Top Gear 16x02 mkv2vob - Repairing AC3

Yup. I just registered here to point out the same thing. I had issues with 2 as well(obviously) and now 4. VERY frustrating to say the least.

I attempted various other programs to try and work with number 2 and they were not working. tsmuxer wouldnt recognize the audio portion(which is obviously the issue). My guess is who ever is making the file is causing the problems.
 
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Yup. I just registered here to point out the same thing. I had issues with 2 as well(obviously) and now 4. VERY frustrating to say the least.

I attempted various other programs to try and work with number 2 and they were not working. tsmuxer wouldnt recognize the audio portion(which is obviously the issue). My guess is who ever is making the file is causing the problems.

If you're willing to try other programs, I got PS3 Video 9 to convert it. To convert it to watch on my 1080 tv it takes a lot longer time, but it came out ok. I'll let you know how it works for Episode 4.
 
mkv2vob 2.4.9 is having trouble with with the 384Kbps, 48.0Khz, 16 bits, 6 channel, AC-3 audio used by episodes 16x02 and 16x04 from what I can tell; episodes 16x01 and 16x03 use 192Kbps, 48.0Khz, 16 bits, 2 channel, AC-3 audio.

PS3 Video 9 Converter is the best bet at the moment, although it is horrendously slow.

Might report it as an issue with mkv2vob.
 
Hey Friends,

Looks like the culprit here is FOV. I dont know why this issue with the chipmunk voice is happening but I followed siffonen's advice and downgraded MKV2VOB back to 2.4.7 and although it still "repairs" the AC3 track, it does play back at regular speed. Quick fix for the time being if you don't want to stream the media files through PS3 media server. (which also works great for macs BTW)

download mkv2vob 2.4.7 for the PC users here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/mkv2vob.shtml

just remember to remove your old version first. Then immediately after downloading kill your internet connection before installing the .exe or it will automatically update to the latest version, and you'll be back at square one. Also, if you go into the configuration you can un-check auto update so that you don't have to bother re-downloading 2.4.7 every time you forget to shut wifi off like my self lol.

I'm trying to figure out what the deal is with the FOV release files I'll post again if I come up with anything. In the mean time look for "real" 's releases, as they seem to convert flawlessly.

Hope this big rant helps someone!

-Joe
 
Same here. Tried the old version of mkv2vob, the sound plays at normal speed, but is mono now... WTF is it with FOV releases??? I'll try to convert it to mp4 in PS3 Video 9. I'll let you know how that worked out.
 
I was having the same problem converting ep 4. It played fine, but, none of my converting apps would play/recognize the audio correctly. For my case, the solution was install the AC3Filter.
 
yup ep 2, 4, and 5 so far are doing this. damn wth is going on :blink: temp fix is older version of mkv2vob, however the sound quality is very low (quiet) but it does fix the chipmunk issue.

i think its the person that's creating these rips
 
I couldn't have done it without the help of this thread:
http://www.ps3-hacks.com/forums/about8722.html
Haha I'm a mod on that site!

Anyway, I just wanted to jump in and say I and a friend of mine have this problem on episodes 2, 4, and 5 of this series. I've watched them with VLC but I want a version that will work with Windows Media Center so I converted them with handbrake (loss in quality) just to have a usable copy. Handbrake will convert to .mp4 container with h364 video with different options for sound including AC3 passthrough as well as mixing down to 2ch AAC/MP3
 
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yup ep 2, 4, and 5 so far are doing this. damn wth is going on :blink: temp fix is older version of mkv2vob, however the sound quality is very low (quiet) but it does fix the chipmunk issue.

i think its the person that's creating these rips

From my experience, it's not that the sound quality or volume is affected, mkv2vob converts the audio track to mono, so only one speaker actually works, hence lower volume. PS3 video 9 solves the problem, but it converts the file to .mp4, about 950 MB in size. I honestly cannot tell if picture quality os worse after that (it should be - the file is 600 MB smaller), both files (the one muxed with an older version of mkv2vob and the one converted with PS3 video 9) look the same to me.
 
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Are the 1080i versions working?
 
So, same issue with 1080i.

As many of you I've been frustrated by the latest FOV releases and audio issues.
So, last night I had enough and did not go to sleep until I figured it out.
I read up on audio headers then I separated (demuxed) the video (h264) and audio (ac3)
and began doing some forensic analysis on the ac3 audio. Many programs got confused while trying to open this file, some reported it as stereo, some as 5.1 dolby digital.
I tried many things, including extracting all 6 audio channels and resampling the audio then muxing it back into an AC3 file and trick the header.
Long Story Short, I finally figured it out and fixed it.

Now, I don't want to break any forum rules, but I'm wondering if I can share these videos with the Final Gear community?



PS, If you're interested in the specifics of why this is happening or want to attempt to repair these yourself;
What's happening is when FOV is recording and editing these episodes he's unintentionally leaving around 200 milliseconds (blank screen) from the previous show that was on BBC.
And guess what, that previous program was stereo in lieu of 5.1 DD.
So what you have is an audio file that starts out stereo and switches to 5.1 DD, thus causing things to wrong.
If you are so inclined you can repair these files with the use of 3 free programs; [MKVToolNix + GUI], [TSMuxer + GUI] & [DelayCut]

Steps
1) Use MKVToolNix GUI to Demux (seperate the video & audio)
2) Open the resulting .ac3 file with DelayCut and remove the first 200ms. (This can be tricky, you need to make sure you keep the number of frames in check. (Keep the file length correct)
3) Use, TSMuxer GUI to now rejoin the Video and the new fixed ac3 audio file from DelayCut. Make sure you add a 250ms delay in TSmuxer to account for the 200ms + minimal loss from DelayCut

Resulting .ts or .m2ts works perfectly now!
 
I was just coming to report the same issue....

fov wtf. thanks for the tip to revert back mkv2vob.
 
good question. might have to try this evening. does anyone know how to contact someone in the FOV "clan" to let them know
 
So, same issue with 1080i.

As many of you I've been frustrated by the latest FOV releases and audio issues.
So, last night I had enough and did not go to sleep until I figured it out.
I read up on audio headers then I separated (demuxed) the video (h264) and audio (ac3)
and began doing some forensic analysis on the ac3 audio. Many programs got confused while trying to open this file, some reported it as stereo, some as 5.1 dolby digital.
I tried many things, including extracting all 6 audio channels and resampling the audio then muxing it back into an AC3 file and trick the header.
Long Story Short, I finally figured it out and fixed it.

Now, I don't want to break any forum rules, but I'm wondering if I can share these videos with the Final Gear community?



PS, If you're interested in the specifics of why this is happening or want to attempt to repair these yourself;
What's happening is when FOV is recording and editing these episodes he's unintentionally leaving around 200 milliseconds (blank screen) from the previous show that was on BBC.
And guess what, that previous program was stereo in lieu of 5.1 DD.
So what you have is an audio file that starts out stereo and switches to 5.1 DD, thus causing things to wrong.
If you are so inclined you can repair these files with the use of 3 free programs; [MKVToolNix + GUI], [TSMuxer + GUI] & [DelayCut]

Steps
1) Use MKVToolNix GUI to Demux (seperate the video & audio)
2) Open the resulting .ac3 file with DelayCut and remove the first 200ms. (This can be tricky, you need to make sure you keep the number of frames in check. (Keep the file length correct)
3) Use, TSMuxer GUI to now rejoin the Video and the new fixed ac3 audio file from DelayCut. Make sure you add a 250ms delay in TSmuxer to account for the 200ms + minimal loss from DelayCut

Resulting .ts or .m2ts works perfectly now!

Good work figuring that out....it'd be nice if someone could re-up the fixed episodes....any volunteers?
 
So, same issue with 1080i.

As many of you I've been frustrated by the latest FOV releases and audio issues.
So, last night I had enough and did not go to sleep until I figured it out.
I read up on audio headers then I separated (demuxed) the video (h264) and audio (ac3)
and began doing some forensic analysis on the ac3 audio. Many programs got confused while trying to open this file, some reported it as stereo, some as 5.1 dolby digital.
I tried many things, including extracting all 6 audio channels and resampling the audio then muxing it back into an AC3 file and trick the header.
Long Story Short, I finally figured it out and fixed it.

Now, I don't want to break any forum rules, but I'm wondering if I can share these videos with the Final Gear community?



PS, If you're interested in the specifics of why this is happening or want to attempt to repair these yourself;
What's happening is when FOV is recording and editing these episodes he's unintentionally leaving around 200 milliseconds (blank screen) from the previous show that was on BBC.
And guess what, that previous program was stereo in lieu of 5.1 DD.
So what you have is an audio file that starts out stereo and switches to 5.1 DD, thus causing things to wrong.
If you are so inclined you can repair these files with the use of 3 free programs; [MKVToolNix + GUI], [TSMuxer + GUI] & [DelayCut]

Steps
1) Use MKVToolNix GUI to Demux (seperate the video & audio)
2) Open the resulting .ac3 file with DelayCut and remove the first 200ms. (This can be tricky, you need to make sure you keep the number of frames in check. (Keep the file length correct)
3) Use, TSMuxer GUI to now rejoin the Video and the new fixed ac3 audio file from DelayCut. Make sure you add a 250ms delay in TSmuxer to account for the 200ms + minimal loss from DelayCut

Resulting .ts or .m2ts works perfectly now!


Hi there,

When removing the sound from the audio, how to you change it to be in AC3 format?

Thanks.
 
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