Question regarding audio when ripping my Blu rays (1 Viewer)

[albert_m2]

I apologize if this is the wrong section, but not sure where this should live.

Last year I started to rip some of my old tv show DVDs and it's been nice to have episodes accessible for my tv that way and also as a backup.

And to be clear, this is my collection and for my use. I had purchased Win X DVD to do this.

I started to do movies. Mainly DVDs because I didn't have software to do blu ray.

However, I recently started ripping some of my blu rays with MKV and then using Handbrake to convert them.

All was fine, so I thought, but the audio is much lower. I have looked and looked and can't find a general use best practice to fix this.

I also wondered if there was software that is better suited for blu rays?

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestion with the software above or other ways to do this, I appreciate it. I know that some suggest various audio programs, but am hoping that there is a simpler solution more directly integrated rather than additional layers to this process, if possible.

 

[JohnRice]

A Mod will probably want to move this to the HTPC section, but I've never had that occur. I also haven't used Handbrake in years. To clarify, what do you mean by "the audio is much lower?" Also, why are you converting it in Handbrake, and what are you converting to?

 

[albert_m2]

A Mod will probably want to move this to the HTPC section, but I've never had that occur. I also haven't used Handbrake in years. To clarify, what do you mean by "the audio is much lower?" Also, why are you converting it in Handbrake, and what are you converting to?

Converting to mp4.

Regarding the audio, in the mp4, it's much lower. If I were to play the same moment from the same movie that I did on Win X DVD vs Handbrake... with the computer volume untouched, the Handbrake file is very audio is very quiet. I would have to turn it up to hear people talk well.

 

[JohnRice]

You're converting the audio to a different format from the original? What are the details of that? Isn't there an option to change the volume in Handbrake? Has that been altered?

 

[albert_m2]

You're converting the audio to a different format from the original? What are the details of that? Isn't there an option to change the volume in Handbrake? Has that been altered?

I'm not specifically trying convert the audio. I'm converting the MKV movie file to a MP4 file one and I'm not sure what's happening in that process that's impacting the audio, but something is. There are a lot of options with Handbrake so I'm not sure what the best practice is to maintain the audio as it was.

 

[JohnRice]

I'm not specifically trying convert the audio. I'm converting the MKV movie file to a MP4 file one and I'm not sure what's happening in that process that's impacting the audio, but something is. There are a lot of options with Handbrake so I'm not sure what the best practice is to maintain the audio as it was.

I can't double check at the moment, but I clearly recall there is an option to leave the audio (or video) completely unchanged.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Why convert the MKV at all? MKV is a widely supported format, and when created using MakeMKV from a disc, gives you an exact copy of what’s on the disc.

Once you start throwing it into Handbrake, you’re recompressing the data and throwing away a lot of the original quality, which means that you’re not ending up with true backups of your original media, nor getting the level of quality that you’re buying the discs for in the first place.

At the risk of offering an unpopular or unhelpful opinion, if you’re not going to retain the full original quality of the source discs, it’s probably more time efficient and cost efficient to switch to digital purchases.

 

[JohnRice]

Why convert the MKV at all? MKV is a widely supported format, and when created using MakeMKV from a disc, gives you an exact copy of what’s on the disc.

Once you start throwing it into Handbrake, you’re recompressing the data and throwing away a lot of the original quality, which means that you’re not ending up with true backups of your original media, nor getting the level of quality that you’re buying the discs for in the first place.

At the risk of offering an unpopular or unhelpful opinion, if you’re not going to retain the full original quality of the source discs, it’s probably more time efficient and cost efficient to switch to digital purchases.

My guess it it's for use in an Apple/AirPlay environment. They never used to support MKV, and I'm guessing that hasn't changed. Also don't support HD audio.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

If you do want to retain an exact, unaltered copy of the audio while still compressing the video, in the audio tab on Handbrake where there’s the drop-down menu for format to convert to, select “Passthrough” - this will retain the original audio in whatever the original format was.

There are so many potential reasons for why compressed audio could be coming out with a different volume level than the original that without knowing and understanding both the original source format and the settings being applied it’s almost impossible to say for sure - and even after knowing those things it could still be unclear.

The different original codecs like Dolby Digital, DTS, etc, all have metadata encoded within them that helps govern playback when they’re decoded on playback devices and Handbrake may be doing its own interpretation of those parameters. You could also be choosing a format that has more limited parameters than the original, and Handbrake could be converting it to fit the new parameters. There’s a volume slider on Handbrake that could have been set to something that adjusts rather than preserves the original dynamics. There are really so many reasons for why it could be.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My guess it it's for use in an Apple/AirPlay environment. They never used to support MKV, and I'm guessing that hasn't changed. Also don't support HD audio.

Playback clients for Apple like Plex and Infuse do support MKV and HD audio.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Also, when Handbrake or any similar program coverts multichannel audio to stereo, often there is a reduction in master volume levels during the fold down from 5.1 (or higher) to stereo.

The OP may be using a preset provided by Handbrake, and when I have had to use that program I found them useless, creating my own presets instead.

 

[JohnRice]

Playback clients for Apple like Plex and Infuse do support MKV and HD audio.

I'm referring to the Movies or TV Shows (and formerly iTunes) app on a Mac. They never used to support MKV, though that could have changed, but I haven't checked.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm referring to the Movies or TV Shows (and formerly iTunes) app on a Mac. They never used to support MKV, though that could have changed, but I haven't checked.

Gotcha. Yeah, they probably don’t. But my opinion is that if the goal is to make backup copies of your media - a worthwhile goal! - or if the goal is to have a homemade digital library with the convenience of files over disc-based playback - also a worthwhile goal! - it makes more sense to use a free, open-source platform like Plex to manage the data and allow the MKV files to be played as they are. It’s higher quality all around and less work in the end.

But ultimately that’s just my opinion on the matter and I realize I’m getting unintentionally close to potentially raining on someone’s parade and I don’t wanna be that person either. If the OP is getting what they need by this workflow, who am I to say it’s wrong, you know?

So I’d say the solution is some trial and error to see if the “pass through” option on the audio settings will yield a compatible file on the playback device, and if not, just a bunch of trial and error on different settings until they find one that sounds right. And it’s possible that the OP may find that he needs a bunch of different settings depending on what the source audio is - a DTS-HD MA 7.1 track may need different compressing settings than a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. This may be an issue where there isn’t a one size fits all solution.

 

[albert_m2]

Thanks everyone. I should add that I started with backing up tv shows on DVD, but then I also realized how nice it was to have them on a flash drive or hard drive connected to the tv. With Blu ray, I'm not trying to keep full size files of movies. I don't have the space, coupled with the ability to play the files, so converting is needed.

I'm playing with the pass through options and will see how it goes.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Are you playing the audio through the TV speakers rather than with a receiver in surround sound? If you’re using the TV speakers, one thing worth trying would be to check if the discs offer 2.0 sound mixes in addition to 5.1 tracks. If so, you may have better results sticking with the 2.0 mixes on the disc instead of converting 5.1 mixes to different formats.

I wish I had a better/easier answer but it’s really gonna be a trial and error thing.

 

[albert_m2]

Are you playing the audio through the TV speakers rather than with a receiver in surround sound? If you’re using the TV speakers, one thing worth trying would be to check if the discs offer 2.0 sound mixes in addition to 5.1 tracks. If so, you may have better results sticking with the 2.0 mixes on the disc instead of converting 5.1 mixes to different formats.

I wish I had a better/easier answer but it’s really gonna be a trial and error thing.

Yeah, that occurred to me. I reflectively had been selecting the first (top) audio option in the MakeMKV instead of grabbing the stereo one (if available). It's definitely a tricky process.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Handbrake does allow you to select file types (*.mkv, *.mp4) when setting up your file to be compressed/converted. I am away from my main PC at the moment, but I'll try to return later with a screenshot.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Here's the screenshot of Handbrake where you can select the file type as MP4, MKV, or WebM.

 

[albert_m2]

Thanks. I am doing that. Something just isn't quite right in terms of the audio, probably for reasons mentioned. To be clear, it sounds fine... just at a noticeably lower volume level than previous DVD rips I have (which were direct rips and didn't go through a format change).

What would likely be better for me is a program where I can rip to mp4 directly, but I'm new to the blu ray ripping side of this and so many places recommended the MakeMKV to Handbrake process, to I dove in.