Half of DVD Doesn't Play

[theWallflower]

I have an unusual problem with an authored DVD. It doesn't seem to play half of the content.

My video source is a 352x240 DVD, one single title that's 6 hours. I'm simply adding a menu and chapters. When I play the DVD on a DVD player, I can play to about halfway through, then it stops responding. The screen stays still, no audio, but the time keeps going. It's not locked up -- I can get back to the menu fine. If I access a chapter in this latter half, it does nothing. If I access a chapter of earlier content, it works fine.

I'm using DVD-Lab Pro to author, DVDDecrypter to rip. Any thoughts?

[CobraPilot]

Assuming you have all the DVD files in a folder on a PC, will they play from there? (Try VLC)

If they don't, you may have a problem with authoring; if they do, you may have a problem with the disc. (On this board, anyone who doesn't use Tayo Yuden or a couple other brands, is considered by many to be an idiot. I have had no short-term problems with all sorts of manufacturers; long-term, it might be a whole 'nother story. Time will tell.)

I'm not sure I understand why you are using DVDDecrypter at all . . . . To burn a disc from files on your PC, Imgburn is considered the platinum standard of burners: None better.

[tinker]

There is too many unanswered questions.
Does it play on your computer to the end?
When compiled in DVDLab, did it go to the end , no errors?
Is it on a single layer or double layer DVD?
If on double layer, did you have DVDLab determine a layer brake?

[theWallflower]

They do not play properly on my computer when I use DVD-Lab Pro to compile, so it seems to be a problem with the data.

I use TY brand DVD's, but since I compile and it still doesn't work on my PC, I don't think the medium is the problem.

DVDDecrypter is what I'm using to rip, not to burn.

The source DVD plays fine on all DVD players (this is a VCR-to-DVD someone copied for me, and I'm trying to add menus and chapters and re-burn).

[tinker]

When DVDLab demux the file to elementary streams, this is the only way it will do a good job compiling, do you get any errors there?
If it compile to the end do you get number like 3400 at the end of compile?
From your post I see that you use Decripter to rip DVD, but DVDLab does not like VOB's, it needs mpeg DVD compliant file to work with.

[johns0]

Use dvdfab to rip and play the media and see if it plays through ok.

[davexnet]

I think the DVD spec allows for 99 chapters per title. Have you exceeded it?

[theWallflower]

I don't get any errors when I use DVD-Lab Pro to demux to elementary streams.
I'll check on the 3400 thing.
I've used DVDFab and DVD Decrypter to rip, but the behavior remains the same.
I only have 7 or so chapters on this DVD.

I tried to demux the VOB using AVStoDVD. It couldn't determine the duration, so I entered it manually (21905 seconds). It made a AC3 file of the right length (6:06:12), but the m2v file was only 00:01:35

[jman98]

I don't think any of this relates to theWallflower's issue, but I want to mention it as people find our threads years after the fact and I have some things to say about causes for this problem that might relate to other people if they have it.

1) I have seen an older DVD player that simply will not play consumer burnable DL media after the layer break. I was using Verbatim DVD+R DL media and one of my friends had an older player (made around 2004 or so) that would play the first half of a DL fine and it just stopped completely when it hit the layer break. Since theWallflower says he is using TY discs and TY DVD-R DL discs are almost impossible (and VERY expensive) to get outside of Japan, I think it's safe to say that he's using a single layer (6 hours? Ugh!) here.
2) 320x240 is VCD resolution. I can tell you that some DVD players have problems with MPEG-1 video in DVDs even though it is supposed to be OK. I have a test DVD that I created with valid MPEG-1 video and valid 2 channel AC3 audio at 48 KHz simply for testing and some DVD players choke on it.

I know that others will post and say that what I am going to tell you is impossible, so be that as it may. I won't touch VCR-> DVD any more. Some years ago I had one made for me that was really long of a foreign sporting event. The guy who made it was a technological dumbass and all he knew how to do was to just connect a VCR source to a DVD recorder and once he had the master copy, he just copied it some way. Anyway, what he gave me was if I remember correctly 320x480 video set to record for about 4 hours but there was only about 3 hours of true video on it. I ripped the DVD and it ripped fine and I could edit it but I could not re-author it. When I fed that edited video into all of my DVD authoring programs, they all barfed on it. Even Scenarist, which I am very good at using, refused to touch it. I never could find the problem so I couldn't fix it. I just came to the conclusion that DVD recorders do weird things to the video when they record and there's not really anything you can do after the fact to edit or re-author what they make.

Now I know that we will immediately get posts from people who say that what I said is bs and they have ripped, edited and reburned DVD recorder videos with no problems. Maybe they have. But I can only tell you what I saw and my experience was that there was nothing that could be done with the video I had to re-author it. Maybe the video you and I had was made in a particular type of recorder that does non-standard stuff to video streams that other recorders don't do. But I am afraid that just like me you are going to have give up on this quest with this particular video.

[Bjs]

From the onset you should have ripped to hd and used pgcedit in trace mode to check for issues then corrected them in pgcedit.

As above it is rare a layer break will cause any player issues except for a slight pause, however I would suggest using imgburn to determine the best location for the layer break ... if it cannot provide a good layer break position (indicated by color) then vobblanker can be used to add more chapters without the need to demux and re-author the whole dvd over again.

[theWallflower]

I am using a single layer DVD-R, so there's no layer break issue. Since it doesn't work as a folder on the computer, I am doubly sure there is no layer break to speak of.

@Bjs - I haven't used PGCEdit before, but I was able to look at the DVD in Trace Mode. I didn't see any errors, however I am not terribly savvy on how to use PGCEdit. What is the best way to use this tool?

If it helps, here are the stats using MediaInfo:

General
Complete name : C:\Alpha\New Folder\VTS_01_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 4.22 GiB
Duration : 6s 532ms

Video
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Standard
Duration : 6s 433ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Width : 352 pixels
Height : 240 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4/3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 3.871

Audio
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 6s 532ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -67ms

Menu
Format : DVD-Video

[tinker]

Your video bitrate show 9800 kbps, for 6 hours on a single layer you should have something like 1300 kbps, so whatever you are using to convert to mpeg is set too high.
It looks like it show only a menu 6 seconds long.
Since original DVD is 6 hours long I think it was on a dual layer DVD. Decripter will not compress it and if you add chapters and a menu, size will increase. You have to compress it before or use DVDLab compressor, which I would not use, to get it to DVD5 size.
If you had Lab set to DVD5, it would show a red bar under asset widow.
PgcEdit will not help if your file cannot play the video.

[theWallflower]

It does not show a red bar so, and I've burned it to a DVD before, so I know it fits fine.
The original menu was probably 6 seconds long. It came from a LG DVD-Recorder. It was not on a Dual-Layer DVD. It was simply recorded at a lower resolution - 325x250.
The video plays fine. The original video plays fine.
I will see what I can do to get the bitrate down. Do you have any suggested tools?

[tinker]

When you demux to asset window, what is a bitrate and time for video and audio for the movie?

[theWallflower]

The video is 06:05:50, 1300 Kbps.
The audio is 06:06:12, 256 Kbps.

[tinker]

Those parameters are OK for single layer DVD. What version of DVDLab are you using?
Can you post DVDLab window showing connections?

[theWallflower]

I'm on Compiler Version 3.0.0.153, Version PRO 1.00 Build 041014
I'm not sure what that will do, but here you go.
http://tinypic.com/r/2vm7mtw/5

[tinker]

It all looks good to me, but this is an old version and there were lots of little bugs there. Check new Lab forum, there are guys who used it from the start, maybe they will have some idea.

http://www.mmbforums.com/viewforum.php?f=10&sid=ffe6cfea949840de0cc77d8373e93d1b

[theWallflower]

I think I found a work-around solution. Basically I split the VOB into two titles, and that seems to work.

More detailed steps:
1. Rip with DVDDecrypter to make one 4 gig VOB file (Use IFO mode and disable Stream Processing)
2. Load VOB file into VirtualDubMod.
3. Select one half of the video and save as uncompressed AVI (makes a very large AVI)
4. Demux with AVStoDVD, setting the video's average bitrate to 1300
5. Repeat 3 and 4 with the second half of the video.
6. Make the DVD as normal.

[tinker]

It's good you figure out the way, but it points out to a bad video file, not exactly what DLP likes. In cases like this I usually ran it through TMPGEnc XPress. It takes a while, but I know I have a good mpeg file.