Help getting started ripping and converting

[ProgRules]

I'm sure the info is somewhere in this forum, so likely just need some pointers and/or basic questions answered.

I want to start ripping my MCH BD's and DVDs to make DVD-As or DTS CDs to play in my 2012 Acura TL. This will also get me started backing up my collection. I'll save SACDs for later.

I assume DVD-As will be better, given the ability to keep lossless sources lossless (though I doubt these old ears could tell the difference), but can I make DVD-As from lossy sources? Is there any reason that making DTS CDs would be preferable?

I understand MMH will allow me to make copies, but IIUC not convert to DVD-As or DTS CDs, correct? If so, would I use DVDAE to create the files to burn? Would it be easier to just use DVDAE from the start?

If you could answer these questions and/or point me to the thread(s) with this info and the basics on how to proceed in this process, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Goodtunes]

I'm sure the info is somewhere in this forum, so likely just need some pointers and/or basic questions answered.

I want to start ripping my MCH BD's and DVDs to make DVD-As or DTS CDs to play in my 2012 Acura TL. This will also get me started backing up my collection. I'll save SACDs for later.

I assume DVD-As will be better, given the ability to keep lossless sources lossless (though I doubt these old ears could tell the difference), but can I make DVD-As from lossy sources? Is there any reason that making DTS CDs would be preferable?

I understand MMH will allow me to make copies, but IIUC not convert to DVD-As or DTS CDs, correct? If so, would I use DVDAE to create the files to burn? Would it be easier to just use DVDAE from the start?

If you could answer these questions and/or point me to the thread(s) with this info and the basics on how to proceed in this process, I would greatly appreciate it.

Many people use DVD Audio Extractor directly on DVDs. My experience is that it works well. Also, most things I’ve read about BDs is that you first use MakeMKV to create MKV files, followed by Music Media Helper to extract the individual tracks. Again, I use this approach and am very pleased with it. The only issue I’ve run into is that BDs frequently have several choices of MKVs on the disc (stereo, 5.1 ATMOS, etc.). I have chosen to back all of them up, and then pick the one(s) I want to use for extraction. Keep searching this site. It is packed with all kinds of information like this. Good luck.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I'm sure the info is somewhere in this forum, so likely just need some pointers and/or basic questions answered.

I want to start ripping my MCH BD's and DVDs to make DVD-As or DTS CDs to play in my 2012 Acura TL. This will also get me started backing up my collection. I'll save SACDs for later.

I assume you are going with DVD-As because the Acura won't play MCH FLAC files?

 

[mandrix]

If you want to make DTS-CD you will need to convert to wav and then need a DTS encoder. Of course I'm old school and use the Surcode encoder.
Not sure if eac3to will convert to DTS?

There is a free authoring tool to create DVDA, though I've not used it. Sans that, what would you use to author the DVDA disc? You can put wav files on a DVDA but without converting to mlp they will take up more space, which requires the Surcode MLP encoder.

Once you have dts files you can use AudioMuxer to quick and dirty create a DVD .iso, which you can burn to disc. Must convert files to 48Khz if not already. wav files can be on a DVD but as well take up a lot of space compared to dts. Never tried wav files with AudioMuxer myself.

All I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[ProgRules]

I assume you are going with DVD-As because the Acura won't play MCH FLAC files?

Yes, the head unit on this car only plays DVD-A, DTS CD and regular CD.

 

[ProgRules]

If you want to make DTS-CD you will need to convert to wav and then need a DTS encoder. Of course I'm old school and use the Surcode encoder.
Not sure if eac3to will convert to DTS?

Google search shows that the DTS-CD Surcode is no longer available. I was able to d/l a demo, but see nowhere to buy the actual product. The minnetonka website shows it as a legacy product.

eac3to looks to not encode to DTS.

There is a free authoring tool to create DVDA, though I've not used it. Sans that, what would you use to author the DVDA disc? You can put wav files on a DVDA but without converting to mlp they will take up more space, which requires the Surcode MLP encoder.

I think this program: DVD audio Tools will take .wav files and convert to MLP to author a dvd-a disc. Maybe not???

Once you have dts files you can use AudioMuxer to quick and dirty create a DVD .iso, which you can burn to disc. Must convert files to 48Khz if not already. wav files can be on a DVD but as well take up a lot of space compared to dts. Never tried wav files with AudioMuxer myself.

All I can think of off the top of my head.

Can't play a DTS dvd; has to be DTS CD.

Thanks for all your help. This is looking to be a lot more complicated than I first thought. But your input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Methuselah’s Grandpa]

You should be able to use AudioMuxer to convert your multi-channel audio into DTS-WAV, ...once you've done that, you can use IMGBURN or something similar to burn the DTS-WAV tracks to a CD. This option (although lossy) should be much simpler than authoring DVDAs.

 

[ProgRules]

You should be able to use AudioMuxer to convert your multi-channel audio into DTS-WAV, ...once you've done that, you can use IMGBURN or something similar to burn the DTS-WAV tracks to a CD. This option (although lossy) should be much simpler than authoring DVDAs.

This looks great! I'll give this a shot. Thanks so much!!!

 

[mandrix]

This looks great! I'll give this a shot. Thanks so much!!!

AudioMuxer can covert to AC3. I don't believe it will convert to DTS unless you have either the DTS-HD MAS encoder or the Surcode encoder installed.
But ready to be proven wrong.
It actually has an "automated" method for converting files to DTS-HD if you have the DTS-HD MAS encoder installed. Which of course was also deprecated by DTS.

I think your best bet is if you can master the free DVDA authoring program, is to just use wav files, which are acceptable for a DVDA. The program will not as far as I know convert any files to MLP, which only means that wav files take up more disc space.

 

[ubertrout]

For Blu-Rays, use MakeMKV in the FLAC profile. Then drop it into foobar and export to separate out the tracks. Music Media Helper be good too - I've used it for other things (padding songs out to 5 channels from quad originals is particularly useful) but not that.
For DVD-Audio, use one of the existing programs.
SACD is a hassle, but not as bad as it used to be.

 

[mandrix]

Well if the goal is to get music on a disc for a car player, there's a few hurdles to jump over.
Ripping is the easy part.

 

[ProgRules]

Well if the goal is to get music on a disc for a car player, there's a few hurdles to jump over.
Ripping is the easy part.

Yes, in the long run it would have been easier to get a newer Acura and just start ripping my collection for backup and then use usb to play MCH FLAC in the car. But it was quicker and easier in the short term to get the disc-based system and have numerous DVD-As and DTS CDs to play immediately.

But had I known the difficulties burning MCH discs, I'd have chosen the long-term solution. That's what I get for not doing more research before-hand (due to false assumptions).

 

[Methuselah’s Grandpa]

This looks great! I'll give this a shot. Thanks so much!!!

I apologize because (like Mandrix said) this works great but only if you have the DTS encoder on your computer.

 

[ddahl44]

Going on a road trip with a guy who has an older Acura that plays DTS CDs. I don’t want to take my original discs, so I burned copies. A weird thing happened. I tested the burns on a blu-ray player. Audio came out the TV but just static over the AVR. The originals play fine in the blu-ray player. The burns play fine in older DVD player thru analog. I tried changing settings in blu-ray player (bitstream/ DTS reencoding/PCM) - just static. Any ideas?