I downloaded an mkv of a TV show the other night. I was just going to play it in Total Media Theater, but every few seconds it would go “blocky”. So I figured I needed to play it in something else, so figured I might as well make it convenient and play it in Media Center. I decided to give DivX a try instead of Haali Media Splitter since native divx/xvid playback is not exactly ideal in MC7. Thought I might kill two birds with one stone. Afterward I was able to play the mkv in media center, but there was no audio. So I realized I needed to download AC3 Filter. I did that. Then I was able to get audio, but it was only stereo (although I’m not sure if this mkv is 5.1 or just 2.0). The funny thing is I tried playing the file again in Total Media Theater and the picture was fine. So TMT must’ve started using the DivX codec if that’s possible. How else could you explain the picture now being OK?
But back to the audio problem. I started playing some of my divx movies that are 5.1 and they only played in stereo in MC7. Then playing the same movie in TMT, it played in 5.1. But playing some other mkv’s that I had they played in 5.1 in both MC7 and TMT. So it doesn’t make sense to me why some will play in 5.1 in MC7 and some will only play 2.0.
Is there anything I can do to make the divx/xvid files play in 5.1? I’m not going to install FFDShow or any codec packs. The last time I did that it screwed everything up big time. If that’s the only options I’ll live with 2.0.
While searching for something on this issue I came up with this that someone said, “Unfortunately, until a third-party AC3 decoder comes out that supports Media Foundation it will be limited to two-channel decoding via our ACM wrapper.” This was when someone asked about no 5.1 audio using the DivX Tech Preview, which is now included in DivX 7. Looks like nothing has changed.
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