Audacity Forum

Hi, I'm trying to record the audio track of a DVD playing on my PC. I set it to record using device MME: Stereo Mix and choose 6 channels, but when I hit the record button, it says "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate." My sound card is a Realtek ALC889A, and it records stereo tracks just fine. My guess is my sound card doesn't allow surround recording. Is there any way to record specific channels and put them together at the end, somehow?

There are Windows DVD ripper packages that will let you extract the AC3 Surround track. From there, you find decoder and export converter packages to give you the six original tracks. There are a lot of them in Windows land. Google your brains out.

Koz

I sort of wanted to do it without downloading anything new. I'm currently stuck on Dial up.

RealityRipple wrote:My guess is my sound card doesn't allow surround recording.

Your guess is right.

The options are to use a standalone DVD player and buy a multi-channel sound card (expensive and can be tricky to get working with Audacity), or ripping as suggested by Koz. Ripping is the better solution. The legality of either method may be questionable.

Legality isn't an issue here. The disc I'm trying to rip from is a recording of a play by my sister's school's drama department. I downloaded some various AC3 rippers, and the audio file is split in half and the second half is... uncooperative. Corrupt or something. I don't know.

RealityRipple wrote:The disc I'm trying to rip from is a recording of a play by my sister's school's drama department

And your sisters school's drama department has recorded the video with 5.1 surround sound? Wow, they must have some fancy equipment! Perhaps you should just get in touch with their technician, they may be able to send you the original audio files.

wich 5.1...Dolby digital or Dts will sell some gear...

That takes care of your credibility. Best wishes to your sister.

Koz