HD PVR 2 - AAC to AC3 Need Help

[BinaryBin]

So the HD PVR 2 only records in AAC. I have it record to a .TS file. Now I want to take my recordings and put them ona Blu-Ray Disc. The problem is that AAC is not Blu-Ray Compliant, it must be AC3. So this is the problem, what is the best way to convert the aac to ac3 without touching the video and make it ready for burning to a blu-ray disc.

Using Windows 7 64-bit.

I've tried multiAVCHD and it fails on audio conversion. There has to be a better way no? One not involving a ton of demuxing, encoding, remuxing in who knows how many steps . Any help or what programs to try. Thanks.

I would even be willing to buy the Arcsoft Showbiz 5 if someone can confirm that it doesn't re-encode video. I don't want the video messed with again since its already been encoded correctly, just the audio needs re-encoding. (The HD PVR 2 only comes with this total media studio / showbiz 3 software that only does DVD not Blu-Ray which DOES re-encode video)

[Baldrick]

Have you tried avchdcoder?

[mail2tom]

Try TFM Audio Tool and mux the output back into the transport stream with tsmuxer. I've had good luck with it.

[BinaryBin]

Thanks for the Tips

I tried out avchdcoder but it appears this program will want to re-encode the video. Not good, if you know of a way to tell it not to, let me know, but looks like there isn't.

I tried TFM Audio Tool, and dropped in my file and it just sat there doing nothing. So I then tried to tsmuxer first, got just the .aac file and dropped that into TFM Audio Tool. But when clicking convert it gives this error "Access violation at address 0091CE4C in module 'TFMAudioTool.exe'. Write of address 00000004."

Any ideas? or other programs to try

[manono]

Any ideas? or other programs to try

I use the free version of AoA Audio Extractor to either extract a WAV file to encode to AC3 myself, or to convert directly to AC3.

[BinaryBin]

I tried all the suggestions above. I found that .ts and .m2ts formats out of the hd pvr 2 are not as friendly as a .mp4 but even then no matter what output i take and then try to demux re-encode ect. The audio is always out of sync. It can't be fixed by a delay at the start as it is in sync at the beginning, and slowly gets worse and worse till close to the end it is WAY off. :/

Tried all combinations of the above software, doesn't matter. Even simply demuxing and remuxing the audio will be out of sync.

The audio is in perfect sync through out in the original files, is there audio time codes or something? how can the original .mp4 be in perfect sync, but doing a simple demux with tsmuxer and then remuxing those files right after create a file that is so out of sync.

[KTH]

Try TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer 4 it will just re-encode the audio to ac3 and not touch the video. You can download a fully functional 14 day free trial, but it does add a watermark to the video being converted or edited. Also it does seem to keep the A/V in sync. Just like you I have noticed sync problems when using other software, but this program seems to work perfectly fine for me. One thing to note is that the program won't allow you to output video in the same .ts format as the original so for Blu-ray please select "Blu-ray (BDMV) Standard MPEG File" which saves the files in the .m2t format which TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5 will accept as Blu-ray complient and not re-encode. I'm not sure if this file will work in other Blu-ray authoring programs without re-encoding though. Also just for reference the files I use this program with were captured using a Hauppauge Colossus video capture card which is basically the internal version of the HD PVR.

[jman98]

I tried all the suggestions above. I found that .ts and .m2ts formats out of the hd pvr 2 are not as friendly as a .mp4 but even then no matter what output i take and then try to demux re-encode ect. The audio is always out of sync. It can't be fixed by a delay at the start as it is in sync at the beginning, and slowly gets worse and worse till close to the end it is WAY off. :/

I've got the Hauppauge Colossus, which is based on the same chipset, and my experience is the exact opposite of yours. My experience is that if you record in MP4, you are asking for problems. Yes, I've seen tons of posts like yours that as soon as someone touches the MP4 file it goes out of sync. TS seems to work best. I record in TS format and edit it with VideoReDo TV Suite plus H.264 and save to MKV. I never have sync issues. You might look into editing with what I use, but do note that it's not freeware.

Note that if BOTH of the following are true and BOTH must be true, not just one, you can record on your device in AC3 format. Just telling you in case you can do this.
1) You MUST use an optical cable from your source to the device.
2) The source MUST output its audio in AC3 format.
If both are true, your device will record an exact copy of the AC3 source.

I use an old version of CoolEdit to convert AAC recordings to AC3, but I'm just dealing with 2 channel sources for what I use the card to record in AAC format.

[netmask56]

Pop it in a MKV container using MKVmergeGui (takes about 5 minutes) and then use Popcorn AudioConvertor to change the aac to ac3. No video reencoding. Or try MKV2AC3

[JimLely]

So the HD PVR 2 only records in AAC. I have it record to a .TS file. Now I want to take my recordings and put them ona Blu-Ray Disc. The problem is that AAC is not Blu-Ray Compliant, it must be AC3. So this is the problem, what is the best way to convert the aac to ac3 without touching the video and make it ready for burning to a blu-ray disc.

Using Windows 7 64-bit.

I've tried multiAVCHD and it fails on audio conversion. There has to be a better way no? One not involving a ton of demuxing, encoding, remuxing in who knows how many steps . Any help or what programs to try. Thanks.

I would even be willing to buy the Arcsoft Showbiz 5 if someone can confirm that it doesn't re-encode video. I don't want the video messed with again since its already been encoded correctly, just the audio needs re-encoding. (The HD PVR 2 only comes with this total media studio / showbiz 3 software that only does DVD not Blu-Ray which DOES re-encode video)

Did you ever find a satisfactory solution to this?

[BinaryBin]

Unfortunately not, it has since been shelved as I have other matters to attend to, but if you find any such solution, please let me know

[JimLely]

Unfortunately not, it has since been shelved as I have other matters to attend to, but if you find any such solution, please let me know

Well, I found that Avidemux (freeware) does the job. I'm using the 64 bit variant and it's version 2.6.6 . This is excellent multi-purpose software (albeit with some eccentricities). It will convert your AAC to AC3 without transcoding the video and will then remux the ac3 with the video stream. (So you don't have to use tsmuxer which screws up the audio synching.) Since I only use .ts and .m2ts transport files, I'm not sure how it will handle mp4, however.

You should only have to muck around with the "Audio Output" and "Output Format" parameters. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Jim

[jagabo]

You could use Audacity with the ffmpeg plugin to import the AAC audio directly from the source video then export as an AC3 file. You can mux that AC3 file with with the video using whatever muxer you want.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_installation_and_plug_ins.html#ffdown

[fritzi93]

Pop it in a MKV container using MKVmergeGui (takes about 5 minutes) and then use Popcorn AudioConvertor to change the aac to ac3. No video reencoding. Or try MKV2AC3

Surely this would be easiest. To the JimLely: Have you tried the above? (I use MKVmerge GUI often, and have used MKV2AC3 a bit, enough to feel confident that it's reliable. Dunno about Popcorn converter.)

And jman98 has a very good point about outputting from a Hauppauge to TS (transport stream). I've found that to be least problematic. (I have an HD-PVR.)

[gll99]

If you don't have it already download ffmpeg

Try this code in a bat file. It will just convert the audio to ac3 and remux it with the video as is. Place the bat file in the ffmpeg directory. Replace the drive, path and filenames with your own. The -ac 2 parameter indicates the number of channels in the audio track (usually 2 from a composite source) and the -ab 192k switch is the audio bitrate which can be modified as needed. Don't forget the quotes for long paths and filenames.

ffmpeg -i "C:\FullPath\InputMovieTitle.TS" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "C:\FullPath\OUTMovieTitle.TS"
pause

or if you have already demuxed the audio and want to remux it yourself after conversion then use:

ffmpeg -i "C:\FullPath\audioTrack.aac" -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "C:\FullPath\AudioTrack.ac3"
pause

btw) the pause is on a separate line. It allows you to see the messages otherwise the cmd box (dos box) will just close on error or when its done and you won't be able to read it.

[jagabo]

If you don't have it already download ffmpeg

Try this code in a bat file...

ffmpeg -i "C:\FullPath\InputMovieTitle.TS" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "C:\FullPath\OUTMovieTitle.TS"
pause

Or better, put the following in a batch file and you can drag/drop files onto it:

 "C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

Change the path to ffmpeg.exe if you have it installed somewhere else. This will give you an output file with .AC3 added between the base name and the .TS extension, in the same folder as the TS file. For example:

D:\Videos\Video 1.TS

will be copied and converted to:

D:\Videos\Video 1.AC3.TS

If you put the batch file in your SendTo folder you can right click on any file and select SendTo -> (name of batch file).

[gll99]

Or further to jagabo's suggestion for using an input / output variable you can put a shortcut to the bat file on your desktop and just drag and drop the video file you want to convert on top of the shortcut icon and it will auto start the conversion.

EDIT:
The thing I would change is the bolded part if you want the video written back in the same directory as the original

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

to

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i "%~f1" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~p1\%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

%~f1 in the input variable keeps the full original path and filename
%~p1 in the output adds the original input path but without the filename
\ is needed to keep the proper structure for the full path and filename which will follow
%~n1 as jagabo shows keeps the original filename but strips the .TS extension
.AC3 simply adds the word AC3 to the output filename to help identify it and make it different than the original
.TS restores the extension to complete the filename

[mail2tom]

I've used the TFM Audio Tool/tsmuxer and MKVMerge/PopCorn MKV AudioConverter methods for the same conversion. Thanks to gll99 and jagabo for providing a 3rd alternative that I can use.

[jagabo]

The thing I would change is the bolded part if you want the video written back in the same directory as the original

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

to

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i "%~f1" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~p1\%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

You don't need to specify the output folder because the batch file is run with the current folder set to the same folder as the file. At least in Win7. It doesn't hurt to specify the full drive/path/file name. In fact that's probably safest since, if I recall correctly, some older versions of Windows ran batch files with the current folder set to C:\Windows\System32. You can expand the output to the full: "%~1d%~p1%~n1.AC3.TS". That's the drive letter, path, and base file name.

You also don't need the \ between the sections. If you put one there Windows will generate two \\ between them instead of only one. It still works because Windows treats \\ the same as \. Again, this may vary with older versions of Windows.

<edit>

I just checked on XP. The default folder isn't the folder the source file is in so you need to specify the full path. You don't need \ between the parts because they are provided. So use:

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~d1%~p1%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

This works even if the source file is on a different drive letter or a network share.

[gll99]

I concur with jagabo's solution.

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~d1%~p1%~n1.AC3.TS" pause

I was going from memory and then looked at an old example I had used before where everything was on the same drive.

[JimLely]

Pop it in a MKV container using MKVmergeGui (takes about 5 minutes) and then use Popcorn AudioConvertor to change the aac to ac3. No video reencoding. Or try MKV2AC3

Surely this would be easiest. To the JimLely: Have you tried the above? (I use MKVmerge GUI often, and have used MKV2AC3 a bit, enough to feel confident that it's reliable. Dunno about Popcorn converter.)

And jman98 has a very good point about outputting from a Hauppauge to TS (transport stream). I've found that to be least problematic. (I have an HD-PVR.)

I have tried the MKV approach and was successful in converting to AC3. The question that the OP had was how to get the file into a form that's Blu-ray compliant? If I use TsMuxer to remux the mkv file into a Blu-ray compliant form, I get a lip synch problem that can't be resolved via delay. Using the ts file out of Avidemux, I remux using TsRemux into Blu-ray compliant form.

I do output from the Hauppauge using the ts format. It's the OP that outputs using mp4.

[JimLely]

While I'm not the OP, I'd like to thank everyone (especially gll99 and jagabo) who have lately contributed so much to resolving this problem.

[cp2k]

Just to revive this discussion, has anyone found a sure fire way to convert the files the HD PVR produces to something TMPG will accept? I have the new HD PVR Rocket, and the Avidemux method fails on every file I try.

I wonder if it would be easier using a Mac? I do have a Mac Mini. Would iMovie allow you to convert just the audio and leave the video untouched?

[VideoFanatic]

The thing I would change is the bolded part if you want the video written back in the same directory as the original

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

to

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i "%~f1" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~p1\%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

You don't need to specify the output folder because the batch file is run with the current folder set to the same folder as the file. At least in Win7. It doesn't hurt to specify the full drive/path/file name. In fact that's probably safest since, if I recall correctly, some older versions of Windows ran batch files with the current folder set to C:\Windows\System32. You can expand the output to the full: "%~1d%~p1%~n1.AC3.TS". That's the drive letter, path, and base file name.

You also don't need the \ between the sections. If you put one there Windows will generate two \\ between them instead of only one. It still works because Windows treats \\ the same as \. Again, this may vary with older versions of Windows.

<edit>

I just checked on XP. The default folder isn't the folder the source file is in so you need to specify the full path. You don't need \ between the parts because they are provided. So use:

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 192k "%~d1%~p1%~n1.AC3.TS"
pause

This works even if the source file is on a different drive letter or a network share.

Thanks that works great. Any idea what I can add to that so I can amplify the audio by 6dB?

[jagabo]

Try adding

-af volume=2.0

to the ffmpeg parameters. I don't know what the units are so tune the volume parameter to your liking. 2.0 gave about the same increase as 6dB in Audacity.

[VideoFanatic]

Thanks. Was wondering what this part means?: -i %1

[VideoFanatic]

Thanks. Was wondering what this part means?: -i %1

This is what I've got so far which is working nicely.

"X:\Portable Installations\ffmpeg-2014 May 14-git-72dcd48-win64-static\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 384k -af volume=+6dB "%~d1%~p1%~n1.AC3.ts"
pause

That muxes the video to the same format it originally was and converts the audio to AC3. I would also like the original AAC audio demuxed into an AAC file. Do you know how to do that please?

[jagabo]

"-i" specifies the input file is "%1", the first argument on the command line.

To extract the AAC audio:

"C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -acodec copy "%~d1%~p1%~n1.AAC"

[VideoFanatic]

Thanks however I want to mux the video and convert the audio to AC3 so I get a TS file with AC3 audio. In addition in the same batch file I would like to extract the AAC. Is that possible and if so what code would I use?

[jagabo]

Put both command in the same batch file:

"X:\Portable Installations\ffmpeg-2014 May 14-git-72dcd48-win64-static\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ac 2 -ab 384k -af volume=+6dB "%~d1%~p1%~n1.AC3.ts"
"X:\Portable Installations\ffmpeg-2014 May 14-git-72dcd48-win64-static\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %1 -acodec copy "%~d1%~p1%~n1.aac"
pause