HD Extender - No audio with mp4

[SHS]

That rigth vinny your receiver doesn't know what to do with aac audio sorry I don't think there any way to do that rigth now.

[dvd_maniac]

I have Logitech's Z5500 5.1 PC speakers hooked up to my current Client PC that my new Extender is going to replace this weekend.
It has Optical input but from what I'm reading so far I can't use it because I have 1000's of mp4's and a decent amount of them have 5.1 HE-AAC audio.
So the only way to play these files corretly is through RCA cables, but these speakers do not have that type of input.
Do I need an adapter or am I %&*%^* out of luck?

[SHS]

dvd_maniac I think all need is a patch cable 1/8 stereo mini to Stereo RCA

[Nadim]

Just a comment which used to get me confused

AAC is not AC3......

But if my reciever does not do AAC why do I get a downsample stereo? Somebody must be doing that. If it is not my receiver it mus be the exteneder. So if that is possible then a transcode to DTS or AC3 should also be possible.

[SHS]

AAC is not AC3

That rigth Nadim if you don't know what AAC stand for it Advanced Audio Coding

But if my reciever does not do ac3 why do I get a downsample stereo?

That eazy with out a DD audio decoder chip in your receiver you have the same problem with all know Digital Audio Format other then LPCM (Linear PCM) which means you have really old receiver or a receiver that fairly new but did come with DD audio decoder chip.

Dolby Digital audio decoder chip is like is Hardware MPEG Encoder/Decoder chip with small diff it only Decode Audio amd pass on wave sound to spks for sound.

If have a Home Theater Systems that has DVD Player ware plu in 5 or more Spks it should have build-in Dolby Digital audio decoder chip.

[Nadim]

hehehe
Sorry I meant does not do AAC not AC3. My reciever is an Denon AVR-3805 which means it does AC3 and DTS no problems. But I am not sure of AAC. (that is what I really meant)

So let me see if I get it straight. If I do not have AAC, then the reciever makes it stereo?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by Nadim

hehehe
Sorry I meant does not do AAC not AC3. My reciever is an Denon AVR-3805 which means it does AC3 and DTS no problems. But I am not sure of AAC. (that is what I really meant)

So let me see if I get it straight. If I do not have AAC, then the reciever makes it stereo?

It looks like the HD Extender decodes and downmixes 5.1 AAC to stereo itself. I'm not sure if it comes out in stereo surround (Dolby Prologic) though.

[SHS]

If I do not have AAC, then the reciever makes it stereo?

If your receiver dosen't support AAC then your option is for you to used the RCA output so that HD Extender can decodes and downmixes AAC files if need be then output stereo over the RCA jacks then pass it on to your receiver or convert the AAC file in to a compatibility format so will work on your receiver.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by SHS

If your receiver dosen't support AAC then your option is for you to used the RCA output so that HD Extender can decodes and downmixes AAC files if need be then output stereo over the RCA jacks then pass it on to your receiver or convert the AAC file in to a compatibility format so will work on your receiver.

Not necessary, it works through the optical and I'm assuming HDMI audio out. AFAIK, the HD Extender does not do AAC pass-through. AAC audio was being decoded and output to my receiver as PCM audio by the extender.

[vinny]

I have a Sony receiver that does DD & DTS, but not AAC. When I connect with S\PDIF I get no sound. I tried connecting with RCA cables, I got sound, but it was downmixed to stereo. Now, either the extender doesn't downmix over S\PDIF; or it does and my receiver doesn't know how to handle downmixed audio over S\PDIF. I'm inclined to think it's the earlier.

I have tried to install ffdshow, hali splitter, and ac3filter to convert the aac to ac3, which I have done successfully. I can play it in graphedit and windows media player. What I can't get to work is sage to use dshow instead of sagetvplayer. Even then, I'm not sure it will matter, I'm not sure if the mp4 file would go through those filters before sage sends it to the extender, or whether sage sends the raw video to the extender and the extender then decodes it??? I'm not sure who's doing the decoding, the sage server or the extender.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Not necessary, it works through the optical and I'm assuming HDMI audio out. AFAIK, the HD Extender does not do AAC pass-through. AAC audio was being decoded and output to my receiver as PCM audio by the extender.

Taddeusz what make amd model of your receiver

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by SHS

Taddeusz what make amd model of your receiver

It is a Sony STR-DE897. It's a 2004 model receiver only capable of DD, DTS and PCM.

When I was playing 5.1 ch AAC encoded videos I was getting stero PCM into my receiver. Now, my files are AAC LC and not HE-AAC. That may make a difference. As far as I can tell from the forums the HD Encoder can't handle HE-AAC. I'd have to to my own testing to verify that though.

[Nadim]

Well I am on the optical cable. I am getting streo sound out of a 5.1 AAC. My denon 3805 has no AAC. I am getting the same as Taddeusz PCM stereo. That means it must be the HD extender downsampling to Stereo. Or maybe magic

[SHS]

What do all used for make your clips with?.

[Taddeusz]

I use Handbrake to make mine. But I now make mine with AC3 audio. I decided the differnce in bitrate between 5.1 AC3 and 5.1 AAC came with too high of a price with not being able to play the AAC in 5.1 on the extender (at the time my MVP).

[SHS]

I take it that your doing XivD as Video?.

[Taddeusz]

Heck no, I didn't like the quality of it. I'm using AVC aka H.264.

[SHS]

Hmm that not possable to have H.264 and AC3
How do you have your setup

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by SHS

Hmm that not possable to have H.264 and AC3
How do you have your setup

Of course it's possible. I'm using an AVI container. It can also be done with an MKV container. Handbrake won't allow AC3 audio with an MP4 container though. But AVI and MKV work fine with AC3 audio.

I've attached a screenshot to prove to you that it is indeed possible.

[SHS]

I think I fig out I was doing wrong