Combining multiple Titles into 1 (re-authoring a dvd)

[Liquid Drum Theater]

Hey,

I'm trying to sync an audio source to an already authored DVD. I'm using DVDLABPRO 2.0.

I've copied the VOB files to my HD and joined them in dvdlabpro. Now, for some strange reason the person who created the dvd has not used chapters, but instead used titles. So every new chapter is a new title.

For some reason, when I try to compile the dvd it tries to demultiplex the video and audio (which is part of the process). The problem is, it keeps failing this stage and says that the file is in use (but it isn't). I've tried it many times (I've tried even demultiplexing when I join them, but get the same error).

The only reason I can think it because of the ''wierd'' titles. Can anyone help with removing these titles and combining the whole dvd into 1 track/title???????

Other programs I use are:

Ulead video studio 10
TMPGEnc Mpeg editer/batch tool



Thanks,
Simon.

[Liquid Drum Theater]

Bump!!

Anybody know anything about this??

[Abond]

Try to join the vobs with vstrip.

[manono]

Hi-

Add all the Vobs together in DGIndex. Then File->Save Project and Demux Video. When done you'll have one big M2V file and one big whatever-the-audio-is file (AC3, WAV?), which you can then use in DVDLabPro. I won't guarantee the audio will be in-synch after authoring, though. That may have been why he created all those titles in the first place.

[tinker]

Did you try to use "Milty PGS Title" option in DVD Lab.
That will let you to put all the segments together into one title PGC.

[Liquid Drum Theater]

Did you try to use "Milty PGS Title" option in DVD Lab.
That will let you to put all the segments together into one title PGC.

How do I do that? I can't see the option (whereabouts is it located in the prog?)


Cheers.


P.S. If I have demuxed the vob to mpeg and then I re-encode to vob when I compile dvd, it wont lose quality, right??

[SLK001]

P.S. If I have demuxed the vob to mpeg and then I re-encode to vob when I compile dvd, it wont lose quality, right??

This should already be a DVD compliant file, so no encoding should take place. Therefore, when the project is compiled back to a DVD, you will have lost no quality.

[SLK001]

Do your chapter points occur at natural breaking points? If not, there will be a slight pause between chapters where the player goes from one title set to the other.

What is the nominal chapter length? Is each chapter a single program chain, or does it contain several PGCs?

This is an unusual way of creating a DVD.

[Liquid Drum Theater]

Do your chapter points occur at natural breaking points? If not, there will be a slight pause between chapters where the player goes from one title set to the other.

What is the nominal chapter length? Is each chapter a single program chain, or does it contain several PGCs?

This is an unusual way of creating a DVD.

There are NO chapters contained in the dvd. All it contains is 4 titles and each last about 10-15 min. I am trying to make it 1 title (as it should be normally) and add chapter points.

I'm gonna give the decode to mpeg (edit) and encode back to vob a try.


Thanks.

[GeorgeW]

Do your chapter points occur at natural breaking points? If not, there will be a slight pause between chapters where the player goes from one title set to the other.

What is the nominal chapter length? Is each chapter a single program chain, or does it contain several PGCs?

This is an unusual way of creating a DVD.

There are NO chapters contained in the dvd. All it contains is 4 titles and each last about 10-15 min. I am trying to make it 1 title (as it should be normally) and add chapter points.

I'm gonna give the decode to mpeg (edit) and encode back to vob a try.


Thanks.

If you are trying to combine and add chapter points (other than the join points), then the DVDLab PRO option for Multi-PGC Title won't help -- it does not allow you to add chapter points to the Multi-PGC Title.

Did you try the Import from DVD function of VideoStudio 10? Then add all the mpegs onto the timeline, and output one mpeg video.

Regards,
George

[fung0]

I've seen this question asked in at least four or five different threads (including this one), and never seen any actual answer. Let me try to restate the problem:

1. I have four VOB files pulled from a DVD. The menu was totally messed up, so I want to start clean and author a new disc.

2. I load my VOBs into a nice new VTS project in DVDLab Pro, and link them together to play sequentially.

3. I compile the disc. Everything is hunky-dory, but the four files now show up as separate titles on the resulting disc. (For example, the player shows total length as 18 minutes; then flips to the next title and shows 16 minutes; and so on.)

How, how, how can I make DVDLab Pro treat these four VOBs as a single title? This is in fact how every commercial movie disc on Earth is authored: multiple, roughly one-gigabyte VOBs that show up in the player as one title. I won't ask why oh why this is not the default in DVDLab. But how can I force it to work this way????

I don't want to hear about demuxing and combining the VOBs. They are perfectly fine VOBs just the way they are. They came straight off an unprotected disc, and should not need major surgery. All I want is to put them on a new disc and have them show up as one movie title. I cannot believe that the most powerful authoring tool is incapable of this simple, basic task. But I (and others, apparently) have been unable to find any hint as to how this may be accomplished, either in the documentation, in numerous Google searches, or in these forums.

Anyone???

[manono]

This is in fact how every commercial movie disc on Earth is authored: multiple, roughly one-gigabyte VOBs that show up in the player as one title.

Hardly. Most authoring apps require elementary streams, and don't even allow VOB input. And if they do, they'll demux them anyway. Demux your VOBs (PGCDemux, DGIndex, etc.) and watch your troubles vanish.

I don't want to hear about demuxing and combining the VOBs.

If you want to continue trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, be my guest.

[fung0]

Let me get this straight: you're saying that DVDLab Pro just plain can't do something as obvious and elementary as allowing the user to define what individual movie files will be read as a single title on the target player??? And it can't take advantage of the fact that I've already got previously-prepared VOBs, but insists, for no intelligent reason, that I have to destroy the work that's already been done, and take hours to demux, re-combine, re-split and re-re-mux the whole thing??

Gosh, what a miracle of convenience.

If anyone knows of a really intelligent DVD mastering program, or even a way of combining titles using a separate editing tool, I'd love to hear... This was going to be a simple five-minute fix, not a life's work.

[gll99]

You don't have to demux if you don't want to.
Load all the vob files then drag and drop the first one as movie1. In the project box area where it says "movie" Right click to add another movie and drag and drop the second vob. Keep adding movies until you have no vob files left. If you want to, you can add new chapters to each movie file you have created. You will have as many movies as vob files but they are all under VTS 1 so you have only one titleset.

Next use the "Connections" option to draw the links between the movies so they will play in sequence ( for the draw option, right click after choosing connections) ie.. manually draw the lines to link menu1 to movie1 then movie1 to movie2 then movie2 to movie3 and so on. In a simple one menu design, to properly close the loop, the last movie should link back to menu1.

There may be a pause during the switch but it may not be that obvious.

Another more simple option worth checking that might work for you:

Since these files are part of an existing dvd it may be possible to open the dvd in DVDshrink. If it opens, select the reauthor option and then drag and drop the files you want from the right panel to the DVD Structure panel even if they come from different titlesets and then select backup. You will end up with a new dvd that will play as one titleset but no menus.

[fung0]

Thanks for the suggestions, gl99.

Load all the vob files then drag and drop the first one as movie1. In the project box area where it says "movie" Right click to add another movie and drag and drop the second vob. Keep adding movies until you have no vob files left.

This is exactly what I did in the first place... it makes each VOB into a new "title" (as seen by a player, and not to be confused with a "title set" or VTS). I'd like them to play as one "title," as on the original DVD. I know they will play okay as four titles, but it just seems really un-professional.

Since these files are part of an existing dvd it may be possible to open the dvd in DVDshrink.

Great minds think alike! This was the first thing I tried. But the menu is so badly gorched on the original disc that DVDShrink wants nothing to do with it. Good luck the VOBs are okay, but rather than try to figure out what's messed up in the menus, I thought it would be cleaner to rebuild. Especially since I prefer not to have menus anyway... just let the movie play on startup.

[manono]

...and take hours to demux, re-combine, re-split and re-re-mux the whole thing??

Aren't you exaggerating a bit there? I demux every day. A full movie's worth of VOBs takes at most 10 minutes to get into M2V/AC3/SUP/Chapters format ready for authoring. Then you can feed them into your authoring app. If you don't want or need menus, just add them into Muxman, wait another 10-15 minutes and you're done. Forget DVDLab Pro.

Demux using PGCDemux (open the IFO). Make sure to check the "Demux video stream" box. If for some reason the IFO is no good, then load all the VOBs together into DGIndex and File->Save Project And Demux Video. That will give you only M2V and Audio though, no chapters or subs. Load the resulting M2V, the audio (AC3?), the subs if any (SUP files), and the Celltime.txt (File->Import Chapter). Give it a Destination. "Start". Muxman may seem to quit or freeze, especially if you do something else on the computer at the same time, but it's still working away. 15 minutes later it'll pop up with a message. Test it out.

[gll99]

This is exactly what I did in the first place... it makes each VOB into a new "title" (as seen by a player, and not to be confused with a "title set" or VTS). I'd like them to play as one "title," as on the original DVD. I know they will play okay as four titles, but it just seems really un-professional.

The dvd will see only one title. The reason you might see the individual "movies" selection options is if you create menu items for each one. If all you have is a main menu and it points to play item 1 and then you string them one after the other the dvd player and the viewer only sees one vts and one menu item to select. In fact you could have no menu and just make movie1 the first play and it will play them one after the other as it does with every multi vob disc as long as you link them properly. All it is is pointers showing what to play next. It doesn't matter if its in the same vob or the next one.

Another possible option:

Load all the vob in a program like ifoedit or dvdfab and create a new ifo (video_ts.ifo) but that is similar to what will happen in DVDlab. You will end up with multi vob and the ifo will point to the first vob as first play and there will be no menu.

[fung0]

Thanks, manono... some interesting thoughts.

A full movie's worth of VOBs takes at most 10 minutes to get into M2V/AC3/SUP/Chapters format ready for authoring.

I guess my estimate is clouded by DVDLab Pro. I accidentally imported one of the VOBs with the demux option enabled, and it took about an hour... for that one VOB. Seemed out of line to me too, but I didn't stop to worry about it, since demuxing never was on my game plan. I'm sure you're right that there's a faster way to do it... assuming you really want to.

If for some reason the IFO is no good

I think that's the whole point. The disc structure was trashed, so I don't really think I'd like to trust the IFO.

load all the VOBs together into DGIndex and File->Save Project And Demux Video. That will give you only M2V and Audio though, no chapters or subs.

So what you're telling me is that there is absolutely no way to do what I wanted to do: author a very basic video disc, using existing VOBs, and have them appear as a single title? I find that extremely difficult to believe, given that DVDLab Pro managed all but that last part. But if you're sure, I'll give up the quest.

[manono]

Unless I missed it, you had only said until your last post that the menu was no good, and nothing about the IFOs. Have you actually tried to open the IFO in PGCDemux? Have you actually tried to open the VOBs in DGIndex? No offense intended, but if you spent less time whining and more time trying something besides DVDLab Pro, which you don't need for the simple thing you're trying to do anyway, you might actually get something done, maybe even be finished by now. You can create your own chapters easily enough. Are there subs you need to get?

[fung0]

The dvd will see only one title. The reason you might see the individual "movies" selection options is if you create menu items for each one.

gll99, you're mistaken: the DVD player definitely saw four separate "titles." And I did not create multiple menus. I first created no menu at all, then tried it again with a simple one-button menu. In both cases, I strung the four VOB clips together exactly as you describe.

When I play the disc (either with or without a menu), the player "sees" only one VOB at a time. For example, instead of showing the complete running time for the whole movie, as it did on the original disc, it shows the running time only for the current VOB. Then when it continues to the next VOB, it shows the running time for that one. Clearly, DVDLab Pro has not joined the VOBs into a single logical "title" the way they were on the original. Why should this be so difficult? It's the way all movie discs work: multiple VOB files all seen as one movie. This should be the default, not something requiring rocket science.

[guns1inger]

You can do it, however if you want ot use DLP you have to work the way it works. The market it is aimed at would not be using VOB files, so DLP doesn't use them by default.

Other options to consider would be to use VOBMerge first to give you one single VOB file. Or Tmpgenc DVD Author, and import your VOBs into a single Track. You can then add your chapter points etc and have it play back as a single title. I haven't used TDA in a while, so I don't know if it still works the same way, however when I last used it (version 1.6) with VOBs it took a long time to author the disc. About as long as it would take to demux all the VOBs, then remux them while authoring.

DLP is a powerful tool, but it simply doesn't do a lot of things that non-professionals do because that isn't it's target market.

[fung0]

Thanks, guns1inger! So it is impossible, then. Hard to believe, but I'll trust your expertise.

I will try some of the other software you suggest. But isn't there simply a way of editing an index to call these four VOBs one "title"? After all, they were one title on the original disc I pulled them off of, and the only thing that's changed is the loss of some really tiny index files. I have a working disc from DVDLab Pro, all I want is one tiny little tweak! At least, it sure looks tiny to me.

[guns1inger]

If they were one title to begin with then they should be sequentially numbered (VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB etc). DLP should offer the join and demux these for you, which will bring you back to a single title. That is how it works. I you choose not to demux then you may not get the results you want.

Another option is to use VOB2MPG to extract the mpg video and audio from the VOBS and use this as DLP.

So no, it's not impossible. But you have to follow the process.

[fung0]

I took your suggestion on VOBMerge, and that has pretty much solved the problem. I now have a disc with one title, as I wanted. I combined the four VOBs into one, DVDLab Pro obligingly took that one big VOB and broke it back into four 1GB VOBs, and finally admitted they were all one title. Hallelujah.

I still have to believe there's a way of doing this just by altering an index. Clearly, the title information is stored somewhere. But no matter. The VOBMerge route is a whole lot quicker than muxing the night away.

Thanks!

[gll99]

Good to see you solved the problem.

gll99, you're mistaken

Man that's the second time I'm wrong in my life. The first time that happened some 20 years ago, I thought I had made a mistake but I was wrong

[guns1inger]

The title information is stored in the ifo files. If your rip the DVd correctly, then DVD Lab Pro will quite happily bring a whole titleset in, regardless of the number of VOBs. I can only surmise your problems were with how the original disc was authored, or how you ripped it to your HDD.

[Alex_ander]

fung0, I think the whole problem was that you forced making separate titles in DLP by adding multiple movies to a VTS. As you know, a title set can have several titles and linking them for sequential playback doesn't join them into one. In DLP imported files can be joined at importing (as Guns1inger just mentioned) along with demultiplexing (you refused when asked), in other applications like TDA you can add muxed mpegs and similarly encoded DVD sources to the same title (track in TDA) but they will be demultiplexed, joined, get time code rewritten in background at folder compiling stage without asking for your confirmation. For DLP you can join the files into one (now you did it) in numerous applications (also VideoReDo, Womble with mpeg output) then using a single file in a VTS (one movie track) garantees the possibility to make one common title in DLP. But unlikely this makes the process faster than demuxing/joining in DLP.

[fung0]

The disc may have had a flaw, but something was definitely wrong with the menus and/or indexes, to the point that DVDShrink, for example, wouldn't read it. But the video files themselves were fine. Hence the rescue operation.

gll99, I envy you. I never know enough about anything to be wrong any more.

[gll99]

I think I found the explanation but the answer must wait until tomorrow I'm way overdue for some zzzzz

[gll99]

When I play the disc (either with or without a menu), the player "sees" only one VOB at a time. For example, instead of showing the complete running time for the whole movie, as it did on the original disc, it shows the running time only for the current VOB. Then when it continues to the next VOB,

I know it's solved but this was bugging me a bit.

I took 3 unrelated small vob files from 3 dvds on my hdd and copied them to each their own timeline in DLP. When it authors the disc DLP actually rewrites the vob files so it's not the original structure anymore. I ended up with only a VTS_01_0.VOB (menu) and a VTS_01_1.VOB (3 small video clips) as well as the VIDEO_TS.IFO, VTS_01_0.IFO and buf files. When I played back the files it's as you said the play time only showed the clip that was playing even though the vob and ifo were completely recreated.

I looked at the resulting VTS_01_0.IFO with ifoedit and found the reason. The time is displayed according to the information about the PGC (Program Chain) which is contained in the vts ifo file. DLP generates a PGC for each clip within the vts and although it remakes the vob it also keeps track of the original individual clips on the different timelines and keeps track of where they are stored. Whats' interesting is that it also assigns a different vob id to each clip based on the same structure as the PGC grouping. I thought that vob id was assigned based on the physical vob file but it looks like it isn't limited by the physical boundaries. The vts_01_1.vob file contains 3 vob id's matching the 3 video clips from the 3 timelines.

This does not change even if I rename the input clips to be consecutive vts_01_1.vob, vts_01_2.vob, vts_01_3.vob or whether I leave them with their original ID. The only thing that changes is that DLP asks me if I want to join them if they are consecutively numbered to which of course for the sake of this test I say no.

So it's an authoring decision by DLP and the resulting disc should play with the transitions being as smooth as any authored disc except that the timeline will show the individual PGC's as you discovered.

I don't know if this would work......

Looking at other DLP options, there is another way to load the videos on the same timeline but I can't make it compile so I may be misinterpreting it's use.

Instead of using movie1, movie2 etc.. we need to use the option to add Multi-PGC title. I found this option in the "Connections" panel, right click. choose add and choose Multi-PGC Title. This creates an entry similar to a movie timeline but you can add more than one video as long as it has the same attributes. I got that far but although they loaded on the timeline it failed the compile with the log showing the videos were not the same. I tried 2 consecutive vob videos from another dvd and they failed the same way with the same message. This is as far as I've gotten with this. I don't know if this would solve the time issue caused by the multi vobid and multi pgc assignment or not. Someone would have to get a successful compile to prove or disprove this idea.

One thing that is encouraging: although I loaded 2 videos on the timeline the "fail" log shows only one title with 2 videos. Normally the log says there are 2 or 3 titles when I compile using movie1, movie2 etc... instead of the Multi-PGC title option.

Anyway if I get some time I may play with this again. The reason behind Multi-PGC Titles is interesting but I've done no research to see it's intended use, it's just something I stumbled upon yesterday while poking around with this issue. Whatever it is it is very strict on the clips being precisely the same format either at the time they are dropped on the timeline or worst still when the project is compiled.