Problem ripping PAL DVD

[jabbo5150]

Hi, this is my first post. I haven't found this problem answered in here, so I thought I would post my question.

I am trying to rip a PAL DVD to 1 vob file so I can convert to NTSC and make a DVD. Sounds easy enough and I have the right programs (MTR 1.5.6 and 2.6.6) MPEG2Works 4, etc.)

Here is where the problem is:

When I do a get info on the disc, it says it is:

Kind: Volume
Format: Universal Disk Format
Capacity: 2.89 GB
Available zero KB

If I do a get info on the VIDEO_TS folder, it says it is only 2GB

So where is the other 900 megs?

The disc is named JVC DVD_ROM

When I put the disc in my computer, it plays fine.

When I load Mac The Ripper (either version), it doesn't recognize the disc and won't extract anything from it. If I try to use 0SEx, it will load, but the DVD causes the program to crash before even scanning the disc.

I tried to make a disk image in toast and mount that and got the same problems. Same thing happened when I tried it with the Apple Disk Utility.

Just for the heck of it, I tried to drag the disc into Toast under the DVD-UDF setting and save as disk image. It let me do this, but it only saved the 2 GB and not the other 900 megs.

I know the first thing people are gonna say is get a DVD player that plays PAL, but I want to be able to convert this.

Am I screwed?

I suspect that mystery 900 megs is what is causing the problem. Is there any way to extract this? Has anyone encountered this?

I have virtual pc. Should I get an extraction program and try there?

Any help would be appreciated.

[rumplestiltskin]

I don't know if it will run there but you might try DVDShrink in your VPC.

[Case]

So where is the other 900 megs?

Is it possible that this is a multisession DVD? That might explain the difference that you get to see only one session (the first, i think), but the disk has been filled with more data, which is not accessible to the Finder.

[jabbo5150]

It's possible.

I got it to work though and this is how I did it:

Used DVD Shrink in Virtual PC to rip the DVD

Then I made a disk image in toast of the DVD I made from DVD Shrink

Then I mounted that disk image

Then I used DVDExtractor 0.9b, an OS 9 program in classic mode to demux it. It gave me an m2v file and the ac3 file.

then I put this file into Final Cut pro, where i had to render the video. It was a concert DVD and I needed the audio so I could place chapter marks in the right spot. FCP does not accept ac3 files, so I converted that to an AIFF for editing purposes.

After rendering and placing the chapters, I exported to Quicktime Mpeg2, including the aiff audio (in case the original ac3 audio did not work in DVD Studio Pro)

Then I imported the new m2v and the ac3 ripped with the OS9 program into DVDSP and built my DVD

I can tell you there is VERY little difference in the DVDs between the PAL original and the new NTSC version. Maybe because the original was dark and not perfect to begin with I am not noticing as much, but the only difference I noticed was some lines that were in the screen in the original sometimes flash for a second during a fast transition. That's all. I'm not sure how that's possible, but I have the screen shots to prove it, lol.

There may have been an easier way to do this, but I got it to work. In fact, if there is an easier way, could someone let me know? Thanks.

[rumplestiltskin]

In DVDShrink, you had an option to make an ISO image. Toast would burn that. However, I'm not sure if you would still have had a PAL DVD.

Also using VPC: TMPG DVD Author would permit you to import the DVD video from the VIDEO_TS folder. It is possible this would be authored as NTSC. Not sure.

Also this guide:
https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?link=613
One app: ifoedit - it would permit you to "alter a header(?) so that the disc would appear to be NTSC.

[rumplestiltskin]

Also should congratulate you for wrestling the s.o.b. into submission. You got it done and that's the most important thing!

[jabbo5150]

I was thinking of trying the IFO edit program to see if that works with my player. Also, I hear that the Xbox can play PAL DVDs, so I am gonna try and play the original on that.