I'm not very experienced with coding and I need some assistance in creating a script that can automatically convert .ac4 surround audio files into .wav files using the Dolby Reference Player. I tried asking ChatGPT, but the syntax was pretty confusing. The command I'm looking to run is as follows:
drp "input file path" --ac4dec-dmx-mode hp --ac4dec-drc-enabled false --ac4dec-out-ref-level 0 --ac4dec-limiter-enabled false --ac4dec-pres-index 1 --audio-out-file 'input file name'.wav
Could someone help me write a script that allows me to simply input the .ac4 file and have it process the conversion automatically? I really appreciate any help, and sorry if the formatting is off; I'm posting from my phone.
2 Answers
Here's a straightforward way to make a script for this:
1. Create a new file named `ac4-to-wav`.
2. Add the following code:
```
#!/bin/sh
for file; do
out=${file%.*}.wav # Change suffix for output
if [ -e "$out" ]; then
echo "$out already exists, skipping"
continue
fi
drp "$file" --ac4dec-dmx-mode hp --ac4dec-drc-enabled false --ac4dec-out-ref-level 0 --ac4dec-limiter-enabled false --ac4dec-pres-index 1 --audio-out-file "$out"
done
```
3. Make it executable by running `chmod +x ac4-to-wav`.
4. You can then run the script with `./ac4-to-wav /path/to/your/*.ac4` from the directory where your script is located.
You might also want to move `ac4-to-wav` to `~/.local/bin`, so it can be run from anywhere just by typing `ac4-to-wav`.
What is 'file' in the loop? I'm all for learning, just a little confused about how that works!
If you're just converting a single file, you can use this command:
```
ffmpeg -i 'input.ac4' 'output.wav'
```
Just swap 'input.ac4' and 'output.wav' with your actual file paths.
For converting all .ac4 files in a folder, try:
```
find . -type f -name '*.ac4' -exec bash -c 'echo "$1"; ffmpeg -i "$1" "${1%.ac4}.wav"' _ {} ';'
```
That's a good start, but it seemed like the script might do the opposite! Still, thanks for providing a framework to work from.