[sion28]

Why would you have input and output paths for AC3 audio identical?

Because that's the default. That's how the fields were auto-populated when I got to that step, and the guide didn't say to change it, so I left it, assuming that was the correct way. In the error message, when it said "Input and output files may not be the same" I thought it meant "might not be the same" rather than "must not be the same" if you get my drift. "May not" can have different meanings.

Anyway, speaking of this... is there any way to not re-encode the audio and just use the original ac3 file? Seems like a waste of processor time to re-encode the audio when what I want is the original ac3 stream anyway. (This is kind of why I thought leaving the file names the same was correct- figured it meant that the audio was going to be untouched.)

That's probably the reason of the error. I tested it myself. Change the output to different name, like Sound.ac3 or whatever.

Thanks, will do.

The reason why it wouldn't work is because when you encode an audio, it'll overwrite the original one at same time... so its like, you don't have any audio to encode at all.

Let me check the Wiki. It probably need some updating.

Yes, please. It also should be credited to the *original* author. Unless JPSiemer has a different alias on other boards, or unless the other author copied JPSiemer's work w/o credit...
www.digital-digest.com MeGUI H.264 Conversion Guide page3

Much (not all) of the guide in the XBMC wiki is cut+pasted from that guide (or vice-versa) save for the XBMC-on-Xbox specific portions (e.g. the command line options). The very nice bitrate table is also unique to the XBMC wiki guide, AFAICT.