Using Handbreak to encode 5.1 audio

[GalacticaActual]

Hello all,

I posted a similar thread about this a little while back but it may have been in the wrong forum.

I have been using hand break to put some files on a flash drive for viewing in another room.

The files a rips from my own personal Blu-ray's and dvds, and I want to keep the audio in 5.1 if possible.

However, it doesn't seem to matter what setting I use in hand break I only ever end up with 2 channel stereo mix down from 5.1 even if I allow ac3 pass through.

What am I doing wrong please?

 

[richardb70]

Just out of interest, what hardware do you have in each room? Can you use Kodi or Plex to stream the media directly without needing to resort to Handbrake?

 

[GalacticaActual]

have dvd player with a usb slot on the front rigged up to a small 5.1 system. Long story but I want to put a few movies on a stick for some one that is bed ridden and cant change the disc in the player. Best thing to do is rip movies and leave him to it ! then do some more he is finished with it.

I can get 5.1 sound using the mix down option, but no pass through for actual dts or dolby digital.

 

[timn]

I've not used Handbrake directly but I have used vidcoder (which uses handbrake to encode files) Home | VidCoder

Under the audio settings of the output file you can configure DD or DTS 5.1 pass through. Vidcoder is also good if you want to queue up files to be processed.

 

[GalacticaActual]

Is vidcoder free ? Is it free of ads and extra add ons ect?

 

[timn]

Yes, it's free open source, no ads and no add ons needed.

 

[richardb70]

have dvd player with a usb slot on the front rigged up to a small 5.1 system. Long story but I want to put a few movies on a stick for some one that is bed ridden and cant change the disc in the player. Best thing to do is rip movies and leave him to it ! then do some more he is finished with it.

I can get 5.1 sound using the mix down option, but no pass through for actual dts or dolby digital.

Gotcha . Presume they're not using a smart TV? If so, worth checking if the Plex client is accessible....

 

[GalacticaActual]

No , just normal TV with a non smart DVD player.

 

[richardb70]

Can you post a picture of your Handbrake settings that you're using? Also verify the source file is actually 5.1, and the output file is stereo using MediaInfo or similar.

 

[GalacticaActual]

Source file is definitely 5.1 as they are Blu-ray rips. Got a choice if one track being a mix down using prologic or a 5.1 channel pcm mix then a dts or Dolby true mix pass through using ac3 or dts codex. The thing is I got it to work once so that the player gave a choice of audio track . Everyone else since just shows the 2 channel mix down. The files have to be under 4gig to go in a flash drive . I wonder if that's the issue.

 

[richardb70]

I'd still like to see data from MediaInfo for a sample source file, then a screenshot of your Handbrake audio settings with this file loaded up, and then MediaInfo for the output. Should definitely be able to help you then.

Are you using any Handbrake presets?

 

[GalacticaActual]

Yep using presets. Ps3 1080p surround so it ends up being under 4 gig.

 

[Varsas]

Hi.

BluRay's are not neccesarily 5.1; they can be 7.1, Atmos, LPCM stereo...there is a whole range of possabilities!

When ripping BluRay's I don't recode the audio, I rip the DTS or DD 'core' 5.1 from the BluRay and then under audio tab on handbrake leave it as 'Auto Passthru'. I dare say the preset you are using is pre setting the audio to a stereo mix. I do the core because playing back audio through my domestic players causes them to crash if the audio bit rate goes over a certain rate (2mb/s as I recall), obviously the core is limited to 1.5mb/s.

You haven't said exactly what equipment you are using. Pen drives can store files over 4GB in size, but they need to be formatted using something other than FAT32 (NTFS would work assuming you are using a PC) of course your DVD player might not be able to read any file format more complex than FAT32...

 

[Abacus]

Are you sure the DVD USB input can do 5.1, as most cant (It’s only available on a burnt DVD) and will automatically mix it down to 2.

Modern Blu-Ray players are more flexible is what they can accept, however, there are still a number (Mainly cheaper ones) that won’t do 5.1 over USB.

Just a thought

Bill

 

[richardb70]

^ this is why I wanted MediaInfo on an output

 

[GalacticaActual]

Are you sure the DVD USB input can do 5.1, as most cant (It’s only available on a burnt DVD) and will automatically mix it down to 2.

Modern Blu-Ray players are more flexible is what they can accept, however, there are still a number (Mainly cheaper ones) that won’t do 5.1 over USB.

Just a thought

Bill

Yes it can as I have got it to work once with a dolby digital disc coded to mkv. It had both the two channel mix down and then a 5.1 ac3 pass through.
It would seem though that the player doesn't like it when you try and pass through a DTS signal and it only reads the two channel mix down.
I am having another go with the preset as auto pass through and no mix down channel just to see what happens.

 

[GalacticaActual]

I'd still like to see data from MediaInfo for a sample source file, then a screenshot of your Handbrake audio settings with this file loaded up, and then MediaInfo for the output. Should definitely be able to help you then.

Are you using any Handbrake presets?

Where do you find the mediainfo?

 

[grahamlthompson]

Where do you find the mediainfo?

You open the file in the programme and select tree view.

MediaInfo - Download

 

[DickieGreenleaf]

Select Audio tab in Handbrake
Add audio track and choose the multi channel track you want to add
Select "Auto Passthrough"
This will give you 5.1 or 7.1 in Kodi
You need to enable audio passthrough in Kodi and tick the various sound formats in the Expert settings

 

[next010]

Sounds strange could be DVD player has quirks needed to make 5.1 work.

Download latest version of Handbrake, current version no longer has a PS3 preset so you may have a quite old build though current one does have generic Playstation preset.

Have you tried forced re-encoding of the AC3 5.1 track, on audio tab delete all tracks other than the preferred AC3 or DTS 5.1 audio track then set the following
Set codec = AC3
Set bitrate = 640
Set mixdown = 5.1 channels

If it still wont play even after that then it's probably something to do with DVD player.

 

[GalacticaActual]

Thanks for all the help , looks like a 5.1 mix down is the way to go as the player is doing some strange stuff . The only problem with a 5.1 mix down though is that it only sounds good though the amp. If he just watched through the TV (at night time ) the sound didn't seem as good as a two channel mix down . Lol , the things we do for sick relatives !

 

[GalacticaActual]

OK , some success. Leaving it on auto pass through gave me the full sound track but the file encoded a little bit to large . Over 4 gig . I want to out a number of movies on one memory stick so need slightly smaller files but still good quality picture . Can you designate maximum file size to encode to in hand break ? Lots if presets but no way to tell how big the file will be ...

 

[1080 jawbreaker]

just use the the mkv split option to get around the 4 gb file limit

 

[next010]

On video tab increase the CQ rate that will give smaller videos, I wouldn't go any higher than 25. If it's at 20 by default try 22 first.

If you want to squeeze out any more quality on video tab under optimize video set encoder preset to closer end of spectrum of slow but this will increase time it takes to convert, also set encoder tune to film, animation or grain depending upon the source content.

 

[Varsas]

OK , some success. Leaving it on auto pass through gave me the full sound track but the file encoded a little bit to large . Over 4 gig . I want to out a number of movies on one memory stick so need slightly smaller files but still good quality picture . Can you designate maximum file size to encode to in hand break ? Lots if presets but no way to tell how big the file will be ...

Difficult to answer without knowing what presets exactly you are using (my build doesn't have the one you mention). What resolution are you using? Cutting it down to 1280x720 should cut the file size quite a lot (nearly half) without making it poor quality.

You can set an average bit rate under the video setting. If you know how long the film is you'd be able to set the avg bitrate to hit 4GB exactly. Quite a lot of effort to go to though! Remember to allow for audio too...