need help setting up surround and encoding AC3: ac3jack won't compile

I’m on Ubuntu Hardy, and try as I might cannot get ac3jack to compile…endless dependency hell, and I can’t find a .deb package for the life of me. I need to mix in surround and monitor through a Dolby-capable receiver, as my project is for DVD and I want to hew close to the standard. Can anyone suggest an alternative that will let me monitor an AC3-encoded stream? I have no problem listening to discrete channels/stems; but I do need to listen to the encoded bitstream.