How can I obtain the audio from a video DVD?

June 6, 2004 5:19 AM

How should I rip the audio from a video DVD? For free, please.
posted by Pretty_Generic to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

What kind of video DVD is it? Do you want it to be in 5.1 channel, or muxed down to 2 channel? Do you want the entire thing? What format are you looking for?
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:29 AM on June 6, 2004

Response by poster: They are PAL music video DVDs, I'd like 2-channel (which I think they are already in), I'd like to split the songs up, and I want MP3s. I run XP.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 5:48 AM on June 6, 2004

Maybe Doom9 can give you more information on straight audio. You can definately strip out the audio and put it in Wave format (16-bit 44.1khz is your best bet), and use outside programs to encode it, and cut it. I recommend cutting it before encoding.
posted by Keyser Soze at 8:17 AM on June 6, 2004

http://www.doom9.org/
posted by Keyser Soze at 8:17 AM on June 6, 2004

DVD Audio Ripper works great, but the free version only lets you rip about 5 minutes of music directly to MP3. The results are terrific, though the interface is a bit quirky (unless they've made some improvements in recent versions).

I seem to remember running across another free ripper a little while ago. I'll see if I can track it down.
posted by arco at 8:22 AM on June 6, 2004

Also check out http://videohelp.com (née vcdhelp.com, also dvdrhelp.com). Searching for "dvd to wav" returns a number of tools.
posted by Gortuk at 8:29 AM on June 6, 2004

You could use the lower-tech method of plugging a cable from your sound-out into your sound-in and use Audacity.
posted by cmonkey at 8:31 AM on June 6, 2004

On a related note, I use Wiretap, but have noticed that, even when recording from a source at max volume, the max volume of the recording is less than the max volume of properly (i.e. professionally) recorded stuff. Is there a good solution to this?
posted by blueshammer at 8:35 AM on June 6, 2004

Response by poster: Well, um, my attempt using the highly-sophisticated vStrip to rip AC3, and BeSweet to make MP3, sounds like Cthulhu snoring, with loads of these errors:

[00:00:00.160] E7: CRC error
[00:00:00:800] Stream error : Sync found after 38899 bytes

My attempt with Audacity (just recording from Wave, no cable required) works fine first time. Seems like the simplest approach is the best here. Audacity looks like a great program.

Thanks.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:12 AM on June 6, 2004