I’m still looking for the solution, but for the time being I’ve found some info on the program’s User Manual. Next time I’ll do a conversion which requires aac stripping, I’ll try and figure out the answer for you. If anyone already knows, please share!

Required programs:

• dgMpegdec (successor of DVD2AVI)
• VirtualDub
• VFApi
• Winamp

Open the TS file in dgmpegdec.
Check if the option “Demux tracks” is enabled under Audio -> Output Method.
File -> Save Project.

This will create a D2V project file and an AAC audio file.

Processing the audio
The AAC file must be converted to WAV first, as it is a readable format for virtualdub. I usually convert audio files by using Winamp on disk writer mode.

Processing the video
Open VFAPI and load the D2V file.
After that click convert.

A file is created that is basically a “fake avi” which will read out the TS content.
Open the fake avi in virtualdub and apply filters like resizing and compression settings under Video.
Make sure you select the wav file you created under ‘Audio’ and to apply compression settings.
Now do: file, save as.

For those of you that have attempted to convert HD video before and didn’t succeed, this guide is for you. The problem with HD is not necessarily the video, but the audio track. Unless you have specific mp4 audio codecs installed, it’s likely you’ll only get sound from an HD video if you play it back by VideoLan. While HD video is high quality, it is not necessarily the favorite format to save video because the space it requires is huge. In my opinion HD is overkill for the random clips you gather here and there. This is why I felt the urge to take HD apart, and give you a way to make a better space/quality ratio.

How to get the audio
There actually is a very simple way to get the audio track off an HD video file. Since VideoLan is the only player that will play the audio, it also contains the answer to how you can get the audio track isolated as a seperate file on disk. In VideoLan we will use the Stream/Save option to do this.

When you open settings, you will have to set the following properties:

Check your output file with your mp3 player. If it has stops and clicks, check it again. With these settings in VideoLan it should be ok. Now you will need an MP3 to WAV converter. For this I will use my Winamp Disk Writer plugin. It can be found in Options -> Preferences -> Plugins -> Output.

How to join video and your wav file
HD is actually MPEG-2. So you will need to Demultiplex the video first. Demultiplexing is isolating the video and audio tracks. Every program I tried did not demultiplex the audio properly, only VideoLan. TMPGEnc is a good Multiplexing/Demultiplexing tool. Open your HD video file in the Multiplexing / Demultiplexing tool. As you can see the audio track remains empty, this is because the audio is not recognized.

So now we’re left with one audio WAV file and an M2V file. TMPGEnc is able to Multiplex these back together. I would recommend a full new save to any format you’d like. In the following screenshots I will show you the settings for XVID output/ MP3. Just be sure to set the output to “Progressive” instead of “Interlaced”. This will leave horizontal lines. Deinterlacing them later on will give trouble.

Ripping the actual video
This is all a question of the right tools. The best freeware solution is SmartRipper. Works 99% of the time to get the job done. If you have it there are also some paid software options that let you export the contents of the DVD to your hard disk.

Converting VOB into AVI
Every VOB part (DVD Video File) is at max 1 gigabyte large and a DVD5** will contain at least 4. If you wanted to save it to full size avi your hard drive would explode. It’s likelier you want to get it to a manageable format. The best tools for this job are DVD2AVI and VFAPI converter.

DVD5: Normal DVD of 4.3GB capacity.
DVD9: Double (layer) DVD capacity.

Using DVD2AVI to create a project file:
Open your VOB files from the File menu.

From the File menu, select Save Project File. This will create a fairly small file with a *.d2v extension.

Using VFAPI to make the DVD2AVI Project File a readable AVI:
Load the D2V file into VFAPI. Use the Convert Button to create the ‘fake’ AVI. Quit the program.

Getting the audio
Next step is to get the audio extracted from the VOB files. Again, there are many paid software applications that limit the time you need to get this done. There are also some free alternatives. I’d go for paid if you want it done without hassle. The most basic free method is using GraphEdit. Basically, what you’re doing is using DirectShow Filters to process the VOBs (MPEG-2) to mere audio.

Go to Graph –> Insert Filters. Unfold DirectShow Filters. Look for the following filters and Insert:
- I-Media Multiple MPEG-2 Source
- Ligos MPEG Splitter
- InterVideo Audio Encoder
- WavDest
- Filewriter

For this you must have the following:
- An MPEG-2 converter (TMPGEnc Plus)
- A DVD Authoring tool. (Tsunami DVD Author)

Using TMPGEnc to convert to MPEG-2:
First off, you must get your video converted to MPEG-2. If you live in a region for PAL, you use PAL type conversion. If you live in a region or NTSC, use NTSC.

So how do you recognise 4:3 source video versus 16:9 source video? Simple; if you don’t have a widescreen pc monitor, 16:9 will create black frames above and below the video if put fullscreen. If you use this wizard it’s really easy to do. In the end if you are encoding 16:9 video, don’t let tmpgenc’s encoding process confuse you. It will look completely out of shape, but that’s just because their encoding window is one format only. The file will come out ok.

Using Tsunami DVD Author:
Set up your project as you picked your region (PAL, NTSC).
Go to Source to add your MPEG-2 files.

It will ask you to start chaptering the source video. But you can always return to this screen later by using the ‘Clip Editor’ button.

When the file is in a track, and has chapters, you can start building the menu.

It’s advised to take advantage of the wizard. You are afterwards able to completely change the look and feel the way you see fit.

The wonder of Animated Chapters.
The only thing slightly tricky in Tsunami, is creating Animated chapter selections.

You will need to activate it globally and/or override it in Top and Track menu’s. It will then take the first 15 seconds out of each chapter. However! You can override this default by right clicking the menu item and setting an in and out point, possible looping the animation if it’s too short.

The last step before exporting is the simulation. Here you can see what the dvd will look like and how it will function. If you’ve got animated chapters, do not be alarmed!! I know you won’t see them function. You must click the button in the screenshot below for it to work.

The final export is best done to your hard disk. I wouldn’t recommend burning immediately. This way you can still see if there’s something you’d like to change last minute by using Power DVD or any other dvd viewing tool for your pc. The project can be burned with Tsunami, but of course you could also let Nero set up a DVD project for you. Just put everything into the folders they belong into.

There you have it! Custom made, professional DVDs.

So here’s what you need:
- River Past Video Cleaner

River Past Video Cleaner passes nearly ANY format and seems to do exceptionally well on converting RMVB.

Open up virtualdub and load your video. Go to the audio menu and activate full processing mode. Make sure the audio compression is set to uncompressed. Select advanced filtering and go to the filters.

Once there recreate the following with a sample rate of your choice*:
* The configure button lets you do this.

Never use “New Rate”, this will only ‘stretch’ the audio across the video creating a synch problem. See the article about fixing audio-video synch problems.

Set full processing mode for video and configure the desired codec OR leave it on direct stream copy.
Note: it may be necessary to convert the sample rate of multiple files if your objective is to append video.