OT:ac3 filter discussion

[merrypig]

Since this came up in the other thread and was a little OT for the poll, I figured I'd start a new thread for discussion the use of ac3filter with BTV for spdif/5.1 surround output.

In theory it should work, have yet to verify myself.

Post here your experiences/questions and we'll figure out what can be done and if need be work on a feature request to SS to support it?

A more specific ac3filter discussion can be found here

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76480

[imf4]

I have been using this for a couple months and it works great. I tend to use it for Windows Media 9/Xvid AVI files encoded with AC3 audio. You obviously can't configure it in Beyond TV, but I just configure it using Media Player Classic and then when I start to play a file with AC3 audio it uses those settings. I have tried the Dolby digital and AC3 spdif passthroughs and they do work.

I really don't have any other need for it except when I have an AVI with AC3 audio in it. So I haven't tried it with the Mpeg2 files but I am sure it would work. I do know if it is set to the default decoder, when I open up a DVD or Mpeg2 file in Windows Media Player it uses the AC3 decoder instead of the other ones on my system.

[imf4]

I guess my question is. Does BTV use a specific graph? or does it use what ever audio decoder is the default?

On your note, As a simple feature, they should allow you to select what Audio Decoder you want to use, You already can select the Mpeg2 one.

A more advanced option would be a plus beyond that. The ability to build your own Graph.
Obviously the big plus would be choosing the specific Decoders, but also you could use FFDshow and stuff like that.

[genesis]

It would be really nice if we could choose decoders. AC3Filter's cousin, matrixmixer, would be especially useful for this.

Quick Example:

I have a 4 point speaker system in my dorm room. Since the TV and Computer are on different walls, when I want to watch a movie on the TV, I just choose a profile in matrix mixer that rotates all the speakers clockwise. R and SR become L and R respectively, etc. It works pretty well. It also has lots of other fancy little features like Dynamic Range Compression, etc. It's basically like an audio equivalent to FFDShow.