Best GUI to convert DTS to AC3 in MKV without all the manual work

[Ronstang]

It seems all the tools I have found rummaging around here are quite old. I tried TEncoder but the output options for bitrate are limited. I also tried Avidemux with the Lav encoder option which is better since it let me choose 384 or 448 kb/s and it was rather fast and this is a program that I have been using a lot for many years. I also tried the PopCorn MKV AudioConverter because I wanted to try it with the latest build of FFmpeg. This worked well, not as fast as Avidemux and the file was slightly larger.

I don't care about minimal file size differences. I want the best quality possible. Which is the preferable encoder for audio conversion, Lav or FFmpeg? Avidemux is faster but PopCorn is more configurable....any suggestions?

I am just starting to play with this since I am finally ripping my Blu-Ray collection and I have a lot of older movies with HUGE audio files that are simply unnecessary. Before I get too far into ripping I want to come up with a protocol that allows me to get this stuff done efficiently with the best quality possible. That is why I stopped with this batch of encoded video to see how to approach the audio. I can't really automate it when I encode the video with FFmpeg because there as so many layouts of how many audio streams and what order they are on the Blu-Ray so I need to do it afterwards.

If anyone has any suggestions for other software to try I am in experiment mode now so playing with something new if it is better is what I want to do.

Thanks

[ProWo]

Try clever FFmpeg-GUI


[Attachment 74551 - Click to enlarge]

[zing269]

It appears that PopCorn uses eac3to to convert DTS and there are a couple of GUIs for it.

[Ronstang]

Try clever FFmpeg-GUI


[Attachment 74551 - Click to enlarge]

Ok I tried your program. It seems that with this program I can combine two steps, multiplexing to remove some items and adding the new audio stream so that is a plus but with MKVToolNix I can batch process by queueing up the jobs and running once.....any way to add that feature here? I use the multiplexing operation also as a way to move the files to their final destination so that would be a big plus to do it all at once. The other programs I have tried automatically create the new MKV with the new audio and while they can delete or keep the original they don't have options for changing other items in the container so this is a big plus.

My only question is why is the resulting audio file larger than those created by other programs that use FFmpeg when I picked the same bitrate? I used the same build for all tests?

[ProWo]

My only question is why is the resulting audio file larger than those created by other programs that use FFmpeg when I picked the same bitrate? I used the same build for all tests?

Maybe the other programs you used encodes ac3 in VBR.
Clever FFmpeg-GUI encodes ac3 in CBR only.

[Ronstang]

CBR only

Why? VBR is better. I use it for everything and have been for 20 years with no issue. Why not an option for which one you want?

[ProWo]

Why? VBR is better. I use it for everything and have been for 20 years with no issue. Why not an option for which one you want?

The ac3 encoder implemented in ffmpeg does not support VBR encoding.
I don't believe that vbr is qualitatively better than cbr.

[Ronstang]

Maybe the other programs you used encodes ac3 in VBR.

The ac3 encoder implemented in ffmpeg does not support VBR encoding.

Those two statements conflict. I asked why the other programs I have experimented with that use ffmpeg result in smaller files.....so if ffmpeg does not support VBR encoding then that does not explain the difference.

VBR is definitely better as it allocates higher bitrates to more complex segments and lower to where it is not needed so you not only end up with a files size that is similar to say 192 CBR but you don't cut off the higher bitrates where needed.....so it is definitely of higher quality. I would NEVER encode music at CBR. If ac3 can't be VBR I don't really care as it is the standard in many ways an most of my video files have ac3 audio by default.....but that leaves me confused due to the contradiction in your two answers. Can you please clarify. I like your program but wonder why there is such a large difference in file size of the audio is all.

[Ennio]

Am I missing something? I may be wrong but it seems logical to me that variable bitrates can only be applied when they don't exceed certain specified max bitrate. Since streamsize isn't important, why not just go for - CBR - AC3 @640kbps?

[Ronstang]

Since streamsize isn't important, why not just go for - CBR - AC3 @640kbps?

I do care about steamsize or I would leave the DTS track and not mess with all this work but if I do this I want the best quality and at that point a little difference in streamsize is irrelevant when quality is more important. If you are going to compress anything VBR is always better if you care at all about file sizes.

[Ronstang]

OK I did some further testing and now I am getting the same file sizes out of several programs so I have no idea what happened earlier. ProWo, I really like Clever FFmpeg-GUI and I would like to use it but I am now experimenting with aac encoding instead of ac3 and I cannot seem to set a different bitrate. The box says 384 as the target average but I don''t see a selection box or if I manually change it to 448 or 620 nothing changes and it still comes out at 384. Am I missing something?

[ProWo]

OK I did some further testing and now I am getting the same file sizes out of several programs so I have no idea what happened earlier. ProWo, I really like Clever FFmpeg-GUI and I would like to use it but I am now experimenting with aac encoding instead of ac3 and I cannot seem to set a different bitrate. The box says 384 as the target average but I don''t see a selection box or if I manually change it to 448 or 620 nothing changes and it still comes out at 384. Am I missing something?

The minimum recommended bit rate for the selected configuration is displayed in the text box.
If you enter a higher value here, this value will be used for encoding.
You can easily check this in the output file with Mediainfo.
No bitrate is displayed for aac, as aac is known to do variable encoding. However, you can see from the size of the file that the higher value has been used.

[Swedaniel]

It seems all the tools I have found rummaging around here are quite old. I tried TEncoder but the output options for bitrate are limited. I also tried Avidemux with the Lav encoder option which is better since it let me choose 384 or 448 kb/s and it was rather fast and this is a program that I have been using a lot for many years. I also tried the PopCorn MKV AudioConverter because I wanted to try it with the latest build of FFmpeg. This worked well, not as fast as Avidemux and the file was slightly larger.

I don't care about minimal file size differences. I want the best quality possible. Which is the preferable encoder for audio conversion, Lav or FFmpeg? Avidemux is faster but PopCorn is more configurable....any suggestions?

I am just starting to play with this since I am finally ripping my Blu-Ray collection and I have a lot of older movies with HUGE audio files that are simply unnecessary. Before I get too far into ripping I want to come up with a protocol that allows me to get this stuff done efficiently with the best quality possible. That is why I stopped with this batch of encoded video to see how to approach the audio. I can't really automate it when I encode the video with FFmpeg because there as so many layouts of how many audio streams and what order they are on the Blu-Ray so I need to do it afterwards.

If anyone has any suggestions for other software to try I am in experiment mode now so playing with something new if it is better is what I want to do.

Thanks

Hi, maybe WonTube Free Video Converter v.1.0.0 can help with this.. i have seen it can convert into MKV video files and AC-3 audio codec, it allow for customizing the Bitrates slightly and allso the option to keep the source bitrate is avalible.. The program does not leave any watermarks and the maximum FPS is 30, but there is an keep source frame rate option avalible allso. This would convert the entire video and not just the sound!

Edit: WonderFox Video Converter Factory v.7.9 have allso AC3 avalible for MKV, it is free program and does not leave any watermarks.

[Ronstang]

I have switched to converting all DTS to AAC instead of AC3 and the best GUI for this I have tested is XMedia Recode and I have been using it for months after I alerted the dev to a bug that was causing issues for many. He corrected it in a day and now the program is solid.