Updated: Player 6.3.1 with mp3 Surround support now available!

Labs fans, you heard it here first. Here's the final version of the DivX Player 6.3.1. We fixed some bugs with login problems and also tweaked the Stage6 publisher to allow more content to be added without re-encoding. But we didn't stop with just those things. Thanks to our friends at Fraunhofer and Thomson, we've added mp3 Surround support into the Player also! *Updated on September 6, 2006. Fixed audio/video sync.

Download and install DivX Player 6.3.1

The mp3 Surround command line encoder can be found at http://www.all4mp3.com .

Let's get cracking on making some sweet 5.1 goodness.
Here are some tips on creating your first DivX video with mp3 Surround with the help of the command line encoder:

• First of all, to state the obvious, you need a surround sound source! The mp3 Surround encoder expects an input file with six channels (5.1 surround) - left, right, center, low frequency effects (bass), left surround, and right surround. You can provide these as seperate files, one for each channel, or in a single interleaved file, e.g. a multichannel WAV or PCM file.
• If you use a single interleaved input file you must ensure that the order of the channels is L, R, C, LFE, LS, RS. If you don't get this right sounds will come from the wrong speakers during playback. Note that this order is different from the defaults of some community created tools, which may require manual configuration. You can use Audacity to examine and manipulate multichannel WAV files if necessary.
• Be aware that multichannel WAV files can grow quite large depending on the format and duration of the input file. WAV audio files do not support file sizes over 4GB, although some applications can create files larger than 4GB regardless. If this occurs the information in the WAV file header will be incorrect and this can cause the mp3 Surround encoder to believe the input file is shorter than it actually is (e.g. you try to encode 2 hours of audio and end up with a 15 minute mp3 Surround file). In this circumstance add '-eof' to the command line to ignore the length specified in the WAV file header and encode until the end of the file is reached.
• A better option may be to use raw PCM audio, which does not have a file size constraint. Use 16-bit PCM, and specify the sample rate and number of channels on the command line (see examples below).
• If you want to use six mono WAV files as input, put them all in one folder and name them "infile_L.wav", "infile_R.wav", "infile_C.wav", "infile_LFE.wav", "infile_LS.wav", "infile_RS.wav", then specify "infile_L.wav" as the input file. The mp3 Surround encoder will find the other input files automatically.
• Encoding examples:
• Encoding a multichannel WAV file: mp3sEncoder.exe -if 6channel.wav -of output.mp3 -br 320000
• Encoding a multichannel WAV file larger than 4GB: mp3sEncoder.exe -if 6channel.wav -of output.mp3 -br 320000 -eof
• Encoding six mono WAV files: mp3sEncoder.exe -if infile_L.wav -of output.mp3 -br 320000 -monofiles
• Encoding a six channel interleaved PCM file sampled at 48Khz: mp3sEncoder.exe -if 6channel.raw -of output.mp3 -br 320000 -raw -sr 48000 -c 6
• Once you have your mp3 Surround file, simply use VirtualDub or VirtualDubMod to mux the audio with a seperately prepared DivX video file. To these applications the mp3 Surround file appears to be a regular CBR Stereo MP3 file, but DivX Player will detect the additional channels during playback. Example using VirtualDubMod:

1. Open a seperately prepared DivX video file
2. Select 'Stream list' from the 'Streams' menu, then double-click any existing audio streams to disable them
3. Click 'Add' and select the mp3 Surround file
4. Select 'Direct stream copy' from the 'Video' menu
5. Save the file under a new name, and the audio and video will be muxed together

Try playing the file in DivX Player 6.3.1! You will hear full 5.1 surround sound!

Also try playing the file in Windows Media Player. You will hear high quality stereo sound - mp3 Surround is backwards compatible with older media players and DivX Certified devices.

Have fun!