some reauthoring questions

[jabbo5150]

I have a DVD that needs to be reauthored as it has no chapter markers in it.

When I demuxed the VIDEO_TS folder, it gave me these files:

.m2v
.ac3
.spc
.sFF

My question is, what are the .spc and .sFF files and how do I go about reauthoring the disc with these?

I have been using Mac The Ripper and/or DVD Extractor 0.9b (an OS 9 program that I used for this as it was just a VIDEO_TS file) to demux, MPEG Streamclip to get rid of timecode breaks and DVDSP to reauthor.

Is there an easier way to add chapter markers to the .m2v file than DVDSP? You can't place them exactly where you want on an .m2v file like you can when you capture video in final cut pro.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[jabbo5150]

As a follow-up, I put the VIDEO_TS folder in toast, saved as a disc image and was able to create a single vob file.

Still don't know what the .sFF file was or the SBC though, so any help would be appreciated

also, is there an easier or better way to add chapters to the .vob file on a Mac?

[pianoman719]

The .spc and .sFF files are used for subtitles. If you don't care about subtitles, you can safely trash them.

In Toast, were you able to put chapters markers where you wanted them, or did Toast auto-chapter every five minutes?

I'm not an expert, but there is some question in my mind whether an .m2v or even a muxed .mpeg can contain chapter markers. Aren't chapter markers a meta-feature of the .vob or of the authored VIDEO_TS folder?

If the original DVD is just one long title, and the only problem is that it lacks chapters, here's something you can try. It involves using Yade X to rip, and Sizzle 0.1 to author a new single-title DVD with no menus, but with chapter markers that will work with the remote. You can put the chapter markers anywhere you want them. This method is crude, but it's cheap and fast.

- Use Yade X to rip the the main feature (no menus) to a single .VOB.

- Open the single .VOB in MPEG Streamclip, do a Cmd-F to temporarily fix any timecode breaks, and play the movie, writing down a list of chapter markers in a text file. You can later copy and paste those chapters into Sizzle 0.1. The chapters should be in the form hours:minuteseconds (h:mms). I find it easier to write them in a column like this:

0:00:00
0:03:04
0:07:56
0:12:24
0:18:36
0:22:29
etc.

Then replace the returns with commas, so the final list is in the form:

0:00:00,0:03:04,0:07:56,0:12:24,0:18:36,0:22:29, etc.

- In Streamclip preferences, check the box that says Fix Timecode Breaks. Demux to M2V and AC3. (This assumes the audio is AC3 to begin with. If the audio is in a different format, choose the appropriate Demux To M2V and... in Streamclip's file menu.)

Note: If the original DVD is film rate, be sure and use MPEG Streamclip 1.6.b1 or later, which is the first version that can Convert or Demux film rate material:

http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html

- Now use Sizzle 0.1 to author the DVD:

http://www.thefridgeowl.com/sizzle/sizzle0.1.dmg

Paste the chapter markers from the text file in the "Other" tab in Sizzle 0.1.

Sizzle's output is a disk image which you can burn to a blank DVD using Disk Utility. Before burning, you could double-click the .img file to mount it, and open the VIDEO_TS folder in DVD Player to make sure the chapter markers are where you want them.

I don't have DVDSP, so I can't claim this method is better or faster. It's certainly cheaper. It may be a good "quick and dirty" method when you don't care about menus and other pro authoring features, and just want to quickly reauthor a single-title DVD, adding chapters. The final DVD should start playing immediately when you put it in a set top box, and the chapters should work from the remote.

-Pianoman

[Frobozz]

CaptyDVD 2 can be used to place chapter markers at specific points in a muxed MPEG 2 file.

[jabbo5150]

May have to look into that. I reauthored a disc in DVD Studio pro before, but it was a pain to place the chapters where I wanted them. That said, it was nice to be able to have a menu.

[jabbo5150]

Also, as weird as this may seem, even though there are subtitle files, when I play the original disc with subtitles on, nothing shows up. Why would there be a blank subtitle file?

[AntnyMD]

Because by default some settop DVD recorders create an empty subtitle track. My Sony even goes so far as to identify this empty subtitle track as English language! At work, I've seen some weird ones though. My favorite was Afrikaans.

[jabbo5150]

Yeah, this was listed as English #1 when I tried to open it in my DVD player. Weird.