Guide: Ripping DVD-Audio Discs (DVD-A) to FLAC in Windows

[bnieman]

Hello Everyone,

Jason (aud19) and I have been discussing to most efficient way to rip DVD-Audio discs to your computer in the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format.

This allows you to store DVD-A songs in high resolution on your computer fully tagged and either listen on your computer speakers or send them over to your home theater receiver in multi-channel PCM format via HDMI from one of the newer HDMI supported video cards (like a ATI Radeon 4550 and above). Please note that ATI cards in the 3xxx series can only send SPDIF over HDMI so you are limited to 2-channel PCM.

If you have a ATI Radeon 4550 or above you will need the Realtek ATI HDMI Audio driver available here: Link to unlock 5.1 and 7.1 multi-channel support

This guide is for Windows XP or above. It will work in Vista x86 and x64 without problem.


To do the ripping you will need the following:

1. DVD-ROM Drive
2. DVD-Audio Explorer 2008
3. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
4. Optional: Tag&Rename (for tagging FLAC files. One drawback... Registration fee of $29.95. It is the best tagger I have used though)

Steps to rip:

1. Place the DVD-Audio disc you would like to rip in your DVD-ROM.
2. Extract "DVD-Audio Explorer 2008" anywhere on your computer (there is no installation)
3. Place "flac.exe" to the "bin" folder in the directory put "DVD-Audio Explorer 2008"
4. Launch "DVDAExplorer.exe" in the "bin" folder.
5. Select "Open" from the "File" menu.
6. Browse to the "AUDIO_TS" folder of the the DVD-Audio disc you have inserted.
7. Select the first ".IFO" file and press "Open". The tracks should then appear in a file tree format. You can select various tracks to see what resolution they are and how many channels.
8. Use SHIFT and CTRL to select the tracks you would like to rip.
9. Once selected go to the "File" menu and select "Extract"
10. Select and output directory.
11. Check "Convert to Wave"
12. Check "Merge Groups"
13. Check "Recover from Stream Errors"
14. Check "Run Program" and enter: flac -f "%filepath%".
15. Change the threshold to 1000MB (you may need to play around with this if you have slower computer, lower numbers means faster and you cannot have FLAC encoding 2 tracks at once. If FLAC errors increase the number)
16. Check "Delete Files" (this deletes the WAV files after converting to FLAC)
17. Click the icon on the bottom to convert.

Once they are converted you can use a program like Tag&Rename to automatically tag and rename your FLAC files so they can be easily integrated into your music library and also allows them to be scrobbled with last.fm (example: my profile ) Tag&Rename also downloads album artwork from Amazon.com and embeds it into each FLAC file for software that supports cover art.

If you have any questions feel free to ask below!

[aud19]

Nicely done! :T I wonder if this should actually be "stickied" in Tower Of Power...?

[littlesaint]

Hate to be the bad guy, but it needs to be said that DVD-A is not the same as CD, and the rules regarding ripping and "backing-up" are different. Under the DMCA (in the US at least), it is illegal to rip a copy-protected DVD-A. Yes I know, fair use, blah, blah, but the DMCA is still law and it clearly states the this is not legal.

[bnieman]

That's no good... would you advise I delete this post?

[littlesaint]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the post. This sort of information certainly isn't a secret or anything, but it's Lex's site so I'd defer to him. I just think it's appropriate to acknowledge there are differences between copying copy-protected material such as DVD-A, and CDs which are not copy-protected.

[Chris D]

I think this is a good post--would very much like to have my DVD-A discs ripped to lossless audio formats. On that note, how about SACD?

[bnieman]

As far as I know, the copy-protection on SACD has not been broken. I also believe you need a different type of laser to read SACDs which is not present in a standard CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. Again, that is my understanding. I could be mistaken.

[David Meek]

I also believe you need a different type of laser to read SACDs which is not present in a standard CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

That's correct. The CD format specs a 780nm laser and the SACD format specs a 650nm laser.

[bnieman]

Sony and their proprietary formats! They finally got one to stick with Blu-Ray after the death of Beta Max, Mini-Disc, Memory Stick, and sadly SACD.

[Hdale85]

Well unfortunately memory stick is around for a while as all their electronics uses them.

[Chris D]

... and while SACD isn't exactly flourishing, I don't think it's quite dead yet, either.