I just got the blu-ray edition of How to Train Your Dragon for Christmas. As I was browsing the disc menus, I saw that there was an option to have an 'animator's corner' enabled. It appears this is an extra audio and video track that plays over top the main feature in the bottom left corner of the screen. Using makeMKV, I've managed to rip the animator's corner's audio track, but not the video track. It seems that for any given title, MakeMKV will by default only index the primary video track. Therefore when opening the disc, There are 2 versions of the main feature, one containing the animator audio track, but neither containing the animator video track.
In the past, I've set up VLC to use the MakeMKV codecs in order to play blu-ray discs (albeit without menus), so when trying to open the disc in VLC, I can see that title 0 has 2 video tracks associated with it, track 1 being the movie, and track 2 being the animator's corner. So, I know it exists, and I know MakeMKV is at least capable of seeing it.
After looking through the FAQ, I saw that MakeMKV apparently has some sort of manual picking mode. Could I use this to find and rip the missing video track? if so, how? I don't necessarily need it overlaid on top of the main feature. So long as I can get the animator's corner video, I can probably use editing tools to embed it into the ripped MKV file.
Technical info:
OS: PopOS 22.04
Version: v1.17.5 [linux(x64-release)] (Flatpak)
How to rip secondary video tracks?
Re: How to rip secondary video tracks?
The MKVToolNix tools will let you extract that secondary video track to its own .mkv file.
Use MakeMKV to create a decrypted backup of the disc in question, then point MKVToolNix at that decrypted backup.
Use MakeMKV to create a decrypted backup of the disc in question, then point MKVToolNix at that decrypted backup.
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Radiocomms237
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:23 am
Re: How to rip secondary video tracks?
Yes, MakeMKV deliberately hides the second and subsequent videos tracks (and yes, I've seen up to 4 video tracks in some files). If you search these forums for "Picture-In-Picture tracks" you should find multiple threads on the problem, but nothing has ever been done about it.
As above, the only way I've found to get them is to note down the playlist's file details from MakeMKV, then (working from a decrypted backup of the disc) navigate to the BDMV/PLAYLIST/ folder and drag 'n drop that playlist into MKVToolNix.
You'll then need to uncheck (IE. Don't Copy) the main video track and any audio/subtitle tracks that don't relate, sometimes this takes a little trial and error to find the correct tracks.
Also note that sometimes a disc will have a whole separate playlist that has different chapters relating to the PiP track, but this playlist is often also hidden by MakeMKV ("title 00850.mpls is equal to title 00800.mpls and was skipped" for example). So you sometimes have to use one of the "skipped" playlists in MKVToolNix to get the correct chapter edition for the PiP content.
While I'm on the subject, unfortunately the audio tracks for these PiP features more often than not use the "DTS Express" codec, which most players (like VLC MP) won't play, so you'll need to extract and convert them to something playable (such as AC3) before you can listen to them and match them up with the PiP video track.
Oh... P.S. MakeMKV has a "Open Disc Manually" mode for DVDs, but not Blu-rays. Not that it would be of any use for PiP tracks anyway!
As above, the only way I've found to get them is to note down the playlist's file details from MakeMKV, then (working from a decrypted backup of the disc) navigate to the BDMV/PLAYLIST/ folder and drag 'n drop that playlist into MKVToolNix.
You'll then need to uncheck (IE. Don't Copy) the main video track and any audio/subtitle tracks that don't relate, sometimes this takes a little trial and error to find the correct tracks.
Also note that sometimes a disc will have a whole separate playlist that has different chapters relating to the PiP track, but this playlist is often also hidden by MakeMKV ("title 00850.mpls is equal to title 00800.mpls and was skipped" for example). So you sometimes have to use one of the "skipped" playlists in MKVToolNix to get the correct chapter edition for the PiP content.
While I'm on the subject, unfortunately the audio tracks for these PiP features more often than not use the "DTS Express" codec, which most players (like VLC MP) won't play, so you'll need to extract and convert them to something playable (such as AC3) before you can listen to them and match them up with the PiP video track.
Oh... P.S. MakeMKV has a "Open Disc Manually" mode for DVDs, but not Blu-rays. Not that it would be of any use for PiP tracks anyway!