DVD Ripper Large output files when ripping to M4A

[Mister_M]

Hi y'all,

I wanted to rip a live concert DVD to audio only (M4A) to have it on my smartphone as music. I selected m4a because it should be more efficient and give you the same audio quality like mp3 at a lower bit rate to save space. And here my problems come in.

I selected following settings for the output:
Codec: AAC
Channels: Stereo
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Split: by chapter
Volume: 120%

At 128 kbps (stereo) the output files should have a ratio of approximately 1 MB per minute of music. The DVD Ripper produces files, that are more than three times larger than that (about 3.3 MB per minute).
When I choose MP3 with 192 kbps / 48 kHz I get a ratio of about 1.5 MB per minute of music, which is absolutely fine.
The AAC profile works also without problems, 128 kbps / 48 kHz lead to ~1 MB per minute. But then I have to rename all file endings from *.AAC to *.M4A.

Normally the AAC-files should have been smaller than the MP3 output.
Example:
Profile M4A: 05:46 minutes, file size: ~19.0 MB
Profile MP3: 05:46 minutes, file size: ~8.1 MB
Profile AAC: 05:46 minutes, file size: ~5.4 MB

Has anyone an idea what's going wrong? Since it's the same codec, M4A and AAC should have the same output file size.

Thanks for all your help in advance.

Best regards,
Mister M

[signals]

Please use MediaInfo to analyze the audio files so as to illuminate the differences between the M4A and AAC files. Please attach the text file results to a new post.

[Mister_M]

Ah, I found the problem. When you have only one output file (one single chapter or the whole movie when splitting is deactivated), the bit rate and channels will be used as in the settings. When you choose the M4A profile, split by chapter and choosing more than one chapter for output, your settings will be ignored and the original bit rate and channel settings will be used instead.

I am using DVDFab 10.0.7.6 (x64).

Example:
Original audio track: 448 kbps / 48 kHz, 5.1 channels (AC-3 or DTS)
M4A profile settings: 128 kbps / 48 kHz stereo - split by chapter -> Choosing more than one chapter for output -> The settings will be ignored in all output files. Instead 448 kbps and 5.1 channels will be encoded.
M4A profile settings: 128 kbps / 48 kHz stereo - split by chapter -> Choosing only one chapter for output -> The correct settings from the profile will be used.
M4A profile settings: 128 kbps / 48 kHz stereo - no split -> choosing the whole movie for output -> The correct settings from the profile will be used.

[Mister_M]

I tested that issue with three different DVDs now. How can I report this bug to the developers?

[signals]

I will send them a link to your thread.

[Mister_M]

Thank you, signals!

[Mister_M]

Unfortunately the bug still hasn't been fixed in the latest version of DVDFab 10 (x64) [10.0.7.9]... The output files still have 448 kbps and 5.1 channels.

[Mona]

Example:
Original audio track: 448 kbps / 48 kHz, 5.1 channels (AC-3 or DTS)
M4A profile settings: 128 kbps / 48 kHz stereo - split by chapter -> Choosing more than one chapter for output -> The settings will be ignored in all output files. Instead 448 kbps and 5.1 channels will be encoded.

We are working on this problem, please kindly wait for updates, thank you.

Regards,
mona

[Mister_M]

Hi Mona,

with version 10.0.8.4 it seems to work now. The settings are no longer ignored and the output files have the correct bitrate and channels. This thread can be closed now.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Jens