stat5man

Well... there might be a couple of hiccups. First, good luck finding many DVD-A's for purchase. You know, the format is moribund, if not dead just yet. Is there any record label that's still releasing these? The long-ish list on ebay is comprised mostly of dregs, and some obsecenely overpriced out-of-print discs. Elusive Disc and Acoustic Sounds sell a fair number (relatively speaking), and you can pick up a few at other online retailers but often these retailers don't seem to know the difference between DVD-V and DVD-A. Second, while I still use and recommend DVDAExplorer, it ain't perfect. Safe maybe, but it doesn't always work. I'd say that on roughly 5% of my DVD-A discs, it has choked - either refusing to output anything, or outputting some ok tracks and some badly mangled garbage. No pattern in those mis-fires that I can tell. Otherwise, I think your plan is alright. Happy ripping!

It looks like you've found the DVD-Audio program on this disc. By the way, if you have the original case for this set, the contents are explained on the back cover (though tersely, in fine print). It says "Audio Content: Advanced Resolution 5.1, Advanced Resolution 2.0, Dolby 2.0, Dolby 5.1". As you say, it's a sort-of hybrid disc, not too uncommon among discs sold as DVD-Audio. I'll echo the support for DVDAExplorer, which found the advanced resolution programs. I'll also echo the comment that your Sony player does not support DVD-Audio (no Sony player ever has). No doubt it found the Dolby Digital programs, though I'm surprised it only played back the 2-channel program. It ought to recognized the Dolby 5.1 material as well. Finally, I don't know of any Blu-Ray players currently sold that also support DVD-Audio but upcoming Denon and Oppo players are supposed to have the capability.