I have a Panasonic HC-X900 camcorder which will record 5.1 audio in AC-3 format. Although I use a separate audio recorder for speech and so forth, I like the 5.1 format for ambient recordings. Anyone who has filmed in a forest with exotic birds squawking from the tree tops all around will know what I mean. Or standing at the end of an airport runway with planes landing over head etc.

This all worked fine with Movie Studio 16 but since I upgraded to Vegas Pro 18, this AC-3 support is broken. I mentioned this in another thread but that was off topic to my original post so I'm starting a new topic here. BTW, when I import the files to the time line and match project settings, I get all audio tracks - Front L&R, centre, Rear L&R and sub. so Vegas has no problem importing the AC-3 files and the audio all works when playing the clips in the project window(s) - it's just rendering that's broken.

The only format that supported 5.1 audio was an old Sony AVC format but if I try to render these camcorder files using that format, I get an error message - quote............

"The selected encode format requires the download of an add-on software module the first time this format is used" If you wish to proceed, ensure your PC is connected to the internet, the click "yes"..end of quote

At which point, I get another pop up window saying "Operation error" Installation failed code:-1. On some systems this problem can be avoided by starting the application with Windows "Run as Administrator" option, then rendering the project again. After the component has downloaded.successfully, the application can be closed and re-started normally with the "Run as Administrator Option"

This never works. I haven't been able to download that file no matter what I do. I raised it as ticket with Magix on 6th December and finally received a reply today (5th January). This is what they said quote.....

"Starting with recent versions of Windows 10, the VEGAS line of products uses native Windows tools for stereo AC-3 encoding and decoding. It is not possible to encode 5.1 AC-3 files since they are not supported through the operating system. To encode 5.1 audio, use another audio codec such as WAV."...end of quote.

That is singularly unhelpful. I can't find any rendering option in Vegas pro which allows me to select 5.1 audio and WAV format. I don't much care if the audio is AC-3 or some other format - I just want to be able to render these camcorder files and be able to enjoy 5.1 audio when I play them back through my home theatre system.

What are my options? Is there some way that I can convert the native 5.1 channel AC-3 audio that the camcorder produces into some other format that Vegas Pro will play nicely with? I tried Voukoder but I don't really know what setting to use and end up with no audio output (at least none that is audible when played back through my PC using VLC media player).