Topic: How to rip audio from DVD/DVD Audio (Read 23030 times)

Louis Marchione · « **on:** December 14, 2017, 03:28:45 pm »

Anyone know how to rip some audio from a DVD or DVD Audio? I would like to save some of the music into the Library. I use Media Center 22.0.108 for Windows. Thank you in advance.

jmone · « **Reply #1 on:** December 14, 2017, 05:16:16 pm »

This Wiki should get you started (and there is also a link to the forum post on it) - https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Convert_Format

Hilton · « **Reply #2 on:** December 14, 2017, 06:09:33 pm »

Also DVD Audio Extractor will pull the native MLP stream from DVD-A and convert to FLAC or other file formats.
http://www.dvdae.com/

DVD is easy enough to do within MC just follow the wiki jmone linked to above.

cheers

RD James · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2017, 05:11:37 am »

There is also the free DVD-A Decoder plug-in for Foobar2000: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dvdadecoder/

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** December 15, 2017, 07:32:32 am »

Quote from: jmone on December 14, 2017, 05:16:16 pm

This Wiki should get you started (and there is also a link to the forum post on it) - https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Convert_Format

As explained in the wiki, MC can do this.

RD James · « **Reply #5 on:** December 15, 2017, 08:12:30 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 15, 2017, 07:32:32 am

As explained in the wiki, MC can do this.

Media Center cannot losslessly rip audio from DVD Video discs, and does not support playback or ripping of DVD-A discs at all.
I would use Foobar2000 for DVD-A discs (MLP audio) and MakeMKV for DVD Video discs (AC3/DTS).

Louis Marchione · « **Reply #6 on:** December 15, 2017, 12:34:42 pm »

Sorry I'm still at a loss. Do I need a plugin with MC 22 to accomplish the conversion? It seems that when I insert the DVD-A, in this case of Roy Orbison's Black and White Night, I see the files and by selecting either one or all and then choosing Convert I get nothing or No Files selected in response. Could it be that the DVD-A is copy protected? But why MC wouldn't say so. Thank you again.

RD James · « **Reply #7 on:** December 15, 2017, 06:06:45 pm »

Quote from: Louis Marchione on December 15, 2017, 12:34:42 pm

Sorry I'm still at a loss. Do I need a plugin with MC 22 to accomplish the conversion? It seems that when I insert the DVD-A, in this case of Roy Orbison's Black and White Night, I see the files and by selecting either one or all and then choosing Convert I get nothing or No Files selected in response. Could it be that the DVD-A is copy protected? But why MC wouldn't say so. Thank you again.

Media Center does not support DVD-A discs.

Download foobar2000
Download the DVD-A input plug-in
Copy foo_input_dvda.dll to the \foobar2000\components\ directory.
The plug-in can be configured via: Library > Configure > Tools > DVD-Audio
To open a DVD-A disc go to: File > Open and select: X:\AUDIO_TS\AUDIO_TS.IFO
To rip the tracks select them all, right-click, then use the convert option. Create your own preset via the .. option first.
If you are converting directly to FLAC, you will also need to Download the latest version of FLAC, extract it somewhere (inside the foobar2000 directory if you like) and point it at flac.exe the first time you try to convert an album.

Once ripped to a format that Media Center understands, you can import the tracks for tagging/renaming/playback etc.
It's also worth pointing out that the naming scheme for DVD-A discs is typically something like "L-R 24/96000" for stereo tracks and "Lf-Rf-Ls-Rs 24/48000 + C-LFE 24/48000" for surround tracks.
If it does not include a channel configuration or format details, it's probably not a playable audio track.
If there's no AUDIO_TS files, it's a DVD Video disc, not a DVD Audio disc, and you should use a tool like MakeMKV to rip it.

jmone · « **Reply #8 on:** December 15, 2017, 06:16:59 pm »

Quote from: RD James on December 15, 2017, 08:12:30 am

Media Center cannot losslessly rip audio from DVD Video discs, and does not support playback or ripping of DVD-A discs at all.
I would use Foobar2000 for DVD-A discs (MLP audio) and MakeMKV for DVD Video discs (AC3/DTS).

FYI - MC can lossless Rip any Audio it can play (including DVD and Bluray). As MC can not play the MLP part of DVD-Audio it can not rip this track (for that you would need 3rd party tools)

RD James · « **Reply #9 on:** December 15, 2017, 06:52:14 pm »

Quote from: jmone on December 15, 2017, 06:16:59 pm

FYI - MC can lossless Rip any Audio it can play (including DVD and Bluray). As MC can not play the MLP part of DVD-Audio it can not rip this track (for that you would need 3rd party tools)

AC3/DTS encoded tracks are converted to PCM. This is not a lossless conversion, and it inflates the file sizes about 5x.
Blu-rays with DTS-HD or TrueHD tracks can be converted losslessly though, since it's going from one lossless format to another.

astromo · « **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2017, 07:19:02 pm »

I've used MakeMKV to losslessly rip (i.e. transcode) DVD / BluRays to mkv. Then I've used MC to extract the audio stream via Convert Format as per the Wiki. Using this method I've converted from PCM (contrained in the mkv) to FLAC as a standalone audio file. From memory, the file size of the audio component halved (-ish) as is typical when ripping a CD to FLAC or APE.

The trick is to play the video and select the audio stream you're after. That then locks in the audio stream that Convert Format works with.

That may explain the comment about "not a lossless conversion". From the Wiki entry's opening sentence:

Quote

MC has a high quality conversion engine, that can be used to transcode from one format to another

Where's the evidence that this is not the case?

RD James · « **Reply #11 on:** December 15, 2017, 07:58:09 pm »

1. Ripped concert DVD Video containing 5.1 audio track to MKV using MakeMKV: 1.76GB
2. Removed video from MKV file using MKVToolNix, creating an audio-only MKA file with chapter markers: 466MB
3. Converted the MKV file to FLAC using Media Center's "convert video to audio" option, creating a chapterless FLAC file: 2.24GB

The converted file is not only 4.8x larger than the audio-only MKA file, it's almost 30% larger than the source file containing the video.
This is because it's converting a DTS-encoded track to PCM.
Not only that, you lose chapter markers and can't bitstream the FLAC-converted file over an S/PDIF connection either. (though Media Center does not currently support bitstreaming MKA files if I recall correctly)

You won't have this problem with Blu-rays if they're using TrueHD or DTS-HD tracks, because those are lossless PCM formats which are typically less-compressed than FLAC files.
But you shouldn't use Media Center to do this with DVDs (or Blu-rays) that use AC3/DTS tracks.

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** December 16, 2017, 01:55:24 am »

Maybe the source was lossy?

RD James · « **Reply #13 on:** December 16, 2017, 03:34:27 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 16, 2017, 01:55:24 am

Maybe the source was lossy?

Yes, AC3 and DTS are compressed formats.
With MKV/MKA you can rip out the audio without altering it.

In Media Center your only option is to convert it to PCM in a lossless file container, or to a different lossy format like MP3.
Both of these conversions incur further loss, while also inflating the file size.

Media Center is fine for ripping Blu-ray audio if it's DTS-HD or TrueHD - though it doesn't preserve chapter information.
But it's not what I would recommend to rip the audio track from a DVD Video disc, and it doesn't support DVD Audio discs at all.

jmone · « **Reply #14 on:** December 16, 2017, 05:25:14 am »

Incorrect. There is no loss decoding AC3 or DTS to PCM. That is how playback works...it's just decoding. If saving as FLAC it will be a lossless version of the PCM, and sure the resultant file will be bigger but will be accurate.

RD James · « **Reply #15 on:** December 16, 2017, 07:32:57 am »

Quote from: jmone on December 16, 2017, 05:25:14 am

Incorrect. There is no loss decoding AC3 or DTS to PCM. That is how playback works...it's just decoding. If saving as FLAC it will be a lossless version of the PCM, and sure the resultant file will be bigger but will be accurate.

It's a non-reversible conversion since it's going from floating-point to fixed-precision audio, which also places additional restrictions on playback; HDMI is now required for multichannel tracks rather than S/PDIF.
You can argue that the difference is going to be inaudible - because that's true. My concern is not about audio quality.
But if we're being technical, the conversion to PCM is not a lossless one. The conversion from the resultant PCM file to FLAC is a lossless one though.

When it also strips out the chapter information and inflates the file size 5x, I see no reason to recommend it.
To be clear though: only AC3/DTS audio is affected, which mainly applies to DVDs and not Blu-rays.
It's also a quick and easy way to pull audio out of a video file without leaving the program. I'd prefer than it remuxed the audio into an MKA file instead of converting it though. It's much faster, and the original quality.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #16 on:** December 16, 2017, 10:38:11 am »

Has anyone noticed that the OP has an unanswered question? I would answer it but I don't have any DVD-A disks to test this. Everyone seems to have gotten sidetracked arguing technical minutia and have not answered the new forum member's question(s).

Louis: We're normally better than that in welcoming someone to the forums, but sometimes people are really passionate about their audio and get sidetracked.

I'm sure someone will help you out shortly.

tyler69 · « **Reply #17 on:** December 16, 2017, 11:28:13 am »

Posts 3 and 4 answered his question as far as I understand. This one can do it too: https://www.videohelp.com/software/DVD-Audio-Explorer

jmone · « **Reply #18 on:** December 16, 2017, 01:42:30 pm »

It's not a conversion, it's a decoding step. The loss was made when the studio encoded it into DTS/DD, not when we play it back.

jmone · « **Reply #19 on:** December 16, 2017, 01:56:53 pm »

Quote from: gvanbrunt on December 16, 2017, 10:38:11 am

Has anyone noticed that the OP has an unanswered question?

I feel for the OP - simple Q turns into ... whatever this "discussion" is.

In Summary: MC supports a wide range of Audio codecs. If MC can play it, it can convert it. If MC can not play it, it can not convert it. Try it and see what you think.

In particular, If you want to convert the MLP on a DVD-A then you will need some of the 3rd Party Tools (mentioned above). If you want to convert the DD/DTS on a DVD then you are good to go. You can of course use 3rd Party Tools for the job as well if you prefer their workflow.

RD James · « **Reply #20 on:** December 16, 2017, 05:58:42 pm »

Quote from: gvanbrunt on December 16, 2017, 10:38:11 am

Has anyone noticed that the OP has an unanswered question? I would answer it but I don't have any DVD-A disks to test this. Everyone seems to have gotten sidetracked arguing technical minutia and have not answered the new forum member's question(s).

Louis: We're normally better than that in welcoming someone to the forums, but sometimes people are really passionate about their audio and get sidetracked. I'm sure someone will help you out shortly.

I posted detailed instructions for ripping DVD-A discs with Foobar2000, since Media Center does not support them at all.

Louis Marchione · « **Reply #21 on:** December 17, 2017, 11:22:51 am »

Thank you, everyone.
RD James I will follow your instructions (which are excellent detailed) and report back on the results.
To Gvanbrunt. I felt that way for a while too, however I don't mind the extra "technical" information given from the other posts.
Again, thanks to everyone.
Enjoy your music.

Louis Marchione · « **Reply #22 on:** December 18, 2017, 04:14:49 pm »

After DL and installing Foobar2000 and copying foo_input_dvda.dll to the foobar2000\components directory I tried to rip the DVD-A, by selecting FLAC format. But it asked me to point it to flac.exe file. After DL it and copy it to foobar2000 folder the conversion went through, only to wind up with 0 bytes file size. Tried to select AAC but I cant find a trusted site where I can DL qaac.exe. Finally I selected .wav and I was able to covert, one by one, all of the files. Happy now. Finally I imported all files into JRiver 22. And I even convert them to ALAC for the iTunes library.
This should do for now.
Thanks RD JAmes and all the others for helping me out.

stricko · « **Reply #23 on:** December 31, 2017, 09:07:33 am »

This is going to be a bit of a tangent, but I've succesfully ripped many DVD-A and Bluray Audio disks using DVD-Audio Extractor in the past. However since mid 2017, DVDAE has been crashing when trying to produce FLAC files (bear with me, I'll get to MC eventually). I reported it to CAS and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing they've concluded that's an incompatibility with something else that uses FLAC. On my main PC, their are lots of possible candidates (including MC22), but on CAS's advice I've just tried it on a much cleaner machine. Win 10 64bit (AMD), with MC22 pretty much the only other thing on it.

So, has anyone else ever had a problem with DVD-AE, MC and FLAC?

(DVD-AE will happily produce MP3, Ogg-Vorbis and other formats from Bluray audio disk copies created with MakeMKV, it's just FLAC that seems to be a problem).

JimH · « **Reply #24 on:** December 31, 2017, 09:23:27 am »

On the cleaner machine, what happened?

How about antivirus?

What about MC23?

Let them know we'll provide a license if they want to look further.

stricko · « **Reply #25 on:** December 31, 2017, 09:40:42 am »

Only antivirus is Windows Defender (on both machines). Not tried MC23, but I'm guessing most of the underlying flac infrastructure is the same. DVD-AE runs completely normally, reads the disk structure, downloads metadata, allows FLAC parameter selection, but crashes at the point of starting to extract the first file. Select any other audio format and it works perfectly. I'll mention the license thing to them. Next thing I'm going to try is a completely clean W10 build, only DVD-AE on it.

Cheers

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** December 31, 2017, 09:45:24 am »

Windows Defender has also caused some problems in the last few months.

stricko · « **Reply #27 on:** December 31, 2017, 12:33:23 pm »

did a quick test with defender real-time switched off. just the same

scolumbo · « **Reply #28 on:** January 01, 2018, 08:50:40 pm »

Quote from: stricko on December 31, 2017, 09:07:33 am

So, has anyone else ever had a problem with DVD-AE, MC and FLAC?

No problem here. I use DVD-AE on a regular basis to rip to FLAC. I'm using MC 22 and Windows Defender.

stricko · « **Reply #29 on:** January 02, 2018, 12:19:00 am »

Just done some more testing, installing DVDAE on a completely clean fresh windows build. No MC, nothing. Still failed.

Happy to close this. Not an MC problem

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Author Topic: How to rip audio from DVD/DVD Audio (Read 23030 times)