Bluray Audio Issues - Everything sounds like it is underwater

[desaber]

Hey all,
This is my first post on the forum. I've searched quite a bit but have not found a similar issue and could really use some suggestions.

I am trying to rip Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 1&2. Long story short, I have three copies of this (special edition, 4k, and standard). Every single one of them has the same issue. The audio is good accept for dialogue, it's either not present at all or sounds like the actors are underwater. Also, I've attempted to make a backup and convert it to MKV. Nothing seems to be working. I ripped both large files on the disc in the log below. The second seemed to do better but ultimately had the same issues

Please see the output below:

Code: Select all

Saving 1 titles into directory M:/Movies/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 2010
AV synchronization issues were found in file 'M:/Movies/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 2010/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 S1E03.mkv' (title #3)
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:01:12.489 with duration of 1.583ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +1.583ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:03:06.895 with duration of 4.708ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +6.291ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:13:58.963 with duration of 6.583ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +12.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:13:58.976 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.208ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:14:39.336 with duration of 10.333ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +12.541ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:14:39.349 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +1.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:15:49.490 with duration of 1.25ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +3.125ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:16:19.853 with duration of 4.333ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +7.458ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:22:36.688 with duration of 7.875ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +15.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:22:36.704 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +4.666ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:28:15.735 with duration of 3.625ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +8.291ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:30:45.510 with duration of 6.708ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +15ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:30:45.525 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +4.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:35:40.471 with duration of 4ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +8.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:37:11.437 with duration of 10.125ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +18.458ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:37:11.456 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +7.791ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:38:23.384 with duration of 10.458ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +18.25ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:38:23.402 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +7.583ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:39:11.349 with duration of 3.416ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +11ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:39:11.360 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +0.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:45:29.643 with duration of 9.416ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +9.75ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:47:12.955 with duration of 5.791ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +15.541ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:47:12.970 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +4.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:52:25.433 with duration of 1.166ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +6.041ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:54:08.703 with duration of 4.833ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +10.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:54:08.714 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +0.208ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:54:58.420 with duration of 1ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +1.208ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:56:42.107 with duration of 3.75ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +4.958ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:57:58.141 with duration of 8.375ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +13.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:57:58.154 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.666ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 0:59:18.221 with duration of 5.333ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +8ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:03:04.822 with duration of 1.291ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +9.291ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:04:10.179 with duration of 8.375ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +17.666ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:04:10.197 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +7ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:04:38.708 with duration of 4.833ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +11.833ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:04:38.720 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +1.166ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:06:12.760 with duration of 6.375ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +7.541ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:11:45.467 with duration of 7.291ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +14.833ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:11:45.482 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +4.166ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:13:56.765 with duration of 8.833ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +13ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:13:56.778 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:16:13.402 with duration of 3.5ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +5.833ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:21:26.089 with duration of 5.958ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +11.791ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:21:26.101 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +1.125ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:22:20.685 with duration of 6.458ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +7.583ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:23:14.197 with duration of 2.875ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +10.458ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:27:34.582 with duration of 9.541ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +20ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:27:34.602 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +9.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:31:03.332 with duration of 7.125ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +16.458ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:31:03.349 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +5.791ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:31:32.904 with duration of 7.458ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +13.25ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:31:32.917 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.583ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:35:28.389 with duration of 2.75ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +5.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:36:31.869 with duration of 7.916ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +13.25ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:36:31.882 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.583ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:39:48.399 with duration of 3.666ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +6.25ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:44:56.790 with duration of 3.25ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +9.5ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:45:52.971 with duration of 0.208ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +9.708ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:47:40.454 with duration of 5.625ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +15.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:47:40.469 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +4.666ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:49:37.862 with duration of 9.708ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +14.375ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:49:37.877 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +3.708ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:56:07.043 with duration of 3.541ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +7.25ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:56:41.119 with duration of 4.291ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +11.541ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:56:41.130 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +0.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 1:58:34.148 with duration of 5.083ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +5.958ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:00:49.450 with duration of 4.833ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +10.791ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:00:49.461 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +0.125ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:07:52.581 with duration of 4.958ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +5.083ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:11:51.904 with duration of 5.583ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +10.666ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:11:51.914 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +0ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:17:01.296 with duration of 4.541ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +4.916ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:17:56.226 with duration of 3.458ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +8.375ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:25:55.538 with duration of 5.166ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +13.541ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:25:55.552 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:29:24.914 with duration of 0.166ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +3.041ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:29:59.657 with duration of 8.958ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +12ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:29:59.669 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +1.333ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:30:34.025 with duration of 0.333ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +1.666ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:31:40.674 with duration of 6.083ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +7.75ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:32:21.048 with duration of 10.333ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +18.083ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:32:21.066 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +7.416ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:35:16.432 with duration of 8.458ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +15.875ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:35:16.448 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +5.208ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:36:25.834 with duration of 5.333ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +10.541ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:37:03.997 with duration of 2.208ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +12.75ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:37:04.010 with duration of 10.666ms : 1 frame(s) dropped to reduce audio skew to +2.083ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:47:50.643 with duration of 0.666ms : short audio gap was removed, audio skew is +1.416ms
AV sync issue in stream 1,2 at 2:47:53.646 with duration of 5ms : encountered overlapping frame, audio skew is +6.416ms
AV sync issue in stream 4 at 0:00:00 : Forced subtitles track #4 turned out to be empty and was removed from output file
AV sync issue in stream 6 at 0:00:00 : Forced subtitles track #6 turned out to be empty and was removed from output file
AV sync issue in stream 8 at 0:00:00 : Forced subtitles track #8 turned out to be empty and was removed from output file
AV sync issue in stream 10 at 0:00:00 : Forced subtitles track #10 turned out to be empty and was removed from output file
1 titles saved
Using LibreDrive mode (v06.3 id=4C194CE2C4D1)
Using direct disc access mode
Loaded content hash table, will verify integrity of M2TS files.
Downloading latest HK to C:/Users/desab/.MakeMKV ...
File 00002.mpls was added as title #0
File 00009.mpls was added as title #1
Title #00010.mpls has length of 31 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00011.mpls has length of 51 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00032.mpls has length of 10 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
File 00037.mpls was added as title #2
Title 00020.mpls is equal to title 00037.mpls and was skipped
Title 00036.mpls is equal to title 00037.mpls and was skipped
Title #00000.m2ts has length of 15 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00004.m2ts has length of 9 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00005.m2ts has length of 7 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00006.m2ts has length of 17 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00007.m2ts has length of 23 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00009.m2ts has length of 31 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00010.m2ts has length of 51 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00012.m2ts has length of 6 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00016.m2ts has length of 8 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00021.m2ts has length of 6 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00026.m2ts has length of 10 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Title #00029.m2ts has length of 10 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 120 seconds and was therefore skipped
Operation successfully completed

[dcoke22]

Almost always issues like this end up being related to the playback setup involved. What are you using to play your rips?

As a side note, the utility MediaInfo is very handy. It can show lots of details about video files, including details about the audio tracks contained in them.

[desaber]

Almost always issues like this end up being related to the playback setup involved. What are you using to play your rips?

As a side note, the utility MediaInfo is very handy. It can show lots of details about video files, including details about the audio tracks contained in them.

I've Been using VLC, Jellyfin, Plex, and WMP for playback. They all have the same issue, no matter which audio track is chosen. Although Dolby 7.1 seems to have the least issues. I've looked at the file with MKVToolNix, and all the audio tracks are showing up. Is there something in particular I should be looking for?

[dcoke22]

Do you have any other blu-rays? Can you rip them? Does the audio work as expected on them?

When you play your rip using Plex, is Direct Play being used or is Plex transcoding?

[Cirnobyl]

Do any of the discs contain Stereo audio tracks, or is it all varying kinds of Surround Sound? If the latter, then in VLC, right-click on the window, and navigate to Audio -> Stereo Mode. Is it set to Original, or to Stereo? If it's set to Original, then chances are it's just playing the first two out of the 6-8 audio channels of the audio tracks, and those tend to include only faint dialogues. When you set it to Stereo (or Headphones) then it mixes the 6-8 surround audio channels down to just 2, which are more suited to common computer playback devices.

If this is not the issue, then you can at least extract the audio track using something like Handbrake and then import it into Audacity. From there, you can check each audio channel individually to see whether the problem really is playback or if the files themselves are broken in some way.

[theskycow]

I've been having the same issues and realized that my audio was 5.1, but the clients were only stereo.

My workflow was MakeMKV to rip, then ffmpeg to convert to MP4, serving from my NAS using Jellyfin, and using the Jellyfin Android/iOS client to watch.

Using my Windows machine to rip and convert, everything played fine in VLC, even though I only have stereo speakers. When I tested watching on my iPad, it was my old DVDs that only had stereo tracks, so I didn't notice anything wrong. Once I started ripping Blurays, I selected both 5.1 and stereo. However, converting to MP4 with ffmpeg, it only selected the first audio track with the options I was using.

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -c:a aac output.mp4

I have yet to test, but found the appropriate flag to include all audio tracks (-map 0:a)

On the first Bluray trying to rip again, there was no Stereo track, so I'm at a loss for how to play these on mobile devices. Using the Jellyfin app, you can set the max audio to stereo, but that still doesn't work when there is no stereo track on the Bluray. Playing with the video stream quality, I found that the lowest setting will play with stereo audio (despite the lack of stereo track).

There are other comments talking about being able to play with the VLC client, but the Android app is just not good at browsing and playing from Jellyfin. Is there anything that can be done on the Jellyfin server side, or during the conversion that will allow other devices to play the audio in stereo? Alternative Android and iOS apps?

[dcoke22]

I don't have any experience with Jellyfin. I do have experience with Plex. Most of the titles in my Plex only have surround sound audio tracks and when I play them on clients that only have stereo sound, they work fine. I would expect most Jellyfin clients to be able to do the same.

Your example command line doesn't show setting the bit rate for AAC audio. Near as I can tell, ffmpeg will default that to 128kbps. IMHO, 128kbps it not enough for stereo and way too little for multichannel AAC. I suggest trying to set a bit rate and seeing how different bit rates affect audio quality in your setup.

For comparison, when I transcode a blu-ray with a lossless multichannel audio track (DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD) I encode the audio in E-AC-3 at 1280kbit/s (twice the max rate of regular AC-3).

[zeuspaul]

I encounter a similar issue, either garbled, static, missing dialog or missing audio on some of my rips. I believe it is playback related. After the rip I playback on my Sony s1700 and my Panasonic UB420 for testing purposes. I don't recall having the same issue on both players. No dialog when played on the Panasonic but just fine on the Sony. Most likely the Panasonic doesn't know how to deal with the center channel with some codecs.

Too many variables for me with my limited knowledge to figure out.

My solution is to make two rips with dBpoweramp, one 1 to 1 audio and one re-encode audio to AAC. I test both and if needed I try a few Handbrake rips.

My goal is to have a file that works on both devices so I end up with a more compatible file. However the final destination is for my Zidoo Z9X Pro which so far (not too many tried yet) plays everything I have tried.

[zeuspaul]

I should have mentioned in my above post that my testing setup is stereo. STR-DH590 Sony receiver and headphones. Downmixing most likely occurs in the receiver.

[theskycow]

I don't have any experience with Jellyfin. I do have experience with Plex. Most of the titles in my Plex only have surround sound audio tracks and when I play them on clients that only have stereo sound, they work fine. I would expect most Jellyfin clients to be able to do the same.

Your example command line doesn't show setting the bit rate for AAC audio. Near as I can tell, ffmpeg will default that to 128kbps. IMHO, 128kbps it not enough for stereo and way too little for multichannel AAC. I suggest trying to set a bit rate and seeing how different bit rates affect audio quality in your setup.

For comparison, when I transcode a blu-ray with a lossless multichannel audio track (DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD) I encode the audio in E-AC-3 at 1280kbit/s (twice the max rate of regular AC-3).

Thanks for the tip. My Jellyfin client on Google TV/Chromecast seems to work just fine. When I listened on an iPad with headphones, it did not. I also tried on the Quest 3 using Skybox. It had the same issue, but the audio boost feature worked just fine.

What do you use for your encoding?

[dcoke22]

What do you use for your encoding?

I use Lisa Melton's Other Video Transcoding project, which uses FFmpeg.

Here's an example of a recently used ffmpeg command line:

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -loglevel error -stats -i movie.mkv -map 0:0 -c:v libx265 -pix_fmt:v yuv420p10le -b:v 4000k -maxrate:v 12000k -bufsize:v 12000k -color_primaries:v bt709 -color_trc:v bt709 -colorspace:v bt709 -metadata:s:v title\= -disposition:v default -map 0:1 -c:a:0 eac3 -b:a:0 1280k -metadata:s:a:0 title\= -disposition:a:0 default -map 0:3 -c:s:0 copy -disposition:s:0 0 -metadata:g title\= -default_mode passthrough output.mkv

Here's the relevant bit in that mess that sets the codec to E-AC-3 at 1280k bitrate for the main audio track:

Code: Select all

-c:a:0 eac3 -b:a:0 1280k

I think you could add a stream specifier for whatever audio bitrate you would like.

The utility MediaInfo will show a lot of details about media files. It will probably show you the bitrate of the audio in your files so you can experiment with higher bitrates than whatever is being used now.

[theskycow]

Thanks again, I'll experiment to see if I can tell the difference. Experimenting with different codecs, there was a ~20% total difference in file size for the resulting MP4 when using lossless vs AAC.

I noticed you are using EAC3, which uses different bit rates. In researching the topic, 384 kbit/s is where AAC achieves "transparency" for 5.1 audio. I'm not an audiophile, and don't currently have a great setup, so it should be sufficient.

Using ffprobe on the resulting mp4 files shows the audio is at 393kbps, so the version of ffmpeg I'm using (version 4.4.2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1) isn't giving me a 128kbps default.

Digging into the original symptom others had of sounding "underwater" I found the problem on my side, it was the clients.

Checking the Jellyfin server logs, the dumber clients on Google TV/Chromecast would error out when given a 6 channel (5.1) stream. They would fall back and the server would transcode to stereo. The Jellyfin clients would accept the stream, but the players didn't handle 5.1 properly.

For my Android phone, using VLC as the external player worked just fine. On iPad, Swiftfin came recommended, but didn't support downloads for offline viewing. The Infuse video player app worked well, and it supported downloads, so it's what I'm using for now.