DVD Episode Problem

[jackowens]

Dear Friends,

I'm running into problems trying to play Region 2 DVD's that appear to have separate episodes on each DVD.

To start, I'm in California, U. S. A. trying to play "Smiley's People", with Alec Guinness, through a) an external optical drive set to Region 2, connected to b) a Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q890 laptop connected to c) a Sony HD TV.

The "Smiley's People that I have consists of 2 DVD's and is from Europe. Does anyone else have that movie? I'm not sure if the movie consists of 2 DVD's or 3 and that I'm missing the third DVD. I have DVD's #1 and #2. That's the first question.

Next, it appears that there are several episodes on each of the DVD's that I have, but when I click on succeeding episodes on the TV screen after episode #1, episode #1 is simply repeated; using VideoLAN or Windows Media Center I can't get beyond the first episode.

Any help/ideas?

Regards to all from

Jack Owens

[DB83]

I have seen this series in a store (really should have bought it since it is rather good) and would confirm that it is a two disk set.

There are six (approx) one hour episodes.

There has, as far as I know, only been one dvd release of this - the cover has Alec Guiness and there is a BBC logo in the top right of the picture (that info from Amazon UK).

VLC, as far as I see, ignores Region settings as I can play a Region One disk straight to my monitor. However, when I play the same disk through Powerdvd it stalls. That drive is Region-free but it also works on my other Region 2 drive.

I only mention this as the issue does not seem to be the player/drive. Maybe a badly authored disk or, dare I say it, from a dubvious source. (I bought a chinese set of Black Adder once and that was all over the place)

[jackowens]

Dear DB83,

The Region 2 copy that I have of "Smiley's People" is from Amazon.com in the UK and is an authentic commercial product.

I have been able to play other Region 2 DVD movies in my optical drive but they are not divided into episodes.

You know of no correctives, then, for the episode problem? Do you know to where I might turn?

Regards and thanks for your interest,

Jack

[DB83]

Have you tried playing these disks through another software dvd player such as Powerdvd ?

I was not suggesting that you had a 'dodgy' copy but 'Europe' is a large place and many disks do find their way as official-looking bootlegs.

Now I just had a quick look and I found apparently another version of this series. The cover is different and there is no BBC logo in place. This set is three disks - two episodes per disk. I assume that in your version it shows three per disk ?

I have also taken a closer look at the cover of the one sold by Amazon UK and it clearly says 'Two disks' in white lettering on blue background just above the DvD logo bottom right front.

Can you confirm that this is the exact version you have - check http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smileys-People-DVD/dp/B0001Y9Z9W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304425904&sr=8-1

[DB83]

Looking on Ebay, there appear to be two covers. The second one has the same photograph but the BBC logo is in a different place.

The main difference is that the disks appear certified by the BBFC as PG. This is incorrect, as to have a PG rating for the content some scenes would have to be deleted. However, when the dvd was issued in 2004 there is some additional content and that is rated PG. The main content remains rated 15 so this cover seems to be a misprint - a confusion caused by the extra content.

[jackowens]

Dear DB83,

I think I understand the matter of the different DVD versions, now the issue is in regard to the episodes.

How do I get to succeeding episodes after the first? Clicking on the second episode on the TV screen starts the first episode over again.

Regards,

Jack

[DB83]

I have already made a suggestion - try another player eg Powerdvd.

You said you purchased this from Amazon. Now thare are many reviews yet none, as far as I can see, mention a playback problem. So it seems rather odd that you have one. The player may solve it.

I also asked you to confirm the precise version you have - cover etc. and can you also confirm if it was Amazon who shipped this to you or it was a market-place transaction.

Since I want to see these, I am more than prepared to get a set. But I want to get EXACTLY the same as the one that you have.

[DB83]

Now if you do not wish to follow the above suggestion or even answer the questions I have asked then I can only offer the following :

1. Check the disks in a ripper just to see if there is actually more than one title on each disk. I would assume the disk(s) are split into titles although they could also be split into chapters.

2. Failing that, look at the disks through Windows Explorer and see how many title sets there are. I would expect atleast three titlesets - four on the disk with the extra content.

3. Assume now that the disk had been badly authored - would be careless of a commercial release but probably not unknown - and that the links were not properly set up (could have been corrected at a later date but that will not help you). So -

4. Rip each title or chapter (if an episode is a chapter - quite unlikely but you never know) and re-author the disks. To keep the quality you may have to go to three disks instead of the two that you have.

5. Or. Just play the ripped disks from your HDD.

[intracube]

Next, it appears that there are several episodes on each of the DVD's that I have, but when I click on succeeding episodes on the TV screen after episode #1, episode #1 is simply repeated; using VideoLAN or Windows Media Center I can't get beyond the first episode.

I vaguely remember having similar problems with a BBC DVD some time ago. I've been trying to retrace my steps and recreate the problem with any BBC disc I can find, using various media players on my system.

I haven't managed to reproduce the problem - possibly because I've downloaded more recent versions of the media players since then.

What version of VLC have you got? Check to see if it's the latest available version. Also try DB83's suggestion of different DVD software.

Just to add; one of the BBC discs I've been looking at (The League of Gentlemen S1) has all the half hour episodes as a single 2h:55m title (Title 1) and in addition to that, all the episodes are available on separate titles. It would be crazy to have each episode duplicated twice on the disc - so I don't know if it's part of the DVD-Video standard to have 'pointers' where different titles can point to different places on a single video stream... or if multiple titles can be grouped together and show up as a single title. Don't know if I'm making sense...

I don't know if this is/isn't a standard authoring technique, but maybe the discs are confusing your player if they're authored in a similar way - but I'm just guessing here.

[Deter]

this is a simple problem (doesn't matter what region it is)


figure out what data is coded on the DVD once u find that you will know if the DVD has more episodes

For example the DVD is 8.5 megs, figure out how many video files it has on the DVD

All you have to do is look in side the dvd files to see what it has...

[DB83]

Well, I have a BBC disk that is authored in that way - Casanova. DvdDecrypter reports 3 episodes @ appr 1 hour + another title which is all three episodes @ appr 3 hours. All of this is stored on one dvd9 so I do think that it is the way the disk is authored (playlists) rather than a duplication of the material.

Now when I looked at the content in Explorer, something struck me. It is usual to find movie content on VTS_01. On this disk, the main content is on VTS_02 and VTS_01 is just a 10kb vob and does not play.

This disk does play using VLC v1.1.7 so your problem, as my friend above states, may be solved by simply updating your VLC to the latest version.

[jackowens]

Dear Friends,

Exploring the problem I hit on the following solution:

1. With everything off, make the appropriate cable-connections and put the Region 2 DVD in the external Region 2 optical drive.

2. Turn on the TV and laptop. You should see the laptop desktop on the TV screen.

3. Go to the the external optical drive, right-click on it and select <Play with VLC media player>.

4. In black VLC screen that should come up click play and <Play All>.

5. That should start the first episode.

To play succeeding episodes, when the first episode starts, right-click screen -> <Playback> -> <chapters> and select chapter that corresponds to the episode wanted. I find episode 2 to be 11 and 3 to be 21.

Try it.

Regards to all and thanks for your interest and help.

jackowens

[DB83]

It is a 'fix'. But it is not a solution. How would you genereally know which chapter to select ?

Dare I say it but there appears to be a certain amount of reluctance to answer the most basic questions that have been put. Answers to which may provide a real solution and not a quick fix.

[Deter]

If the DVD has lets say 4 episodes, I would just rip the DVD and get the 4 mpeg2 files and either put them on a hard drive or re-issue the DVD. (That is if the DVD doesn't work)

[jackowens]

Dear BD83,

"It is a 'fix'. But it is not a solution."

It's the best I've been able to come up with so far; it works for me. Does anyone have anything better?

"How would you genereally know which chapter to select ?"

One just has to explore, dividing the number of chapters by the number of episodes, but once determined one knows what chapter to select for the next playing.

But, again, does anyone have a better way of playing the DVD as issued?

Regards,

jackowens

[DB83]

Read the topic, the whole topic, again. There are more suggestions of 'better'

So why do you not answer the questions as asked ? It is not rocket science.

The chapter fix can only work if each episode is split equally. That is not how dvds are typically chaptered. They are usually chaptered on varying length scenes. Fixed length chapters are typically the work of a dvd-recorder or basic authoring software. Makes me think all the more that I have been wasting my time on a cheap pirated copy.

Just to prove, or disprove, that, I will obtain a set of these disks from the same source - Amazon UK, official. And I will, for myself. check the chapter breaks. And I will check playback through VLC. I will report back later in the week when I have the disks to hand.

[jimdagys]

So why do you not answer the questions as asked ? It is not rocket science.

Jackowens is from California. He's probably really high on dope, so he can't respond to your questions.
Go easy on him.

[Deter]

As I stated before, rip the DVD and than you have everything that is on it in mpeg2 format. You can than do what ever the hell you want with it.

ISO Buster can pull everything on a DVD and VOB2MPG v3 can rip any DVD.

Well if it is copyrighted than you download DVD43 or ANYDVD

Pretty Easy.......

[DB83]

As I stated before, rip the DVD and than you have everything that is on it in mpeg2 format. You can than do what ever the hell you want with it.

ISO Buster can pull everything on a DVD and VOB2MPG v3 can rip any DVD.

Well if it is copyrighted than you download DVD43 or ANYDVD

Pretty Easy.......

I already suggested to rip the disk(s) in reply #8.

Well I have ordered a set now so I will not offer any more suggestions until I have had a chance to see them in action.

[jackowens]

Dear DB83,

"Have you tried playing these disks through another software dvd player such as Powerdvd ?"

No.

"Can you confirm that this is the exact version you have - check http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smileys-Peop...4425904&sr=8-1"

I don't have the box that the DVD's came in, just the DVD's themselves.

"I also asked you to confirm the precise version you have - cover etc. and can you also confirm if it was Amazon who shipped this to you or it was a market-place transaction."

I bought the discs by mail-order from Amazon in Europe and had them shipped to my son in Paris. He thought they were something he may have ordered and threw away the box. When I asked about the discs, he sent me just the discs in jewel-boxes.

I'll be interested in hearing if you get the same results that I do when you get your copy of the movie.

Regards and thanks to all for your input,

Jack






　

[DB83]

The disks arrived today so here is my report - I will try to keep it brief.

1. From a ripping point of view, they appear to adopt quite a complex system as dvddecrypter, although it stated it as complete, only managed 50 %. I do not have more up-to-date tools as I simply do not rip/archive so I left at that.

2. Using VLC 1.1.7, so I would ask that you also use that in order to follow these notes, I could naviagte just with a mouse from the main menu to the episode selection menu - as you probably noticed there is a dark large arrow below each selection as you go mouse-over.

3. In the episode selection menu I could go mouse-over for episode one and also for 'main menu'. But I could not select either episode two or episode three by a direct mouse-over. The self same thing happened on disk two which holds episodes four, five and six. I bet you are smiling now as you read this since you appear to have been proved right. But please read on.

4. I wanted to completely discount the possibility of badly authored disks so I put disk one in a stand-alone player. On the episode selection menu there is a reaction, albeit quite a slow one (but that could be the player), to the standard navigation keys on the remote and I could move to each episode and play them. So the disk is authored correctly.

5. Back to VLC 1.1.7 now. You have already mentioned one method of navigation. I spotted one other. If you enter the 'playback' menu under 'navigation' you will see six entries. 'Title Two' represents 'Play All' and 'Titles Three, Four, and Five' represent episodes one, two and three. By selecting chapter 1 of each sub-selection you can then play the episode.

As you said, and this bit does surprise me, every episode has 10 chapters + 1 dummy chapter. The chapters are all of varying lengths so someone has gone to a lot of trouble over this. It may well be something to do with the attempted copy protection.

6. But for me, this method of navigation is untidy and there really should be a keyboard method. And there is. So this is what you must do. The first time you enter the episode selection menu you can do mouse-over on episode one. Now using your key-pad hit the right-arrow. The large dark arrow disappears from under episode one. But now go mouse-over on episode two and the arrow now appears under it and a click of the mouse will select the episode and, yeah, it really does play it.

To select episode three you just repeat the steps : right-arrow followed by mouse-over. Navigation from episode two to episode one or episode three to episode two work in exactly the same way except you now use the left-arrow. You could use the right-arrow (as you would have to on a stand-alone) to get to the main menu option but that does work with a simply mouse-over.

This quirk does not appear to be exclusive for VLC as playing the disk in Powerdvd (I have both 7 and 8) there is instant response to just the right or left arrows but, again, no response to just mouse-over.

So, to recap, if you want to use VLC you either do, IMO the untidy, menu navigation or this quirky two step keyboard + mouse method.

I did wonder why this happens and the only thing I can come up with is some visual evidence of switched menus. Also, just like the other BBC disk I have but which did work without quirks, all the content is on vts2. Vts1 is a very small file and there is a possible link here to the dummy chapter at the end of each episode.

Enough of the theory. I have not seen this program for more years than I care to admit to so I will indeed look forward now to watching them.

[Deter]

Oh you are playing these on a computer and not a DVD player?

[DB83]

Oh you are playing these on a computer and not a DVD player?

Elementary my dear Watson. Seems that someone did not read the OP.

[Deter]

Well than as stated before, rip the DVD...Even easier play it on a DVD player...

You have to navigate through root menus and sub menus just click buttons on the mouse. Which ones, no idea. Usually left click or whatever, that is using Windows Media Player. However it can be done, you can pull up the entire DVD. Kind of have had this problem before with the PC, but it was easy to fix and never thought anything of it.

VLC player, I deleted that, didn't like it......

Download or purchase a program that plays DVD's on the PC or better yet buy a DVD player....The Picture Quality is going to be better on the TV anyway.......