Best Format that maintains AC3

[spark96]

I'm a newbee to this, so please excuse me, but I have looked everywhere and can't seem to find an answer.

I have the WD TV Live, and am trying to backup my DVD collection for use on it. I have ripped DVD, then used Handbrake to convert to Mp4, using the passthrough for audio, but my receiver will not decode it (It just plays as stereo).

It works fine playing the VOB file, an I even merged the VOB's and shrunk them and the Dolby Digital is fine. It just will not work in the MP4 Format???

Is there a Format using DVDFab that will allow me to rip, compress the DVD to a file(Any Format) and maintain good videop quality, while maintaining the AC3 Dolby Digital Sound?
Thanks in Advance!

[AlienX69]

Read this Guide



EDIT: Welcome to the forum !!

[spark96]

Thanks for the Quick Response!!

I'm a little confused with "To maintain the 5.1 sound, just choose either generic.avi.xvid.audiocopy or generic.avi.h264.audiocopy profile and make sure that you select the Dolby Digital soundtrack."

I thought by selecting anything witht he .audiocopy you only get the audio extracted...and no Video?

[Karloff]

Hi, spark96

The profiles with .audiocopy means just that it will create the video output in whatever format you specified i.e avi.h264 or avi.divx but there will not be any compressing at all with the audio (you get the same audio as on the dvd).

If you use one of the profiles like generic.avi.divx.mp3 you will get a compressed audio and mp3 is only stereo and not surround sound.

[spark96]

Thank you for the clarification. I'll try a couple of them, and see how they work out w/ the WD TV Live, hopefully the AC3 will work correctly. As far as Video formats, I know there are numerious opinions on what is best, but do you have any recommendations for what to use, I'm trying to keep the file size under 2Gb/Disc

[GregiBoy]

There are recommendations in that thread on where to start.

[spark96]

Thanks for all the Help, I used all the formats, and limited the file size to 2Gb, viewed each one and decided to go with the .avi 264 format, they all maintained the AC3 (As you said they would), but I think the .avi 264 looked slightly better. I did think that the MP4's I encoded w/ Handbrake looked a little clearer, but with no AC3- It really takes away from the movie. I didn't see that as an option for MP4, so I'll be sticking w/ the .avi for now.
Does anyone know if that is a limitation of the MP4, or just DVDFab?

[Complication]

MP4 does not support AC3 audio. Wikipedia is your friend.

[GregiBoy]

Also, I find that 2 pass gives better results but it takes roughly twice the time.

[mcnallbe]

Hi Complication,

It's my first posting, so forgive me if I'm completely off on this. Handbrake supports making mp4 files with AC3 audio.

However, I'd much rather use DVDFab. Handbrake, on windows at least, is a 2-stage affair, and I prefer doing a simple 1-stage rip+convert on DVDFab. Secondly, I find DVDFab a lot quicker.

Having said all that, I would really like it if DVDFab could produce the mp4 + ac3 files of Handbrake, as that's the route to Apple TV with Dolby Digital surround, rather than the Prologic surround generated from DVDFab's Apple TV or Generic mp4 conversions.

What do you think?

[Complication]

Hi Complication,

It's my first posting, so forgive me if I'm completely off on this. Handbrake supports making mp4 files with AC3 audio.

However, I'd much rather use DVDFab. Handbrake, on windows at least, is a 2-stage affair, and I prefer doing a simple 1-stage rip+convert on DVDFab. Secondly, I find DVDFab a lot quicker.

Having said all that, I would really like it if DVDFab could produce the mp4 + ac3 files of Handbrake, as that's the route to Apple TV with Dolby Digital surround, rather than the Prologic surround generated from DVDFab's Apple TV or Generic mp4 conversions.

What do you think?

I stand corrected. Every encoder I've seen had required the audio to be AAC or MP3 when using the MP4 container. This has been re-enforced by Apple's use of MP4 (a.k.a. M4A).

You can certainly make a thread in the feature request forum. However, I wonder if devices like the PS3 would choke on such a file. You would want to list those devices and uses that would benefit from AC3 in an MP4 to make your case.

[GregiBoy]

You could always try a custom profile using the parameters from a MP4 profile for video and from an audiocopy profile for audio.

Somewhere in the dim dark past I remember Nero Recode producing a MP4/Audiocopy profile.

[mcnallbe]

Well, it'll be my first one, but I'll give it a go and report back here how I get on.

When you see the smoke, run !

[mcnallbe]

Hey - that's great. I didn't know custom profiles were possible until you (and Complication on a different thread) suggested it. I tried it just now, synced to the Apple TV, and it worked perfectly! mp4 with Dolby Digital surround from DVD Fab on the first attempt.

There's one more trick that Handbrake can do, and that's encode both a AAC and an AC3 in the same mp4, and the AppleTV will use the AC3 and an iPhone will use the AAC. I had a look at some of the other profile definitions, but I don't see anything like that.

What do you think about it? Should I put in a posting about it on the new feature topic ?

[GregiBoy]

You cannot encode 2 audio tracks with Fab.