Other DTS/DTS-HD to AC3

[wozburger]

I'm trying to find a way to convert the audio from the AVIs I produce with BD Ripper to AC3 so I can stream to my Samsung TV. I use the avi.h264.audiocopy profile.

The rips with Dolby TrueHD play fine. The problem arises with discs that have their audio encoded in DTS-HD MA - the TV doesn't accept any DTS audio, so even if I use the "remove HD audio" option I have to find a way to convert the audio to AC3.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[wozburger]

DTS-HD to AC3 - My Way!

OK, I did a bit of research and trial & error and this is what works for me. I hope the steps below help others with the same issues as me! BTW I'm no coding guru - there are probably more efficient ways to use FFMPEG etc...

I have a Samsung B7000 series TV that I stream this to, in case that matters. I also use Windows 7.

Software you'll need, other than DVDFab 8.0.1.6 (you probably don't actually need the latest version) is:

FFMPEG
Tranzcode
WAV to AC3 Encoder 4.5
AVIDEMUX 2.5 (you might not need this - FFMPEG could probably do the same job but I couldn't get it to work properly)

The extra software is all free (cheapskate, moi?)

STEP 1
Rip the BD to avi - I use the avi.h264.audiocopy profile

STEP 2 - Separate the audio & video
Use FFMPEG to separate the audio & video. I use the command line (in Windows, open it up by clicking on start and entering CMD in the box at the bottom of the). CD to the directory where FFMPEG is. BTW I find it's easier to keep a copy of FFMPEG in the directory where my .avis are output, which for me is directly in the dvdfab folder. Once you're at the correct directory, here are the command lines I use:
> ffmpeg -i original.avi -an vcodec copy original_video.avi
then
> ffmpeg -i original.avi -vn acodec copy original_audio.dts

(NB the ">" is just the prompt)

The 1st command produces a video only file, the 2nd produces the audio file.

STEP 3 - Create separate WAVs for each channel
Open the Tranzcode GUI (comes with Tranzcode) and select the .dts as your input, set "Output Channels" to "6 Mono Wav" and run it. You should now have 6 separate .wav files with -C, -FL, -FR, -SL, -SR, -LFE in the filename.

STEP 4 - Mux WAVs to AC3
Open WAV to AC3 Encoder.
[OPTIONAL: you can click on the "advanced" checkbox on the right so that more options appear, but I left it at the default view]
Click "Mux Wizard" button at the bottom.
Check the "+LFE" checkbox.
Click on each of the buttons on the left and select the corresponding .wav you created in Step 3. FYI, -FL & -FR = L & R .wavs. Once you've selected them all, click "OK" and the the "Encode" button. You should now have a .ac3 file that probably includes "-FL" in the filename. Just one more step and we're there!

STEP 5 - Mux the AC3 with the video
Open Avidemux and open your .avi that just has the video (produced in Step 2). You might get some warning here about H.264 - I just click "Yes".
Click on "Audio" in the top menu and select "Main Track".
Change "Audio source" to "External AC3" and click the "open" button to browse to your shiny new .ac3 (from Step 4). OK that.
[OPTIONAL: If your output file is likely to be bigger than 4GB, you need to change settings so that the file is not split. So, Tools > Preferences > Output > Create OpenDML files. I think (might be wrong here) there's still an upper limit of 9GB, but this has been fine for me.]
Now. Are you ready for this? File > Save > Save video... Save it, and you're done!

This is a pretty tortuous process, but it gives good results for me. Hopefully in the future, DVDFab will automate this process! And if anyone has a quicker, better, easier way to do this, please let me know!

[IPopov50]

wozburger,
OMG, if there's a competition how to make simple things in most complicated way, you are certantly a winner. Here's couple of simple ways:
aa. Extract stream as AC3. Use HdBrStreamExtractor (google it, it's freeware). You can extract your audio stream into any format available. In a few minutes you will have your AC3 audio.
At this point, you can move to your STEP 5 and be done with it.
Or you can extract from your BD not only audio, but also video and chapters. As a result, you will have AC3 audio, h264 (or MKV) video and chapters streams on your hands. You can then re-mux all these streams into:
(a) m2ts
(b) BD
(c) AVCHD
using tsMuxerGUI (this will take another couple of minutes).
Any of these formats you can re-code into anything (including AVI) using DVDFab or use as is.

[wozburger]

Ah thanks for that - that's why I asked the original question!

EDIT: Actually, this doesn't seem to work for my Iron Man 2 disc (same for Iron Man actually) No streams are shown. I get "stream retrieval completed" but nothing is shown in the Streams panel. Are there other secret steps to take?

[Racem22]

There's a fix in the works for Iron Man 2, it will be up and running soon, just look at the main thread for updates.

[wozburger]

Thanks Racem22, but I was referring to the HdBrStreamExtractor that IPopov50 suggested to convert DTS-HD to AC3 audio. I had no problems actually ripping the blu ray for Iron Man 2 (and the original) to AVI using dvdfab 8.0.1.6.

[IPopov50]

Thanks Racem22, but I was referring to the HdBrStreamExtractor that IPopov50 suggested to convert DTS-HD to AC3 audio. I had no problems actually ripping the blu ray for Iron Man 2 (and the original) to AVI using dvdfab 8.0.1.6.

Are you trying to extract streams directly from disc or from disc copy on your HDD?

[wozburger]

I was trying to extract from the blu ray direct.

[IPopov50]

I was trying to extract from the blu ray direct.

In this case, open disc with Passkey first (do not start DVDFab itself(!), just let Passkey to pick up disc and wait for "successful" message. (Update Passkey to the latest beta to make sure you have support for Iron Man 2)
When you done with opening disc, open HdBrStreamExtractor and try again.
First time you couldn't do it because of protection (encription).
Alternative way is to copy your BD to HDD using DVDFab BD Copy (BD50) and extract from HDD.
Either way will work.