Just one Handbrake question

[twobelowpar]

Hi forum folk,
I started ripping my DVDs via MakeMKV and then converting to M4V with Handbrake. Takes a little while to do the conversion but that's okay. My only issue is getting 5.1 sound. I have a surround sound system and I'd like to be able to utilize that with the digital copies I'm making. Otherwise I may as well fish out the disc and use that if I want to watch one of my older movies. From what I've read, I understand I need to make sure the file is AC3(ffmpeg) under Codec. What I'm not sure of is the Mixdown tab. A little guidance is appreciated.

 

[creativet]

For surround sound choose :

codec -> AC3 (or AC3 Passthru)
Mixdown -> 5.1 Channels
Samplerate -> Auto
Bitrate -> 640

*Note: If you choose AC3 passthru, you do not need to adjust anything else. (Most DVD's have an AC3 track.)

You may also want to choose to add an AAC audio track as well for compatibility with devices such as computer, iPhone, or anything with plain stereo. (Dolby Pro Logic II as the mix down works very well.)

 

[twobelowpar]

Thank you! I'll try it out right now. I'm not sure what I was doing before but I did my 3 Bourne movies and they're all in stereo, so I knew something was wrong.

 

[dynaflash]

You may also want to choose to add an AAC audio track as well for compatibility with devices such as computer, iPhone, or anything with plain stereo. (Dolby Pro Logic II as the mix down works very well.)

Correct but make the aac track first and the AC3 track second like the HB presets do.

 

[KevinC867]

Thank you! I'll try it out right now. I'm not sure what I was doing before but I did my 3 Bourne movies and they're all in stereo, so I knew something was wrong.

You might need to go to your playback device and make sure it is using the 5.1 track and not the stereo AAC track which will also be present in an M4V file.

What device are you using to play the files?

 

[twobelowpar]

You might need to go to your playback device and make sure it is using the 5.1 track and not the stereo AAC track which will also be present in an M4V file.

What device are you using to play the files?

Using a PC to rip/convert and then ATV3 to stream from iTunes to TV.

Okay, for the AAC track. There is AAC(ffmpeg), AAC(faac), and AAC Passthru. Which one do I use if I want to make sure audio will work on stereo only devices?

 

[dynaflash]

Using a PC to rip/convert and then ATV3 to stream from iTunes to TV.

Okay, for the AAC track. There is AAC(ffmpeg), AAC(faac), and AAC Passthru. Which one do I use if I want to make sure audio will work on stereo only devices?

Um, the atv3 preset ? Its why it was put in there.

 

[twobelowpar]

Um, the atv3 preset ? Its why it was put in there.

Ok. That's what I'm doing.

 

[twobelowpar]

Well that's strange and disappointing. I have no audio at all now. There was at least stereo before but now, nothing.

 

[dynaflash]

hmm, you must have changed something beyond the preset. Only way to really know is if you paste the activity log that doesn't work on pastebin.com and put the resulting link here so we can see what actually occurred in the encode and what settings you used.

 

[twobelowpar]

Not sure if I did it right as I haven't used paste bin before. But here..?

http://pastebin.com/dzHSAiNa

It's the encode log of what it's doing right now. I'm trying it again.

Update: Still no sound. It will work on just my TV speakers, on the laptop, etc anything that is just stereo. But there's no sound at all through ATV and surround system. The Dolby feature is turned ON in ATV settings.

 

[dynaflash]

Well ...

[16:00:51]  * audio track 1
[16:00:51]    + decoder: English (AC3) (5.1 ch) (track 1, id 0x1)
[16:00:51]      + bitrate: 448 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[16:00:51]    + mixdown: Dolby Pro Logic II
[16:00:51]    + encoder: AAC (faac)
[16:00:51]      + bitrate: 160 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[16:00:51]  * audio track 2
[16:00:51]    + decoder: English (AC3) (5.1 ch) (track 1, id 0x1)
[16:00:51]      + bitrate: 448 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[16:00:51]    + AC3 Passthru

Shows us you appropriately have the first audio track as aac and the second as ac3. ... Is your atv hooked up to an appropriate AC3 DD 5.1 setup ? Though if your getting no sound that wouldn't make sense either since it should fall back to the first aac dpl2 track ... hmmm ....

 

[Alrescha]

Dolby Digital being on in the Apple TV will force the use of the AC3 track. If the audio system is not ready for a DD5.1 signal there will be no sound (or a very bad sound . Has it been established that any X.264/AAC/AC3 file (i.e. something from the iTunes store) plays properly? My guess is that either the data is not getting to the audio system, or the audio system does not like what it is getting.

A.
(who has been Handbraking with the ATV3 preset all weekend)

 

[twobelowpar]

I have HDMI from my ATV to TV and then digital audio cable from ATV to my receiver/blu ray player (it's all in one sort of thing). My surround system is a Panasonic, consists of 3 front and 2 back with a subwoofer. I'm assuming that would be a 5.1, no? I get good surround with Blu rays.

 

[Alrescha]

I will guess that you get no audio now because 1) you have an AC3 track, 2) you have DD forced on, 3) your television does not accept DD5.1 over HDMI (not unusual), and 4) you have something going on with the optical signal to your receiver/Blu-Ray player.

I suggest basic debugging of the optical connection:

Is there a red light shining out of the cable at the receiver end?
Is it plugged into the appropriate port of your receiver?
Do you need to select that input on your receiver?
Do you have another device to use as an output device
(that old DVD player in the closet, perhaps) which can be used to test the receiver input?

A.

 

[twobelowpar]

I will guess that you get no audio now because 1) you have an AC3 track, 2) you have DD forced on, 3) your television does not accept DD5.1 over HDMI (not unusual), and 4) you have something going on with the optical signal to your receiver/Blu-Ray player.

I suggest basic debugging of the optical connection:

Is there a red light shining out of the cable at the receiver end?
Is it plugged into the appropriate port of your receiver?
Do you need to select that input on your receiver?
Do you have another device to use as an output device
(that old DVD player in the closet, perhaps) which can be used to test the receiver input?

A.

I had ATV set to Auto and On and neither worked unless I needed to restart the ATV then that might be something.
Everything is plugged in properly. I'm wondering if 5.1 never worked with my ATV. We mainly use it for Netflix and to stream torrents via the Computer channel (which I know are stereo). I use iCloud digital copies of Disney movies for my toddler and I've never noticed if they are 5.1 or not. Something to check out?

 

[westrock2000]

I had an issue where AC3 Pass through would not work for me. Nothing would recognize the 5.1 Stream. So I set Handbrake to always re-encode the AC3 stream with 5.1 @ 640KB/s.

I started ripping my DVDs via MakeMKV and then converting to M4V with Handbrake.

Is there a reason you can't have Handbrake convert straight from the Disc? It will still convert just as fast and will save you the time and space of offloading all that data.

 

[twobelowpar]

I had an issue where AC3 Pass through would not work for me. Nothing would recognize the 5.1 Stream. So I set Handbrake to always re-encode the AC3 stream with 5.1 @ 640KB/s.



Is there a reason you can't have Handbrake convert straight from the Disc? It will still convert just as fast and will save you the time and space of offloading all that data.

I read Handbrake doesn't rip? Or that it will only rip some discs. So that's why I ripped with MKV first and then converted it. But I'll try a different disc and see what happens. And I'll try the 5.1 @ 640 as well.

 

[rayward]

I read Handbrake doesn't rip? Or that it will only rip some discs. So that's why I ripped with MKV first and then converted it. But I'll try a different disc and see what happens. And I'll try the 5.1 @ 640 as well.

HB cannot rip Blu Ray, but can rip DVDs. Some people still choose to rip DVDs with MakeMKV or similar to avoid the additional stress put on the optical drive by HBs staccato accessing of the disk (MakeMKV is much smoother). Also, ripping allows for batch processing.

As for your sound issues, you should just use the ATV3 preset in HB, and that will set all the necessary audio tracks for ATV-friendly playback.

Lastly, is it not possible to run your HDMI cable from your ATV to your BD/receiver unit? That would remove the variable of the split audio/video feeds.


ETA: I use the ATV3 preset for BD rips but, for DVDs, I just use the High Profile preset. Same comments above re correct set-up of audio tracks apply.

 

[twobelowpar]

It appears I have fixed it by fudging around with the surround settings on my receiver. There are standard, multi-channel, and manual settings. Standard gave me no 5.1 but multi and manual both seem to utilize the rear speakers. I think I neglected to think of those because I don't need to with Bluray discs. I don't know if it's true 5.1 but it seems to solve the problem. Is there a "surround for dummies" explanation between these settings?

Thank you for all your help! Now I know how to do it and that it can be done in one step too!

 

[dynaflash]

Yeah, most receivers will have a light or icon if AC3 DD 5.1 is being sent through. My Onkyo does. The preset has what you need in HB to get what you want. Glad you got it sussed out on your end.

 

[westrock2000]

HB cannot rip Blu Ray, but can rip DVD's

May be an OSX version limitation. Rips wonderfully on Windows. It didn't always handle Blurays properly, but about 1.5 years ago started doing it.

 

[VideoBeagle]

There's no such thing as "one Handbrake question"

 

[dynaflash]

There's no such thing as "one Handbrake question"

Amen.