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TL;DR version: What tools to use to reliably convert DVD video without audio getting out of sync? No need to rip; all files are already on disk.
The full version:
Years (decades?) ago most standalone DVD players were rather finicky about what they could play back, and most would only work with "proper" DVDs with the traditional AUDIO_TS / VIDEO_TS folder structure containing .VOB files.
Because of this, I've had a tendency to burn everything to DVD in that format, so I'd stand the best chance of being able to play them back on regular players. As such, by now I have a pretty big pile of DVDs with "regular DVD format" content.
As some might remember, a few weeks ago I mentioned I made the decision to stop burning everything to DVD and just store everything on hard drives, as mass storage disks are now cheaper than blank DVDs. I've started copying those DVDs back to hard drives and have been making steady progress.
Here's the thing: As video can now be streamed from my computer to a TV or projector, I'm no longer as concerned about "maintaining compatibility with the lowest-common denominator", so to speak. A plain standard 4.35GB DVD using standard 720x480 VOB/MPG can be converted to a single < 1GB AVI/MP4/MKV file, with multiple audio tracks, with no appreciable loss in audio or video quality. Obviously, if I can store all of those videos in a quarter of the space, I won't mind the time it'll take to perform the one-time conversion.
Now...the whole reason I bring this up...I've had less than stellar results with what's out there to perform said conversion. My primary concern is that I've seen plenty of perfectly fine DVDs with the video now getting out of sync with the audio once converted, say, to MKV. To make matters worse, if I hit Play and go to random spots, the problem doesn't manifest itself - generally it's only when I play something from the start and just let it run that it'll start slowly drifting out of sync over time. Obviously I'm not going to sit back and watch everything just to verify whether something was converted correctly or not.
So who here has done such conversions and can swear by this-or-that particular product? I won't name what I've tried so far (to protect the innocent and avoid introducing my own bias in the discussion), but suffice it to say that I did try a few different apps, all with somewhat inconsistent results.
I really only have 2 criteria...just one if it really comes down to it:
a) Being absolutely confident it won't introduce synchronization issues. If it can't satisfy this criteria, it's a non-starter
b) Nice to have: If multiple audio tracks are available (for example, 5.1 vs stereo), assume I want both to be included in the final file
The ability to do batch processing would be a great bonus...for example, the ideal application would be pointed to a folder that contains subfolders A, B and C, each containing its own respective AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS subfolders, and then spit out A.mp4, B.mp4 and C.mp4 (or .MKV or whatever) without much further input from myself. Come to think of it, even if it doesn't have that ability, if it can alternatively be invoked from the command prompt, I should be able to write a script to automate that myself.
But again, these are nice-to-haves - I'd rather do the conversion one folder at a time and be confident I have no audio/video drift, than any other convenience feature.
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I used a tool called avi.Net back in the day to convert DVDs to DivX compatible avis. Video.Net (from the same author) should also work and has more modern formats.
The sync issue is probably caused by variable bitrate audio.
modified 7-Jan-17 15:06pm.
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I could go on about muxing and demuxing, etc, but I get the feeling you want a less messing-about solution, like MakeMKV[^]
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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"Less messing-about" sounds good to me, but if there's something everybody should know to avoid audio/video sync issues, by all means, please share.
Meanwhile...I had missed MakeMKV. I know I used it years ago, but had forgotten about it - thanks, I'll give it a shot.
[Edit]
Have I missed something, or does it only allow for a DVD (or virtual DVD) drive as the source?
I've already taken the time to copy the discs to the hard drive - I'm not going to do that again...
[Edit #2]
Never mind. Found the Open toolbar button will read files from a folder. Why isn't this part of the Source dropdown in the main UI section?
modified 8-Jan-17 10:56am.
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This[^] is my go-to site, for all things video/audio.
It's maybe not the prettiest site in the world, but it's been around for yonks, and has, so far, had the answer to (and the tools/instructions/demos to handle) every question I've ever had on the topic -- and good content trumps fancy-ass looks any day.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Doom9!! I remember that site well. The last time I visited is probably when it still looked brand new. 
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Still going strong -- which I found to be a blessing, less than a year ago!
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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There is a follow up meme based on the seventh planet from the sun...but I shall not be the one to post it...
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Wasn't that Marianne Faithful's follow up act?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Did you buy them specially?
That's dedication to the cause!
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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"As seen from Mars", through a telescope.
As seen from the surface with the naked eye, Earth wouldn't be much larger than what Mars looks like from here.
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People are often surprised when I point out Venus to them, because they assumed it was a star.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Heck, some people are surprised when I point out the sun is a star. 
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You don't know how right you are! (Or maybe you do.) 
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I do.
I've also corrected people in the past who were trying to look knowledgeable asking what the closest star to Earth is, expecting Proxima Centauri as the answer...
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There's a great quiz question: what is the name of the nearest star to Earth? Amazing how many people don't know!
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Is it Andromeda, right? Riiiight? Where do I get my prize? 
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No, silly, it's Uranus. 
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I know Pluto is no longer a star, but I thought Andromeda WAS Uranus, unless they've changed it again? 
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I suspect them people wouldn't know Uranus from your elbow either.
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... Or even Uranus from urea -- which can be problematic, if you shove the earbuds in too far.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Or even Uranus from urea
I first read "urethra"...had me seriously confused there for a second with the earbuds...
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Hi All,
Looking up some WPF stuff for an interview Monday (thank you Abhishek Sur) and I have found that I have done the usual generally think something is hard, avoid it, need to do it, learn in a rush.
It doesn't seem to be that hard...fatal thing to say I know. 
It seems that you can do some stuff in a different style, mostly...
Mostly scripting...
modified 7-Jan-17 12:29pm.
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