Although the video codec H.264 takes more CPU power and time to encode than other codec, it gives better video quality and small size and it’s more and more widely used. HandBrake is well-known for doing a good job in encoding DVD to H.264 format, but if you want to find a tool to convert a DVD to H.264 without re-encoding the audio to preserve the original audio quality and save converting time, the following free video converters are recommended to use:

RipBot264

RipBot264 converts from DVD, Blu-ray or any video to MKV or MP4 with H.264 codec. To leave the audio not re-encoding, you need to choose MKV container and it will copy stream for the audio. You can read a detail guide about how to use it.

RipBot264

Tip: RipBot264 can’t take a DVD folder as input, but if you select the first VOB from the VOB set, or the first VOB of the  main movie for just converting the main movie, then RipBob264 will load the other files for you. This is also explained in the above mentioned guide.

MediaCoder

MediaCoder can convert your DVD video to almost all popular formats and allows you to load and batch convert a whole DVD folder . To leave the audio without being compressed, check the box for Copy Audio under the Audio tab.

MediaCoder

Xvid4PSP

Xvid4PSP converts various videos to AVI, DV, MP4, M2TS, MKV with x264 and XviD video codec. It allows video copy and audio copy:

copy audio in Xvid4PSP

Note: To convert you DVD to optimized H.264 video for different video playing devices, you can check our video converters or DVD converters.

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LPCM is the method of lossless encoding of audio data in the compact disc. Some DVDs (mainly music DVDs) may contain an uncompressed LPCM (same as raw) stereo soundtrack. The lossless stereo track, compared to lossy AC3 or DTS soundtrack, would sound better with the stereo amplifier.

However, when you want to convert a concert video DVD with LPCM audio track to other video format like Xvid and meanwhile avoid re-encoding the audio tracks in order to preserve the original audio quality, you may find almost all of the Xvid video converters will convert the audio track into AC3 or MP3, though some may support direct passing through of AC3 or DTS, but not LPCM.

So is there any Xvid video converter allowing direct LPCM audio passing through? Or what’s the best way to achieve the target? I haven’t found a good program to do this work in one step but there is indeed a good solution needing a few free programs to work together to finish the task.

1. Demux the LPCM audio from the DVD.

If the DVD is in the DVD-ROM drive, set DVD Decrypter for IFO Mode, go to the Stream Processing tab and set it to demux the audio you want.

demux audio in DVD Decrypter

If the DVD is already ripped to the hard drive using a DVD ripper, you can load the VOBs into DGIndex and save the project file out to get the audio stream.

save project to get audio steam

2) Convert the DVD to Xvid file using a DVD to AVI converter like  AutoGK or StaxRip.

3) Load the converted Xvid file to VirtualDubMod; then add the LPCM audio to the Xvid file and remove the existing audio, which should be done in the following: VirtualDubMod/Streams/Stream List, right-click on the stream and go to Full Processing Mode.

4) Save the new AVI format file using “Direct Stream Copy” mode in VirtualDubMod and you’ll have the Xvid video and LPCM audio in an AVI container in a few minutes.

If you have any suggestion to better do the work, please share with us by leaving comments.

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