Demuxing 59 VOBs

[ToddS]

Hello all,

I'm trying to back up a DVD that has a rather complicated structure (at least in my opinion). It's an interactive DVD that contains 59 VOB files. I'd just run it through DVDShrink and be done with it but this DVD uses LPCM audio and won't shrink down enough to fit on one DVD-R. I have successfully followed this guide to convert LPCM audio to AC3 but never with a DVD of this sort.

Is there some way I can demux each VOB, convert the audio to AC3, and then remux each VOB? I'm trying to avoid messing up the menu structure as it relates to all of the 59 VOBs.

Is converting the audio for all of these VOB files even possible considering how it's laid out? Any suggestions for attacking this DVD are much appreciated.

Thanks.

[jimmalenko]

I think DVDRemake Pro could be your friend here, at least from the point of view of keeping the interactivity without stuffing anything up.

[ToddS]

Maybe I'll take another look at DVDRemake Pro then. I think I downloaded and installed a demo of that a couple of months ago but I only gave it a try once. I guess I can try it out on another PC and see if It can help me with this one.

Edit: Oh hell... I see it's only $36. Maybe I'll just step up to the plate and buy a copy.

[ToddS]

I just spent the last few hours demuxing each VOB, re-encoding the audio to AC3, and then remuxing them. I then copied all of the original ripped files over into another directory and then copied the newly remuxed VOBs into that directory as well. I didn't think this would work but interestingly, PowerDVD is playing this file structure okay but DVDShrink will not open it. Any ideas what I can do from here?

I am about to try this guide (the VobBlanker part anyway) which I have had luck with in that past and see if I can get this thing to work in DVDShrink:
https://www.videohelp.com/~jsoto/guides/VobBlanker/adding_menus/index.htm

[mazinz]

yeah your best and easiest route is the before mentioned dvd remake pro. What it can do is let you "replace" each vob you ended up re-doing over the old vob in the dvd directory, WHILE keeping the orignal layout of the dvd itself.

The only thing you have have to change (although i think the latest drmpro 3 address's this) is in the ifo file itself with the audio. So if the audio says mpeg in the ifo, you would simply change that part to ac3 (which takes 2 seconds if that)


DO NOT trust powerdvd for anything. It plays things however it wants and rarley represents how it will actually play on a homedeck machine. For that kind of "emulation" use dvd exress. I have never come across an app that so closely resembles how a homedeck machine will react/play a disc, till i used that one. Hell, it wont even play a dvd on your hardrive unless its in a VIDEO_TS folder

[jeanl]

I just spent the last few hours demuxing each VOB, re-encoding the audio to AC3, and then remuxing them. I then copied all of the original ripped files over into another directory and then copied the newly remuxed VOBs into that directory as well. I didn't think this would work but interestingly, PowerDVD is playing this file structure okay but DVDShrink will not open it. Any ideas what I can do from here?

Well, you would have to be very lucky for that to work (copying your files back into the original IFO structure). But try a mock strip on every VTS, and that might be all you need. Open each VTS IFO in IFOEdit, then do a VOB Extra and untick "strip streams". Click OK and save. This updates pointers in the VOB files as well as in the IFOs. There's a good chance that DVD Shrink will open it after that.
jeanl

[ToddS]

I figured just copying the VOBs into the original file structure was a long shot but I thought I'd try it anyway.

I'll give IfoEdit a try later this evening and see of that works. I have never seen a DVD with so many VOBs in my life before this one and I hope I never do again. At this point I'm doing this more for the challenge of getting it to work than anything.

I'll let you know what happens.

[ToddS]

I think I'm starting to get somewhere but DVDShrink still won't open the new DVD file structure.

Using IfoEdit I opened each VTS IFO (VTS_01_0.IFO through VTS_59_0.IFO) and ran the VOB Extras with the Strip Streams option unchecked on a few of the IFOs. DVDShrink then stopped right after the last one I had modified. I then ran through the rest of the 59 IFOs and updated them as well. After doing that, DVDShrink will process the files a bit longer but will then pop up with the error "Failed to open VTS_53_2.VOB" which does not exist in either the new directory that I am working with or the original files that I ripped with DVD Decrypter. What I have in both the original as well as the new directory is VTS_01_1.VOB through VTS_59_1.VOB. I'm not sure why DVD Shrink is now looking for VTS_53_2.VOB.

I also should mention that the original VIDEO_TS.IFO kept getting replaced by a 0k file every time I ran IfoEdit on the IFO files. I simply copied the VIDEO_TS.IFO from the original ripped version and I'm not sure if that was causing a problem or not. Also, IfoEdit created 59 0k VOB files that were named VTS_01_0.VOB through VTS_59_0.VOB.

Anyway, I opened the directory that I am working with using PgcEdit and ran the Find BOVs function which ran through the first 52 VOBs okay but stopped on VTS_53_1.VOB and came back with a Boolean error. Any ideas what I can do from here?

By the way, I really appreciate the help you are all giving me with this.

EDIT: I just reran IfoEdit on VTS_53_0.IFO and now DVDShrink will open my newly created DVD structure. DVD Shrink is showing LPCM audio though which I still haven't figured out how to correct as of yet.

[jeanl]

Oh, so you figured it out?! Great!
If you want to change the audio attributes, open PGCEdit double click any PGC, and adjust the stream attributes (at the bottom) and also the audio attributes at the top...
jeanl

[Sifaga]

can you feed it through dvdshrink twice to get it down to the required size

or will that affect the interactivity of the disc

or makes video too bad

[ToddS]

jeanl: Yes, I figured it out with a lot of help from your first post about using IfoEdit. Thank you very much!

I used DVDShrink to create an ISO image of the DVD that I created and then burned it to DVD-R using DVD Decrypter. My Panasonic DVD player is playing it just fine except for one thing... it is reading LPCM audio and my Onkyo receiver isn't decoding any sound. All of the menus are functioning properly though which I think was the most difficult part of this adventure. I'll try changing the audio attrributes in PGCEdit later this evening and burn a new DVD-R.

Sifaga: As for shrinking a DVD twice, I'd personally stay away from doing that but I'm not really an expert in that area.

[ToddS]

I ended up using PGCEdit to open each of the 59 PGCs and changed the audio flags from LPCM to AC3. I then used DVDShrink to re-encode the DVD to a new ISO file and then burned that to DVD-R using DVD Decrypter. The resulting DVD-R appears to be working 100% in my Panasinic DVD player so I think that this has been a success! I'll have to play around a bit more with the new DVD-R but so far all navigation is working perfectly.

Thanks again!

[jeanl]

pfiuu! Good for you! 59 pgc to edit, you have a lot of patience! I do hope you enjoy your DVD then!
jeanl