Apply new soundtrack to MKV file

[Dino71]

Hi folks

I bought a Blu-ray which they've messed up the soundtrack on. Rather than keep my fingers crossed for a recall, I thought I could maybe fix it myself. I have the proper soundtrack on DVD.

If I lift the file out as an MKV, can I apply a new soundtrack keeping the video lossless? I won't be doing anything with the picture, it's perfect. It's just the sound that's spoiling it.

I need to be able to see it as a timeline, to make it sync properly. There's no way I can just mux the new soundtrack in, it would be a disaster.

[I'm hoping since I legitimately bought these items, no one has a problem with me playing around with them..?]

Thanks if anyone can help.

[ndjamena]

MakeMKV the Blu Ray and the DVD, load both into MMG, deselect the audio from the Blu Ray and the Video from the DVD then set the frame rate for the Blu Ray video to 25fps, press start muxing and see what happens. You might get lucky.

[Dino71]

Thanks - I'll give it a go but why 25fps? Both the Blu-ray and DVD we're talking about are 24fps.

Is there no software which will give me a timeline so that I can solve any sync issues? They're inevitable. The Blu-ray has been completely restored - it is extremely unlikely that they will sync (though I will try your suggestion).

Actually, I've just realized why it won't work - there's 20 seconds of ownership logo on the Blu-ray which the DVD doesn't have. I'll need a timeline.

[ndjamena]

Unless your DVD is an American or Japanese import, there's no such thing as a 24fps DVD in Europe.

Add a 20000ms delay in the format specific options, you won't get it perfectly in sync the first time but at least it's a start.

[Dino71]

Something I've just thought of: if I make an MKV, Handbrake it to a manageable size, then use my SD editing software (which has a timeline) to sync the required soundtrack and publish THAT - then I can use MMG to mux its soundtrack with the MKV and they should sync..?

[poisondeathray]

Seems like a lot of wasted time re-encoding and many things could go wrong, especially if you leave handbrake at default (VFR settings), the frames won't match up

One way would be to do a rough cut on the audio (cut off the 20 seconds approx), import the mkv, repalce the audio track (audio=>select track and use the external file to point the to replacement audio), and use the audio shift option until it's in sync, set audio & video to "copy" and save out the mkv)

Another way is use the free editor aviutl (you can import the mkv natively, along with the replacement audio), sync it up, export the modified audio, mux in mkvtoolnix

[Dino71]

Thanks a lot for the aviutl suggestion, I'm testing it now.

I can get it in sync, but at certain scene transitions it's going out of sync again. Does it allow you to split the audio and then move parts along the timeline in order to get the whole thing in sync (time-consuming though this will be)?

[poisondeathray]

Doh looks like I forgot the refer to the 1st program in the 1st suggestion, it was avidemux



Yes, you can manually sync sections in aviutl, but you should check a few things first to save you some trouble. Because there are set conversions that change between NTSC/PAL audio conversions that might put everything in sync (minus the extra 20sec part)

You should check, the BD is probably 23.976 or 24.0 fps, but your DVD might be 25 if PAL specs, 23.976 if NTSC specs

Also check the running times with mediainfo . If there is a ~1.0427x difference when you subtract the intro part difference, that is very suspicious



If a small shift is all you need (no edits), then the avidemux approach is preferred, because there is no quality loss, the audio is just stream copied and shifted with a muxing delay. But if you need to edit the audio in an editor , then it requires re-encoding (or I guess you could leave it uncompressed)

[Dino71]

The video and audio are the same speed, it's a R1 DVD - I'm a bit of an obsessive about no PAL speedup!

The problem is that the Blu-ray is a brand new transfer, and so fades to black and scene changes can be out by a little bit (it's a TV show - "The Avengers") - so even if I get a scene in sync, the next one may be out.

Can aviutl show you the wave pattern (or whatever it's called) of the two audios one on top of the other? Because that would very much help with getting the DVD soundtrack in perfect sync with the Blu-ray.

[poisondeathray]

The video and audio are the same speed, it's a R1 DVD - I'm a bit of an obsessive about no PAL speedup!

The problem is that the Blu-ray is a brand new transfer, and so fades to black and scene changes can be out by a little bit (it's a TV show - "The Avengers") - so even if I get a scene in sync, the next one may be out.

Can aviutl show you the wave pattern (or whatever it's called) of the two audios one on top of the other? Because that would very much help with getting the DVD soundtrack in perfect sync with the Blu-ray.

No, not on the adv editing timeline and to the level that you need

You need a NLE for this, so I guess you'll be converting the video for import after all