Video to Audio CD or MP3

[lee]

Can anyone help me?

I have been using my TV dvd recorder to record radio programs & burn them to disc.

When it does this it automatically saves them as video files & I wish to convert them to audio CD & MP3 files to playback in the car or on my portable MP3 player.

I have Nero 6 but am unable work out how to do this, if indeed I can.

Can anybody tell me if this is possible &, if so, how to do it?

Would be gratefull for any assistance.

[dolphinius_rex]

Hrm, that's a pretty unusual situation to be in! Maybe check out the guides over at videohelp.com, they MIGHT have something you could use.

[CowboySlim]

You might try this, but you'll need a y-cable with RCA phono plugs to the red and white R & L audio out of the DVD Recorder and the other end of the cable has the 3.5mm stereo jack that goes into your sound card. Use Nero SoundTrax to record the audio input and convert to *.mp3.

I'm using that setup right now to transfer songs from audio cassettes to hard drive with a cassette tape deck.

Haven't tried with a DVD Player/Recorder, but ought to work.

YMMV. Let me know.

Slim

[lee]

Thanks for replys.

I used to think I can't be the only person tapeing from the radio to listen in the car or in the garden via a walkman or MP3 player but it looks like I'm am!

I am sure I can do a transfer using the connecting leads as you suggest but I wanted something quick & easy. My TV\Hi-i is 30 feet away from the computer.

Having thought some more about it, all I am trying to do is strip the audio track(s) from a video file & convert to MP3. Once in this format I can either play or save it as an MP3 or convert to an audio cd using Nero.

Therefore could I use a video\DVD editing program to strip out the audio? I have a couple that came with my video card but have never looked at them as I am not really into DVD's other than watching the odd film & using them for storage of still photographs.

Any further help gratefully received.

[MediumRare]

You'll have to extract the audio from the multiplexed MPEG2 files. You can't do this with Nero, but there are freeware tools that'll get you further.

If your radio recordings are full-fledged video DVD's with VIDEO_TS directory, use PgcDemux to extract the audio channel(s).

If they're MPG files, the easiset way is to open them with VirtualDubMod and export the audio stream as a WAV file.

Once you have the audio file, you have to convert the sampling rate from 48 kHz (DVD standard) to 44.1 kHz (audio CD). How you do this depends on the audio format:

- If it's a WAV file (PCM audio), I'd use Audacity: set the project rate to 48 kHz, import the WAV file, change the rate to 44.1 kHz and export the result as WAV (normal CD) or MP3 if you want that (you need to install the LAME plugin for Audacity to export MP3). You can also import MP2 files (MPEG audio layer 2, used on some videos in Europe).

- If it's AC3 audio, you may have to use a different program- I don't know if Audacity can handle this. Try BeSweet (a command line tool) with the GUI BeLiIght. You may have to download some further codecs or other tools.

Check doom9 or videohelp for the programs (or google for them).

Hope this helps you a bit.

G

[lee]

Thanks MediumRare, it sounds as if it will help a lot. The files are indeed full-fledged video DVD's with Video_TS directories.

I will give it a go over the next week or so.

[CowboySlim]

If you have a video card with TV out, you might try the same cabling arrangement between the TV out adapter and the audio card LINE IN.

Then put the Video DVD in your PC and play it and try the Nero SoundTrax capture while playing.

Actually, I might try that myself.

Then I can make MP3s of the sound tracks of all my favorite Jerry Springer Shows!

[CowboySlim]

This is so obvious, I'm embarrased that I didn't think of it earlier.

Take out the cable to your speakers, either on your sound card or your mobo (if you have embedded sound).
That should be a 3.5mm stereo mini-plug.
Get a Y-adapter with three of those.
Stick the end where the two cables are joined back where the other came out.
Stick one of the other two back into your speakers,
and the last into the LINE IN jack of your sound card or mobo.

Then play your Video DVD in your PC DVD-ROM drive or DVD-RW drive.
Open up Nero SoundTrax and select LINE IN as the source.

If I had that kind of cable, I'd try it.
Should only take a minute.
Should work.
I'm going to pick up a cable like that.

Actually I tried without the cable, but playing a DVD movie and selecting WAV out as the SoundTrax source. Recorded it and payed back but it didn't sound so good.

Slim

[lee]

Thanks CowboySlim,

With the help I have received so far I am sure I will be able to deal with my problem one way or another.

Will let you know how I get on in due course.

[CowboySlim]

Quick goback, if you want to try the Y-adapter thing.

If your speaker cable is hard wired into the speaker,
you will most likely need a female connector.
If so, you might look for a Y-adapter with a female/jack
at one of the one-wire ends,
or an extender cable with two females.

[CowboySlim]

OK, Buckaroos, it works - just tried it.

I bought a cable with 3.5mm stereo mini-plugs at both ends.
Put on in the LINE IN and one in the LINE OUT.
Put a DVD movie in the DVD-ROM drive and started playing it.
Opened up Nero SoundTrax and select LINE IN as source and recorded a couple on minutes worth.
Recorded in WAV format.
Did a Play All in SoundTrax and it sounded real good.

Actually, I had a Y-Adapter on hand with 1 plug and 2 jacks in parallel
that I plugged in to the LINE OUT.
Then I plugged the cable from the LINE IN and the cable to the speakers
into the parallel jacks of the adapter so that I could listen while I recorded
and hear the playback without switiching cables around.
But that is not neccessary and what I wrote in the paragraph is really all that you have to do.

Good luck, it's duck soup!

Slim

[lee]

Thanks, so simple why did't I think of it! As we Brits say 'Can't see the wood for the trees'.

I will also try the software solution as, ideally, I would like to copy & burn in as short a time as possible rather than in real time due the amount of recording I do.

Thanks for the really helpfull responces to a problem that had me stumped.

[lee]

MediumRare,

Your solution works fine. I used PgcDemux to extract AC3 files from the VIDEO_TS file (easy) & a shareware converter that seems to convert them to several other formats such as WAV, WMA & MP3. Takes less than a minute for 30 minutes audio. I then burned them to CD which plays on my PC, home & car CD players. I'm delighted!

CowboySlim,

Your solution also works & I didn't even need the Y adapter as although I disconnected my main speaker system I also have speakers in my monitor which are connected seperatly. A lead with a mini jack at each end was all that was required. Using this method I can now record radio from the internet & listen to it when it is convienent for me & away from the computer.

Many thanks to both of you.

[MediumRare]

a shareware converter

Glad it worked out for you! Which converter did you use? Audacity can't handle AC3 (I tried a couple of days ago=, but BeSweet can.

G

[lee]

I used AC3 Decoder from Mediatwins.com.

I downloaded & tried BeSweet (with the GUI, I know nothing about command line programs) & this works as well but took me a while to work out how & it does not convert to WMA format. The WMA files qive me the quality I require for my purposes (mainly speech content) & seem about 15 times smaller than WAV files. They therefore seem ideal for getting many hours content onto 1 CD to play in the car etc.

Looks like problem solved thanks to the help received here plus I have learned a bit in the process which is a useful bonus.

Thanks again.

[lee]

Slight correction, despite small files the CD's are burned in audio CD format according to the number of minutes they play for, not their size in megabytes.

Still, it's not a major problem with the low cost of blank media.

[MediumRare]

Slight correction, despite small files the CD's are burned in audio CD format according to the number of minutes they play for, not their size in megabytes.

That's because normal audio CD's are always in PCM format (like WAV files). Other formats have to be converted prior to burning.

The only chance you have to get more audio on a CD is if the player will accept MP3 files. Most recent CD-players do. You can adjust the data rate for MP3's, use a lower bit rate for speech if you're satisfied with the quality.

If you can't use MP3's, skip the intermediate step with WMA (unless you're listening to them on your PC). Quality doesn't improve through multiple conversions.

G

[Spade]

Maybe one of the 402 series Plextor capture box (with or without TV tuner) in combination with Plextools Pro XL, is a solution,
Plextools Pro XL allows you also to capture the audio only, (you don't have to burn your material first to a disc) it's a USB capture box, which captures to most known MPEG video formats, and audio only capture also !, so you save time, because you don't have to mux..
(check out the Plextor site for details)