Guide on splitting an episodic DVD9 into two episodic DVD5's

[Remco]

This is the story of me splitting a DVD9 into two DVD5's.

Hardware used : Standard 1200mhz comp (WinXp) with Pioneer DVRA05 writer
Software used : SmartRipper v2.41, DVD IDle Pro v1.0, IfoEdit v0.95, Nero v5.5.10.0, PowerDVD v4.0 for XP

I will use Star Trek TNG - Season 1 - First Disc (Region 1) in this example, but the principal of the thing should become clear to you

1. Ripping the DVD (using SmartRipper v2.41)
SmartRipper greets me with a "no ASPI-Adapter available" message. So I didn't use ASPI for the rip proces. Select the DVD-Rom drive you'll use for ripping. SmartRipper is scanning the accessibility of all the files on the DVD. When a file is locked you'll have to unlock it using a player, I used PowerDVD. My DVD-Rom drive is region locked (hardware), so I had to use DVDIdle Pro v1.0 to get around the region protection. Just for the record, when your dvd-rom isn't region locked you DON'T have to use DVDIdle Pro v1.0!!

Lets take a look at my settings in SmartRipper (just to be complete) :

MOVIE TAB
Key-Check - Every VOB File
File-Splitting - Every VOB File
VOB File Access - Auto
Max File Size - 4000mb (div0)
Options - Disabled : Create Directories, Ignore Low Discspace, Fast Error Skip

FILES/BACKUP TAB
Key-Check - Every VOB File
VOB File Access - Auto
Options - Disabled : Create Directories

After you've made these settings we'll select 'FILES' for the Rip method.
Select ALL files on the DVD (use the button below instead of checking every file) Set a target directory with enough free space (8,2gig for ST TNG disc1x01) REMEMBER the volume label of the DVD located on the top-right of SmartRipper next to the "eject" button (in my case NEXTGEN)
Rip away by hitting the "Start" button.

2. The actual splitting (using IfoEdit v0.95)
Fire up IfoEdit. Open VTS_02_0.IFO freshly ripped to your hard drive. We want to keep the menu on both dvd5's so nothing will be changed with the "Menu Extras" button!! We can see 3 program chains. These represent the three episodes on the DVD. The first episode is a dual so this will be the first DVD5, the other 2 episodes will be on the second DVD5.

PGC_1 (First episode) uses VOB id's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14
PGC_2 (second episode) uses VOB id's 15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23
PGC_3 (Third episode) uses VOB id's 24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31

Click on VOB extras. Disable "Re-Mux" and "Rebuild PTS", we don't want to loose any quality of the dvd. Disable "Strip Streams", we don't want to get rid of any of the audio tracks or sub pictures. Disable "Create new IFO files (movie only)", because we want to use the menu's on the DVD. DISABLE "Split to 2 DVD-Rs", trust me Disable "Remove IIvu/Angle Point" and use Vob Size 1gig. Set a destination directory (eg. E:\Disc1).

The rest of the options will be grayed out or ENABLED.
Click OK.

For Disc1 :
Now you have to select the VOB id's you'd like to KEEP, for disc1 these will be 1 thru 14. Enable "Correct IFO Tables" and then Strip it.
Wait for the stripping to finish and receive a message "Finished correcting VOBU pointers".
In the E:\Disc1 directory there will be 10 files.
Copy over the 4 VTS_01*.* files from the original rip directory used by SmartRipper.

For Disc2 :
Now you have to select the VOB id's you'd like to KEEP, for disc1 these will be 15 thru 31. Enable "Correct IFO Tables" and then Strip it.
In the E:\Disc2 directory there will be 10 files.
Copy over the 4 VTS_01*.* files from the original rip directory used by SmartRipper.

Woohooo, are we done yet?
Almost, before burning a few other thingies you have to do with BOTH discs :

- Open VIDEO_TS.IFO in IfoEdit
- Click on the "Region Free" button, if RCE Checking is found remove it by selecting the Region it HAS (my source dvd was Region 1)
- Click on the "Get VTS Sectors" button, choose NO on processing all ifo's.
- Save VIDEO_TS.IFO and aslo overwrite the BUP file.

- Open VTS_02_0.IFO in IfoEdit
- Click on the "Region Free" button, if RCE Checking is found remove it by selecting the Region it HAS (my source dvd was Region 1)
- Click on the "Get VTS Sectors" button, choose NO on processing all ifo's.
- Save VTS_02_0.IFO and aslo overwrite the BUP file.

3. Burning both discs
I use Nero v5.5.10.0 in combination with my Pioneer DVRA05 writer.

- Open Nero and select DVD-ROM(UDF/ISO)
- Select No Multisession
- Select ISO Level 1
- Select ISO9660 and NO Joliet
- Do NOT relax any ISO restrictions
- Use UDF 1.02 Physical Partition (Do not force DVD Video compatability unless you ONLY want to use the disc on an X-Box)
- Set the volume label (NEXTGEN in my case)
- Select BURN
- Manually create an AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directory
- Drag the .VOB/.IFO/.BUP files in the VIDEO_TS directory
- Burn

Works for me, how about you guys??

[HoppyNine]

Bravo! I will try it as soon as i get back to Cali.

Looks very straight forward, thanks for the info!

[ptroost]

This worked well for me in terms of playing the resulting movie on my Lennoxx DVD-2003 standalone player. My computer running WinDVD wouldn't play it as a movie, however, and seemed to regard it as a DVD-ROM. Thanks for the writeup!

[Evil Twin]

Looks like just the guide I have been looking for!
Can't wait to give it a try!
I'll be back to post my results!

[Neoh]

I l doing some tests to be able to put the 4 episodes of a DVD from X-files season 1, if I am succesful I ll post a how to.

[safehands]

How would i go about backing up an episodic that is slightly different?

It is The Office. It has 8 chapters vob 1-8 and the main chapters are 1-6

Any help welcome!

[Neoh]

How would i go about backing up an episodic that is slightly different?

It is The Office. It has 8 chapters vob 1-8 and the main chapters are 1-6

Any help welcome!

You are mistaken, VOBs are no chapters. the vob 1 to 6 contains the episodes. I won't go in the structure of vobs but if you look well you will se that most of them have the same size except for the last one. it is a defined max size. But the movie is about 1 vob and a half. If you use DVDdecryptor and use the "IFO mode" in "view" you will see the "true aspect" of the DVD. (VTS)

Any way just wait a couple of days and I will post an How-to (if I have succeded that is.)

[ashleyw]

Nice one,
Copied x-files season 1 and it works perfectly.
Thanks.

[mattcham]

For Disc1 :
Now you have to select the VOB id's you'd like to KEEP, for disc1 these will be 1 thru 14. Enable "Correct IFO Tables" and then Strip it.
Wait for the stripping to finish and receive a message "Finished correcting VOBU pointers".
In the E:\Disc1 directory there will be 10 files.
Copy over the 4 VTS_01*.* files from the original rip directory used by SmartRipper.

For Disc2 :
Now you have to select the VOB id's you'd like to KEEP, for disc2 these will be 15 thru 31. Enable "Correct IFO Tables" and then Strip it.
In the E:\Disc2 directory there will be 10 files.
Copy over the 4 VTS_01*.* files from the original rip directory used by SmartRipper.

How exactly do I "select VOB ID's"?
I know which VOB ID's I need to keep, but I don't
know where or how to select them...
What does it mean to select?
Do I copy them? Are there checkboxes somewhere?

Also, if I "Copy over the VTS_01*.* files from the original rip directory used by SmartRipper" the files are over 9 Gigs...
How will this allow me to write to the DVD-R ?

Thanks in advance.

[Haku]

Cheers gezzer.This is what i was thinking on doing but i was'nt to sure on some of the settings,you cleared that up for me.