Help: Freeware for basic DVD menu from VIDEO_TS/VOB

[pannayar]

From DVDShrink, I have VOB files in VIDEO_TS folder (created in re-author mode & hence containing only the titles). Is there any basic free software to make a simple title menu before I burn?

Currently (when my DVD is in the player) I am limited to navigating by just title number.

Thanks.

[guns1inger]

Demux to elementary streams and author with GUIForDVDAuthor

[pannayar]

I recently tried GUI for dvdauthor. My VOB files for a given title are split into multiple chunks of 1GB size. How can I merge all of them into one before I import them into GUI for dvdauthor. It said something like "header not found in first 10 kb, multiple VOBs from the same set need to be merged first"....

[borax]

Either demux, or use VOB2MPG or copy the vob files together (ONLY IF THEY ARE ONE VOBSET!): http://download.videohelp.com/gfd/Help/RawMaterial.html

[pannayar]

Thanks for the reply. But I am somewhat lost.

copy /b VTS_01_1.VOB + VTS_01_2.VOB + VTS_01_3.VOB NewFilm.mpg

Where is the copy command? Do I have to convert the VOB to mpg?


One option I tried is changing the setting in DVDShrink which says do not create multiple VOBs, but even then if a single video is split into multiple titles, it creates one VOB for each title.

[borax]

...Where is the copy command?
On the command line (cmd.exe alias 'DOS-Box')
...but even then if a single video is split into multiple titles, it creates one VOB for each title
You cannot join different titles (where each one has its own timeline) this way.
Only vobs which are just split because they exceed the 1GB boundary but belong to one title may be joined by 'copy'. If you want to join several titles into one, you need to demux and use a 'cutter' (like mpeg2schnitt or cuttermaran) which recreate the timeline for the whole (new) movie.

[pannayar]

I could not find the copy command. I looked under the GUI for dvd directory as well as dvdauthor directory. So you copy/merge them to a MPEG file (Newfilm.mpg) and then use the mpg file?

[guns1inger]

Start->Run. Type CMD. A black window with white text will open. This is the commandline window. You need to change directory (CD) to where you have the files, or use the full paths on the file names when you use the copy command.

[pannayar]

Thanks! I am beginning to see some success...

I did not know that "copy" was a basic windows command that can merge binary files... I thought I have to find a copy.exe in the DVD author bin folder or something.

Anyway, I have been able to merge all the VOBs of a given title into one by either that copy command OR by reauthoring again in DVDShrink but by unchecking the box that says split into 1G VOB chunks...

Couple of questions now:
1) The output of DVD authour GUI has VOBs that are bigger than 1G. Is it ok? Is it ok if the VOB is more than 4G? My file system is FAT32. Would it mean like putting all eggs in 1 basket, which on a read error may mean I lose the entire VOB?

2) The audio track seems to have changed from the original 2 channel to 5.1 channel, I dont care much since there was only a very little increase in the audio track size (when viewed in dvd shrink), I did not find any settings to preserve the 2.1 track...

3) When the output was burned using Nero, it complained for the first time in years that the DVD files are not compliant and may not be playable, I ignored the warning and the disc was however playable.


Thanks a lot!

[guns1inger]

VOBs should be no larger than 1000MB when authoring for DVD. If they are larger then the DVD is out of spec and probably won't play.

There is no reason at all to use FAT32 on an XP machine. You may have FAT32 partitions if you dual boot to Linux, and for some external drives, but most Linux distros will happily read and (with a little work) write to NTFS. NTFS is faster, more secure, and handles large files. You can convert your FAT32 drive to NTFS without re-formatting. If you are going to do a lot of authoring then NTFS is really a must.

DVD Shrink cannot change your audio. Only re-encoding can do that. As GUIForDVDAuthor doesn't re-encode audio, you are either not telling us everything about your process, or GUIForDVDAuthor is mis-identifying the number of channels (or you are mis-reading something).

Don't burn DVD Video with Nero. Keep Nero for audio CDs and maybe data discs (if you absolutely must). Use Imgburn for DVD Video, so you know you will get compliant burns.

[pannayar]

Since it has been so far so good with no problems having VOB > 1G, I think I will save myself the hassle of reformatting my drives... atleast for now.

As you said, if they should not be larger than 1G, how do I import a VOB set into GUI for dvdauthor as a single title? Is there any option in DVD GUI author to write the final VOBs in sizes of 1G or less?

My philips dvd player showed a 6 channel audio (though the original source was 2 channel) when I hit the audio button on the remote. I did the process again and my other sony player shows a 2 channel audio. However dvdshrink still shows a 5.1 audio track for the output files.

Yes I am using Nero for all my burning needs. Again since, the end result is fine, let me stick to it.

Thanks a lot again.

[borax]

...Is there any option in DVD GUI author to write the final VOBs in sizes of 1G or less?
No. This is done by dvdauthor. Actually I never heard about this problem. To be sure, I made a small test:
1. Authoring from elementary streams (2.3 GB video + 0.15GB audio) results in two 2GB vob files and one 0.5 GB vob file.
2. Copy these into one 2.5 GB vob file
3. Authoring using the 2.5 GB vob file results in exactly the same files as in step 1 (two 2GB vob files and one 0.5 GB vob file)