AC3 output from Media Files not working, TV Tuner and recorded file are fine, Help!

[portishead]

Hi all;

I have been searching these forums for a while now and can't seem to find my specific problem. I have fiddled with the audio settings in Sage and AC3 Filter and my sound card to no avail.

I am running Sage 6.5.9 on XP SP2. I have two Hauppauge Tuner cards, and am using the on board (Realtek) sound card connected through the optical output to my Yamaha Receiver.

My issue is when I watch live TV, or anything I have recorded from live TV I get 5.1 through the SPDIF fine. When I copy something I have downloaded (avi, MKV, etc) which are all encoded in AC3, I get stereo only over the SPDIF. Using VLC Media player, these videos play and output AC3 to my receiver.

I have played around with all the settings in Sage and AC3 filter and my sound card and have had no positive results. Currently mu settings are:

MPEG4 PLayback - Sage TV PLayer
Audio Renderer - Default
MPEG 2 Audio Decoder Filter - AC3 Filter

Even when I use the AC3 filter and I open the config box for it I don't see any sound levels. I don't think using this setting has any effect at all.

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks in advance!

[subhadipsas]

I had to put a mplayer argument in the Sage properties file as below:

extra_mplayer_args=-afm hwac3

Make sure to shutdown Sage before updating the property file and restart after saving the property file.

[portishead]

I tried this and lost the sound all together. What settings were you using in Sage to get this to work (Like the sound decoder and output....)

Thanks.

[Oats]

During playback is there an AC3Filter icon in the systray? If not then Sage isn't using AC3Filter. I had to set always_use_dshow_player=ture in the properties file to get Sage to use AC3Filter.

[portishead]

Sage is not using the AC3 filter during playback of the videos, but does during playback of OTA broadcast and files recorded off OTA.

When I changed always_use_dshow_player=ture, none of the videos I have would play (getting an error). I assume I am not usinf the directshow player to playback my videos but I am using it to playback the OTA stuff?

How would I switch to using Direct Show player but ensure I have all the codecs to play the video files I have (they are DivX, MKVs some in HD some not but all are 5.1).