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[stricko]

Hi guys, been trawling around a bit trying to find the current capabilties and any future development thoughts on playback of DVD-Audio disks.

I'm assuming that at the the moment, if I play a DVD-A disc or mount an image, MC20 is playing the DVD video layer version, not the hi-res DVD-A layer. Also what are people thoughts on ripping hi-res DVD-A stuff to FLAC or otherwise.....

Cheers

Paul

[ferday]

If it helps, I've converted all mine to FLAC

It's been quite a while since I ripped one (before I started using MC) so I can't remember what I used but likely anyDVD or something

[blgentry]

Yeah, using a computer to read, play, and convert DVD-A audio requires capabilities that aren't built in to DVD type software.  So you need something specifically designed to read that kind of audio data and decode it.  I've used another third party tool to convert a small handful of DVD-A titles that I own to FLAC.  You can convert the 2 channel, 5.1 channel, or both.  It will make separate files for 2ch or 5.1ch versions.

The resulting files sound great, and are as large as you'd expect for high resolution:  Pretty large.

Brian.

[Hilton]

I use this.

http://www.dvdae.com/

[stricko]

I've got a trial version at the mo, but it seems to be struggling with a couple of titles, and I'm getting null files. Their support seems to suggest it's because of something else like anydvd, but I can't find what's causing the problem. Hence the check as to what mc is doing

[6233638]

Media Center doesn't support DVD-A natively in any capacity.
I rip using Foobar and the DVD-A Decoder plug-in.
 
I don't know whether AnyDVD is required; I already run it on my system for Blu-ray playback. (and don't have any DVD-A discs nearby to test)
 
 
There is no issue with ripping DVD-A to FLAC.
Unlike SACD discs, where I'd keep them in their native DSD format, DVD-A discs are PCM audio compressed using the MLP codec.
Converting that to FLAC is totally lossless and there's no disadvantage to doing so.

[Goatshade]

I use DVDFab to rip the audio of a DVD-A, chapter-by-chapter (which basically equates to track-by-track), to FLAC. I use DVDFab for all of my ripping and copying, in fact. It's a functionally stable and comprehensive software suite. Only thing it can never seem to do right is preview video content before copy/rip.

[syndromeofadown]

I don't know whether AnyDVD is required

You can use anydvd to rip the dvd-video portion of the disc, just like a regular movie.
It does nothing for the dvd-audio portion. It will interfere with dvdae and should be disabled while ripping with it.

dvdfab can rip the full dvd-audio image. This is good for backup, and you can mount it then rip with dvdae.
I'm not aware of any software that can make use of the dvd-audio image. It's probably a feature for back in the day when people burned discs.

The dvd-audio question is asked every couple months, so you can search for a lot more info.

[Hilton]

DVDFAB only rips the dvd compressed version of the audio, not the lossless DVD-A MLP audio tracks.
You need to use something like DVDAE. I cant speak for foobar, but it may do the MLP rip as well but I haven't tried it.

[stricko]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate that this topic crops up every now and then, but it can be hard to work out the overall position once everyone starts giving their (highly constructive and informative) views.

So just for the benefit of the next person who gets the DVD-A urge, the position as of today in MC20 is as follows;

- If you want the full high def DVD-A audio experience, you have to rip the contents of the AUDIO_TS part of the disk using DVD Audio Extractor (commercial), Foobar2000 (+ plugin) or something equivalent. Rips can then be stored and handled by MC in the format of your choice (WAV, FLAC etc.)

- If you want any video content from the disk, rip the VIDEO_TS part of the disk using the usual suspects (AnyDVD, DVDFAB etc). This will most likely also include a Dolby Digital version of the audio content.

- In the absense of any other information, I'm guessing that there are no plans for further development in MC to support what has become a niche market, being rapidaly superceded by Blu-ray Audio.

Me? I'll carry on down the DVDAE route creating FLAC files, with the VIDEO_TS copy as well if there is anything interesting.

Is it worth copying part of this over to the WIKI?

Cheers

Paul

[thecrow]

I recently ripped all my DVD-A discs using DVD Audio Extractor to flac in stereo and 5.1 with great results.
But I did find DVDAE to be fussy.
i.e. when i used it on my server (Win2012R2 with a Pioneer DVD drive) it would not rip correctly producing very small files of a few k, (AnyDVD had never been installed).
On my HTPC it would sometimes work and others not (Win8.1 LG Blu-ray/HDDVD drive), but I did eventually find a reliable workflow where I would close DVDAE, insert my disc and let the O/S recognise the contents, then start DVDAE and then it would work correctly.
Very useful program but a bit temperamental.

[stricko]

I went through a similar process of elimination.......

[glynor]

Is it worth copying part of this over to the WIKI?

Sure! Thanks for offering. I sent login details for the wiki to the email address you have registered on the forum.

You can use this page to do a write up, once you get logged in:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php?title=DVD-Audio&action=edit&redlink=1

Let me know when you get it done and I'll do some tagging and organization on it. Thanks again!