Extract all Title Sets from a TV Series DVD

[darinh]

I started using VOB2MPG today, and found that it has some really cool features. The GUI is nice, but I really wanted to be able to process a bunch of DVD VIDEO_TS folders, from a Perl script, to generate 1 MPEG-2 file/DVD Title.

I successfully selected the desired Titles, using the GUI, it went very smoothly. Next, I moved on to make it happen from the CLI. At first, I thought I could specify a long list of Titles (/t="1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,etc.") but that didn't work. Then I noticed the /All option, so I tried it. It did extract all of the Titles, but it created a separate MPG file for each chapter in each Title. What I would like to do is to simply extract all of the Titles, creating a separate MPG for each Title.

I think I can simply concatenate all of the chapter MPG files together for each Title, but this is a lot more I/O intensive than simply creating only 1 MPG file in the first place. This is also a bit challenging to automate in my script.

Please let me know if there is an option that I missed, or another way to accomplish what I would like.

Thanks!

P.S. - These output files will then be fed into a transcoder, one at a time to be converted to my desired formats.

[ChrissyBoy]

Can you not loop through the titles in your script?

[nic2k4]

If by concatenate you mean file1+file2+file... You can't do that, each mpg file has a header with playback information and so on, you would get un-expected results. If you can't do as ChrissyBoy suggest, then you could always get rid of the chapters first. I think IFOedit could do that for you, but you might be better off just getting VOB2MPG Pro.

[lordsmurf]

It would highly suggest buying VOB2MPG Pro.
1. It's just a few bucks.
2. It supports what chrissyboy does

[AlanHK]

pgcdemux has simple gui and supports command line options:

Command line support
PgcDemux [option1] [option2] ... [option12] <ifo_input_file> <destination_folder>
option1: [-pgc, <pgcnumber>].      Selects the PGC number (from 1 to nPGCs). Default 1
option2: [-ang, <angnumber>].      Selects the Angle number (from 1 to n). Default 1
option3: [-vid, <vobid>].          Selects the Angle number (from 1 to n). Default 1
option4: [-cid, <vobid> <cellid>]. Selects a cell vobid (from 1 to n). Default 1
option5: {-m2v, -nom2v}. Extracts/No extracts video file. Default NO
option6: {-aud, -noaud}. Extracts/No extracts audio streams. Default YES
option7: {-sub, -nosub}. Extracts/No extracts subs streams. Default YES
option8: {-vob, -novob}. Generates a single PGC VOB. Default NO
option9: {-customvob <flags>}. Generates a custom VOB file. Flags:
           b: split VOB: one file per vob_id
		   n: write nav packs
		   v: write video packs
		   a: write audio packs
		   s: write subs packs
		   i: only first Iframe
		   l: patch LBA number
option10:{-cellt, -nocellt}. Generates a Celltimes.txt file. Only in PGC/VID mode. Default YES
option11:{-log, -nolog}. Generates a log file. Default YES
option12:{-menu, -title}. Domain. Default Title (except if filename is VIDEO_TS.IFO)

[darinh]

Can you not loop through the titles in your script?

Yes, I can loop through the titles in my script, but where do I get the list of valid titles? I have looked at a couple of the discs and found that they typically are Titles 1-8, but I have since found discs that have Titles outside that range. So, I was hoping to get a query function that would tell me about which titles are available or an command line option that simply grabbed all of the titles, leaving all chapters in 1 MPG.

Thanks.
darinh

[darinh]

If by concatenate you mean file1+file2+file... You can't do that, each mpg file has a header with playback information and so on, you would get un-expected results. If you can't do as ChrissyBoy suggest, then you could always get rid of the chapters first. I think IFOedit could do that for you, but you might be better off just getting VOB2MPG Pro.

OK. Thanks!

[darinh]

It would highly suggest buying VOB2MPG Pro.
1. It's just a few bucks.
2. It supports what chrissyboy does

Yep, I did buy VOB2MPG Pro. Works well, but still doesn't provide me with a list of titles that need to be ripped.

[darinh]

pgcdemux has simple gui and supports command line options:

Command line support
PgcDemux [option1] [option2] ... [option12] <ifo_input_file> <destination_folder>
option1: [-pgc, <pgcnumber>].      Selects the PGC number (from 1 to nPGCs). Default 1
option2: [-ang, <angnumber>].      Selects the Angle number (from 1 to n). Default 1
option3: [-vid, <vobid>].          Selects the Angle number (from 1 to n). Default 1
option4: [-cid, <vobid> <cellid>]. Selects a cell vobid (from 1 to n). Default 1
option5: {-m2v, -nom2v}. Extracts/No extracts video file. Default NO
option6: {-aud, -noaud}. Extracts/No extracts audio streams. Default YES
option7: {-sub, -nosub}. Extracts/No extracts subs streams. Default YES
option8: {-vob, -novob}. Generates a single PGC VOB. Default NO
option9: {-customvob <flags>}. Generates a custom VOB file. Flags:
           b: split VOB: one file per vob_id
           n: write nav packs
           v: write video packs
           a: write audio packs
           s: write subs packs
           i: only first Iframe
           l: patch LBA number
option10:{-cellt, -nocellt}. Generates a Celltimes.txt file. Only in PGC/VID mode. Default YES
option11:{-log, -nolog}. Generates a log file. Default YES
option12:{-menu, -title}. Domain. Default Title (except if filename is VIDEO_TS.IFO)

pgcdemux was the first program that I tried for this task. Unfortunately, it does not provide a "grab all titles" choice, and also does not have a "show me all titles" option. This is why I moved on to VOB2MPG.

[darinh]

My solution to this problem is both creative and ugly.

I utilized the CLI for Handbrake, which allows me to dump the layout of the DVD. I captured this output, then parsed it to get the appropriate pieces of information. Once I had screened out the titles that were too short, I then used VOB2MPG Pro to grab the appropriate titles. This worked great! My script cruised through 20 DVDs in no time flat!

It is ugly because it involves another program, and the output from Handbrake is not really meant to be parsed by a script. In the end, it wasn't all that bad, I was just hoping for a cleaner solution.

Thanks to all that made suggestions!

-darinh

[cowboyup910]

i dont want to be negative but i bought this program (VOB2MPG PRO) thinking it will be alot faster like it said and without the spam.

honestly i waste my money, its not too much faster and really doesn't so anything different.

also i was stupid and didnt read clearly that it doesnt rip dvds that are encrypted. at the time i was ripping dvds that had no encryption.

now im stuck with a product i dont use and dont want, i started using DVD Shrink and if theres a title it cant remove the protection from, I will use DVDFab the freeware program to rip the whole DVD to my hard drive.

what i was looking to do was take all my dvd collection, (little by little) rip them to my hard drive without losing any quality, then using a program called Handbrake to convert the output file VOB2MPG PRO created to a much smaller size 700MB with good quality.

i tried several programs before i used Handbrake and too my surprise, the output file handbrake creates is simply AMAZING. i mean it really doesnt take too long to encode and going from lets say a 4GB RAW mpg file to small mkv 700MB, you think the quality will be poor. WRONG@!!

[ChrissyBoy]

It would highly suggest buying VOB2MPG Pro.
1. It's just a few bucks.
2. It supports what chrissyboy does

Yep, I did buy VOB2MPG Pro. Works well, but still doesn't provide me with a list of titles that need to be ripped.

I will add an AllTitles option to the CLI

[darinh]

It would highly suggest buying VOB2MPG Pro.
1. It's just a few bucks.
2. It supports what chrissyboy does

Yep, I did buy VOB2MPG Pro. Works well, but still doesn't provide me with a list of titles that need to be ripped.

I will add an AllTitles option to the CLI

Sweet! Sorry, I had no idea you were the author of VOB2MPG! Nice program!

Thanks for the awesome new feature! Can't wait to try it!

-darinh

P.S. - On a separate, and loosely related note; is there a way to figure out how the titles correspond to the episode listing? I mean, there is a menu with 7 or 8 episodes on the disc, and the disc menu has a list of episodes, so that Menu item #1 corresponds to Episode #1 on the DVD jacket, but this does not necessarily correspond to Title 1 on the disc. Normally I would say there is no way to detangle this web, but in this case, there is also a menu option to play all Titles on the disc. This makes me think there is a way to determine the order in which they will be played (presumably in numerical order) when this menu option is chosen. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. BTW, the reason I would like to know this is so that I could programmatically name the output files according to well known episode names posted on IMDb, or similar sites. Thanks so much!

[lordsmurf]

I will add an AllTitles option to the CLI

I recently worked with a title that had some next-gen copy protection on it. It jumbled the VOBs, and relied on IFO nav data to play everything in proper order. VOB2MPG Pro didn't work on this particular 5-disc set. Nor did Decrypter (it would only rip each little 2-3 minute piece -- for a 2-hour disc). DVD Shrink was able to follow the path for 4 discs, but it lost audio sync on 1 of the discs. The IFO files viewed in PgcEdit may as well have been Russian or Latin -- I couldn't make sense of it.

It was a mess.

Consider path-based ripping / extraction, too.

Note that I had pre-ripped the discs with DVDFab 7, so the CSS was gone. It was just jumbled data.

I can't go into too many more details -- it's part of a project with the license holder, and the DVD source was the best that could be acquired on short turnaround. (And it was adequate source for the project.)

[bobxjones]

Hi ChrissyBoy,
Any update on the AllTitles feature?

Thanks for such an awesome product. With the inclusion of an Alltitles option, VOB2MPG will perfectly fill my needs.

Thanks

[ChrissyBoy]

I have a version for you to test.... Drop me an email.

[bobxjones]

Cool, Thanks. Check your PM...

[ChrissyBoy]

I sent you an email - did you get it?

[bobxjones]

Nope didn't receive your message, sent another PM to you though....