Is it possible to Transcode AC3 5.1 to WMA

[bmaltais]

Good evening all,

I am using VLC to transcode divx/xvid to WMV 8 using VLC so I can stream them to my XBOX 360 via MCE. Most transcode work fine as long as the source audio is 2 channel.

If source audio is 5.1 channel I get no sound on the transcoded output.

Can VLC convert 5.1 audio to 2 channel VMA audio during transcoding? The best would be if i could transcode to 5.1 channel WMA Pro audio>

Any idea?

[Mr_Mo]

I also have the same problem, anyone has a solution to fix this?

[DJ]

Can you play downloaded WMA files?

[Mr_Mo]

Yes, WMA plays fine. There is no need to play WMA/WMV files through VLC as the Xbox supports it.

However files like DiVX needs to be streamed, since the Xbox does not support DivX. Our problem is when we stream DVD, or Quicktime H.264, the audio is 6 channels, and the Xbox does not support that, unless it is in 5.1 channel WMA Pro audio or converted to stereo WMA, as far as I have understood.

So is it possible to convert the audio to WMA during streaming?

[DJ]

Yes, WMA plays fine. There is no need to play WMA/WMV files through VLC as the Xbox supports it.

However files like DiVX needs to be streamed, since the Xbox does not support DivX. Our problem is when we stream DVD, or Quicktime H.264, the audio is 6 channels, and the Xbox does not support that, unless it is in 5.1 channel WMA Pro audio or converted to stereo WMA, as far as I have understood.

So is it possible to convert the audio to WMA during streaming?

No!

[bmaltais]

This is too bad. DJ, when you say it can't be done, do you mean that VLC can't convert to WMA audio at all or that VLC does not handle converting 6 channel AC# audio to 2 channel WMA?

One thing I know for sure is that VLC can convert 2 channel mpa audio to 2 channel WMA audio.

[DJ]

This is too bad. DJ, when you say it can't be done, do you mean that VLC can't convert to WMA audio at all or that VLC does not handle converting 6 channel AC# audio to 2 channel WMA?

One thing I know for sure is that VLC can convert 2 channel mpa audio to 2 channel WMA audio.

Support for this format is gained through Windows, one of the few exceptions for VLC. It is not available to any other OS. There is no encoding support.

You are welcome to grab the source and provide patches or libraries, but it is my understanding that there is no open source.

[bmaltais]

This explain why WMA audio support is so mysterious... To get it to work you have to sort of force it through "Sout stream - transcode - Destination audio codec = wma" settings.

I would have hoped that VLC could have downmix 6ch audio to 2 ch audio before feeding it to the WMA codec under windows... It look more like it feed the 6ch audio to wma and wma just does not know how to handle it.

Any way I could force VLC to downmix audio from 6 to 2 channels before feeding it to the transcode codec?