PS3 5.1 Audio Problems

[tsudduth24]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this so....


Every since 5.1 audio has been a conversion option for PS3 (mp4) files, the audio tracks seem to have an issue, The track that should be coming from the center speaker (mostly the characters speaking), is coming from the front right speaker.The next issue is a little harder to describe and may be related to the first. It seems like the loud, higher frequencies are little distorted with "crackling noises". lol It happens at every volume range and no, it's not my stereo. I have crystal clear sound from every other source.

I guess its not a big deal, just annoying enough to keep me converting with Dolby ProLogic II.

BTW, I've been a happy customer for quite some time now. Love DVDFAB! Keep up the great work.

[ting]

hi,

thanks for report this problem, I have got the report from other users, I will try to fix them quickly, I think maybe this is not the very difficultly problem.

[Complication]

I think the crackling noises are a bug in the PS3 playback of files with 5.1 audio. I get the same problem when playing files created by DVDFab VOB Passthrough, which does not modify the audio stream. If I put the DVD of the same title in then there are no crackling sounds. It does not occur on every title and mostly occurs on TV shows rather than movies.

[St00pidChicken]

This is happening with the XBOX 360 conversion too. 5.1 audio results in the same issue of the center channel audio being in the right front channel. I am using the latest version as of 11/11/2009. I have no issue of crackling audio... it's crystal clear... just wrong.

Likewise, Dolby ProLogic II works well enough for the 360 conversions too... but it's nothing like discreet 5.1 audio streams. I paid good money for this software, and love it as well, but I want the features to work properly. I also don't want to have to convert these movies later down the road when this feature starts working.

What is a timeframe to have this issue fixed?? On 9/17/2009, "ting" said this doen't sound like a big deal to fix, yet here we are in November with a recent release and it is still an issue.

For now, unfortunately, I will be looking for an alternative solution. :-(

One other thing, it would be great if DVDFab could be more like AnyDVD in the sense that AnyDVD can be automated more easily, and even call other external applications. I know that DVDFab is MUCH more feature rich and offers things that AnyDVD doesn't have, but I am only talking about being able to automate DVDFab more, like have it run as a service so it can do things automatically upon a DVD being inserted.

Thanks for a great product... let's get this figured out and fixed so I can continue to use it! :-)

[Garyde]

I too am having this issue. It is good to know the issue has been recognized. Hope it is fixed soon. Mine is with DVD to MP4. My workaround is to use Dolby II

[GregiBoy]

I suggest that you all also post your issues here so the developers can see them in one place. You may have to change the data format around a little.

http://forum.dvdfab.com/showthread.php?t=1087

[Vimes]

.....
This is happening with the XBOX 360 conversion too. 5.1 audio results in the same issue of the center channel audio being in the right front channel. ....

Just a note that I am having this issue as well. It would be nice if the xbox wmv10 profile could receive some attention as my main goal in purchasing this software was to convert my dvd library for viewing on the xbox. WMV10 is great for this, but DVD fab doesn't seem to be able to create a high quality WMV file with 5.1 sound.

[Garyde]

Can you please give us an ETA on this fix? I am in a holding pattern.

[jtrevill]

I'm also awaiting this fix. I have not yet purchased the full version, as I'm trying to determine if this is truly a working option for me. I believe it is, but now am awaiting this important fix before proceeding. I too have many DVD's waiting to proceed because of this fix.

Any time frames? Thanks!

[GregiBoy]

Why use the WMV profile?

Why not use one of the generic ones which I understand will work on the XBox?

[jtrevill]

I'm trying to keep the 5.1 surround sound - is there another way to do this?

Thanks for the quick reply!

[GregiBoy]

Yes, the generic.avi.xvid.audiocopy retains the original Dolby 5.1 soundtrack totally untouched so long as you select it when you set up the job.

All the audiocopy profiles do this.

I think the major problem with the WMV profiles is that Fab has to rely on Windows Media Encoding which is from Microsoft and they are notoriously slow on fixes to this.

[jtrevill]

Thanks again for the help - does the generic.avi.h264.audiocopy keep surround sound and work on an XBOX? I like the conversion settings with the larger file size and 2 Pass encoding. However, when I choose that it changes to the generic.avi.h264.audiocopy.


EDIT - Nevermind, i must have been doing something wrong... Thanks again, I'll try the generic.avi.xvid.audiocopy

[Vimes]

Why use the WMV profile?

Why not use one of the generic ones which I understand will work on the XBox?

Because:

1. WMV works much better on the xbox. Especially over a marginal (i.e. wireless-N ) connection. Rewinding/FF etc work better than Xvid.

2. The quality per size is much better. WMV10 is much newer than xvid (and while I love xvid, it is a little long in the tooth).

3. Frankly, I bought this program specifically because of its ability to convert to WMV. It's the only one I could find that could do so with relative ease. It is very frustrating that it does not work AND that this is not properly addressed. As an earlier poster said, the last dev response regarding the 5.1 issue is from September.

And let's not blame Microsoft for this either. This 5.1 issue affects both MP4 on the PS3 and also WMV the XBOX. Sure sounds like a DVDFAB issue and not a WMV only issue. I have done conversions from VOB to WMV10 with Windows Media Encoder and it works fine. (This is on the same box where DVDFAB has the issue.) The problem is that using WME is very tedious and thus the desire for a one-stop program (DVDFAB).

Finally, for anyone interested, there are exactly 2 ways to get 5.1 audio on XBOX 360 right now:

1) XVID with audio passthrough. If this is the only option that DVDFAB offers, I would have stuck with a different program.

2) WMV10 with 5.1 multichannel audio

Note that the xbox got the ability to play mp4 files in the last update, but not with 5.1 sound.

Clearly there are several threads relating to this issue. I think it warrants more of a response than it has been receiving.

EDIT by Complication: Removed veiled reference to other software.

[St00pidChicken]

Why use the WMV profile?

Why not use one of the generic ones which I understand will work on the XBox?

I guess you can chalk it up to personal preference, but in my opinion, WMV files play great on the XBOX 360 (and Windows PC) and I can get near perfect DVD quality with that format that I have not been able to get with other formats. Also, the other formats do not seem to play *as well* on the 360 as the WMV format.

My biggest question is, why has this NOT been fixed yet??

I am looking at other solutions because of this limitation. I am also looking at other formats from other software solutions, such as the latest Handbrake, but I paid good money for DVDFab and would rather stick with it... I just want it to work the way it's supposed to for the features offered.

It goes deeper for me than just this one issue, like the command line interface not working for XBOX 360 (you can use the parameter, but it resolves to ZUNE anyway, which is NOT what I want). It blows me away that the support on a free product such as Handbrake is better than this pay-for solution. I think DVDFab is great and a more complete all-around solution, but it would seem this issue is taking too long to get resolved considering how long the developers have known about it, AND the fact that one of them said this problem didn't seem like it would be difficult to fix... then no word from them since.