Greatest 'Scenes' DVD - What to use?

[malicedoom]

I recently bought the Sony DRU-510A recorder and have been having trouble trying to make a DVD of my favorite 'scenes' from my DVD collection. I've been using Easy CD Creator 6 and their DVD Builder software, along with VOB files ripped using DVD Decrypter and Smart-Ripper. The problem is, every time I try to bring in a VOB file to my 'project' in DVD Builder, the system tells me it can't handle the AC-3 encoding and, when I burn a DVD+RW disc, the 16x9 image is lost (back to pan & scan or basic letterbox) and there is no audio whatsoever.

What I'm trying to do is simply pull 'scenes' from DVDs from my collection and retain the exact same picture (16x9, etc.) and sound (5.1 or whatever) quality. Is there any way to do this? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

-Frank

kolchak@ameritech.net

[Adder_78]

try advanced authoring programs... DVDmaestro, Scenarist, DVDlab (free trial)

Demux the audio and video and then author them with some good authoring program...

[mickle]

Without a doubt, try DVLAB, let it demux the vobs and go from there. It's an excellent program.

[housepig]

I just did this over the past couple of days.

I determined which vob file had the scenes I wanted (used "Play Media File" in PowerDVD), then I used ChopperXP to cut the vobs down to just the footage I wanted.

I "Saved As" a new file from Chopper, then imported those vobs into DVD Lab without demuxing.

Made my menus, compiled & burned. The only problem I have is on scenes that spanned more than one vob, I get a little hitch where the first vob ends and the second begins.

[Morloc]

By far the easiest way I know is to use TMPGEnc DVD Author. No messing with VOBs, demuxing, etc. Just open each DVD, use the cutting tools to chop out the piece you want using the preview window, and assemble the pieces together. You can easily make a menu of all the clips with a few mouse clicks. The program is not free but worth every penny if you plan to do this a lot. There is a fully functioning 30 day trial for download.

Morloc

[leebo]

Housepig,

DVD Lab can join those broken up VOB's into a new one so you don't get that glitch.

Also, isn't there a program called "VOB Joiner"?

[housepig]

Housepig,
DVD Lab can join those broken up VOB's into a new one so you don't get that glitch.
Also, isn't there a program called "VOB Joiner"?

leebo -

I'm sure, I was just doing some quick-&-dirty compilations, nothing critical.

if you can hip me to the process in DVD Lab, I'd appreciate it, and I'll take a look for Vob Joiner.

[leebo]

if you can hip me to the process in DVD Lab, I'd appreciate it, and I'll take a look for Vob Joiner.

Click on the import files icon in the assets window. Select the first half of the VOB (VTS_01_1.VOB), click OK.

Select "Join VOB's" and it will find VTS_01_2.VOB automatically.

You need the very latest beta, or the latest Non-beta for this to work. In the last several betas this feature was broken.

[malicedoom]

OK, I've tried using DVD Author and it seems to be pretty straight forward and the type of program that I'd easily pay for. BUT, I'm having major trouble trying to edit scenes. When I get to the area where I'm supposed to be able to cut, edit, etc.... I don't see any screen shots, just a bunch of garbled screens, like the image didn't come across. I'm thinking this may be a problem somewhere in my system, as I'm also unable to play VOB files (via Windows Media Player) directly from my DVD drive - the picture and sound skip and the screen flickers like a VHS tape with the tracking off. Anyone have any idea what I can do to correct this? At times, I'm also unable to play any compressed video files (MPG) with Windows Media Player, yet this can be resolved by rebooting my PC, after which it works again, but just for a while.

I'm running Windows 2000 with a 2.4GHz Intel, 512MB and a GeForce 4200 128MB card with the latest drivers. This would seem to be enough to get the job done, right?

[Northpole]

To Morloc:

By far the easiest way I know is to use TMPGEnc DVD Author.

Sure about TMPGEnc DVD Author handles VOB files with AC-3 sound ???

Have tryed this too, but two things happened: 1) When I try to edit (set start/end points) the frames only "glitches"/no preview - just a lot of colorbars and 2) No sound.....

Anything I do wrong ???

[malicedoom]

That is what I am seeing also, just 'glitches', and I'm unable to make any edits to the video.