DVR to DVD: Artificial Chapters

[digitalred93]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so my apologies in advance.

I have DISH TV DVR, Samsung's DVR-VR357, Windows XP, and I use IMTOO to rip DVDs to mp4 to move them to my Ipod and for archiving.

I'm pulling my hair out:

If I record an episode on a -DVD from the DVR, sometimes it sticks, sometimes I get black after the first few minutes. This seems to happen whether or not I pause to eliminate commericals on the DVD or not.

When I take the DVD to the computer to rip it, IMTOO is taking what should be either 1 chapter (if I didn't pause for commericals) or at the most 5 chapters (for a 1 hour drama) and turning it into 9 5 minute chapters. "Hiding" it doesn't work.
If I play the DVD back, it's fine -- this problem is only happening when trying to rip using IMTOO (If someone can recommend something else, I'd appreciate it).

I don't want the chapter breaks - I want one solid file. Why is it that on a regular DVD player I'm only seeing the single chapter (or 5 if I paused for commericals) whereas with IMTOO I'm seeing NINE?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Baldrick]

Have you tried any other software than IMTOO (=crap ). I like DVD Fab!!! Free trial available so you can check if you get same behavour as imtoo.

And no this is not any dvd authoring. Moving you to our DVD to MP4 section.

[digitalred93]

I tried DVD Fab and liked it. Then my hard drive died and after setting up a new hard drive I tried it again and it won't work -- it crashes everytime. I've contacted the software folks and they had me try the beta but it doesn't work either. I even tried installing it on my laptop: same problem.

Anything else you can recommend? I'm also looking for something that could convert to MP4 but will bypass the need to take the AVI and pull out the commercials. Right now I convert to AVI, then cut out commercials with Solveig.

Thanks!