Wow! - converted PAL to NTSC DVD - need other help though.

[Regrett]

I was able to successfully convert a PAL DVD to a NTSC DVD. However my process loses the Menu and subtitles. I would like to keep the subtitles though, so I need help there.

I can RIP Vobs or demux streams and convert these files to a usable DVD format but the quickest process is the following. Here is a paraphrase of my process:

PROCESS
1. 10-15 Mins Total
Rip the Movie-only in file mode with DVDdecrypter
2. 3-4 Mins Total
Rip the AC3 audio from each VOB using DVD2AVI
3. 30-45 Mins total
Convert each the 25 FPS/PAL VOB's to 29.97 FPS NTSC MPG's
using Main Concept Encoder.
4. 20-25 Mins Total
Use Tmpeg Author to remux the NTSC MPGs and AC3 audio to usable
DVD vobs and IFOs.
5. Variable Mins
Must retranscode these files (usually 6.0-6.1gb) to 4.7GB and burn

The resulting picture quality and audio sync is suprisingly really good.

However, I would like to retain the subtitles - what is a good process or product to do this with? Tmpeg Author can not use the .SUB file basically it can use only video and audio files from the looks of it.

So subtitles looks like something I need to do before I get this far or maybe I need to use something else, entirely?

Can any one help me?

Thank you

[ronnylov]

I have made DVD with subtitles using DVDMaestro and MaestroSBT.
It's also possible to author a simple DVD with subtitles using IFOEdit.

You can avoid the last transcoding step (no 5) if you encode the mpg with lower bitrates in step 3.

[Regrett]

Will this improve quality at all?

I am also trying to figure out if demux the m2v and Ac3 files directly from DVDDecrypter then running Main Concept on the m2v files would help me avoid (re)transcoding.

Thanks for the comments

[ronnylov]

Reencoding twice will give worse quality compared to one reencoding. So yes, it will be better to extract m2v and ac3 directly from the source DVD if you are going to trancode it later. Or alternatively encode it at a lower bitrate directly so you'll avoid the transcoding later.

I think it is possible to demux a DVD by using VobEdit.