question about how to cut 1 minute out of 4.3GB DVD (no menus)

[jimdagys]

I have a DVD (no menus) that I ripped to the hard drive that is now 4.2 GB. I want to edit out a minute or so of nudity without causing the subsequent timing (subtitle, audio) to become messed up. Am I correct that Tmpgenc DVD Author can do this easily? Also, are there any freeware programs that can do this easily?

[Midzuki]

It would be much easier if you simply sent your monotheistic "morality"
to the garbage can (or to an incinerator).

+++++++

[guns1inger]

DVD Shrink. Cut up the nudity as one title. From after the nudity to the end as the second title. Live with the brief pause at the edit because at least the audio and subtitles are in sync.

Honestly, there is no simple way to do this without making a mess. It would be simpler to just watch something else instead.

[Baldrick]

I guess you can also use vobblanker to cut out 1 minute.

[jman98]

VideoReDo and MPEGVCR can do this easily but neither are freeware. I will warn you that using free solutions for editing does not always work and you may find that you have horrible audio sync problems after the spot of the edit. Then again you may get lucky and it may work fine for you.

Hey Midzuki - why don't you take YOUR hateful attitude and put THAT in the garbage can? Jerk.

[TBoneit]

Yes you can do it in tmpgenc DVD author.
start a new project and then do not choose add a file. instead use the source wizard to add the ripped DVD deselecting the copy to hard drive function since it is already there. Keep chapters. Then go to edit and cut out the part you do not want. Create the new menu if desired and create the new DVD.

You will have to re-author when done.

Good Luck

jman98, Midzuki's reply contributed nothing, however since Baldrick ignored it...... Remember that the Internet lets people exhibit both their best and their worst in what they feel is annonimity and no consequences. Both those are wrong BTW, whatever is posted should be considered as available forever. And anybody can be traced.

[guns1inger]

Will VideoRedo or MPGVCR preserve the subtitles ? The same for TDA. This seems to be important to the OP.

[jimdagys]

From the answers I got, I think I am going to try to edit out the scene with Tmpgenc DVD Author. I know that editing by using 2 titles on a DVD disk will cause a slight blip at the title change. I would prefer to avoid that.
I have never used Tmpgenc DVD Author before. TBoneit said, "...create the new DVD. You will have to re-author when done."
I'm not sure what you mean by that. If I "create the new DVD", then doesn't that include re-authoring? If re-authoring is a separate step, how do I do that?
By the way, I could care less about nudity. Somebody else asked me to do this editing, and I think it would be useful to learn how to do it. Every time I learn something, I find that I use that knowledge again later.

[manono]

I would prefer to avoid that.

Then use VobBlanker, as Baldrick suggested.

Open the DVD in VobBlanker and click on the video in the top screen so that it appears in the bottom screen. Highlight it in the bottom screen and hit "Cells" to the right. In the new screen find the right cell where the cutting is to be done (use the "Prev/Cut" button to the right). Once you've found the right cell, in the Prev/Cut screen, find the beginning of the cut by using the scroll bar, and hit Start->Mark. Find the end of the cut by using the scroll bar and hit Last->Mark. Make sure you tick Action Between Marks->Cut. OK and Apply back to the main screen, give it an "Output Folder" and "Process".

Here's a guide, but the GUI has changed a bit since it was written:

http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/guides/VobBlanker/prevcut/index.php

[jimdagys]

OK, I'm trying to ungeek VobBlanker to cut out a short segment of a DVD. I followed the above instructions. I was able to cut a segment, but I have some serious problems. For example, I have about a 2 second segment that I want to cut. When using VobBlanker to exactly mark the start and end of the cut, problem #1 is there is no sound in the playback in VobBlanker. This is bad because I might want to specifically cut out a few seconds of video and neatly eliminate the words that correspond to the video so that the final edit will not be so obviously altered. Problem #2 is that (referring back to the 2 second cut I want to make) in VobBlanker there doesn't seem to be any frame by frame (or next frame) playback. This makes it very difficult to find the exact location of the cut. In the 2 second segment I am trying to cut, using the "next", "prev" buttons (see screenshot) , if I press those buttons about 3 times, the whole 2 second segment will click by, and I know at 25 fps, there are about 50 frames in 2 seconds, and what I really want is a button that I can precisely select the frame for start cut and end cut.
Unless there is some way to solve these 2 problems, I think that VobBlanker is just no good for me.
If any one has any suggestions, or another program that can easily edit a DVD, (without messing up audio or subtitles) please let me know.
One other question: VideoReDo and MPEGVCR was mention above for editing. Will those softwares edit a segment out of DVD (4.3GB, no menus, already on hard drive) without having to use other software to complete the job?

[manono]

Your original request was to to edit out a minute or so of nudity without causing the subsequent timing (subtitle, audio) to become messed up. VobBlanker is ideally suited for that. It cuts on GOP boundaries (roughly every half second). It isn't at all suited for frame-specific cutting. The reason is that unless the chosen frame falls on a GOP boundary, a short part before and after the frame in question will have to be reencoded, something it doesn't do.

So, if you insist on cutting at specific frames, then you'll have to use one of the other MPEG-2 editors, but you're opening up a real can of worms, as you'll encounter the problems already mentioned, and some of your other requirements won't be fulfilled. Had you mentioned that 2-second cut stuff earlier, and needing to have audio and needing to cut on specific frames, I never would have seconded Baldricks suggestion of using VobBlanker for the job (and he probably wouldn't have suggested it in the first place).

[classfour]

TDA works nicely cutting - down to the frame.

I use it all the time for that purpose.

If you've already bought the program - make good use of it.

TDA is probably the easiest of the authoring programs for a novice, with very good results.

Just be certain to go under "source" "settings" after you've imported the DVD, and set quality to 100% so TDA doesn't re-encode: That'll save you time and quality.

[jimdagys]

Verrry interesting. I tried Tmpgenc DVD Author to do the job. A very snazzy interface for editing that shows the "frames" go by just like a filmstrip. But it is misleading because just like in VobBlanker, the 2 second segment that I wanted to cut right down to the frame level, Tmpgenc DVD only showed 3 "frames". At any rate, I went ahead with Tmpgenc DVD to do the edit job. The final result took twice as long as VobBlanker to process and had NO NO subtitles. I went back to settings to see if I missed anything. I couldn't see anything in settings to process the subtitles. Well that
Tmpgenc DVD didn't last 10 minutes before I deleted the software right off the hard drive. So now I see that there is no easy way to edit a DVD down to frame level accuracy. I thought that GOP had something to do with politics. I'll just make do with VobBlanker which processes perfect subtitles before and after the edit.
Still, for curiosity, if I want to edit a DVD to the frame level, would it it be possible to demux back to the avi (or is MPEG2 the right term?), then edit the frames and then mux back to a DVD? I know the subtitles then would have to be re-timed after the edit , but I could deal with that. If this would work, what would be the general procedure for doing it?
I don't want to do any re-coding.

[classfour]

which version of TDA?

[jimdagys]

I have Tmpgenc DVD Author 1.5.15.49. I know it is old version but according to Manono, there is no way to edit a DVD down to the frame level. And I really didn't like how Tmpgenc DVD Author shows a filmstrip interface that implies that you are seeing every frame, when in fact you are only seeing 1 "frame" per half second (GOP-Group of Pictures). It is very misleading.

[gadgetguy]

There's nothing misleading about it. It doesn't imply that it's showing every frame, you incorrectly inferred that. That tool is to help you find Cut and Chapter points, both of which can only be done on I-frames in TDA 1.5.

Edit: Also note that TDA1.5 doesn't do subtitles. If you want subtitles and frame accurate editing you need a much more recent version of TDA.

[ntscuser]

DVD-lab Pro can be used to skip the offending sequence although it doesn't actually remove anything. DLP also supports subtitles.

[jimdagys]

Gadgetguy said, "If you want subtitles and frame accurate editing you need a much more recent version of TDA."
I looked at the Tmpgenc DVD Author website and the newer versions (ver 2 ) have something called "Smart Rendering".
This sounds very interesting and like something I need to try. From the Tmpgenc DVD Author website:

DVD Author 2.0 supports frame level MPEG editing features. Frame level editing is the most precise method for MPEG editing because it operates with frame level precision. Until now, frame level editing has required complete re-encoding of output video which has resulted in degradation of output video quality as well as a slow DVD building process. DVD Author 2.0 provides a smart rendering feature that eliminates this problem. It automatically analyzes video clips and makes sure that only the smallest possible number of frames is re-encoded. In other words, the smart rendering feature dramatically improves the DVD building process in terms of speed while preserving the highest possible video output quality.

[jimdagys]

I tried Tmpgenc DVD Author 3 and was able to successfully edit out a few seconds of DVD video at the frame by frame level. I had 2 languages of audio and 2 languages of subtitles that did not get out of time after the edit. Plus there is audio in the software editing tool. The software is extremely easy to use. You just select the start of the cut (choose exact frame), and the end of the cut, and then Tmpgenc DVD Author 3 will automatically re-author the DVD to your hard drive. I would have to say that Tmpgenc DVD Author 3 is a winner for editing a segment out of a DVD.
Question: I see that editing to the video frame level (not GOP level) requires pretty special software. When editing avi or mpeg2 (not DVD video) down to the frame level, is it also necessary to use this kind of special software such as Tmpgenc DVD Author 3? Or can one get by using VobBlanker or VirtualDubMod?

[lordsmurf]

TDA 1.5 does it at the GOP level.

[manono]

Good going. Guess I was wrong, as I didn't think there was anything that would do exactly what you wanted, at least not without a lot of headaches and frustration. VobBlanker can't edit by frames, only by I-Frames which exist only at the beginning of each GOP (usually spaced roughly half a second apart). The newer versions of VDub (not VDubMod) also have a smart-rendering capability, but it's not useful for DVDs as it encodes to AVI. But if you have an AVI that you want to cut some frames from, and if you set it up right (I've read it can be a bit tricky to learn), it'll only reencode right around the cut, and direct stream the rest.

There are MPEG-2 editors that also smart-render (VideoReDo, for example), but you'll have to edit the subtitles yourself before then reauthoring for DVD and sticking back into the original DVD. From the VideoReDo site:

Frame accurate (frame level) video editing that precisely and reliably edits, cuts and joins at the specific frames you choose. A capability that goes far beyond typical MPEG tools that only cut on GOPs (rough cut-editing).

http://www.videoredo.com/Products.htm