MP3 soundtrack contain "gaps" but original DVD does not - WHY??

[JimmyBarnes]

Hi

Trying to rip The Mummy Returns with DivX Pro 5.0.

Am fairly experienced with ripping (some 50 rips) and I always use VOB2Audio v0.1.0 to get the soundtrack as mp3.

The Mummy soundtrack ripped OK but contains "gaps" - very quiet passages for example when someone is talking normally, which clearly should not be present - quite noticeable when the final AVI is playing.

When I look at the soundtrack mp3 in Sound Forge, I can see that at the gaps, the peak level is indeed almost absent. What is stranger still is that when I play those passages from the original VOBs, they sound quite normal ie. no gaps!

Can anyone suggest what is happening here?

thanks
JB

[DJ Bobo]

Use DVD2AVI 1.76 to extract the track, then use HeadAC3he to transcode it to mp3.
If you prefer the manual way:
Use AZID to decode the AC3 to WAV

azid -a -c normal track.ac3 track.wav

Then use Lame/RazorLame to encode the WAV to MP3

This works garanteed with every DVD! Vob2Audio is crap!

[JimmyBarnes]

Originally posted by bobotns
Use DVD2AVI 1.76 to extract the track

Could you describe in some detail how to do the above?

I've looked at Doom9's guide on this and can't get to the "audio encoding" tab he describes.

If I can get an AC3 for the whole soundtrack, I can use BeSweet to convert it to an mp3.

thanx
JB

[DJ Bobo]

There is no audio encoding tab in DVD2AVI!
You go to Audio -> dolby digital -> demux after choosing the right track (or Demux all tracks if you want them all)
Then File -> save project
Then you'll get your AC3(s)

[DSPguru]

@Jimmy
you could demux the ac3 from the vob using vStrip, and in fact, you could also transcode it directly to mp3, using aquaplaning (http://aquaplaning.20m.com)'s version of vStrip_gui, aka, BeStrip (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23925).

Originally posted by bobotns
There is no audio encoding tab in DVD2AVI!hehehe, in the version i use (by Nic, isn't public yet) - there is :D !
DVD2AVI now uses BeSweet.dll and directly transcode the vob into mp3/ogg.

[JimmyBarnes]

Originally posted by bobotns
There is no audio encoding tab in DVD2AVI!
You go to Audio -> dolby digital -> demux after choosing the right track (or Demux all tracks if you want them all)
Then File -> save project
Then you'll get your AC3(s)

Thanx, I had figured it out.

JB