Can't Do AAC to AC3 with FFDSHOW: Errors Out and Closes

[dougdude9]

ALL,
First, I want to say thanks to all on here and to Shark. I have been a Shark user since the 2.x days and will never look back. Now, onto my problem I hope some of you geniuses can help me with

I have several different types of files and they all work great except for ones with AAC audio. What is strange is that they used to work. I need to be able to do AAC to AC3 on the fly since my pc doesn't seem to want to send 5.1 pcm to my Denon AVR 2309ci... I only get stereo... this should sound familiar as several people have complained about aac audio and only getting stereo, so that is why I want to change aac to ac3 on the fly which is what I'm pretty sure I was doing in the past.

Now, here is what is happening. In ffdshow, on the output section, I have checked every box on the "Pass-thru S/PDIF, HDMI" section and then just below that I have checked "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" as well as the 16bit 24bit and 2 32bit options. This setup should send the aac and change it to ac3 on the fly if I'm correct. When I try to render a file using the option in shark, the program errors out (doesn't offer any details). If I uncheck the "ac3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" it will NOT error out, but I only get stereo sound. Now, this is what's really messed up... When the "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" is checked (because this is what I need) it will error out ONLY WHEN my hdmi cable from the laptop is connected to my Denon 2309 AVR. If I unplug the hdmi cable and render the file with aac audio, it will play just fine through the laptop speakers with "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" checked.

So, in other words...
With "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" checked the following happens...
*HDMI connected to Denon AVR = application errors during render
*HDMI unplugged = works fine, but obviously I don't need it to work this way... it is pointless.

So what I'm trying to figure out is why the shark application and Windows 7 Media Center (64 bit) errors out when "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" is checked. It only happens when trying to play file with aac audio.

I have updated all drivers. I have the following...
HP DM3-1039wm laptop
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
HDMI from laptop to Denon 2309 AVR. HDMI from Denon to Samsung TV

I'm practically begging someone to help me with this as I have spend no less than 6-7 hours working on it. Just recently I found if I unplug the hdmi cable, the app doesn't error out. If I plug in the HDMI cable, it will error out (shark render or Windows 7 Media Center) with AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode checked. If I uncheck AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode, then it wil work even with the hdmi cable plugged in, but then I don't get 5.1.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I think if I can get this one figured out, it will be my turn to make a donation!

Thanks!
Doug

---

(04-09-2012 11:34 AM)dougdude9 Wrote:  ALL,
First, I want to say thanks to all on here and to Shark. I have been a Shark user since the 2.x days and will never look back. Now, onto my problem I hope some of you geniuses can help me with

I have several different types of files and they all work great except for ones with AAC audio. What is strange is that they used to work. I need to be able to do AAC to AC3 on the fly since my pc doesn't seem to want to send 5.1 pcm to my Denon AVR 2309ci... I only get stereo... this should sound familiar as several people have complained about aac audio and only getting stereo, so that is why I want to change aac to ac3 on the fly which is what I'm pretty sure I was doing in the past.

Now, here is what is happening. In ffdshow, on the output section, I have checked every box on the "Pass-thru S/PDIF, HDMI" section and then just below that I have checked "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" as well as the 16bit 24bit and 2 32bit options. This setup should send the aac and change it to ac3 on the fly if I'm correct. When I try to render a file using the option in shark, the program errors out (doesn't offer any details). If I uncheck the "ac3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" it will NOT error out, but I only get stereo sound. Now, this is what's really messed up... When the "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" is checked (because this is what I need) it will error out ONLY WHEN my hdmi cable from the laptop is connected to my Denon 2309 AVR. If I unplug the hdmi cable and render the file with aac audio, it will play just fine through the laptop speakers with "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" checked.

So, in other words...
With "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" checked the following happens...
*HDMI connected to Denon AVR = application errors during render
*HDMI unplugged = works fine, but obviously I don't need it to work this way... it is pointless.

So what I'm trying to figure out is why the shark application and Windows 7 Media Center (64 bit) errors out when "AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode" is checked. It only happens when trying to play file with aac audio.

I have updated all drivers. I have the following...
HP DM3-1039wm laptop
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
HDMI from laptop to Denon 2309 AVR. HDMI from Denon to Samsung TV

I'm practically begging someone to help me with this as I have spend no less than 6-7 hours working on it. Just recently I found if I unplug the hdmi cable, the app doesn't error out. If I plug in the HDMI cable, it will error out (shark render or Windows 7 Media Center) with AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode checked. If I uncheck AC3 S/PDIF Encode Mode, then it wil work even with the hdmi cable plugged in, but then I don't get 5.1.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I think if I can get this one figured out, it will be my turn to make a donation!

Thanks!
Doug

I should probably mention I have completely uninstalled 64 bit components and the 32 bit shark app, rebooted and reinstalled with uac enabled to default... still no luck. I have no other codecs installed.