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRONT LEFT
---------------
sox --no-dither output.wav -b 16 -r 48000 -c 1 test-FL.wav remix 1

FRONT RIGHT
-----------------
sox --no-dither output.wav -b 16 -r 48000 -c 1 test-FR.wav remix 2

Step 3 : GENERATE CENTER CHANNEL
---------------------------------
sox --no-dither -v0.7071 output.wav -b 16 -r 48000 -c 1 test-C.wav remix 1v0.7071,2v0.7071 bandpass 50 20000

Step 4: GENERATE LFE CHANNEL
----------------------------
sox --no-dither output.wav -b 16 -r 48000 -c 1 test-LFE.wav remix 1v0.5000,2v0.5000 lowpass 120

Step 5 : GENERATE REAR SURROUND LEFT
------------------------------------
sox --no-dither output.wav -b 16 -r 48000 -c 1 test-SL.wav remix 1v-0.8718,2v0.4898 delay 0.15 0.15

Step 6: GENERATE REAR SURROUND RIGHT
------------------------------------
sox --no-dither output.wav -b 16 -r 48000 -c 1 test-SR.wav remix 1v0.4898,2v-0.8718 delay 0.15 0.15

(above is just a SoX sample code, NOT tested, may or may not follow any standards or specifications, can be modified!)

Step 7: MUX 6 mono wav files into DD5.1 AC-3 448 / 640 either by using BeSweet, EncWAVtoAC3 or eac3to(?)
EncWAVtoAC3 has clear n visible channel tabs.

Feeding 6 mono wave files to BeSweet to encode 5.1ch ac3
(from guide by DSPGuru.)

six mono waves and to encode to a multichannel ac3.
BeSweet can do that...

Create a ".mux" file in any text editor like notepad with an extention.mux instead of .txt,
.mux is a textfile with the name of the mono waves including complete path.
sample.mux file is as under:
=====Copy and paste following 6 lines into notepad and save as BeSweet.mux===========
g:\channelFL.wav
g:\channelC.wav
g:\channelFR.wav
g:\channelSL.wav
g:\channelSR.wav
g:\channelLFE.wav

then feed BeSweet.mux to BeSweet : -core( -input BeSweet.mux ... )


Where as -v 1.00 is volume gain. a number less than 1 decreases the volume and a number greater than 1 increases it. this parameter can be omitted.

As parameters presented here is coarsed, NOT, fine-tuned, so it is my humble request to sound engineers or sound professionals or SOX or AC3 filter or Aften or AZID Developers to fine tune parameters to produce an excellent quality output.

Plus this can be weaved into number of applications like BeSweet, EncWAVtoAC3. Audacity, Virtual Dub, AViDMUX, XMedia Recode, AVStoDVD and many...many more to name for converting 2 channel stereo wave files directly into DD5.1 AC3 448/640.

I appreciate if you share your experience in fine tuning the parameters or any relevant.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON Stereo-to-Surround Conversion
========================================
Following Resources are extremely informative. So I am putting here into one place.

1) Stereo-to-Surround Conversion Guides (Doom9 Forum Link)

2) BeHappy - AviSynth based Audio Transcoding Tool (Doom9 Forum Link)
Shon3i build BeHappy package (last) (Reference)
(Pls. Read Till End.)

BeHappy @ CodePlex (latest stable)
Similar tool is DAudioK

3) Sample Code To Play Around (Sourced from some of above references)

#resample to 48kHz and lower volume to avaid clipping
sox -S -V -c 2 test.wav -r 48k stereoInput.wav gain -h

#front = stereo.soxfilter("filter 20-20000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav front.wav sinc 20-20000
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontL.wav mixer -l
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontR.wav mixer -r

#fl = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),front.GetRightChan nel(),0.794,-0.794)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_left.wav remix -m 1v0.794,2v-0.794

#fr = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),front.GetLeftChan nel(),0.794,-0.794)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_right.wav remix -m 2v0.794,1v-0.794

#rear = stereo.soxfilter("filter 100-7000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav rear.wav sinc 100-7000

#sl = mixaudio(rear.GetLeftChannel(),rear.GetRightChanne l(),0.562,-0.562)
#sl = DelayAudio(sl,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_left.wav remix -m 1v0.562,2v-0.562 delay 0.02

#sr = mixaudio(rear.GetRightChannel(),rear.GetLeftChanne l(),0.562,-0.562)
#sr = DelayAudio(sr,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_right.wav remix -m 1v0.562,2v-0.562 delay 0.02

#cc = mixaudio(mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1),mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1),0.224,0.224)
# = mixaudio(cc_l, cc_r, 0.224,0.224)
#cc_l(1) = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1)
#cc_r(1) = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1)
sox -S -V -M frontL.wav front_left.wav centerL.wav remix -m 1v0.224,2v-0.224
sox -S -V -M frontR.wav front_right.wav centerR.wav remix -m 1v0.224,2v-0.224
sox -S -V -m centerL.wav centerR.wav center.wav

#lfe = ConvertToMono(stereo).SoxFilter("lowpass 120","vol -0.596")
sox -S -V -v -0.596 stereoInput.wav -c 1 lfe.wav lowpass 120

4) DOLBY PROLOGIC-II ORIGINAL UPMIX MATRIX (As per Specification)
===============================================
LEFT CHANNEL = AS IS
RIGHT CHANNEL = AS IS
CENTER CHANNEL = (0.7071 LEFT CHANNEL + 0.7071 RIGHT CHANNEL) BANDPASS 70 20000
LFE CHANNEL = (0.7071 LEFT CHANNEL + 0.7071 RIGHT CHANNEL) LOWPASS FILTER 120
REAR LEFT CHANNEL = 0.8718 LT CH WITH -90 DEG PHASE SHIFT + 0.4898 RT CH WITH +90 DEG PHASE SHIFT
REAR RIGHT CHANNEL = 0.4898 LT CH WITH -90 DEG PHASE SHIFT + 0.8718 RT CH WITH +90 DEG PHASE SHIFT

UpMix Matrix



You can modify codes presented in 3) to get UpMiX matrix per specification.
-or-
Simply use Audacity with proper plug-ins/filters to generate each channel (mono) separately.

5) Digital Audio Compression Standard (AC-3, E-AC-3) - ATSC Specifications.

6) Creating 8 channels - 7.1 Audio for those who wanna go beyond 5.1 (6) channels.
Also note that AFTEN Free AC-3 encoder supports only upto 5.1 channel at this moment.
(Hope, may be in future it will support Dolby Extended upto 9.1 channels or may be more! But, in case of BD where space/size is not a constraint, 8 channel wav (PCM) files can give the best quality.)
8 (7.1) channel WAV Sample.

7) How Matrix Mixing Works by The Author of ac3filter - Alexander Vigovsky

8) UpMiXing Resources and Information (Doom9 : Stereo-to-Surround Conversion Guides (Other methods) by ursamtl and neuron2.)


A little note of BiG Thank You
--------------------------------------
It wouldn't be possible if tool wasn't FREE!
Last but not the least, I would like to thank SoX Developer Team. and Authors of EncWAV2AC3. BeSweet (DSPGuru), BeHappy Developers & Contributor Team, DAudioK and all others (many more to name) who devote their time and efforts to developed such nice tools and keep'em either OpenSource or absolutely FREE!!!.... And jagabo - The one out of the thousands who read this, took time n downloaded early samples - listened them, and provided feedback (not necessary to be false positive), and Cu Selur for sharing his various SoX code -profiles collections.
The Trend Continues...

[Bonie81]

Someone submitted three different samples to me for testing.
As I am not a sound-pro and every human has different taste of music, it was hard to decide.
As first two out of three samples were played on my system extremely well, I would like to share same with you all.
Download link : SOX Samples or Alternate Link

[jagabo]

Numbers 2 sounded horrible. Numbers 1 and 3 sounded worse. Was the stereo source that bad?

[Bonie81]

Not sure about the source, as someone provided me these samples.
I burned into DVD with blank clip, my hardware system played 1 and 2 nicely with 3rd one distorted.

[jagabo]

Every time the bass drum hits there is terrible distortion and the volume of the rest of the tracks drops. Even the quite piano at the start has distorted attacks. I hope that was a problem in the original stereo source.

[Bonie81]

u r right.
i hv to ask for the source coz my guess is internet low bit rate mp3 download not even original cd.
i will cross-check tomorrow and ask.

[Bonie81]

@ jagabo

hi... considering you as a sound expert, here is another five samples for you listen over n over.
these r encoded by me. source is original audio cd.
i tried to vary sound pressure i mean volume in each sample until clipping.
take your time...
but dunno forget to provide your feed-back.
thanking U in advance!

[Selur]

back in march of last year (based on http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=787216#post787216) I wrote down this collection of sox calls and posted them over at Doom9, thought they might be interesting to you:

##
# TITLE:
# Audio with mostly dialog (ie. Comedy, Drama)
##

#input to wav
mplayer -ao pcm input.mp3 -ao pcm:file="dump.wav"

#resample to 48kHz and lower volume to avaid clipping
sox -S -V -c 2 dump.wav -r 48k stereoInput.wav gain -h

#front = stereo.soxfilter("filter 20-20000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav front.wav sinc 20-20000
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontL.wav mixer -l
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontR.wav mixer -r

#fl = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),front.GetRightChan nel(),0.794,-0.794)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_left.wav remix -m 1v0.794,2v-0.794

#fr = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),front.GetLeftChan nel(),0.794,-0.794)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_right.wav remix -m 2v0.794,1v-0.794

#rear = stereo.soxfilter("filter 100-7000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav rear.wav sinc 100-7000

#sl = mixaudio(rear.GetLeftChannel(),rear.GetRightChanne l(),0.562,-0.562)
#sl = DelayAudio(sl,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_left.wav remix -m 1v0.562,2v-0.562 delay 0.02

#sr = mixaudio(rear.GetRightChannel(),rear.GetLeftChanne l(),0.562,-0.562)
#sr = DelayAudio(sr,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_right.wav remix -m 1v0.562,2v-0.562 delay 0.02

#cc = mixaudio(mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1),mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1),0.224,0.224)
# = mixaudio(cc_l, cc_r, 0.224,0.224)
#cc_l(1) = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1)
#cc_r(1) = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1)
sox -S -V -M frontL.wav front_left.wav centerL.wav remix -m 1v0.224,2v-0.224
sox -S -V -M frontR.wav front_right.wav centerR.wav remix -m 1v0.224,2v-0.224
sox -S -V -m centerL.wav centerR.wav center.wav

#lfe = ConvertToMono(stereo).SoxFilter("lowpass 120","vol -0.596")
sox -S -V -v -0.596 stereoInput.wav -c 1 lfe.wav lowpass 120 remix -

#merge channels
sox -S -V -M front_left.wav front_right.wav rear_left.wav rear_right.wav center.wav lfe.wav multichannel.wav

#normalize + making sure it's 16bit
sox -S -V -G multichannel.wav -b 16 normalize.wav

#convert
neroAacEnc -if normalize.wav -br 196k -ignorelength -of "dialog.mp4"



##
# TITLE:
# Audio with a mix of sounds (ie. Action, Adventure)(http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=787216#post787216)
##

#input to wav
mplayer -ao pcm input.mp3 -ao pcm:file="dump.wav"

#resample to 48kHz and lower volume to avaid clipping
sox -S -V -c 2 dump.wav -r 48k stereoInput.wav gain -h

#front = stereo.soxfilter("filter 20-20000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav front.wav sinc 20-20000
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontL.wav mixer -l
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontR.wav mixer -r

#fl = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),front.GetRightChan nel(),0.668,-0.668)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_left.wav remix -m 1v0.668,2v-0.668

#fr = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),front.GetLeftChan nel(),0.668,-0.668)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_right.wav remix -m 2v0.668,1v-0.668

#rear = stereo.soxfilter("filter 100-7000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav rear.wav sinc 100-7000

#sl = mixaudio(rear.GetLeftChannel(),rear.GetRightChanne l(),0.473,-0.473)
#sl = DelayAudio(sl,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_left.wav remix -m 1v0.473,2v-0.473 delay 0.02

#sr = mixaudio(rear.GetRightChannel(),rear.GetLeftChanne l(),0.473,-0.473)
#sr = DelayAudio(sr,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_right.wav remix -m 1v0.473,2v-0.473 delay 0.02

#cc = mixaudio(mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1),mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1),0.398,0.398)
# = mixaudio(cc_l, cc_r, 0.398,0.398)
#cc_l(1) = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1)
#cc_r(1) = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1)
sox -S -V -M frontL.wav front_left.wav centerL.wav remix -m 1v0.398,2v-0.398
sox -S -V -M frontR.wav front_right.wav centerR.wav remix -m 1v0.398,2v-0.398
sox -S -V -m centerL.wav centerR.wav center.wav

#lfe = ConvertToMono(stereo).SoxFilter("lowpass 120","vol -0.447")
sox -S -V -v -0.447 stereoInput.wav -c 1 lfe.wav lowpass 120 remix -

#merge channels
sox -S -V -M front_left.wav front_right.wav rear_left.wav rear_right.wav center.wav lfe.wav multichannel.wav

#normalize + making sure it's 16bit
sox -S -V -G multichannel.wav -b 16 normalize.wav

#convert
neroAacEnc -if normalize.wav -br 196k -ignorelength -of "action.mp4"



##
# TITLE:
# Grezen Profile
##

#input to wav
mplayer -ao pcm input.mp3 -ao pcm:file="dump.wav"

#resample to 48kHz and lower volume to avoid clipping
sox -S -V -c 2 dump.wav -r 48k stereoInput.wav gain -h

#front = stereo.soxfilter("filter 20-20000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav front.wav sinc 20-20000
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontL.wav mixer -l gain -h
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontR.wav mixer -r gain -h

#fl = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),front.GetRightChan nel(),0.885,-0.115)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_left.wav gain -h remix -m 1v0.885,-,2v-0.115

#fr = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),front.GetLeftChan nel(),0.885,-,-0.115)
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav front_right.wav gain -h remix -m 2v0.885,-,1v-0.115

#rear = stereo.soxfilter("filter 100-7000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav rear.wav sinc 100-7000

#sl = mixaudio(rear.GetLeftChannel(),rear.GetRightChanne l(),0.668,-0.668)
#sl = DelayAudio(sl,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_left.wav remix -m 1v0.668,2v-0.668 delay 0.02

#sr = mixaudio(rear.GetRightChannel(),rear.GetLeftChanne l(),0.668,-0.668)
#sr = DelayAudio(sr,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_right.wav remix -m 1v0.668,2v-0.668 delay 0.02

#cc = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),front.GetLeftChan nel,0.4511,0.4511)
sox -S -V -M frontR.wav frontL.wav center.wav remix -m 1v0.4511,2v0.4511

#lfe = ConvertToMono(stereo).SoxFilter("lowpass 120","vol -0.5")
sox -S -V -v -0.5 stereoInput.wav -c 1 lfe.wav lowpass 120 remix -

#merge channels
sox -S -V -M front_left.wav front_right.wav rear_left.wav rear_right.wav center.wav lfe.wav multichannel.wav

#normalize + making sure it's 16bit
sox -S -V -G multichannel.wav -b 16 normalize.wav

#convert
neroAacEnc -if normalize.wav -br 196k -ignorelength -of "grezen.mp4"



##
# TITLE:
# Farina Profile
##

#input to wav
mplayer -ao pcm input.mp3 -ao pcm:file="dump.wav"

#resample to 48kHz and lower volume to avaid clipping
sox -S -V -c 2 dump.wav -r 48k stereoInput.wav gain -h

#front = stereo.soxfilter("filter 20-20000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav front.wav sinc 20-20000
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontL.wav mixer -l
sox -S -V -c 2 front.wav -c 1 frontR.wav mixer -r
sox -S -V -M frontL.wav frontR.wav frontLR.wav remix -m 1v0.5,2v0.5
sox -S -V -M frontL.wav frontR.wav frontRL.wav remix -m 1v0.5,2v-0.5

#fl = mixaudio(mixaudio(front_{2}.GetLeftChannel(),front _{2}.GetRightChannel(),0.500,0.500),mixaudio(front _{2}.GetLeftChannel(),front_{2}.GetRightChannel(), 0.500,-

0.500),0.8125,1.1875)
sox -S -V -M frontLR.wav frontRL.wav front_left.wav remix -m 1v0.8125,2v1.1875

#fr = mixaudio(mixaudio(front_{2}.GetLeftChannel(),front _{2}.GetRightChannel(),0.500,0.500),mixaudio(front _{2}.GetLeftChannel(),front_{2}.GetRightChannel(), 0.500,-0.500),0.8125,-

1.1875)
sox -S -V -M frontLR.wav frontRL.wav front_left.wav remix -m 1v0.8125,2v-1.1875

#rear = stereo.soxfilter("filter 100-7000")
sox -S -V -c 2 stereoInput.wav rear.wav sinc 100-7000

#sl = mixaudio(rear.GetLeftChannel(),rear.GetRightChanne l(),0.668,-0.668)
#sl = DelayAudio(sl,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_left.wav remix -m 1v0.668,2v-0.668 delay 0.02

#sr = mixaudio(rear.GetRightChannel(),rear.GetLeftChanne l(),0.668,-0.668)
#sr = DelayAudio(sr,0.02)
sox -S -V -c 2 rear.wav rear_right.wav remix -m 1v0.668,2v-0.668 delay 0.02

#cc = mixaudio(mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1),mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1),0.375,0.375)
# = mixaudio(cc_l, cc_r, 0.375,0.375)
#cc_l(1) = mixaudio(front.GetLeftChannel(),fl,1,-1)
#cc_r(1) = mixaudio(front.GetRightChannel(),fr,1,-1)
sox -S -V -M frontL.wav front_left.wav centerL.wav remix -m 1v0.375,2v-0.375
sox -S -V -M frontR.wav front_right.wav centerR.wav remix -m 1v0.375,2v-0.375
sox -S -V -m centerL.wav centerR.wav center.wav

#lfe = ConvertToMono(stereo).SoxFilter("lowpass 120","vol -0.5")
sox -S -V -v -0.5 stereoInput.wav -c 1 lfe.wav lowpass 120 remix -

#merge channels
sox -S -V -M front_left.wav front_right.wav rear_left.wav rear_right.wav center.wav lfe.wav multichannel.wav

#normalize + making sure it's 16bit
sox -S -V -G multichannel.wav -b 16 normalize.wav

#convert
neroAacEnc -if normalize.wav -br 196k -ignorelength -of "farina.mp4"

Never really used them in real life, since I don't like to juggle with so many temporal .wav files. (might be interesting to see if it is possible to merge some of the calls together to limit the number of temp files,..)

Cu Selur

[Bonie81]

@ Cu Selur

Thanks for sharing your collection of sox codes - profiles.
Now readers of this post have at-least 3-to-4 different profiles to play around.
Your share is much appreciated.

[jagabo]

@ jagabo

hi... considering you as a sound expert, here is another five samples for you listen over n over.
these r encoded by me. source is original audio cd.

A copy of the original would have been nice as a reference.

#1: severely distorted and noisy
#2: slightly distorted on bass and drums
#3: sounds ok
#4: rear tracks have too much reverb and are mushy, other tracks ok
#5: FL, C, FR too loud, rear tracks like #4.

The whole idea of simulating a 5.1 track from a 2.0 source seems pointless to me. The results are obviously not real 5.1 and you're tainting the music.

[Bonie81]

A copy of the original would have been nice as a reference.

#1: severely distorted and noisy
#2: slightly distorted on bass and drums
#3: sounds ok
#4: rear tracks have too much reverb and are mushy, other tracks ok
#5: FL, C, FR too loud, rear tracks like #4.

The whole idea of simulating a 5.1 track from a 2.0 source seems pointless to me. The results are obviously not real 5.1 and you're tainting the music.

Orginal CD Rip for Reference : Here
I liked only 3rd sample which sounds proper.

Some how, while working on my friend's PC, I figured out SoX behaves slightly different under WINE as compared to Windows. May be because of native OS audio drivers. I am trying to get more into it. But, Audacity can import 5.1 ch AC-3 but export is somehow only mono???? Plus. samples sound different in different media players too!

Thanks for your feedback.

[jagabo]

Thanks for the original WAV file. It's no contest. The original WAV is much clearer and has much better presence than even the best (#3) of the 5.1 conversions. I would never do that to any music I wanted to listen to. You realize you can usually set your AV receiver to simulate 5.1 like you're doing in software?

[Bonie81]

Thanks for the feedback.
The difference comes from comparison between loss-less (PCM-RAW) sourced from original CD and lossy (AC-3) format, whereas source is at-least 2.69 times richer than AC-3. But, in lossy format AC-3 gives very high fidelity as compared with other lossy formats.

[jagabo]

The difference comes from comparison between loss-less (PCM-RAW) sourced from original CD and lossy (AC-3) format, whereas source is at-least 2.69 times richer than AC-3.

I disagree. Yes, a AC3 encoding is lossy, but even a 128 kbps MP3 encoding of the original WAV sounds better than the 5.1 AC3 samples.

[Selur]

I backup my cds with flac audio and use stereo->5.1 only if I need to mix a stereo source with a 5.1 source and aim for 5.1,...
btw. if anyone is interested I could also post the sox remux parts of the sox calls I use for X -> Stereo downmixes.

Cu Selur

[Bonie81]

@ jagabo

i am trying to get rid of signal attenuation in above mentioned profiles by CU Selur and getting too-close or way better. will submit the sample once done!

Updates :
At least 3 db attenuation helps to keep noise level low.

@ Cu Selur

Plz. go ahead and post it all information as much as you can coz information is useful for those who needs it.
and Last Quick Questions?
How come Germans are leading in audio / video mastering equipments and S/Ws?

[jagabo]

i am trying to get rid of signal attenuation in above mentioned profiles

You want the channels to be attenuated. AC3 usually has a nominal level around -20 dB.

[Bonie81]

[
You want the channels to be attenuated. AC3 usually has a nominal level around -20 dB.

where does it come from? encoder default profile?
otherwise gonna use something like soundforge to adjust each channel separately.

[Bonie81]

hi jagabo

Here is the last two samples where compression ration is approx 1-to-10 and channels attenuation is slightly conteolled by professional s/w.
Download : Link
Hopefully, you gonna like it or love it to listen! But, still they need little refining / fine-tuning.
Advantage of Ac-3 is smaller size plus muti-channels.
Thanks for everything and sharing your feedback n ideas.

[SallyDog]

If you're really interested in this stuff, might I suggest this forum:

http://www.surroundbyus.com/

[rmsk8r]

Yeah SBU rocks. For comparison I made a couple examples from the same song as above:

http://hotfile.com/dl/122328192/508e321/SBU_Samples.zip.html

As I said, two examples, made with two different SBU methods. These are 44.1Khz DTS files. They can be played in foobar (with DTS plugin) or VLC, or burned to an audio CD and played back in a DVD or CD player WITH A DIGITAL CONNECTION to a receiver with a DTS decoder.

No disrespect for the efforts put in here by the original poster, just wanted to give you folks a heads up in case you would prefer the SBU stuff. It's also free (well, "donation ware"), except you need a $75 dollar program, Plogue Bidule, to run it. Sometimes plogue.com has free demos though.

Enjoy.

[Selur]

@Bonie81:
here you go the sox XtoStereo down mix channel mix calls (-m ...):

//1toStereo
1,1


//3toStereo
1v0.5858,3v0.4142 2v0.5858,3v0.4142
//3toStereo (dpl)
1v0.5858,3v0.4142 2v0.5858,3v-0.4142
//4toStereo
1v0.5,3v0.5 2v0.5,4v0.5
//4toStereo (dpl)
1v0.4142,3v0.2929,4v0.2929 2v0.4142,3v-0.2929,4v-0.2929
//4toStereo (dpl2)
1v0.4142,3v0.3714,4v0.2144 2v0.4142,3v-0.2144,4v-0.3714

//5toStereo
1v0.3694,3v0.2612,4v0.3694 2v0.3694,3v0.2612,5v0.3694
//5toStereo (dpl)
1v0.3205,3v0.2265,4v0.2265,5v0.2265 1v0.3205,3v-0.2265,4v0.2265,5v-0.2265
//5toStereo (dpl2)
1v0.3254,3v0.2301,4v0.2818,5v0.1627 2v0.3254,3v0.2301,4v-0.2818,5v-0.1627

//6toStereo
1v0.3694,3v0.2612,5v0.3694 2v0.3694,3v0.2612,6v0.3694
//6toStereo (dpl)
1v0.3205,3v0.2265,4v0.2265,5v0.2265 2v0.3205,3v0.2265,4v-0.2265,5v-0.2265
//6toStereo (dpl2)
1v0.3254,3v0.2301,5v0.2818,6v0.1627 2v0.3254,3v0.2301,5v-0.1627,6v-0.2818
//6toStereo (lfe)
1v0.2929,3v0.2071,4v0.2071,5v0.2929 2v0.2929,3v0.2071,4v0.2071,6v0.2929
//6toStereo (dpllfe)
1v0.2613,3v0.1847,4v0.1847,5v0.1847,6v0.1847 2v0.2613,3v0.1847,4v0.1847,5v-0.1847,6v-0.1847
//6toStereo (dpl2lfe)
1v0.2646,3v0.1870,4v0.1870,5v0.2291,6v0.1323 2v0.2646,3v0.1870,4v0.1870,5v-0.1323,6v-0.2291

The 6to... calls are the once interesting for 5.1 to stereo.
wrote them all together for Hybrid (small cross-plattform av gui I'm writing in my free time)

Cu Selur

Ps.: btw. the name is 'Selur'; 'Cu Selur' -> translates to 'see you, Selur'

[Bonie81]

@ jagabo
hope last two samples are ok???

@ Cu Selur
Thanks for your share.
See Ya!


@ SallyDog

Thanks for the link.
I am already there since long.

@ rmsk8r

Thanks for your DTS conversion.
Both sound nice.
Thanks!

[Bonie81]

At last....
Channel Mapping (Courtesy : Wikipedia)



CORRECTIONS:-

As per SMPTE and ITU Standard correct channel mapping for DD5.1 (AC-3) is as under.

1	2	3	4	5	6
Left Front	Right Front	Center	LFE	Left Surround	Right Surround

which is exactly same as mp3/Wave/flac.
(But, i have observed deviation from this many times in original DVDs)

[jagabo]

@ jagabo
hope last two samples are ok???

I didn't even listen to them. As I said, I'm of the opinion that creating a 5.1 track from a good stereo track can only degrade the sound quality. There's no reason to do it. Even if I needed to make it 5.1 to make it compatible with other clips that I was editing together I would make the stereo tracks FL and FR and leave the other tracks silent. Maybe a separate sub channel but I'd still keep the FL and FR tracks intact.

[Bonie81]

@ jagabo

agreed 100%.
i hv also noticed that at least 3 db attenuation helps to keep signal noise level low.
Thanks for everything!

[Selur]

for those interested in 5.1 to stereo downmix:

LeKouz (author of BDAudioConverterGUI) posted:

the sox variant of ac3filters 5.1 to stereo matrices
a.

Dolby Pro Logic I without LFE "remix -m 1v1,3v0.7071,4v0,5v-1,6v-1 2v1,3v0.7071,4v0,5v1,6v1"
Dolby Pro Logic I with LFE "remix -m 1v1,3v0.7071,4v0.7071,5v-1,6v-1 2v1,3v0.7071,4v0.7071,5v1,6v1"
Dolby Pro Logic II without LFE "remix -m 1v1,3v0.7071,4v0,5v-0.8718,6v-0.4899 2v1,3v0.7071,4v0,5v0.4899,6v0.8718"
Dolby Pro Logic II with LFE "remix -m 1v1,3v0.7071,4v0,5v-0.8718,6v-0.4899 2v1,3v0.7071,4v0,5v0.4899,6v0.8718"

b. a more 'normalized' version of this:

Dolby Pro Logic I without LFE "remix -m 1v0.2698,3v0.1907,4v0,5v-0.2698,6v-0.2698 2v0.2698,3v0.1907,4v0,5v0.2698,6v0.2698"
Dolby Pro Logic I with LFE "remix -m 1v0.2265,3v0.1602,4v0.1602,5v-0.2265,6v-0.2265 2v0.2265,3v0.1602,4v0.1602,5v0.2265,6v0.2265"
Dolby Pro Logic II without LFE "remix -m 1v0.3259,3v0.2304,4v0,5v-0.2841,6v-0.1596 2v0.3259,3v0.2304,4v0,5v0.1596,6v0.2841"
Dolby Pro Logic II with LFE "remix -m 1v0.2648,3v0.1873,4v0.1873,5v-0.2309,6v-0.1297 2v0.2648,3v0.1873,4v0.1873,5v0.1297,6v0.2309"

Cu Selur

[downloader11]

Can you please tell me how to convert from stereo to 5.1 for windows 10. I didn't understand how to use SoX and Separate Channels. Any guidance for this will be very helpful for me . Thank You

[ConverterCrazy]

Someone submitted three different samples to me for testing.
As I am not a sound-pro and every human has different taste of music, it was hard to decide.
As first two out of three samples were played on my system extremely well, I would like to share same with you all.
Download link : SOX Samples or Alternate Link

Hello @Bonie81,

I know it is an old thread.

If I am not forgetting, you posted a link to a

DD5.1 AC3 448 Test Sample to test 5.1 speaker hookup
( Direct Download : url= http://www.sendspace.com/file/77dqe6 ]

That link doesn't work any more. I need that file. Will you pl upload the test sample here so that I can download?

Thanks.

P.S.
Will any member of this Forum, be kind enough to share that file? Thanks.

[Selur]

Don't know what that sample look like, but I got a 5.1 channel test clip,...