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ffdshow is an open source codec that supports all major formats like DivX, Xvid, H.264, AVC, MPEG1, MPEG2 and many others. It also has filters for post-processing and enhancing the video quality.

Subtitles can be displayed as well, including those embedded in containers like MP4 or MKV. You can use ffdshow as an audio decoder too, but AC3Filter is way better in handling AC3, DTS or SPDIF output.

I have included a registry file that contains the settings I use to set ffdshow as the default decoder for all the supported files. It will display external or embedded subtitles and add post-processing to the video.

I use ffdshow, AC3Filter and DivX Tech Preview to play everything I want. You can use Haali Media Splitter instead of DivX Tech Preview to support thumbnails of MKV. For video playback, Media Player Classic is my favorite.

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Realtek HD Audio Drivers 2.42.

Most computers and the majority of Motherboards with integrated audio from all the major manufactures come with Realtek audio chips. Most of them, however, take long to publish updates to their support sites. Here’s the latest version.

If you ever get any problems when updating drivers you can use Driver Sweeper after you have uninstalled you current drivers to clean your system for left over files. After that, reboot your computer and install the new ones. This will reduce the chance of having driver issues.

Dowload XP | Vista/Win7

LameXP is a free audio converter which supports multi-threading encoding, which means that it can convert two files at once, saving you some time if you have a CPU with 2 or more cores.

For MP4/AAC encoding support you need to download the free Nero Digital Audio Encoder. Just download it and copy the EXE files to LameXP folder.

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ffdshow is an open source codec that supports all major formats like DivX, Xvid, H.264, AVC, MPEG1, MPEG2 and many others. It also has filters for post-processing and enhancing the video quality.

Subtitles can be displayed as well, including those embedded in containers like MP4 or MKV. You can use ffdshow as an audio decoder too, but AC3Filter is way better in handling AC3, DTS or SPDIF output.

I have included a registry file that contains the settings I use to set ffdshow as the default decoder for all the supported files. It will display external or embedded subtitles and add post-processing to the video.

I use ffdshow, AC3Filter and DivX Tech Preview to play everything I want. You can use Haali Media Splitter instead of DivX Tech Preview to support thumbnails of MKV. For video playback, Media Player Classic is my favorite.

Website & Download Registry Settings

Searching for an easy way to convert DTS audio to AC3 I found a great application called PopCorn MKV AudioConverter. You can download it here.

Many video files in MKV like movies or concerts contain DTS audio and some setup boxes or old A/V receivers can’t decode it while AC3 is a more standardized format, even for old players.

I gave a WD TV to my mom for christmas but her Home Theater didn’t have an optical input and the WD TV needed to output DTS audio via its optical output because it can’t decode that format.

By using this tool, only the audio will be converted and then remuxed again to a new MKV file, while the video will remain untouched.

Using PopCorn MKV AudioConverter is as easy as it gets. When you open it, it will automatically download all the needed files and tools. Then, its just a matter of specifying the source file, the destination file and deciding whether or not you want to keep the original DTS audio track inside the MKV file along with the new AC3 audio.

You can choose a file or a folder if you want to convert many files at once. If you want to keep the original DTS track, make sure to select the checkbox Preserve DTS Track.

When you are ready, click the Run button and the process will begin. It only takes between 5 or 10 minutes for 1 file depending on your computer.

You can use it to convert audio in other formats, not only DTS, if you want to.

MediaInfo is an application that can show you all the relevant information about audio and video files, such as tags, codecs, audio channels, subtitles and more.

It is multi-platform and open source. You can download an installer or a portable version.

There’s an x64 version as well.

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Mp3tag is the best freeware tag editor. It supports  MP3, MP4, AAC, OGG, WMA and many other formats.

You can rename files based on their tags or tag them from their file names, get information from the Internet, add cover art and more. All of this can be done in batches to save precious time.

If you are like me and like to have all your music collection properly tagged, Mp3tag will make your life easier. However, to be fair, there is nothing that compares to Tag&Rename, which is a commercial application and my favorite tag editor.

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Apple has released iTunes 9.0.2.

I will try to modify it and separate the languages as I did before. Many of you have wrote me about it. Problem is that it takes me too much time, so if I can’t come up with a solution to speed this up, I will release this new version as the last, which has all languages as in the original installer.

Meanwhile, you can get the new version from Apple here.