little guide on keeping original menu

[thingimijig]

the last couple of weeks there as been a lot of posts on how to keep the original menu and chapters so i have wrote how i do mine.

first i rip a full backup of the movie.

then i re-encode the main movie keeping only the video and 1 audio.
(making sure i leave enough space for the rest of the files)

if i need forced subtitles like the elvish speaking parts in lotr i use subrip.

then i use chapterxtracter to get the chapter points, this is a must.

then i author them back together with maestro (no need for a first play).

once that is done i take out the main movie vobs of the original backup and replace them with the newly authored vobs. (nothing else)
NOTE: if your main movie vobs where vts_02.xxx then you must rename the new vobs to that cause they always after authoring come out as vts_01.xxx.

now the good bit.
i open up ifoupdate and the top line you browse to your original vts_01.ifo file (vts_02.ifo if your movie belongs to that vts)
on the second line browse to your newly authored ifo
and on the third line browse to a folder where you would like a backup of your original ifo.

press update then it should ask you to press vts sectors.
all done.

try it powerdvd or what you use and you should have the original menu and all the chapter points working fine.

burn away.

thingimijig.

[jbenj01]

thingimijig,

Thanks! I'll find out tonite if my 2nd go at it works.. This Maestro seems to be a gem.. sorry I missed out on it.

[JasonK]

You can use a little bit higher bitrate for the movie if you reencode the extras/menus if they are very large. Or better yet, trash all the menus and extras, and keep just the main movie, 1 audio, subs, and chapter points so you get the best quality movie. I recommend trying to keep the video bitrate above 4Mbs if possible.

[Spanky_1]

Or better yet, trash all the menus and extras, and keep just the main movie, 1 audio, subs, and chapter points so you get the best quality movie. I recommend trying to keep the video bitrate above 4Mbs if possible.

thingimijig's whole point is how to do it and keep the menus and various extras. thingimijig thanks again for your help this weekend with my menu question. I've actually gone as low as 3.5Mbs (with CCE) on some multi-episode disks to make everything fit and the quality is outstanding...

just my $0.02...

Spanky

[JasonK]

Maybe you missed it, but I addressed keeping the menus in my post also. But one should always consider the alternative.

I have an HDTV and progressive DVD, so I'm pretty sensitive to the quality.

[Spanky_1]

Nope didn't miss it...

Didn't miss the part about 'trashing' everything either. Just found it odd that you suggest chucking everything when the point of the post was how to keep the menus.

Spanky

[wizzy]

can someone write a guide (with pictures if you can) on that?

[Will Hay]

can someone write a guide (with pictures if you can) on that?

I'm an idiot, and I managed it.
Give it a shot and come back with any questions, good old thingamijig is a very obliging chap!
Will