www.makemkv.com

I'm trying to rip the DVD Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (from the BFI 2008 release) and once complete, the audio track is full of popping noises (when playing the .mkv in VLC). These popping noises are copied over when converting to .mp4 ("Better quality") using Handbrake. If I play straight from the DVD in VLC, there are no popping noises.

Any recommendations on what to try / what info you might need from me?

What does VLC list for the audio codec information (Ctrl-I in most versions) ?

On DVDs, you should not be using any audio translation in MakeMKV, so what you get in the MKV file should be the same as on the DVD.

What happens if you play the DVD through VLC (VLC can play DVDs directly) ?

When I play the straight from the DVD in VLC, it's fine. Looking at the audio codec when playing the DVD in VLC, Stream 5 is audio and the codec is "DVD LPCM Audio (lpcm)" at 48000Hz 16 bits. Interestingly, when I play the .mkv file in VLC (the one with the popping noises), the audio codec is Stream 1 "PCM S16 LE (araw)" 48000Hz 16 bits.

Are you using a profile other than "default" when ripping? This assumes you've enabled Expert mode and are using profiles...

I've not enabled expert mode. (I guess the reason I'm bemused is that I've used the software on ~100 DVDs and never had this issue)

Some of the advanced profiles (such as the FLAC profile) can optionally transcode the audio, which is why I ask. The standard or default profile, though, isn't supposed to do anything but copy the tracks after decryption.

I was just wondering if you'd had any further thoughts - I've tried a few more times but still get the same result.