How to Make a Custom Episodic DVD?

[bu-dvdr]

I did a search & didn't quite find what I was looking for. Hope someone can help me. Here's what I want to do (easiest method possible please)...

I want to make a custom DVD with 3 episodes from different discs. I don't care about any extras & don't need the menus. I just want the 3 episodes with their Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks intact.

[MackemX]

are all 3 added together gonna be bigger than 4.37Gb?

cos if they are basically I would use Ifoedit and DVDShrink

if not just use Ifoedit

one of the other guys will fill you in on the details cos I'm off out now

[spidey]

You need to provide more info. What program are you using to author ?

Why not just make a still menu background, with buttons/links for each episode and then link clip (beginning / default chapter 1) to it, and you're done.

Again, assuming the source files are able to all fit on 1 disc.

[MackemX]

don't think he was fussed about menus so all I was gonna suggest is put all 3 titlesets in one folder then use Ifoedit creating IFO's or some similar method

then use DVDShrink to reduce and reauthor the 3 titlesets so they play one after the other

just a theory aint done it in practice though

in fact even if its under 4.37Gb you can still use DVDSHrink to do it

[bu-dvdr]

Thanks much for the quick replies. I haven't used IFOEdit yet...looks a bit intimidating

I'd like to put 3 'Star Trek: TNG' episodes (different discs) onto 1 DVD-R. I'm sure I'd have to use DVD2One or DVDShrink to get it to fit. (Until now, I've been using my Panasonic DMR-HS2 deck to make my favorite compilations, but it's very time consuming & I lose DD5.1).

MackemX, you're right, I'm looking for an easy way. After I "put all 3 titlesets in one folder", how do I use IFOEdit to create the necessary files so I can process the whole thing with DVD2One or DVDShrink? I'd love to add a simple menu to access the 3 episodes, but if that's complicated, I can do without it.

[DoubleShadowIce]

Put all your vobs into one folder and rename all like this...

vts_01_1.vob
vts_01_2.vob
vts_01_3.vob
vts_01_4.vob
vts_01_5.vob
.
.
.

Go to this link to learn how to crate new ifos in ifoedit.

Create new ifos

[bu-dvdr]

Thanks ... I read your reply & checked out the link.

Once I'm done processing each vob file with IFOEdit, I'll have a bunch of IFO files in the same folder ... then what? Can I just name the folder VIDEO_TS & burn with Nero? If filesize is larger than 4.37GB, what do I do? Process with DVD2One - Full Disk mode?

[DoubleShadowIce]

Can I just name the folder VIDEO_TS & burn with Nero?

You can if you are doing a data DVD using nero and it'll fit on a DVDr. If not, you can use DVD-Video format and drag your files into it. Can't promise you that you're not going to have any reallocation errors though.

If filesize is larger than 4.37GB, what do I do? Process with DVD2One - Full Disk mode?

You don't have to do Full Disk Mode anymore as you have only a movie-only with no menus. If you use DVD2One, just do movie-only mode set at 4.36.

[Mordant]

You could check out the DVDr guides for how to use DVD2SVCD to make DVD compatible mpegs.

What I would do with TV episodes is rip and encode each to 1 gig in size using DVD2SVCD. I would use the advanced settings to change resolution from 720x480 to 352x480 (for full screen TV episodes its going to look very much the same) and run through either on CBR or 2 pass if you don't mind the extra time. If you are keeping the original sound you might want to go for 3 pass with CCE.

Then to author I would use Spruce Up to put together a very basic menu, with a frame capture for background and maybe one for each episode.

This should let you get 4 episodes on one DVDr with very decent quality, but it is more work/time than using DVD2ONE or one of the other transcoding tools.