Comments on: The Correct Way to Enable AC3 Passthrough with Quicktime

By: Graham Booker

Graham Booker — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:54:06 +0000

This is not a support forum; despite some people’s attempt to turn it into one. Comments closed!

By: Graham Booker

Graham Booker — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:12:05 +0000

ionos,
On the audio settings, this is an issue with handbrake and it’s interaction with QuickTime. I suggested they use a version 2 atom in the m4v file 4 months ago (http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4726&start=25#p33363) but was ignored. In addition, the default channel layout is inconsistent with Core Audio, which I reported to Apple 5 months ago (rdar 5799879) and was also ignored. If either of these two corrected they errors, this wouldn’t be an issue.

By: ionos

ionos — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:23:21 +0000

Oddest thing (All samples created with handbrake; please forgive me if I don’t get all the fancy abbreviations and terms right, I try my best):
AVI Mpeg4 with AC3 - works in QT and VLC (i.e., DD sound)
MKV H.264 with AC3 - works in QT and VLC
So, it should be considered established that the receiver works, the cables work, stuff is installed ok, etc.

M4V H.264 with AC3 - “Helicopter” in QT (i.e. the weirdo noise, input considered plain stereo by receiver), VLC seems to produce a valid stereo stream, but no surround sound.
M4V H.264 with AC3 and AAC - same thing.

Now, the funny part: In QT, open “Movie Properties”. Select Surround track, then “Audio Setting”. Swap “Right” and “Center”. Press play. Bang. Dolby Digital, say hello. Well, the receiver says the input was Dolby Digital, and I hear different things coming out of the various speakers.

Now, does that mean that the right channel is being played on centre, and vice versa? Doesn’t sound like it, most talking still comes through the centre channel.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:16:54 +0000

I am new to Macs (Macmini) so I am trying to encode DVD with Handbrake in AC3 and H.264 and installed Perian 1.1 but all I get now is popping sounds. I see Push uninstalled all the codec and started again and it worked, so can someone explain to a novice how to do this. Also what is the difference with MP4 and M4V, it seems Handbrake defaults to .m4v when I select AC3 encoding? Any help would be appreciated, as I bought the mini as a media center and now wonder if I did the wrong thing.

By: MichaelLAX

MichaelLAX — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:27:32 +0000

Graham: Yes, thanks, I did read the first comment. All of my tested files do play AC3 through my decoder on my AppleTV, which is my first line of defense when it comes to playing content, anyway. I’ll solve the Mac problem at a later date…

By: Graham Booker

Graham Booker — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:11:34 +0000

Dave,
Blame Apple, this is entirely their fault since it is their component which reads m4v files.

By: David Hampson

David Hampson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:05:49 +0000

I got the above steps to work, but only with .mkv files, and not with any .m4v ones. I used Handbrake to create both. Any thoughts as to why this is? I’d rather use .m4v.

–Dave

By: Graham Booker

Graham Booker — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:16:26 +0000

Michael,
If after following all these instructions, and it doesn’t work, it likely won’t work with your decoder. Read the first note.

By: MichaelLAX

MichaelLAX — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 07:33:17 +0000

Reinstalled Leopard, upgraded to QT 7.4.1 and still get the ratcheting noise out of AC3 after following these instructions; same result as with 7.4.5…
AC3 is more important to me on my AppleTV, so I am not to disturbed by my results on the Mac Mini

By: MichaelLAX

MichaelLAX — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:04:02 +0000

Could someone post a brief tutorial on using Pacifist to downgrade QT to 7.4.1? I tried it and the result is now iTunes will not launch and QT has no audio, so I obviously made a boo-boo! I will now have to reinstall Leopard on that Machine and work my way back (Maybe I can just install 7.4.1 on the way up!). Be careful; Pacifist is a powerful tool, and I am lucky that my Mac Mini still runs…