Thanks for the excellents posts. I played around last night and I experience the exact same issue as you two. Sure enough its the 5.1 sound in the .iso rips. Bummer.
Looks like I might have to try and start including the 2.0 track or maybe make the switch to mkv if the 5.1 track is working properly in that container / format. Again thanks for all the info you posted, hopefully this weekend I can come up with a solution that works for me using the info you gave until WD gets this mixdown problem fixed.
Since my last post I rolled back /tried the following firmware versions
1.04.22
1.04.17
1.03.49
1.02.21
The first 3 had exactly the same problem. Using the 1.02.21 version the volume was noticeably higher. BUT no DVD navigation and only main feature from the iso plays. Given other required updates this is not an option.
Like those above my problem is definitely not a ripping issue.
WD definitely have a serious firmware problem in down mixing 5.1 audio to stereo.
Nice work man. I appreciate your efforts, but I really don’t want to go all the way back to 1.02. This issue drives me nuts, and I agree its not the ripping process. I have tried other tools to rip my movies and all experience the same issue.
I have posted a workaround in the firmware section.
It may be a well known fix for some of you.
(Sorry Moderators - it may be easier to just duplicate)
Re: problem maintaining correct volume levels when downmixing 5.1 to stereo
I mentioned it earlier in the thread. This is a problem when many main titles only have a 5.1 audio channel
My problem occurs for ISOs/VOBs.
I’m new to the area so my workaround may be well known!
Work around:
Use an MKV container (no transcoding of the IOS). I use “Makemkv” which in a few minutes produces an MKV for each title in the ISO. One of them is the main movie - title*.mkv. You get files roughly the same size as the ISO as you’d expect.
I play title*.mkv and have no downmixing audio problem.
All audio channels - main movie 5.1, commentary 2 channel etc all at same volume.
BUT you need to use the menu option for chapter selection.
I’m more convinced the firmware can be (easily?) fixed.
I kept thinking to myself that I’d do what you did and step backwards until I figured out when it happened exactly. But I was too lazy. But my original estimate seems to be dead on - it happened right when they introduced DVD menu navigation.
I’m continuing to rip DVD’s fully in hopes that they fix this silly issue. Peeling out individual episodes of TV on DVD is a real bother; it’s much more preferable to just rip a full DVD .iso…
I’m very surprised it hasn’t been addressed yet considering it’s such a blatant issue.
I have posted a workaround in the firmware section.
It may be a well known fix for some of you.
(Sorry Moderators - it may be easier to just duplicate)
Re: problem maintaining correct volume levels when downmixing 5.1 to stereo
I mentioned it earlier in the thread. This is a problem when many main titles only have a 5.1 audio channel
My problem occurs for ISOs/VOBs.
I’m new to the area so my workaround may be well known!
Work around:
Use an MKV container (no transcoding of the IOS). I use “Makemkv” which in a few minutes produces an MKV for each title in the ISO. One of them is the main movie - title*.mkv. You get files roughly the same size as the ISO as you’d expect.
I play title*.mkv and have no downmixing audio problem.
All audio channels - main movie 5.1, commentary 2 channel etc all at same volume.
BUT you need to use the menu option for chapter selection.
I’m more convinced the firmware can be (easily?) fixed.
Good info MikeF, I am going to try this tonight. I have not used MakeMKV before, but if it works I’m willing to use the mkv container for the time being. Looks like I can easily export / convert from this container to others later on when WD fixes this issue.
I do have one question though. I’m confused when you say this:
“BUT you need to use the menu option for chapter selection.”
What do you mean by that? Is that something I must do during the ripping process using MakeMKV? Maybe I just have not had enough coffee this morning, but I could use some clarification on that step.
Good info MikeF, I am going to try this tonight. I have not used MakeMKV before, but if it works I’m willing to use the mkv container for the time being. Looks like I can easily export / convert from this container to others later on when WD fixes this issue.
I do have one question though. I’m confused when you say this:
“BUT you need to use the menu option for chapter selection.”
What do you mean by that? Is that something I must do during the ripping process using MakeMKV? Maybe I just have not had enough coffee this morning, but I could use some clarification on that step.
With mkv files you cannot use the remote keys to move chapters - you have to press the option key and then use the chapter menu.
Slight correction: when I said it takes “a few minutes” about 10 is closer depending on the length of the title.
If you have a moderately fast processor (I have a modest 2.5GHz Quad) then “Handbrake” can do an E.264 transcoding in an MKV container in ~ 1 hour. It allows multiple audio channels and pass thru. Going from 6GB to 2GB I can’t see any quality drop. Some would be happy with a 1-2GB transoding.
When converting ISO/VOB to MKV sometimes the chapters are present and can be accessed with VLC media viewer but not WD TV Live. I don’t know enough to guess what’s going on.
