Hi,

I used Extractor 0.97 to extract the .ac3 file and .m2v file from a .vob file on a DVD I made in a Panasonic DMR-E85H. The .ac3 file can be played in Apack and also imported into DVDSP2. The .m2v file can be played in VLC but not in QT; it also cannot be imported into DVDSP2, saying the file is not recognized.

Can anyone suggest what is wrong with the .m2v file that it cannot be used in DVDSP2?

Thanks,

C.J.

If you've successfully ripped the audio off of the DVD and are left with one big continuous sound file, you can chop that big continuous sound file into manageable tracks using "Amadeus II" (http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/)

To play back MPEG2 video files (.m2v) with Quicktime, you'll need the extra MPEG2 Playback Component, which can be purchased from Apple. I don't know DVDSP2, but it probably depends on Quicktime for its decoding.

Hi,

Final Cut Pro makes .m2v files through File ... Export ... Conversion and DVDSP2 makes .m2v files through its encoder. There seems to be something different about the .m2v files made by Extractor and those made by FCP and DVDSP2. Only once did Extractor make a useable .m2v file, the rest of the time it makes files not recognizable by DVDSP2.

C.J.

Audio from DVDs
 

Many thanks for this easy-to-follow set of instructions - I've also been trying to extract audio from DVDs and discovered that Wire Tap's AIFC files wouldn't play on the iPod (and, of course, have to be recorded in real time). Consequently the process outlined below is a real gift.

Mark.

Merging the files
 

Okay. I now have the audio files in MP3 format. What I need to do now is edit the files together and then split that one big stream into tracks. What program do I use and how do I do it?

I am pretty good with Macs, but software like this just scares me! (:o )

Scooter1112, try using Audacity. A brief tutorial on joining mp3 files here: http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/04/24...files-in-os-x/

Thank You. I have a big stream of audio. Now how straightforward is it to divide it into tracks?

Google is a magical thing you know :)

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help...=files&i=split
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manu...mmon_ed_3.html
http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jak...dio_to_cd.html

More tutorials here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manu...tutorials.html

Just read this post and I have a different way that I have used to get Audio off of anything that I can play on my Mac. If might be a little clunky for some and I'm no expert, but it works.
I use a program called iShowU, it is a screen capture program similar to Snapz Pro. It costs $20 and I use it mostly to make training movies for programs we use at my school.
After I make my settings in iShowU, I use a small size capture window and I have it capture the system audio and set the audio quality to high.
Record the track, chapter or complete sound track. The program saves the recording as a .mov file on my desktop.
I open the .mov file usng QuickTime Pro, select Show movie Properties from the Window menu and then click on the sound/audio track and extract it. I then Export the track to either AIFF, Lame MP3, AU or Wave format. Then I can fine tune it in Audacity.

Reeserv, if you're going to record the audio like in your method, Audio Hijack or Wiretap (both mentioned already on the first page) are better as the record straight to an audio file.

Thanks, everyone. I've been wanting to get the songs off a live music DVD for a while. your instructions really helped out.

Hello,

I don't know if anybody is still reading this thread, but I am curious still how to convert DVDs to MP3 or other audio formats. I was reading post #17 and followed the instructions but still does not work. Can anybody help me?

Extract Movie Soundtrack - works great
 

I finally figured it out.

Step 1 - Use HandBrake to extract the movie into Quicktime format (.m4v). Select only the chapters you want to extract. For example, I wanted just the main title and ending credits music from Star Trek First Contact, which sounds great by the way.

Step 2 - Use Extract Movie Soundtrack by http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/Freeware/index.shtml
on the extracted video file to create an audio file.

Step 3 - Open the file in iTunes or do some editing on the file in something like CD Spin Doctor (comes with Toast) and then import into iTunes.

No need to record the soundtrack while it plays. I didn't get good results when I tried to do so with the new CD Spin Doctor that comes with Toast 9. Perhaps it was simply the DVD player in the Mac I was using. Anyway, the above works very well.

I've been following this thread trying to do something similar for music videos that I downloaded from iTunes. I wanted the audio tracks and accidentally bought the music videos instead. The files are in m4v format. Is there any way to extract just the audio for my iPod? I tried the suggestion above to no avail. Thanks for any help you can offer!

You can capture the audio in real time as it plays using Audio Hijack Pro.

Vegas is right - these files are protected video files so you cannot just pull them apart. Audio Hijack or Audio Hijack Pro are definitely the answer.

Extracting audio from DVD with iLife
 

It's actually fairly simple to capture audio from a DVD onto your Mac. If you want to rip, extract etc you can do it all with software you already own, and only generate a fairly small (500MB) master file in the process. You need to be able to play DVDs, and also have GarageBand and iTunes (part of iLife). The only non-standard item is an audio cable with a stereo 3.5mm plug at each end.

The principle is as follows:
1) Play the DVD on your computer
2) Use the cable to take the audio from the headphone socket back into the microphone socket
3) Record the audio on GarageBand
4) Export to iTunes
5) Burn to CD, upload to mp3 player etc.

Tips:
- Set up GarageBand and DVD windows so you can watch video and see the audio trace (wont be able to hear anything as your headphone socket is in use)
- Set up 2 GarageBand tracks - one unmuted to generate the initial recording and then transfer trimmed tracks to iTunes, the other muted as a working space for holding the unedited remainder (wont transfer to iTunes this way)
- In the Finder, ensure System Preference>Sound>Input is set to Audio line in port
- Also useful to set GarageBand recording to time rather than measure, and to switch off metronome
- The menu bar volume should be up pretty high to get a rich recording - but stay about 2mm shy of full volume or you will get weird feedback
- Hit record on GarageBand and play on DVD
- Once recorded I drag my edits between the muted and unmuted tracks submitting each freed song to iTunes as it's ready. In this way, an iTunes playlist is built up that generates a CD etc with individual tracks rather than a single long recording.
- This works great with Music DVDs that have a sing along version with the music only. Just set and forget.

Good luck

Ah - the 'analogue hole'. This will definitely work, no matter what the application you are using and will completely bypass any DRM, whether on DVD, iTunes, realplayer, windows media etc. You will lose a bit of quality in the conversion to analogue (ie coming out of the headphone socket) and then back to digital (ie going into the mic port).

When using the analogue route, it is a good idea to turn off any Mail or IM programmes - you dont want a 'new mail' beep in the middle of your recording!!

I have Audio Hijack, so can avoid that double conversion and it is able to isolate the sound from a single application, so I can continue to make all kinds of noise on my Mac while doing the recording.

I will list what I did to extract the Audio from a couple of DVDs.

I used 2 programs, Handbrake <http://handbrake.fr/> and Amadeus Pro <www.hairersoft.com>. With these programs there were only 2 steps. I tried several other ways, but they all took 3 steps. (Rip the Video to MP4, Convert MP4 to AIFF, Convert AIFF to MP3.)

With Handbrake and Amadeus Pro, it only took 2 steps. Handbrake to convert the Video_TS folder to MP4, then use Amadeus Pro to convert MP4 to MP3

With Handbrake I could select several files to convert at a time, and then with Amadeus I could select the files and covert the MP4 directly into MP3. You could also record to multiple other formats with Amadeus.

My 2 DVD had several hours of lectures and it only took me about an hour to convert all the files to MP3. I was going to use AudioHijack, but that would have taken 6 or 7 hours to record the files and then i would have to edit them. This was was much easier and faster.