Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Handbrake and Surround Sound

L

LGShepherd

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 27, 2007
220
12
Teesside, United Kingdom
Hi,

I'm sorry if this has been posted before but i couldn't find anything.

When you rip movies through Handbrake, is there any way of bringing the 5.1 sound a long with it?

Cheers
_______________________________________

Apologies!

I have stumbled across something, but can someone explain the difference between 'English (AC3) (5.1ch)' and 'English (AC3) (Dolby Surround)' andthe difference between 'AAC' and 'AC3 Passthru'

I want to stream my movies from my macbook to my PS3 and keep the surround sound.

Thanks!
 
LGShepherd said:
Hi,

I'm sorry if this has been posted before but i couldn't find anything.

When you rip movies through Handbrake, is there any way of bringing the 5.1 sound a long with it?

Cheers
Click to expand...


Yes. You select it in the audio and subtitles tab.

My preference is to rip everything first then cue up a bunch to encode though so I don't use handbrake to rip. Make sure you have the latest version of VLC Media Player and Handbrake (0.93)

Edit, who cares about the PS3....j/k
 
I have the latest of both, but I was just after a quick and easy way to rip the movie with the 5.1 sound.

I think I have found it in handbrake anyways, so I will rip a film and test it
 
ladysman said:
Yes. You select it in the audio and subtitles tab.

My preference is to rip everything first then cue up a bunch to encode though so I don't use handbrake to rip. Make sure you have the latest version of VLC Media Player and Handbrake (0.93)

Edit, who cares about the PS3....j/k
Click to expand...

I am new to handbrake and I was wondering, do most people just use VLC to watch their encoded movies in AC3? I found out that itunes unfortunately doesn't output AC3 (this sucks, apple), so just wondering if this is the case with surround sound encoded movies...
 
Icaras said:
I am new to handbrake and I was wondering, do most people just use VLC to watch their encoded movies in AC3? I found out that itunes unfortunately doesn't output AC3 (this sucks, apple), so just wondering if this is the case with surround sound encoded movies...
Click to expand...

Plex (my favorite), XBMC, Quicktime, VLC and Front Row all support AC3 passthrough to your receiver or TV through your Mac's optical port. "Surround sound" is a much broader term that what you're using here. Dolby Pro Logic II is surround sound and is encoded by HB as AAC analog, so any receiver/TV capable of decoding it from the R & L RCA cable will give you 5 channel surround.
 
Cave Man said:
Plex (my favorite), XBMC, Quicktime, VLC and Front Row all support AC3 passthrough to your receiver or TV through your Mac's optical port. "Surround sound" is a much broader term that what you're using here. Dolby Pro Logic II is surround sound and is encoded by HB as AAC analog, so any receiver/TV capable of decoding it from the R & L RCA cable will give you 5 channel surround.
Click to expand...

I have a similar setup, what settings do you use in HandBreak for video and audio (2-pass, bitrate, etc)?
 
LGShepherd said:
Hi,

I'm sorry if this has been posted before but i couldn't find anything.

When you rip movies through Handbrake, is there any way of bringing the 5.1 sound a long with it?

Cheers
_______________________________________

Apologies!

I have stumbled across something, but can someone explain the difference between 'English (AC3) (5.1ch)' and 'English (AC3) (Dolby Surround)' andthe difference between 'AAC' and 'AC3 Passthru'

I want to stream my movies from my macbook to my PS3 and keep the surround sound.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Dolby Surround basically just means a stereo signal that may or may not have some tweaked phasing that, when using Pro Logic decoders, it can then fake true surround and estimate what should go to each speaker. 5.1 means that it has actual designated signals for 5 satellite speakers and 1 sub woofer - if you have a correctly set-up surround system/home theater and an output to send the signal and then a receiver to process it, then this will sound a lot better than just "surround" and "pro logic." If you actually care that much about sound, however, stick to renting DVDs and Blu-Rays, the latter especially because many use the actual audio tracks used in theaters.
 
Cave Man said:
Plex (my favorite), XBMC, Quicktime, VLC and Front Row all support AC3 passthrough to your receiver or TV through your Mac's optical port. "Surround sound" is a much broader term that what you're using here. Dolby Pro Logic II is surround sound and is encoded by HB as AAC analog, so any receiver/TV capable of decoding it from the R & L RCA cable will give you 5 channel surround.
Click to expand...

Hey caveman, thanks. Yea i just encoded a movie with AC3 passthrough and loaded it in VLC but I'm still getting stereo and not Dolby Digital. All my hardware is connected appropriately. And in VCL, i check marked S/pidf in audio. Why am I not getting 5.1?
 
Icaras said:
Hey caveman, thanks. Yea i just encoded a movie with AC3 passthrough and loaded it in VLC but I'm still getting stereo and not Dolby Digital. All my hardware is connected appropriately. And in VCL, i check marked S/pidf in audio. Why am I not getting 5.1?
Click to expand...

I'd try Plex first. It has the best audio setup of all the apps out there.

1. When you open the file in Quicktime and choose Window > Show Movie Properties (or in MPEG Streamclip if QT doesn't provide this for you), you see there is an AC3 audio track and it is active with the checkmark?

2. If 1 is true, and you are connected by optical cable to your receiver, it is likely that your receiver's input is not set to take optical. My Onkyo receivers come out of the box set to analog for each input. I had to manually switch to optical input for the appropriate line-in.
 
Cave Man said:
I'd try Plex first. It has the best audio setup of all the apps out there.

1. When you open the file in Quicktime and choose Window > Show Movie Properties (or in MPEG Streamclip if QT doesn't provide this for you), you see there is an AC3 audio track and it is active with the checkmark?

2. If 1 is true, and you are connected by optical cable to your receiver, it is likely that your receiver's input is not set to take optical. My Onkyo receivers come out of the box set to analog for each input. I had to manually switch to optical input for the appropriate line-in.
Click to expand...

Yea, #2 is correct for me. Everything is setup correctly. I usually play DVDs in 5.1 through the Apple DVD player with optical out and my receiver set to optical and I get the appropriate codec (DD, DTS).

Ok, so I'm in Quicktime, and I've set the movie property like you just said, but I'm still getting Stereo :confused: Also I encoded this movie with both AAC and AC3. So I tried unchecking the AAC codec, and I don't even get sound :confused::confused: Sorry, I'm still lost. Everything appears like it should work but my receiver is still outputting stereo and not DD.
 
Cave Man said:
I think this might be your problem. QT is not a very good app, IMO. You should download Plex and give it a try (I use Plex for all but my DRM'd video playback). It has its own Dolby Digital and DTS algorithms and does not rely on OS X for playback. If your video plays with it, then you've isolated your problem to QT.
Click to expand...

OK cool, I was going to try that next. Downloading now...
 
Quick question: Does Plex not respond to mouse interaction or something? And it doesn't play Mp4 files, does it?
 
I wanted to piggyback on this thread to ask a question about Handbrake and the Apple TV. I have been ripping my DVDs using the Apple TV preset so that I can watch them on the Apple TV. I don't watch them anywhere else.

I don't have a surround sound system but I'll probably get one in a few years. I'd like to make sure that I'm getting the 5.1 tracks encoded.

When the Audio & Subtitles tab says

"Track 1 - AC3 5.1 | AAC | Mixdown DPL II" and then
"Track 2 - AC3 5.1 | AC3 Passthru | AC3 Passthru"

does that mean that the AC3 track is actually attached along with the mixdown? I was thinking that the Track 1, Track 2, etc. meant the audio track on the DVD. Is that right?
 
hualon said:
I wanted to piggyback on this thread to ask a question about Handbrake and the Apple TV. I have been ripping my DVDs using the Apple TV preset so that I can watch them on the Apple TV. I don't watch them anywhere else.

I don't have a surround sound system but I'll probably get one in a few years. I'd like to make sure that I'm getting the 5.1 tracks encoded.

When the Audio & Subtitles tab says

"Track 1 - AC3 5.1 | AAC | Mixdown DPL II" and then
"Track 2 - AC3 5.1 | AC3 Passthru | AC3 Passthru"

does that mean that the AC3 track is actually attached along with the mixdown? I was thinking that the Track 1, Track 2, etc. meant the audio track on the DVD. Is that right?
Click to expand...

Can you or someone provide updated feedback on this isuue? I don't have ATV and have not tried Plex. I prefer not to buy an ATV if Plex can play my HB ripped movies and output 5.1 surround to my reveiver via optical from Mac Mini.
 
DjAmTraX said:
Can you or someone provide updated feedback on this isuue? I don't have ATV and have not tried Plex. I prefer not to buy an ATV if Plex can play my HB ripped movies and output 5.1 surround to my reveiver via optical from Mac Mini.
Click to expand...

Yes, it works fine. Plex will default to track 1 (AAC Dolby Pro Logic II 5-channel), but with the remote (Apple or Harmony) you can tell Plex to switch to track 2 (AC3 Dolby Digital 5.1) in three or four clicks. This will then activate Dolby Digital circuitry in your receiver.
 
hualon said:
I wanted to piggyback on this thread to ask a question about Handbrake and the Apple TV. I have been ripping my DVDs using the Apple TV preset so that I can watch them on the Apple TV. I don't watch them anywhere else.

I don't have a surround sound system but I'll probably get one in a few years. I'd like to make sure that I'm getting the 5.1 tracks encoded.

When the Audio & Subtitles tab says

"Track 1 - AC3 5.1 | AAC | Mixdown DPL II" and then
"Track 2 - AC3 5.1 | AC3 Passthru | AC3 Passthru"

does that mean that the AC3 track is actually attached along with the mixdown? I was thinking that the Track 1, Track 2, etc. meant the audio track on the DVD. Is that right?
Click to expand...

yep, hb includes both tracks in the apple universal as well at the atv presets. track 1 and track 2 are the encoded tracks, notice the first dropdown allows you to choose the source track ( in the presets this should be the same for both track one and track two).

So, in the final encode the same source track gets encoded into two tracks, one is the aac dpl2 track which the atv will play if you are not hooked up to a proper dolby d 5.1 capable receiver, the the ac3 dolby pass thru track will get played if you are connected to one. Note to the poster above that said stick to the dvd's if you care about sound. The ac3 pass thru track from hb is completely unmodified from the source dvd ac3 track. so there is absolutely no way it any worse than the source audio. However, if you are talking about a DTS track on a dvd, then HB will mix that down to aac dpl2 in which case the audio from the hb encode would not be as good as the source.
 
I tired everything, but I can't get DD 5.1 to play in VLC. What am I doing wrong?

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • Picture 1.jpg
    Picture 1.jpg
    38 KB · Views: 570
Although Plex defaults to the first audio track in the file (the AAC one), you can select the second audio track (the AC3 one) for playback.
You can then tell Plex to save the setting as the new default, so it will automatically pick your second audio track in the future.
 
I finally figured out how to get Plex to play 5.1 AC3. Now I just need to figure how to link my media to Plex. They sure don't make it easy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back