AC3Filter is a free Surround Sound processor for Windows which includes the ability to not only decode digital surround formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS, but also perform realtime processing to adjust the output level (volume) and digital range compression (DRC) of surround sound streams during playback. AC3Filter is comparable, and generally superior to commercial alternatives included with various media and DVD player software titles. It's equally useful for use on desktop and laptop PCs as Home Theater or Media Center PCs.
Why AC3Filter?
You may already have commercial DVD player software, perhaps an OEM version of PowerDVD or WinDVD that came with your computer or DVD drive. Maybe it supports Dolby Digital, and perhaps DTS. Such OEM software is often limited to 2 channel audio, requiring you to upgrade to a retail version for full 5.1 surround support. Instead of paying for this capability you may want to try out AC3Filter first.
Configuring AC3Filter
There are a number of configuration options you may want to consider to tweak the output for a particular PC or home theater configuration, or even for particular sources. After we cover installation, which is really quite simple, we'll look at some of these options and discuss how and when to use them.
Required Software
AC3Filter
AC3Filter provides Dolby Digital, DTS, and MPEG Audio support for Windows. In addition to decoding common surround sound formats, it can also be used to encode multichannel audio to Dolby Digital format for compatibility with older S/PDIF based surround systems. Other popular features include AC3Filter's Gain and Dynamic Range Compression (DRC), which allow you to compensate for poorly mixed or encoded audio in video files.
ffdshow is a DirectShow decoding filter for decompressing several video formats, including DivX, XviD, WMV, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 movies. AC3Filter's surround sound processing combined with ffdshow's top notch video decoding allows you to play nearly any multimedia file you're likely to encounter. You can find detailed instructions for installation and configuration of ffdshow's video and audio decoding features in our guide for ffdshow Installation and Configuration.
Haali Media Splitter is a DirectShow splitter for MKV (Matroska), MP4, MPEG-2 TS (transport stream), MPEG-2 PS (program stream), OGG, and AVI files. If you need help with installation you can refer to our Introduction to Haali Media Splitter. There will be a link at the end of the guide to bring you back here.
MKVToolnix is a set of tools to create, alter and inspect Matroska files. With these tools one can get information about (mkvinfo) Matroska files, extract tracks/data from (mkvextract) Matroska files and create (mkvmerge) Matroska files from other media files. Our guide titled Creating MKV files with mkvtoolnix provides instructions for creating MKV files.
Installing Windows Media Player 11 on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
If you have a computer running Windows XP Media Center Edition (including earlier versions upgraded through Service Pack 2) and you're a Netflix customer, you may have found that you can't use their Watch Instantly streaming video service that's included with your monthly subscription. If you try to watch a movie you'll be greeted with a message that you must upgrade Windows Media Player (WMP), which will be followed by an error when you try to do so. As the error explains, versions of Windows XP MCE prior to 2005 aren't compatible with WMP 11.... (Read More)
