Question about audio settings
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:37 pm
I have been using Handbrake for about 2 years. When I started, my sole purpose was converting DVD's to mp4 for playback on an mp4 player. I had pretty much just left the default settings, which worked fine for me. I now have a NAS server from which I would like to play my movies back through Windows Media Center connected to a 5.1 surround sound setup. Using MediaInfo, I see that my mp4's contain AAC audio and that it is 2 channels. I have not been able to find a clear explanation of what all the different encoding options actually mean in regards to what a the audio output will be like.
Nearly all my movies are from DVD's. I recently installed a blu-ray drive and have just started trying to convert these movies. I've ripped the blu-rays to my hard drive using DVDFab, which has a "remove HD audio" setting that converts DTS HD audio to DTS. I've done two movies so far. The first was with the normal profile settings in Handbrake, which MediaInfo shows has the same AAC 2 channel audio as my DVD conversions. The second one was done with the high profile setting. The default on this setting ends up with an AAC 2 channel audio stream and an AC3 5.1 channel stream, I believe (I'm not home right now to verify this info). Despite not knowing exactly what the different video settings between the two profiles are supposed to affect, the video quality on both videos looks good. My concern at this point is more about selecting the most suitable audio settings for my setup.
I have a few questions.
1) What would be the simplest way to get the full surround sound effect from my movies while watching on my 5.1 channel home theater setup through Windows Media Center.
2) When there are multiple audio streams, how does the media player determine which audio stream to send through the audio receiver?
Any help on understanding these audio settings would be greatly appreciated.
Nearly all my movies are from DVD's. I recently installed a blu-ray drive and have just started trying to convert these movies. I've ripped the blu-rays to my hard drive using DVDFab, which has a "remove HD audio" setting that converts DTS HD audio to DTS. I've done two movies so far. The first was with the normal profile settings in Handbrake, which MediaInfo shows has the same AAC 2 channel audio as my DVD conversions. The second one was done with the high profile setting. The default on this setting ends up with an AAC 2 channel audio stream and an AC3 5.1 channel stream, I believe (I'm not home right now to verify this info). Despite not knowing exactly what the different video settings between the two profiles are supposed to affect, the video quality on both videos looks good. My concern at this point is more about selecting the most suitable audio settings for my setup.
I have a few questions.
1) What would be the simplest way to get the full surround sound effect from my movies while watching on my 5.1 channel home theater setup through Windows Media Center.
2) When there are multiple audio streams, how does the media player determine which audio stream to send through the audio receiver?
Any help on understanding these audio settings would be greatly appreciated.