How to play 5.1 audio files

Question

Level 1

1 points

How to play 5.1 audio files

I have ripped my The Crystal Method Legion of Boom DVD-A to 5.1 FLAC files then converted to Apple Lossless (ALAC) using either Amadeus Pro or XLD. The resulting m4a files play in quicktime and preview but won't even import in iTunes. The info properties of the file show 6 channels of audio. I have tried other settings when converting, (24bit, 16bit, AAC instead of ALAC) and the results are the same. Here is the funny thing if I change the filetype from m4a to m4v it shows up in itunes and plays and says in the channel info Multichannel. Obviously it shows as a video. Is iTunes yet capable of playing multichannel audio files? If so what is the best converter to show up as proper 5.1 surround?

MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Sep 5, 2010 9:31 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 27, 2015 8:05 PM in response to bradyholt

Breaking news!!!

I had exactly the same problem as you: Multi-channel M4A ALAC-encoded file playing fine on QuickTime/Preview, but iTunes refusing to import it.

Magical Solution: Rename the files from .m4a to .mov and iTunes will import it normally.

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Answer 2

cigame2

Level 3

548 points

Sep 5, 2010 10:01 AM in response to bradyholt

I used to play multichannel quicktime .mov audio files with iTunes. AAC and AIF.But not 24 bit AIF.
You need a multi output audio interface for this.
iTunes can play AC3 files only on bought movies or with perian installed via optical out. But problems with jumping from one file to the next or changing audio tracks leading to complete hangs of iTunes made me switch to PLEX, which plays everything perfectly even DTS and 5.1 AAC files over spdf optical into 5.1 receiver.(Converting AAC to DD on the fly).
Back to your question,
if you have a multi output audio interface and Quicktime Pro, you can generate multi channel .mov files and define what track goes to what output.

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Answer 3

bradyholt Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 5, 2010 12:47 PM in response to cigame2

Yeah I do have an interface and I have been able to do that fine. I was hoping there is a way that I could encode the file with 5.1 and stereo so iTunes will recognize and I can playback via my AppleTV the 5.1 source, or stereo on my iphone, mac or whatever else. Kind of like what handbrake does with the audio but I want the file in m4a format.

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Answer 4

ed2345

Level 9

63,578 points

Sep 5, 2010 2:26 PM in response to bradyholt

bradyholt wrote:
I want the file in m4a format.

Convert the file to Apple Lossless w/ 2-channel stereo for use in iTunes, and keep the original 5.1 file for use in players that can handle it.

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Answer 5

oakapple

Level 1

0 points

Nov 29, 2011 9:57 PM in response to bradyholt

I would also like to play my DVD-A's and BD-A's on my iphone 4. I have extracted the audio from the DVD-A and encoded it to 24/96/5.1 FLAC and want to convert it to 24/96/5.1 ALAC and use the HDMI out on the iphone 4 to plug into home receivers as well as car audio (in the future). Apple please make sure iTunes can handle 5.1 24/96/5.1 ALAC files and that it can encode 5.1 FLAC files to the same in ALAC. Otherwise, just support FLAC, which may be simpler.

Thanks

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Answer 6

Nov 10, 2013 11:29 AM in response to bradyholt

I would like to know, how exactly you convert the dvd-a to flac.

I have Vespertine from Bjork, and the complete scores of lord of the rings in dvd-a. I want to heard them in my computer.

Cool if I get them in surround, but Ill be happy if I get the 96/24 version. Could somebody explain that part of the process? Thanks

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Answer 7

dsbenson

Level 1

5 points

Feb 10, 2014 8:53 PM in response to Abel Piñate

@abel, if you're just trying to convert dvd-a audio, you can do this with DVD Audio Extractor (among other apps).

But as has been noted, there's apparently no way to play 5.1 audio files with iTunes (you'll just get stereo).

[There's a convoluted way to end up with a "movie" of 5.1 audio that'll play in full 5.1 from iTunes just like other movies do, but it's a total pain, and then you've got a set of individual video files rather than an easily-playable album of audio]

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Answer 8

SDLApple

Level 1

4 points

Feb 22, 2017 6:54 AM in response to romulo.fernandes

I did the Magical Solution above and was able to get the same results up until I went to playback 5.1 music files. On my PC though HDMI set to 5.1 output, I only hear stereo. When I play the FLAC version (that was converted to ALAC and renamed to .mov) on PowerDVD on the same PC I get all channels.

Any ideas?

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