The VideoLAN Forums

I can play mkv files with AC3 as 5.1, but when the audio is E-AC3 it only plays as stereo.
Can you please help me, how can I play these as 5.1 as well?
Thank you.

That's just your EAC3 track has only 2 channels then

No, it has 6 channels, over the TVs USB it plays 5.1 properly, but VLC don't.

Codec: A/52 B Audio (aka E-AC3) (eac3)
Channels: 3F2M/LFE
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Bits per sample: 32

Please share such file with us.

I have the same problem with EVERY e-ac3 soundtrack files.
But here is an example, the latest GOT episode.
(In this torrent, there is a sample MKV inside that is only 90 megabytes so you don't need to download the whole episode.)

https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/182003 ... ESub_-_GoT

We are not going to download torrent files.

Please upload a short sample of a problematic file to either Zippyshare.com (200 MB max) or to EmbedUpload.com, the latter will upload the file for you to several other hosts (use the default ones) and then post the link to the file here.

If needed cut it with DGsplit and read here about how to do it:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=57724&p=193335#p193335
50 MB max should be enough.

May I ask what's the problem with downloading the torrent I linked?

Unfortunately I can't upload, because in my country it is illegal to upload such files.

But you can use any MKV file with E-AC3 voice track if you don't want to dowload the torrent.

But my question is really not about a specific file, it is about the E-AC3 tracks, what in my understanding is something that can't be played through SPDIF.
What I don't understand, that why VLC downconvert them to stereo instead of normal AC3 5.1?

Thank you.

Works perfectly fine here with 5.1 in 3.0.

Decodes fine in 5.1 on a speaker setup. Passthrough in HDMI decodes perfectly in 5.1.

Passthrough in SPDIF does not work, as expected, and converts to Stereo, as expected.

Also, VLC is not going to reencode to AC-3 an E-AC3 stream, just because you use SPDIF. To me, that's not really useful, and a lot of work for not much.

So what should I do to play it as 5.1?
My dolby system don't have HDMI connection, just optical and coax.

Reencode as AC-3. Also, if you Dolby System does not have HDMI, it is very unlikely that it decodes E-AC3.

So how can I reencode to AC3? Why can't VLC do this on the fly instead of reencode to stereo?
Also I'm not sure how would this HDMI connection work with a PC to TV / 5.1system wise, since the HDMI goes to the TV, and the soundcard don't have HDMI out...?
(My pc's HDMI goes to the TV for image, and my PC's soundcards optical goes to the 5.1 system.)

I have tried everything, looked for help online, searching for answers, but nothing.
Can someone please help me?

Just to be clear that it is a VLC problem, the PowerDVD mediaplayer properly outputs the 5.1 sound on the MKVs with EAC3 audio track, but the VLC mediaplayer don't. Not even in the 3.0 nighly build.

I have a same problem, but i use my vga hdmi output to my philips tv and the audio play through my tv optical output to sound system

I try 2.2.6 and 3.0 nightly and cant work in 5.1 just stereo, but i play same mkv file in windows 10 default player and work fine.

sorry for my pure english...

I love VLC please solve that problem...

So it seems VLC has an issue with E-AC3 audio files. These files will gain popularity as Amazon / HBO are using this codec in their newer shows. The is one with dragons and dying kings I think...

Telling us users "VLC is not going to reencode to AC-3 an E-AC3 stream" is not really helpful. Playback doesn't work with HDMI, where it does correctly with other files. These files DO exist, they will continue to exist and there will be more of them.

Hell, Windows Media Player can play these files with correct audio, but VLC can't. This IS an issue that will continue to pop up. Reencoding every single file before watching them is not a feasible solution.

To me it looks like the E-AC3 5.1 passthough isn't supported by receiver and it gets downgraded/decoded to 2.0 PCM before being sent to receiver.

Can you confirm the status of your receiver in both cases ? passthrough should light up "dolby digital" indication or such, where pcm won't.

I'm having the same problem as the others. With Windows Media Player, E-AC-3 gets passed to my Yamaha receiver and my 5.1 speaker setup works fine. The front of the receiver reads "STRAIGHT" and all the speakers are active. With VLC, it does not work. The front of the receiver indicates PCM and the all the speakers are not active. VLC doesn't work with the now very popular Dolby Digital Plus. All connections are HDMI.

I'd like to add that my old WD TV Live box also has no trouble sending DD+ through the Yamaha receiver (HDMI).

A whole lot of files are using E-AC-3 now so hopefully this problem will get jumped on.

Thanks

For me it seems that VLC downconvert it to stereo, while other mediaplayers (for example Cyberlink PowerDVD downconvert it to normal dolby digital 5.1.
I like 5.1 sound better than stereo so I use PowerDVD for the E-AC3 files now sadly, because I like VLC better... but more and more TV shows use E-AC3 so I am using PowerDVD more and more...
I really hope VLC fix this problem and outputs 5.1 sound to devices that can't deal with E-AC3 by converting them to Dolby5.1 or DTS on the fly.

I like 5.1 sound better than stereo

Well that's an understatement! Of course if 5.1 is available in your living room like almost every home theater out there, that's what you want. Sure, my receiver can do stereo but even a $450 theater-in-a-box system is 5.1. The VLC player completely fails here.

I have the same issue using VLC 2.2.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 ALSA output HDA Intel PCH, HDMI 0 Audio Output Stereo
Is Codec: A/52 B Audio (aka E-AC3) (eac3) Channels: 3F2M/LFE Sample rate: 48000 Hz Bits per sample: 32 being passed through HDMI as 5.1 PCM because my receiver can handle 5.1 PCM and it received it as 2.0 PCM.

Isn't eac3 DD+ (Dolby Digital Plus) and ac3 (Dolby Digital) my receiver supports both DD+ and DD. Shouldn't VLC pass it through and my receiver show DD+ or 5.1 PCM not 2.0 PCM/Dolby ProLogic II?

Also, I notice if I change VLC audio channel output from stereo to 5.1, I get 5.1 PCM but the channels are all mixed up. (all other codecs pass-through fine DTS, DD, 5.1 PCM when leaving channel output as stereo.)

BTW, I play the same video files in Kodi and it outputs to my receiver properly as DD+

Edit: here is an eac3 video clip from my NAS: http://Mystuff.myqnapcloud.com:8080/sha ... id=08bw4B8

Please share such file with us.

Here is the file as requested:

http://mystuff.myqnapcloud.com:8080/sha ... id=08bw4B8

I have this issue with every EAC3 DD+ file I play with VLC. AS I stated in previous post other media players seem to handle it just fine.

my questions are:

1. Is VLC interpreting DD+ (eac3) incorrectly and seeing it as 3F2M/LFE and passing that info to my receiver and my receiver is saying WTF! and playing it as 2.0 PCM?

2. Is it standard for eac3 to be read as 3F2M/LFE vs 3F2R/LFE

4. Is this an encoding issue or is this a bug/handling issue with VLC?

5. Is this none of the above and an issue with some receivers not knowing how to handle 3F2M/LFS

This file is working fine for us. Please use 3.0.

If you are using SPDIF you CANNOT get 5.1 with EAC3. It is not possible, since the bitrate is too high.

You MUST use HDMI for this.

I have this issue with every EAC3 DD+ file I play with VLC. AS I stated in previous post other media players seem to handle it just fine.

my questions are:

1. Is VLC interpreting DD+ (eac3) incorrectly and seeing it as 3F2M/LFE and passing that info to my receiver and my receiver is saying WTF! and playing it as 2.0 PCM?

No, and that's correctly signaled as 2M

2. Is it standard for eac3 to be read as 3F2M/LFE vs 3F2R/LFE

That's your file

4. Is this an encoding issue or is this a bug/handling issue with VLC?

None

5. Is this none of the above and an issue with some receivers not knowing how to handle 3F2M/LFS

No, issue is your SPDIF output.

No EAC3 over SPDIF exists.
If that works somewhere else, that's EAC3 -> AC3 re-encoding on the fly. (You might want to pay Dolby a license deending on where you live)
Using SPDIF for E-AC3 is then pointless, you just get at best AC3.