Multiple episodes in one vts

[c9806961]

Backing up Transformers box set to xvid and on each disc the episodes are all in one vts as if it was just one long movie made up of 23/24 chapters.
I would like your opinions.
Should I extract using dvd decrypter just selecting the chapters of the episode I want (easy because the credits are always 35 seconds or so, so it's easy to pick the start/end of episodes, but time consuming because I have to do this for each episode ie 100+ times), or should a extract the whole vts, then split into episodes then encode, or should I encode(using autogk btw) all episodes as one, the split the resulting avi file.
Or is there another way which is better?
Please help!

Cheers

[guns1inger]

Are they multiple titles in the one titleset, or a single title ?

It is not unusual to see the latter, but it is harder to deal with. I would try VOB2MPG to see if it can give you separate titles to encode. If not, I would cut them with something like VideoRedo or Womble Mpeg VCR, then encode. It is far easier to cut Mpg than Xvid/Divx because the GOPs are generally far shorter.

[c9806961]

Thanks for the response.
It shows as if all episodes are a single title with each episode as approx 4-5 chapters of the title. Will try videoredo or mpegvcr.
But if anyone else has any ideas, your input would be great.

Cheers

[c9806961]

Also I'm really cheap, so if anyone knows of any freeware apps to use please let me know.

[guns1inger]

VOB2MPG is free, and worth a shot. Once extracted you can look at mpeg2cut2 for editing without re-encoding if necessary.

Smart_Cutter_Ps_Ts might also be worth a look

[craigarta]

Well FairUse Wizard 2 is free and you can select each episode and remove the credits as well

[manono]

I'd do it using DVD Decrypter in IFO Mode, just selecting the chapters corresponding to each episode.

[jagabo]

I'd do it using DVD Decrypter in IFO Mode, just selecting the chapters corresponding to each episode.

Same here. And turn of file splitting so each episode becomes one VOB file (rather than broken up into several 1 GB VOB files).

[wulf109]

AutoGK will allow you to select an individual episode within the single VTS and encode only the episode you select. Also DVD Shrink in re-author mode will display each episode and you could extract just the episode you want.

[c9806961]

I'd do it using DVD Decrypter in IFO Mode, just selecting the chapters corresponding to each episode.

Same here. And turn of file splitting so each episode becomes one VOB file (rather than broken up into several 1 GB VOB files).

Yeah but there is no way to batch rip, so I gotta manually do every episode, and there is about 100 of them. I was looking for a more automated way of doing it.

[c9806961]

AutoGK will allow you to select an individual episode within the single VTS and encode only the episode you select. Also DVD Shrink in re-author mode will display each episode and you could extract just the episode you want.

With other series it has done this for me, but this time autogk just shows one long title, and doesn't let me choose an episode.

[manono]

With other series it has done this for me, but this time autogk just shows one long title, and doesn't let me choose an episode.

I think wulf109 was assuming separate PGCs (Titles) for the individual episodes, where yours are all contained within the same PGC. It's not all that common, but it happens. And as far as I know, there is no way to batch dedecrypt episodes from DVDs like that.

It might be easier to decrypt the entire thing and then split them when all done. And doing it that way pretty much ensures even quality within the different episodes of a DVD. But there's often a problem when it comes time to split and that's Fade Ins/Outs. Then you can't be sure of getting clean cuts between episodes. The cuts come on keyframes, and with episodes beginning or ending on fades, a keyframe might not be set where you want. You might do a test encode that way and see if it's difficult to split them afterwards - to get the complete episodes split the way you want.

[c9806961]

Thanks everyone for your input. Ill try a couple of things and see which suits the best.
Again, thanks.