No voices only music on most of my ripped files

[bru20]

I feel like such an idiot. I spent months putting DVDs on to my computer and then my sons tablet only to find out that the majority of them don't have sound when there is speaking, only the music and background noises. My son watched dozens of movies and never told me there were no voices (he is special needs so he was unsure of what to do). I just figured it out.

I used VideoToVideo as the program because it can rip and convert in one step. I believe it is highly rated. I never listened to the audio after the ripping which in retrospect was a huge mistake and sure enough now when I check most movies I ripped/converted don't have the voices. Some do though which makes it more confusing. I have made sure the audio is set correct during the ripping but maybe I am missing something.

To try and figure it out I used MakeMKV to rip a movie giving me trouble in to a .mkv file and then converted that file using VideoToVideo and the voices are there. So it is something in the ripping portion of VideoToVideo that is messing up the sound.

I wasted literally months of work and tons of disc space on my computer. I know this is probably something stupid that most would know about but I can't figure it out and could use some help. Thank You

[DB83]

I would suggest you copy/paste a mediainfo report of one of the videos that has no voices. Could well be a bad choice of audio codec. AC3 can have low volume so it may be there and you just can not hear it.

[bru20]

Always aac for audio codec. I just converted with VideoToVideo using the .mkv file I got from MakeMKV with the exact same settings as I use when I rip/convert and the voices were there. It must be something with the original DVD because like I said not all had no voices, most but not all.

For example I ripped/converted three Tarzan movies (animated) on the same day. Two worked fine, the third had the no voices. All settings were the same when ripped/converted.

I dl'd the Mediainfo program and I looked at the three mentioned above and I can't see any differences related to audio. All are AAC. How do I post the results? Just a screenshot?

[DB83]

Well if you say they are AAC then that is fine.

Like I said, maybe you did not quite understand, the original DVD could have had an AC3 soundtrack. This can have quite a low frequency and quite possibly your converter program only picks up certain ranges and hence the lack of voices.

If there is a choice of audio track on the dvd PCM and AC3 then I would always choose PCM. I am not familiar with your converter program so do not know how versitile it is in selecting alternative source audio.

But as you said, you must feel pretty small now in not checking the audio at the original conversion

[bru20]

VideoToVideo is listed on this site as one of the highest rated All-In-Ones, that's what I used.

When you pull up the title to rip/convert there is no option for audio from the DVD other than English, Spanish, etc. and Subtitles which I disable. So if there is PCM and/or AC3 there is no way to choose that I can tell.

I just spent all morning checking. I can put in a DVD and it will rip/convert with the audio fine. A different DVD will have the no voices issue (and many times it is nothing, not even low). I changed nothing in ripping/converting settings and as I said I see no way to choose the source audio track if there is one, again other than choosing English, Spanish, French etc.

edit: I tried a different ripper program. It wouldn't rip due to copy protection but in the Titles it brought up they all said AC3 6ch for audio. No options for any other format. Really think that can't be it but if you say AC3 will be messed up I guess that's it. Manufacturers don't want you doing anything with their DVDs other than playing them I guess. These are ones I own, would be nice if I could access them on a computer or a tablet.

If someone here uses VideoToVideo I would appreciate it if you had any thoughts.

[DB83]

Those ratings mean little. I am sure that 00's of members have tried this out yet only 29 have rated it.

Well I just downloaded it and selected the AAC audio profile. I do see a volume slider which is quite low. Did you move that ?

A little friendly advice. Do not cross-post (against forum rules). The mods get quite upset about this.

[jagabo]

The DVD that gave you problems probably had 5.1 audio tracks. Those include six audio tracks, front left, front center, front right, rear left, rear right, and sub. Most of the dialog on such tracks are in the center channel. Either the program didn't include the center channel when it mixed down to stereo, or it encoded all six channels and your playback device isn't configured correctly (not routing the center channel to the center speaker, or it is routing the center channel to the center speaker but you don't have one).

[aedipuss]

i would suggest trying over with a different program. xmediarecode has presets for lots of devices or if you are willing to fiddle with settings a bit vidcoder is very good.

[redwudz]

Sort of obvious, but most DVDs these days have surround sound and the voices are always on the center channel. No center channel audio output = no voices. But 5.1 or 7.1 surround file should default and downconvert within the player to stereo. I would definitely check one of the 'no voice' files with Media info and see what your audio really is. It may just be a playback issue. The ones that do have voices may be older movies with just stereo soundtracks.

[bru20]

Volume slider doesn't make a difference for the voices. Makes the music that does come through louder though.

When setting the audio (near the slider) there is an option for 2 stereo, 1 mono, 6 channel and Dolby Surround but I'm pretty sure that has to do with output. Doesn't matter how I set it, always no voices. Probably correct about the audio on the DVD being 5.1 and the program not getting the voice track but no way I can figure out how to include it when ripping.

Seems odd that some have the audio set up that way and another in the same series (e.g. Tarzan) wouldn't but that has to be it.

I can rip to .mkv using MakeMKV with it's stock settings and then convert (using VtoV or any other) and the sound comes out fine so it has to be VtoV and how it rips the audio. Thought it was a good program, guess not.

I need some help with Media info. I can get info on the output file but not the DVD itself. I'm using Windows Media Player for playback and the tablet and either doesn't have the voices. Not sure how to adjust to fix if it is a playback issue.



Mods please move this thread or delete the other. Not sure where it better belongs.

[redwudz]

The thread is fine here. I closed the other one. With MediaInfo, you just open one of the VOBs in the DVD. I use 'Tree View' most times as it gives the most information. For a MKV, just select the file.


If you plan on converting DVDs to MKV, I would suggest VidCoder. It's a front end for Handbrake and it makes the conversion process very easy. You can also batch convert.
With my PC, I can convert a DVD>MKV in about 23 minutes.


But I would definitely check some of your converted files to see whether they have the correct audio. That would save a lot of re-encoding if they are OK.


Older movies like some of the Tarzan ones are often stereo, so you wouldn't have problems with surround sound center speakers. Still, your software player should have worked.

[bru20]

It's the VideoToVideo program. Same DVD that gives no voices comes out fine when ripped/converted using Freemake.

I can't find any setting on VtoV to fix the audio issue.

It is a highly rated program, at least according to this site that I got linked to at some point. No mention of the audio problem any where I can find. Maybe it's just me, but I doubt it.

http://dottech.org/97790/windows-best-free-video-and-audio-converter-program-review/

[jagabo]

Again, it's possible the audio is just fine and your system just isn't set up properly to play 6 channel AAC. What does MediaInfo say about the audio?

[bru20]

Again, it's possible the audio is just fine and your system just isn't set up properly to play 6 channel AAC. What does MediaInfo say about the audio?

Audio of the .mp4 file or the actual DVD?

If the same DVD ripped/converted to mp4 on VtoV has no voices but when ripped on Freemake it does (both played through Windows Media Player or a media player on a tablet) wouldn't that indict the program?

When you say "system" do you mean the player such as WMP or the player on the tablet? Shouldn't WMP be capable of paying 6 channel if it was converted properly? I also get no voices from the built in DVD player (HP), doesn't that rule out the player?

edit: Worked perfect using DVDFab Decrypter and Handbrake. Wanted to like VtoV (and did for several months) but obviously it can't handle the audio.