How do I rip audio tracks from a DVD?

[GregK]

Is there any easy way to do this? Some software I can buy that will enable me to take a concert DVD and turn it into a CD that I listen to in my car, etc?

[Dan Gould]

Is there any easy way to do this? Some software I can buy that will enable me to take a concert DVD and turn it into a CD that I listen to in my car, etc?

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Number one, you're going to need to have two soundcards in your PC.

I use Goldwave (which costs about $30US) to transfer DVD audio to CD. The newest version of Goldwave (I've had it for at least a year though) allows you to choose several inputs, line in, microphone, aux, stereo ... I started playing the DVD and just started clicking and I found that Goldwave's input was monitoring stereo aux or something like that. I recorded the whole DVD concert as a single Wav file, split them up into tracks and burned the CD Disc-at-once, and viola, I had my audio CD.

Hope that helps.

[GregK]

Number one, you're going to need to have two soundcards in your PC.

I use Goldwave (which costs about $30US) to transfer DVD audio to CD.  The newest version of Goldwave (I've had it for at least a year though) allows you to choose several inputs, line in, microphone, aux, stereo ... I started playing the DVD and just started clicking and I found that Goldwave's input was monitoring stereo aux or something like that.  I recorded the whole DVD concert as a single Wav file, split them up into tracks and burned the CD Disc-at-once, and viola, I had my audio CD.

Hope that helps.

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Two soundcards?? I don't think I have that

[Dan Gould]

Number one, you're going to need to have two soundcards in your PC.

I use Goldwave (which costs about $30US) to transfer DVD audio to CD.  The newest version of Goldwave (I've had it for at least a year though) allows you to choose several inputs, line in, microphone, aux, stereo ... I started playing the DVD and just started clicking and I found that Goldwave's input was monitoring stereo aux or something like that.  I recorded the whole DVD concert as a single Wav file, split them up into tracks and burned the CD Disc-at-once, and viola, I had my audio CD.

Hope that helps.

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Two soundcards?? I don't think I have that

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Then you need to be able to take audio out of your DVD and into your PCs line in. Then you can use an audio software like goldwave to record that input as a wav file, save, split into tracks and burn a CD.

You'll need the right adapters to go from male RCA plugs down to a 1/8th STEREO mini. Radio Shack usually has the right stuff.

[rostasi]

Wow! I do this a lot and it's not nearly as convoluted.

Not sure if it's a PC vs Mac thing, but I just play the DVD and

I hit one button on Wire Tap Pro or Audio Hijack or any sound editing

software and it just sends the file wherever I want it (desktop, iTunes, et.al)

when the DVD is finished playing. Burn it and it's done.

60 minute DVD done in about 65-70 minutes.

[Jim Alfredson]

You can do that in Goldwave as well. Just play the audio and record the sound in Goldwave. You have to set Windows or your soundcard's mixer to record the "wave" input.

[marcello]

Wow! I do this a lot and it's not nearly as convoluted.

Not sure if it's a PC vs Mac thing, but I just play the DVD and

I hit one button on Wire Tap Pro or Audio Hijack or any sound editing

software and it just sends the file wherever I want it (desktop, iTunes, et.al)

when the DVD is finished playing. Burn it and it's done.

60 minute DVD done in about 65-70 minutes.

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Thanks Rostasi!

I just downloaded Audio Hijack and burned a song off a DVD on my Mac.

[GregK]

alright, thanks everyone, I'll give this a try this week! I'm sure I will be back with more questions....

Edited November 21, 2005 by GregK

[Claude]

There are also ways to rip the audio data directly from the DVD, without recording it in real time.

DVD Video to Audio CD Guide

Edited November 21, 2005 by Claude

[rostasi]

You can do that in Goldwave as well.  Just play the audio and record the sound in Goldwave.  You have to set Windows or your soundcard's mixer to record the "wave" input.

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Goldwave was one of those software goodies that I wanted to take with me when I switched from PCs. Great and easy to use!

Thanks Rostasi!

I just downloaded Audio Hijack and burned a song off a DVD on my Mac.

You're malcolm! Remember, if you're using your actual system audio, make sure that you turn off any extra audio sounds that you may use on your computer - alerts for emails, etc.

There are also ways to rip the audio data directly from the DVD, without recording it in real time.

DVD Video to Audio CD Guide

It's good if you want nearly instant results, but you may lose a bit in quality. Just think of the days when you had a choice of dubbing cassettes realtime or doubletime.

[Mr. Gone]

It's good if you want nearly instant results, but you may lose a bit in quality. Just think of the days when you had a choice of dubbing cassettes realtime or doubletime.

Weird analogy.

Real-time recording is a waste of time.*

*IMHO.

[Claude]

It's good if you want nearly instant results, but you may lose a bit in quality. Just think of the days when you had a choice of dubbing cassettes realtime or doubletime.

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Hi rostasi,

That was true in the good old analog days, but bits and bytes don't care how fast they are being copied.

However when ripping a disc and burning a CD-R, one has to make sure the drives support error-free duplication at the speed that the software offers. In my experience, reducing audio CD read out to 12x speed and burning to 4-8x speed gives the most reliable results.

BTW, most current CD-R drives and discs don't support 1x speed burning anymore.

Edited November 21, 2005 by Claude

[GregK]

There are also ways to rip the audio data directly from the DVD, without recording it in real time.

DVD Video to Audio CD Guide

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Claude, do I have to use Nero? I'm just wondering if the software I already have will do the same thing (I have Sonic RecordNow! and SonicStage Mastering Studio)

[Claude]

I think Nero may be necessary because of the AC3 plugin.

[rostasi]

My analogy wasn't really a direct analogy concerning time.

I was trying to get someone to remember that taking shortcuts

sometimes can produce inferior results.

Even the description from the linked website states right away:

"Ok, this guide covers how to simply copy a extract the audio from a video DVD to a audio CD.

The resulting quality should be excellent, almost as good as the original DVD sound quality..."

Yes, I understand that this is not solely because of time,

but rather the nature of the extraction.

Just a suggestion that simply extracting sound from a physical medium

such as this while you're listening to it more often yields better results.

If you're not archiving this, then it may not matter that much.

Edited November 21, 2005 by rostasi

[rostasi]

That was true in the good old analog days, but bits and bytes don't care how fast they are being copied.

Yes, if you get all of the bits and bytes.

[GregK]

I think Nero may be necessary because of the AC3 plugin.

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looks like you're right. I ripped the DVD no problem, but when I looked for the AC3 files, they were nowhere to be found. All I could find were VOB files, so I assume you need both Nero AND the plugin before you even rip the DVD (I didn't when I ripped it, so now I'll try it again after buying the full-blown Nero + plugin)

[Claude]

Rostasi, neither method is perfect. The audio data on the DVD has a bitrate of 48, while the CD must have a bitrate of 44.1. Unlike CD copying, there is a (small) quality loss due to conversion. Maybe that is what the website means by "almost as good as the original DVD sound quality".

With the Nero method, the audio data is extracted from the DVD and converted to the CD format. It is possible to extract data error free, if the speed is not excessive.

With the real time method the music is played back and recorded in CD format. If this happens in the digital domain, the sound quality loss should be small, but if the sound from an standalone DVD player is recorded with the sound card there will be digital/analog and analog/digital conversion, the sound quality depending on the converters in the player and sound card.

[rostasi]

Thanks Claude for your answer.

I guess that I'm going to have to look into this a little further.

I've been doing this for a few years now (I archive video and audio)

and it's always seemed that the steps taken that involve separating

the VOB files, then demux to AC3s (which itself is lossy), and then to AIFF (or WAV) files,

then downsampling to 44.1kHz...well, it just seems so excessively lossy, so maybe I

need to explore some video/audio software forums to see what I can come up with.

Thanks again,

Rod

[Chuck Nessa]

Actually, the best way to translate all this stuff is to go from one format to analogue and into the other. It works for me.

[Mr. Gone]

I think Nero may be necessary because of the AC3 plugin.

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looks like you're right. I ripped the DVD no problem, but when I looked for the AC3 files, they were nowhere to be found. All I could find were VOB files, so I assume you need both Nero AND the plugin before you even rip the DVD (I didn't when I ripped it, so now I'll try it again after buying the full-blown Nero + plugin)

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That's because the VOB container contains audio (PCM, AC3, ...) AND video. I use DVD Decrypter (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_decrypter.cfm) to rip and PgcDemux (which you can find here: http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/dvdtools.htm) to demux.

[Mr. Gone]

Good forum for DVD related stuff: http://forum.doom9.org

[GregK]

That's because the VOB container contains audio (PCM, AC3, ...)  AND video. I use DVD Decrypter (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_decrypter.cfm) to rip and PgcDemux (which you can find here: http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/dvdtools.htm) to demux.

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That demux link seems to lead nowhere. I used DVD Decrypter but still had only VOB, no AC3 or PCM. Maybe I just forgot to click a box somewhere?

[rostasi]

Oh yes. I can see this is much easier!

(meanwhile, our friend in Webster NY has probably been cranking out his burned discs)

[Mr. Gone]

That's because the VOB container contains audio (PCM, AC3, ...) AND video. I use DVD Decrypter (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_decrypter.cfm) to rip and PgcDemux (which you can find here: http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/dvdtools.htm) to demux.

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That demux link seems to lead nowhere. I used DVD Decrypter but still had only VOB, no AC3 or PCM. Maybe I just forgot to click a box somewhere?

The URL's correct (the right parenthesis got in the way): http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/dvdtools.htm

No, you didn't forget to click a box - as I said, VOB is a container which has both audio AND video interweaved in one file. Therefore you have to demultiplex (a.k.a. demux) the VOB into separate files. PgcDemux is one of those many tools that can do this.

O.K., good luck.