is it possible to demux 5.1 ac3 into 5 sep. channels, re-enc

[pants]

is it possible to take a 5.1 ac3 file decode it to aiff into the seperate channels then re-encode it with a. pack at a lower rate? i tried the check box on mac ac3 ap, but when checked it crashed, into a stereo aiff works great though. is this even possible?

[Slomer]

One thing to remember with computers is that everything is possible Sonic foundry allows you to open a 6 channel file and view each track. It also allows for deleting of individual tracks and saving the resulting file (thus being able to basically decode 1 track out of 6). I am sure there is also some way to coax a program into combining multiple files into a 6 channel ac3. If nothing else you could use cooledit or something to make a 6 channel .wav and convert that. This leads to a lot of opportunity for something similar to what you want to do. I am FAR from being good with the program though as I don't tend to edit any sound in more than steroa as it is laborious without the right setup. However, it does show that with the right software it is definately possible. Not a lot of motivation to research it further since I have no need but I hope you figure it out.

[WiseWeasel]

APack lets you do that already. Just open the ac3 file with APack, then hit the 'Decode As...' button, choose a location, don't check 'stereo downmix' and hit 'Go', and it will decode all the channels into separate AIFF files. You can then drag these onto the various channels of the 'Instant Encoder' window and set the bitrate to what you want. It's not a good idea to go too low (like below 448 or 384 kbps) for 5.1 audio. If you downmix to stereo, you can safely go down to 160 kbps.

[AntnyMD]

The freeware app mAC3dec crashes on this task in some versions and not in others. Its weird. Since you have A.Pack, I'd go with that.

[pants]

thanks for the help. i was not aware you could do that with a.pack, that's awesome. tried it last night and it worked great.