DVD2AVI Stops Prematurely

[Morloc]

Hi,
I'm trying to make a VCD from the Almost Famous DVD, and I'm having a problem I have never seen before. I have tried 3 diffrenet ripping programs, so I don't think this is the problem. I then load the VOBs into DVD2AVI, but it only runs for about 10 minutes and then shuts down. It produces a D2V file but no wav. Elsewhere in these forums, someone else some time ago had the same problem with this movie, but it never got resolved. Someone suggested to demux all tracks, and I tried that, but can't use the resulting ac3 files in TMPGEnc. They look way too small to be complete anyway.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
If this is some kind of new protection technique, does this spell then end of movie back-ups?

Morloc

[wway]

Can you play each vob file in PowerDVD or some other software player?. If not, one or more of the vob files still has the copy protection on it.

I recently ripped a DVD and only one of eight vob files would play in PowerDVD. I ripped the DVD again and noticed that the vob that played was being decoded with a different key than the others (SmartRipper and DVDDecrypter shows the key while ripping).

I used vStrip to rip the disc and all the vob's were decoded correctly.

Get it here: http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Rippers/vStrip_08f_css.zip

hint: If you are not familar with vStrip, just select the input vob and the output vob one at a time. Should not have to change anything else.

wway

[hustbaer]

you could also try a ripper that can produce .d2v files while ripping.
or try to change the key-search option - more often or less often - depends...

if the movie looks good in dvd2avi-preview (skip through the file a little using the slider) the rip should be fine.
or you might want to try a different decoder.
dvd2avi has some (severe?) bugs.
mpeg2avi maybe... thats full of bugs too, but it should be different bugs there at least.

or use flask and save to uncompressed avi if you have enough space on your HDD

bye,
--hustbaer

[Morloc]

Thank you both for your replies. I can play all 6 VOBs in PowerDVD, but I get no sound in any of them.
The movie previews OK in DVD2AVI, but I can't move the slider around like hustbear suggests. Those controls are greyed out in my preview. I didn't play more than a few minutes, so I don't know if the whole movie would play.
I haven't tried Vstrip like wway suggests, but I'll try that next. Please let me know if you get any other ideas.
Thanks,
Morloc

[hustbaer]

well, to move the silder you have to stop the preview.
with "skipping through" i ment stop preview, move the slider and look for green/purple/dirtorted frames.
if none appear, you should be fine with the video.

if you have no audio, that might be a problem.
if you have used stream-processing, try to disable the feature.
i think most implementations are kindof buggy.

bye.
--hustbaer

[Morloc]

Sorry hustbaer,
I misunderstood your suggestion. Yes, I have moved through the whole movie in DVD2AVI and everything looks fine. No blocks, and all the VOBs are there. Now when you talk about stream processing, you've lost me again. What do you mean? What settings in what program need to be altered?
I also have tried VStrip as wway suggested (man, that's a tough program to figure out - even with the guide!). Again got 6 VOBs and loaded them into DVD2AVI. No joy. Same output - a d2v file and no wav file.
The IFO window only shows the first 3 VOBs under VOB-ID and this concerns me, as I think there should be 6. But I really don't know this program too well.
I may try to frameserv using some of the software that hustbaer suggested. I'm starting to think that I'm flogging a dead horse here, but I hate to give up.
Thanks for all your help so far.

Morloc

[wway]

In DVD2AVI, try these setting for the audio:

Track: 1
ChannelFormat: Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital: Decode
MPEG Audio: Demux
48 -> 44.1KHz: Off
Normalization: check

These settings will output a wav file. Sometimes the english audio is on Track 2 or 3, but not often.

However, if the vob play in PowerDVD 'without' sound, then the sound is not being included in the rip. I've had this happen when ripping extras (ie. trailers). Never could figure out why, so i dont rip extra stuff anymore.

wway

[hustbaer]

have you tried to select a different audio-track?
track 1 ist the default, try selecting track 2, 3 etc.

bye,
--hustbaer

[Morloc]

Hustbaer,
Yes, actually after trying wway's suggestion of changing the DVD2AVI audio set-up, I re-read his post and saw

Sometimes the english audio is on Track 2 or 3, but not often.

So I ran DVD2AVI again with Track 2 selected. That did the trick. I played the resulting wav file in Winamp, and it is the English sound track. I'm encoding it now in TMPG and will post the outcome when it is done. However, I'm anticipating success.

Many thanks to you both in sticking with it until the solution was found.

Morloc

[Morloc]

Epilogue,
Encoding was a success. So, for anyone else wanting to back up Almost Famous, the correct track to select in DVD2AVI is track 2.
Many thanks to hustbaer and wway for sticking with it.

Morloc

[ntscuser]

Likewise.

The sound for the trailer on Forbidden Planet is located on track 3.

I didn't realise there was a setting for this in DVD2AVI until I read the above post.

It took me longer to find the sound on the trailer .vob file than it took me to encode the main movie in 16x9 ratio at 432x240 (the highest theoretical resolution for interlaced NTSC playback) with two-pass VBR and the highest motion search precision.

Doh!