AC3Filter help needed

tomwalker

tomwalker

tomwalker

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Joined
12 Oct 2003
Posts
328
Location
B'ham
When playing video files on my pc I use WMP classic along with AC3Filter for sound. I have got everything configured correctly apart from one annoying and major problem.

The problem is that I can hear all the background sounds and all that fine however the main speech is either extremley quiet and basically non existent. However when I switch it to stereo/ Prologic II the main speech is fine but then I dont get the benfit of surround sound.

If it helps the PC is connected to my AV reciever via optical.

Thanks
 
You shouldn't need AC-3 filter at all, uninstall it, use ffdshow ac-3 setting to spdif, then use the DSP on your av amp. I use a HTPC, digital output to av processor and works perfectly.

You only need ac-3 filter if using analogue outputs on your soundcard.
 
OK Ive set WM classic to use FFD Show audio and within FFDShow ive set AC3 and DTS to use SPDIF however Ive still got the same problem.

Thanks for the help so far but is there anything else I should check/change
 
Sounds like something is stopping the centre speaker working, have a look at the settings on your receiver + check speaker wiring.
 
The centre speaker speaker is working fine as ive tested it with other sources, the problem only appears when playing files from my pc with AC3 5.1 sound.
 
is the soundcard set to spdif as well ? if spdif is only set at the filter level then all thats happened is the the audio has been passed onto the soundcard to decode instead of the filter. both need setting to spfid and then its upto the amp to deal with sound.
 
I've had problems getting this set up properly in the past. I don't know if this will help your situation but this works for me:

Firstly, make sure your speakers are set to 5.1 in control panel - sounds - volume - advanced. This only seems to make a difference for Windows Media Player, not Media Player Classic, but you never know...

As for AC3Filter config:

Set output "As is" (a stereo source will not be upmixed and therefore your amp can do the job of dealing with it as you want)
Tick "Use SPDIF"
Use AC3 Filter for everything
Allow passthrough of AC3 & DTS

Hope that helps - mine happily outputs stereo as stereo and AC3 as AC3.

If your centre channel is still weak, try checking the output levels (I forget exactly how but I think within Media Player Classic it'd be Play - Filters - AC3Filter) If the centre channel is outputting correctly, it's a problem with the amp, otherwise it's the codec's problem.

Let me know how you get on.
 
After trying everything it still didnt work. However I then realised it must be the reciever so...

In the end I decided to re-wire the reciever and speakers and it now works a treat.

Thanks for all the help
 
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