So you have a DVD-Video disc of a live concert (or something of that sort) and you want to extract the audio for your own personal use and to share with all the good people here on What.cd. This tutorial will explain how this is done properly on a Mac running OS X. I will be using "Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live at Radio City" and "Neil Young - Heart of Gold" as examples.
Edit: I have recently updated this tutorial. I have used a couple DVD titles different than those listed in the original post to create screenshots for the update. This is only because I had these handy and didn't feel like digging the originals up. This is why the titles used in a few updated images don't jive with the originals. Feel free to disregard the titles as they have no affect on the process or the output.
Also, for anyone new to this thread, this process is for DVD-Video and not BlueRay. I'm not even thinking of taking that on at this time.
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There are typically three codecs commonly found on most DVD-Video concert DVDs. Rarely will a disc contain more than two of these so don't be surprised if one or more are not present.
PCM Audio - This is the only lossless codec of the three. It will always be 2 channel. This is also the only one that can be encoded to FLAC or MP3 and uploaded here without breaking the transcode rule. Not all discs will contain PCM so not all can be uploaded in FLAC or MP3 but alternative options do exist. I believe PCM to be the equivalent of a headerless WAV file.
DTS Audio - This is the highest quality of the multichannel formats. I have never came across this codec in anything other than a 6 channel mix. These files will typically have a bit rate of 1536 kbps. or 768 kbps. They will be lossy and should not be transcoded to FLAC or MP3 and uploaded here but what you do for your own personal use is your business. However, these files can be uploaded in their original format as long as the file names contain the song name and track number and the folder is titled correctly.
AC3 Audio - This is the most common of the three and is also known as Dolby Digital. These files can be either 6 channel or 2 channel. The 6 channel seems to be most commonly at a bit rate of 448 kbps. and I have seen the 2 channel range from 448 kbps. to 192 kbps. These files will be lossy and should not be transcoded to FLAC or MP3 and uploaded here but once again, do what you will for your own personal use. These files can be uploaded in their original format, just rename the files correctly.
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There are a few applications needed to complete this process. Not all are free but are very affordable. They are as follows:
(There are a lot of links in this section. Take advantage!)
MacTheRipper - This is the Mac standard for backing up DVDs. It will be used to demux and extract the files. Version 2.6.6 is freeware but the beta version of 3.0x are donationware. If you donate to the cause they will send you a license. I will be using MacTheRipper 3.0r14d for this tutorial. I believe the best way to donate and get the latest and greatest beta version is through the MacTheRipper forum at ripDifferent.com. I would not be surprised if a cracked version of 3.0x doesn't exist here so you might check into that as well.
AIFF from PCM v1.0b11 - This will be used to convert the extracted PCM audio files to AIFF. This application is freeware.
XLD - This is a better alternative to AIFF from PCM. I have not played with it much for this purpose but have been using it for a long time to convert FLAC > MP3 V0. This is an awesome application that is actively being developed so those of you who like to keep your OS up to date will have little to worry about.
xACT v1.64 - This will be used to encode the AIFF files to FLAC, create a checksum file and add Tags. This application is freeware. I would suggest using XLD to encode to LAME MP3. A tutorial on that process can be accessed here[/url].
DVD2ONEX2 - I currently use this to identify the bit rate of the files I am going to upload. This application is NOT freeware (although, with a little research you can probably find it here). However, it is rather inexpensive and is a great tool for compressing a DVD so it will fit on a single layer disc. This is the only application that I have found that will identify the bit rate of all three - PCM, DTS & AC3 streams. This information will be needed when correctly posting AC3 or DTS files here at What.cd.
ffmpegX & VLC[/b] - These can both be used as alternatives to DVD2ONEX2 when identifing the bit rate of AC3 files. Neither will read PCM or DTS files.
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PCM EXTRACTION & CONVERSION
So, lets extract and encode some PCM audio.
STEP 1: Insert the DVD-video disc you want to extract the audio from into your DVD drive and open MacTheRipper. It may take several seconds for MacTheRipper to read the DVD so be patient. You will see the name of the DVD listed in the GUI once the app. is ready.
STEP 2: Click on the "Mode" button. You will see that the pull down menu is currently showing "Full Disc Extraction".
STEP 3: Click on the pull down and choose "Title - Chapter Extraction". Choose the main feature (MF) from the second pull down menu. This will cause the GUI to expand revealing the chapters that the title contains. Make sure you UNCHECK the "Merge Chapters" check box. Failing to do this will give you one big file rather than breaking the DVD up by song. You can uncheck any of the chapters you do not want although you will most likely want all of them if you want the whole concert. I have had some issues with DVDs that contain multiple angles so you will have to play with this process a little if you have problems with one of those.
STEP 4: Click the check box to the left of "Demux" and then click on the "Open Streams" button. This will reveal the video, audio and subtitle streams that exist in the files you selected. Uncheck the video and subtitle streams and any of the audio streams you don't want but leave the PCM stream checked. If you want more than one audio stream leaving all that you want checked will give you a full set of files for all formats selected saving you from going through this process several times. Click on "GO" , select your output location and MacTheRipper will perform its magic.
You will be left with a folder containing the extracted PCM files. You will also get an empty "Video_TS" folder. It can be deleted.
STEP 5: Open AIFF from PCM. Choose the correct sample size and sample rate of the files you wish to convert. I have yet to find an app. that will give me this data about the raw PCM files so you may have to make an educated guess. I have found that most DVDs contain either 16 bit / 48 kHz steams or 24 bit / 48 kHz streams but I have been told that some could contain 24 bit / 96 kHz streams. Some 24 bit files may also need "Swap bytes" checked. This has to do with the byte order which will either be big endian (bytes are numbered from most-significant to least-significant) or little endian (bytes are numbered from least-significant to most-significant). A complete explanation of this can be found here. I would suggest that you try out one file and once it has converted give it a listen. In many cases the wrong settings will still output AIFF files but they will be filled with heavy static. Once you have confirmation of the correct settings, add all of the files you wish to convert. Click on the "Convert" button and choose an output location.
ALTERNATIVE STEP 5: XLD is fast becoming my standard application for performing this conversion. I have not used it much as of yet so if you run into any bugs, post in this thread and I'll do some troubleshooting. First you are going to want to set your output format and choose an output location. To do this simply open XLD and click on the "XLD" in the menu bar. Choose "preferences" and the application prefs window will open. Set your output format to AIFF (or WAV) and set your output location by clicking the radio button next to "Specify" under "Output Directory" and then clicking "set". Choose your directory.
Next, click on "File" in the menu bar. Choose "Open Raw PCM (bin/cue)...". This will open the conversion settings window. Choose the file you wish to convert. Once again you will have to play with different combinations of Bit depth, Sample rate and Endian settings to get good output. Once you have identified the correct settings for your PCM files convert all to AIFF (or WAV). I have not figured out a way to batch convert for this process. When choosing a file through the menu bar the window will only allow you to choose one file at a time and the incredibly handy drag and drop feature of this app. doesn't seem to work with PCM files. Having to convert one at a time is the one drawback to using this app. for this conversion.
Your output folder will contain all of the AIFF files once the conversion is complete.
STEP 6: Open xACT v1.64. Click on the "Encode" tab and add all of the AIFF files you wish to encode. Click on the "Flac Compression" radio button and move the dial to "Level 8". Check the box next to "Verify" and click the "Encode" button. Choose an output location and click save.
Note: I am using xACT rather than XLD for the AIFF > FLAC encoding because it is really a one stop shop for this, tagging and checksum creation. You can substitute XLD for xACT here if you wish. One benefit to that would be the ability to encode PCM straight to FLAC. It does seem that XLD will allow you to tag the FLAC files as well but I don't see any way to create checksum files. For the time being I'm going to stick with xACT.
Your output folder will contain all of the FLAC files once the encoding is complete. Do not downsample the files to 44.1 kHz. Although it is not against the rules most people will prefer FLAC files that are the same sample rate as the original. The downloader can always convert to 44.1 kHz for CD-R later if they want.
STEP 7: Change the folder name and file names so that they comply with What.cd rules. With xACT, add Tags (song name, album name, etc.) to the output FLAC files...
...and create a checksum file (.ffp).
You now have a finished product that can be uploaded here on What.cd. It is not necessary to get the bit rate of the PCM audio as it is lossless but you can use DVD2ONEX to get that data if you wish (instructions near the bottom of this post).
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AC3/DTS EXTRACTION
Next, lets extract some AC3 audio (the process is the same for DTS):
STEP 1: Insert the DVD-video disc you want to extract the audio from into your DVD drive and open MacTheRipper. It may take several seconds for MacTheRipper to read the DVD so be patient. You will see the name of the DVD listed in the GUI once the app. is ready.
STEP 2: Click on the "Mode" button. You will see that the pull down menu is currently showing "Full Disc Extraction".
STEP 3: Click on the pull down and choose "Title - Chapter Extraction". Choose the main feature (MF) from the second pull down menu. This will cause the GUI to expand revealing the chapters that the title contains. Make sure you UNCHECK the "Merge Chapters" check box. Failing to do this will give you one big file rather than breaking the DVD up by song. You can uncheck any of the chapters you do not want although you will most likely want all of them if you want the whole concert. I have had some issues with DVDs that contain multiple angles so you will have to play with this process a little if you have problems with one of those.
STEP 4: Click the check box to the left of "Demux" and then click on the "Open Streams" button. This will reveal the video, audio and subtitle streams that exist in the files you selected. Uncheck the video and subtitle streams and any of the audio streams you don't want. However, if you want more than one audio stream leaving all that you want checked will give you a full set of files for all formats checked saving you from going through this process several times. For this example I will only be choosing the 6ch AC3 stream. Click on "GO" , select your output location and MacTheRipper will perform its magic.
You will be left with a folder containing the extracted files. You will also get an empty "Video_TS" folder. It can be deleted.
STEP 5: Change the folder name and file names so that they comply with What.cd rules. DO NOT transcode these files to any other format and upload here. They are already lossy and doing so will break a very important rule. You now have a finished product that can be uploaded here on What.cd.
STEP 6: In order to get the bit rate data from DVD2ONEX you will need to have completed a "Full Disc Extraction" out of MacTheRipper. Open the Video_TS folder in DVD2ONEX and click the audio directory. The bit rate of all audio formats will be shown.
ALTERNATIVE STEP 6: For AC3 files this can also be done using VLC or ffmpegX.
For VLC: open the file > display the playlist> right click the file > Information > Statistics. It will display like this:
For ffmpegX: Drag and drop the file on "Drop File Here" under the "Source Format" portion of the window. It will display like this:
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