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sheekamoo · 01-25-2012, 03:33 AM

I'm running Windows 7 x64 and using the Intel HD graphics from my i3 processor. I'm playing my MKV's through Windows Media Center.

I installed both the x86 and x64 Shark007 codecs, reset everything, and set both to use the recommended values. The only setting I changed from default was to allow passthrough audio.

I have a couple of MKV's that are encoded with AC3 audio. The video plays fine in Windows Media Center, but there's no audio. If I enable AC3Filter the audio works. However, some of my other MKV files start having audio and video skipping issues (almost like the audio and video and playing at 2x the normal speed but skipping the entire time).

I've read through a good number of threads on here to try and troubleshoot this but I haven't been able to get this to work with with AC3Filter disabled. I've seen it mentioned here that AC3Filter is absolute garbage and shouldn't be used... and clearly I'm experiencing a problem with it because it's affecting my non-AC3 MKV's.

How can I get AC3 encoded MKV's playing within Media Center? I've tried changing almost every setting within Shark007 but nothing is getting me AC3 audio unless I enable AC3Filter.

Shark007 · 01-25-2012, 06:50 AM

On the Audio TAB, use the button to [disable LAV audio]

sheekamoo · 01-25-2012, 04:04 PM

(01-25-2012 06:50 AM)Shark007 Wrote: On the Audio TAB, use the button to [disable LAV audio]

Thank you for the quick reply.

That actually worked! Although, I had to disable pass-through audio on the audio page and instead use the default 2.0 stereo option. From there, I setup the FFDshow audio codec to pass through DTS, DTS-HD, and True HD. The good news is, when I played an MKV that used DTS-HD, my receiver showed that's what it was receiving.

However, I'm stuck with stereo sound for my movies encoded with AC3 audio. If I enable the Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus AC3 options on the Output tab in the FFDshow audio panel, I get no sound at all.

Is there something I can modify so I can can pass through Dolby Digital audio to my receiver?

Shark007 · 01-25-2012, 04:07 PM

check this setting . . .
In Control Panel | Sound, under the active HDMI device,
the speaker configuration should be set to 'stereo' which in turn allows bitstreaming

sheekamoo · 01-25-2012, 04:20 PM

(01-25-2012 04:07 PM)Shark007 Wrote: check this setting . . .
In Control Panel | Sound, under the active HDMI device,
the speaker configuration should be set to 'stereo' which in turn allows bitstreaming

Yep... it's set to stereo.

When I unable pass-through within the Output tab in FFDshow audio for Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, my receiver shows Dolby PLII Cinema (which is what I have to set to use for Dolby Audio streams). If I disable the passthrough of DD and DD Plus my receiver says Stereo. Only with Stereo do I hear sound.

Shark007 · 01-25-2012, 04:34 PM

I just did some testing. try these settings...

Press [Reset All]
on the Audio TAB, click [setup LAV audio] and ensure the 5 boxes under bitstreaming are checked.

test MKV with AC3 - your AVR should state, Dolby Digital (dolby digital = ac3)

sheekamoo · 01-25-2012, 04:57 PM

(01-25-2012 04:34 PM)Shark007 Wrote: I just did some testing. try these settings...

Press [Reset All]
on the Audio TAB, click [setup LAV audio] and ensure the 5 boxes under bitstreaming are checked.

test MKV with AC3 - your AVR should state, Dolby Digital (dolby digital = ac3)

Tried that... and although my receiver does say DD, I'm not getting any audio.

If I disable the AC3 and E-AC3 options in the LAV bitstreaming settings, I get audio, by my receiver says stereo.

Shark007 · 01-25-2012, 05:06 PM

maybe it is the encoding that is the issue,
please test THIS SAMPLE

Shark007 · 01-25-2012, 07:06 PM

update...

I did find an issue with 2 channel ac3 files. multi-channel files would work OK.
this is corrected in version 341, released earlier today.

sheekamoo · (This post was last modified: 01-25-2012 07:36 PM by sheekamoo.)

(01-25-2012 07:06 PM)Shark007 Wrote: update...

I did find an issue with 2 channel ac3 files. multi-channel files would work OK.
this is corrected in version 341, released earlier today.

Just tried 341 but I still have the same issues. I'm downloading the sample video you provided and I'll let you know what happens.

FYI... I checked the specific MKV I'm having an issue with and VLC is reporting that the audio codec is "A52 Audio (aka AC3) (a52)." It also reports that the channels are stereo.

On the video side (not sure if it matters), but the codec is H264 MPEG-4 (part10) (avc1).

(01-25-2012 05:06 PM)Shark007 Wrote: maybe it is the encoding that is the issue,
please test THIS SAMPLE

That sample video played correctly. I heard the audio and my receiver showed Dolby Digital.

The difference in audio between my MKV and the sample you provided, is that yours has "3F2R/LFE" for the channels, and mine is "Stereo."

Any ideas on where to go from here?