Selecting Audio Tracks

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olot007
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 4:53 am

Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by olot007 »

I'm a little confused on selecting the right audio track/tracks.

On DVD's, if I select DD 5.1 (or words to that effect), do I need or want the DD 2.0 or DD stereo track if it exists? Do most players convert the DD 5.1 to 2 channel stereo if that's the only track I select? What if I later want to convert my mkv file over to an ipad file or something, will I need the 2 channel audio track then?

I have the same question on Blurays, which adds the DTS HD MA type of audio. It seems fairly common for the audio track to list a DTS-HD and also a sub folder with DTS 3/2... Do I select both or only the first one?

I have an Integra DHC 80.2 receiver in my home theater that handles both DTS HD MA and Dolby True HD, but my daughter is getting to the age where she may want a movie on the ipad, or even streaming to a Samsung SmartTv (with no receiver).

Any help on best practices would be appreciated!
Woodstock
Posts: 9912
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by Woodstock »

Selecting audio can be a disk-by-disk process, because some disks are mastered with better audio on commentary tracks than the main feature.

My work flow has MakeMKV ripping everything, then I use handbrake to compress the MKV for the target device. Decisions about audio to include are made that that point, because some devices do not support multiple audio tracks.
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olot007
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 4:53 am

Re: Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by olot007 »

Woodstock wrote:Decisions about audio to include are made that that point, because some devices do not support multiple audio tracks.
Yeah, I guess that's my problem. I don't know whether or not the rip is ultimately going to be converted to another device.

Does anyone know if I feed Handbrake with a rip that only has a DTS HD MA audio track on it and I'm converting it to an ipad format if it will convert that audio track to what it needs? (I guess I could try it out for myself and report back as well...)
hermy95
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:12 pm

Re: Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by hermy95 »

I am new to MakeMKV and am in the process of converting all of my ISO files to the MKV format. I have been unable to find a way to force MKV to select all audio tracks for a specified language. The TrueHD and DTSHD tracks are always "unselected." I would like to use the batch program Movies2MKV but am unable to do so for any folders with movies/TV shows that contain these tracks. For those, I have to do them manually one by one and I have a LOT with these tracks. Is there a way to configure MakeMKV to select all audio tracks automatically? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I currently use PopcornHour (CloudMedia) players which handles ISO files very well. I also want to utilize Plex and of course it no longer handles ISO files (it did so many versions ago if Plex and media existed on the same share/server.) which is why I am creating MKV files. Not sure which format offers best vid/aud quality from my perspective, but will soon be testing this out.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Woodstock
Posts: 9912
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by Woodstock »

Make sure you have Expert mode selected in Preferences->General.

This gives you access to using profiles, AND the Advanced tab that will be now available has a "default selection rule".

My profiles have this in them for the default rule:

Code: Select all

    <profileSettings
        app_DefaultSelectionString="-sel:all,+sel:(favlang|nolang),-sel:mvcvideo,=100:all,-10:favlang"
    />
The part within quotes in the above can be put into the selection rule box of the Advanced tab, as well. If you select a favorite language, all tracks for that language will be selected.

I don't select a favorite language, though, because sometimes you get no audio that way... if all the audio is in a foreign language.
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hermy95
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:12 pm

Re: Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by hermy95 »

Thanks Woodstock. This did the trick!! :D
hermy95
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:12 pm

Re: Selecting Audio Tracks

Post by hermy95 »

Woodstock, is there a way to also automatically have MakeMKV select jpg attachments as well? Thanks.
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