How to determine the source of audio problem?

[nckhrs]

Hi,

I have a problem with the DVD language/audio.

I have this Viz video DVD (Ranma, Hard Battle), it's the 5th disc in the set (5/5).
It has 4 episodes, the 1st episode is normal, it has English and Japanese.
However, for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th episode, even though they indicate to have 2 audios, but both are English.

At first it might be my Blu-Ray, but I tried to play on the computer, same result.

What is the best way to determine whether it's truly the DVD manufacturer that messed up, or technical playback problem?
Do I need to extract both audios from the DVD to figure out?

I believe that it's the DVD manufacturer that messed up, but it's just hard to believe.

Anybody experienced similar problem with Viz Media DVD?

[lingyi]

How are you choosing the audio? Through the menu or while the episode is playing? I've had DVDs where the menu selection was wrong or didn't work at all.

[nckhrs]

How are you choosing the audio? Through the menu or while the episode is playing? I've had DVDs where the menu selection was wrong or didn't work at all.

Hi LingYi,

Yes, I tried both, through the menu and also when the episode is playing.
I hope it's just DVD authoring problem and the Japanese audio is in the DVD.

Do I need to "rip/break down" the DVD into the components to see if the Japanese audio file is in there, and perhaps I would need to re-author it?
What's the best way to do it?

[lingyi]

How are you choosing the audio? Through the menu or while the episode is playing? I've had DVDs where the menu selection was wrong or didn't work at all.

Hi LingYi,

Yes, I tried both, through the menu and also when the episode is playing.
I hope it's just DVD authoring problem and the Japanese audio is in the DVD.

Do I need to "rip/break down" the DVD into the components to see if the Japanese audio file is in there, and perhaps I would need to re-author it?
What's the best way to do it?

Yes, rip it to Files/Folders (VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS) folders. Ignore the AUDIO_TS folder, there's (should) be nothing in there. Open the VIDEO_TS folder, then play one of the .vobs (they'll be several, each 1GB with the last being smaller). You should see at least two audio tracks.

If one of them is the Japanese track, there's likely something wrong with the way the DVD is authored. Unfortunately, while I know there's programs that can fix the DVD structure, I'm not familiar with how to use them. I suggest starting a new thread with a title like "How to reauthor a DVD with secondary audio problems" so hopefully someone will tell you how to fix it.

[nckhrs]

Yes, rip it to Files/Folders (VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS) folders. Ignore the AUDIO_TS folder, there's (should) be nothing in there. Open the VIDEO_TS folder, then play one of the .vobs (they'll be several, each 1GB with the last being smaller). You should see at least two audio tracks.

If one of them is the Japanese track, there's likely something wrong with the way the DVD is authored. Unfortunately, while I know there's programs that can fix the DVD structure, I'm not familiar with how to use them. I suggest starting a new thread with a title like "How to reauthor a DVD with secondary audio problems" so hopefully someone will tell you how to fix it.

Uh no.... what a bummer.
Those 3 episodes have 2 audio tracks, but both are English.

I tried to contact Viz Media, haven't heard back from them yet.

I should be able to find in eBay, but I don't know if all of their 5th discs are like that... sigh...

[jagabo]

Open a DVD VOB file in DgIndex. Mark a short section where you know there will be audio and select File -> Save Project. You will get a separate AC3 file for each track. Listen to them in a player to see what languages they are.

[lingyi]

Yay...jagabo's here!

If it's there and just something wrong with the way the DVD is authored, it could probably be fixed with DVDRebuilder or PCGEdit correct?

[nckhrs]

Open a DVD VOB file in DgIndex. Mark a short section where you know there will be audio and select File -> Save Project. You will get a separate AC3 file for each track. Listen to them in a player to see what languages they are.

Yay...jagabo's here!

If it's there and just something wrong with the way the DVD is authored, it could probably be fixed with DVDRebuilder or PCGEdit correct?

Thank you jagabo and LingYi.
I used DgIndex, and I got both tracks, and both are English...

I even did binary compare, they matched!

Could it be a bootleg DVD? Everything looks authentic. Crisp printing, original artwork and boxset.
Bummer.....

Btw, I found a combined episode video in Youtube that has Japanese audio. Perhaps I can do Frankenstein operation, extract the audio for a particular episode, and then reconstruct the DVD?

Looks like the step would be:
1. Use DVD Decrypter to get all of the components.
2. Extract the Japanese audio from Youtube video, need to do precise cut. Any tool suggestion?
2. Replace the one English audio with Japanese.
3. Re-author DVD.

I checked, looks like DVDRebuilder is intended to copy the structure of DVD9.
My DVD is not DVD9. Will it still work?