Stream and Watch DVD on WD TV with 5.1 audio

Date May 13, 2016 Author Catherine Category DVD Tips, TV, WD TV

When we rent or purchase new DVD movies, we usually like to choose those with Dolby 5.1 tracks (also known as AC3 audio) for more amazing sound effects. Watching DVD movies on HDTV through a box such as a WD TV with AC3 5.1 surround sound at a Home Theater makes us feel like we are in cinema. Instead of trying to find the DVD disc you want to play from the book shelf placed with a large number of disc collections, you can choose to rip DVD to WD TV Live friendly files keeping menus and 5.1 sound and saved onto a local USB storage device or in WD TV drive.

So which is the Best way to rip DVDs to keep menus and 5.1 sound?

Here is a question from WD Community:

I have just started playing with converting my DVDs to various formats using different software and playing back with different versions of the WDTV Live firmware.

1. I have found that DVDs ripped to .iso files with DVD Decrypter play back with menus and 5.1 sound on any versions of the firmware, just as the original DVDs.

2. DVDs ripped to VIDEO-TS files with DVD Shrink seem to play back okay, except for the latest version of the firmware. The playback stutters but the menus and 5.1 sound works.

3. Converting to .mkv files with MakeMKV, Handbrake and DVD Converter Professional, I end up with a file that does not give 5.1 sound, menus or even chapters with any versions of the firmware.

I have read that .mkv files are the best format to use for video files, but in my case .iso files seem to be the most trouble-free format. Am I doing anything wrong? Has anybody ripped DVDs to .mkv files and have working 5.1 sound and menus, chapters on any of the firmware versions? I like the idea of having a smaller .mkv file, but if I can’t get 5.1 sound and Menus or chapters, I think I will stick withh .iso files and put up with the bigger files.

I have a wired gigabit network and I have tried playing the files from a Windows 7 and WD Sharespace. My WDTV Live is connected to a Yamaha receiver with TOSLINK optical connector and to my TV with HDMI.

In handbrake, you DO have to make sure the audio track is set to PASSTHROUGH, otherwise I think it defaults to two-channel AAC or MP3. You also need to make sure that you ENABLE the chapters function in handbrake in the CHAPTERS menu. Although we can use some free DVD Ripper tools like Handbrake to rip content off DVD movies and copy to WD TV for playback, it always some newer DVD titles may fail to be ripped or ends up with losing original 5.1 audio tracks in the output files.

That remains to be an unsolved problem until the release of Pavtube ByteCopy, an integrated DVD copy and DVD Ripper <See DVD Ripping Software vs. DVD Copy Software> that developed to help users retain original menu and Dolby Digital AC3 5.1 surround audio passthrough while removing DVD protection and copying DVD movies to lossless MKV. Besides that, this software also enables you to rip DVD disc, DVD ISO, DVD folder (including protected commercial DVDs) to WD TV Live supported MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, etc. so that you can play your DVD movies on HDTV via WD TV (1st Gen), WD TV Live, WD TV Live Plus (WD TV Live 2nd Gen), WD TV Live Hub, WD TV Live Streaming (WD TV Live 3rd Gen), WD TV Play (WD TV 4rd), etc. without any limitations. You can download it by using the link below.

Free download and install Pavtube ByteCopy:

Other Download:

– Pavtube old official address: http://www.pavtube.cn/bytecopy/

– Cnet Download: http://download.cnet.com/Pavtube-ByteCopy/3000-7970_4-76158512.html

How To: DVDs to WD TV keeping menus and 5.1 Audio

Now follow the steps below to see how Pavtube ByteCopy performs to retain menu and 5.1 audio while ripping DVD to WD TV format. The software is available for Mac (dmg) as well, so if you want to rip DVD on Mac and then put the DVD file onto WD TV with 5.1 audio, head over to ByteCopy for Mac.

Step 1. Launch the DVD ripping program for DVD . Then click “Load disc” to import the DVD files you want to convert.

Step 2. Click Format bar and choose your desired format. To pass-through original Dolby Digital 5.1 audio for DVD ripping, just select “Lossless/encoded multi-track MKV (* mkv)” from “Multi-track Video”. Make sure the original DVD disc does contain Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, otherwise you still can’t get 5.1 sound saved.

Tip: If you like, you can click “Settings” to change the video, audio, subtilte. as you wish. If there are some tracks you don’t like, you can click Settings button and go to Multi-task Settings window to uncheck and remove them under Audio tab and Subtitle tab. To maintain Dolby Digital 5.1 channels surround sound and original menu, original audio tracks, chapter markers, subtitles, please keep your desired Dolby Digital 5.1 audio channel checked. Even AC3 DTS 6 Channels can be preserved.

Step 3. Hit the “Convert” button to start ripping DVD to WD TV lossless mkv for smooth playing. Don’t forget to have patience, converting DVDs to WD TV Live video is resource-intensive and can take a while depending on the size of your source DVD file.

After the conversion, click Open button to find the output files. Stream converted files to USB storage media and connect your WD TV Live. Then just enjoy the high quality DVD movies with Dolby Digital 5.1 channel anywhere anytime. Besides copy DVD to lossless MKV, you can also make full disc backup or directly copy main movie with keeping 5.1 audio and menu in order to get a digital copy of DVD you legally own for watching on HDTV via WD TV.