IFOedit: A BLOG WITH USEFUL INFO ON JOINING

[Krelmaneck]

Yes. This is a blog. I did not mean for it to be a blog. But it just ended up that way. So if you just want to help people, please go on to the next post. But if you have to read about how I learned something about IFOEDIT, please do read on. This is a crossbreed topic between general video discussion and personal off topic stuff. I can do both in the same post.

PS--before I start my BLOG I just want to give KUDOS to the makers of TITLEWRITER. I will talk about that later on with this topic of IFOEDIT.



AS OF 4:35 AM I JUST REALIZED THAT TITLEWRITER IS IN THE TOOLS SECTION AFTER ALL. LATER IN THIS POST I SAID IT WOULD BE GOOD TO ADD BUT IT IS ALREADY HERE.



I like freeware because it is free and would like to make the use out of free video applications. Recently I have been trying to figure out how to ADD A MOVIE using IFOEDIT. It is complicated because it was not made for that. I did some googling and I found:


ONE GUIDE ON THIS FORUM. YES THERE IS A GUIDE HERRE.

And it was not a bad guide, but you have to find a good Menu maker or purchase some good software. Yes, there is DVDauthorgui. But I wanted to see if I could do it with IFOEDIT.


I did more googling.

I found a really short POST on digital digest that ACTUALLY WORKS. I do not know the author of the post. But I want to SHARE INFORMATION with you so other people will not have frustrations with this process. Although, you still might be frustrated because it does not always work THE FIRST TIME AROUND. IFOEDIT is really picky. And even if you follow this process below it may still not work, but may work THE SECOND TIME AROUND. Like I say at the end of this article—it is really weird.


Ok, since verbatim of this persons words is not allowed, I have to use my OWN wording. But I did NOT discover this process—I GOOGLED IT, found out how to do it by reading forums, and now I am sharing it with you. IN fact, the person who wrote the POST on digital digest may actually be using this forum. Again, these are MY WORDS that I am using. He said it in 3 sentences. I say it in about the time you could eat 1 EXTRA HUGE or 5 extra huge HERSHEYS’ candy bars.

But I do want to tell you one more thing. The poster did NOT talk about TITLEWRITER, now that part I just threw in the end so you know you can truly use GOOD FREEWARE and not have to pay HUNDREDS. PS—I hope the author of TITLWRITER continues with its further development and has not stopped it yet like many other great projects.


You guys know about IFOEDIT, right? Right. Of course, you do because otherwise you would not need be reading this article. I seriously doubt you wanted to read my handy dandy stories of my life!

So open the darn thing already and select DVD author……………………

Oh I need to mention one thing that I forgot to mention. When doing this process have your m2v and ac3 files ready. No MPG’s accepted because we are going to MULTIPLEX baby!

I also suggest that you create a folder on your hard drive called c:\…\…\Video_ts because that is where your FIRST MULTIPLEXED VOBSET should do. I also recommend to just have one vob per movie. None of this 5 VOB crap to make one movie. Plus it makes it easier.

Anyhow, do your thing and multiplex your m2v and ac3 using the DVDauthor menu from the IFOEDIT pulldown menu and save this MUXED video in the VIDEO_TS folder. But you already know to do that. PS—Rejig also has this tool but when you used it in rejig, it did not do as great a job as IFOEDIT does even though they execute the same CLI program. So I use IFOEDIT.

Dude, did you want to know how long it took me to get off BBMPEG? A long time! Yes, I have NERO. But Nero does not have a multiplexor. So I have been using the BBMPEG engine for along time. So for the NON-FANS of IFOEDIT, please know this IS a step up FOR ME in using multiplexors. And I admit is does a fine job. Kudos to the creator.


Everything in this VIDEO_TS folder you are going to keep just to let you know—so guard it with your life! Just kidding. But seriously, you will need all these files. DO NOT DELETE ONE OF THEM OR YOU WILL BE SORRY.


. Next you want to create a TEMPORARY FOLDER in a separate directory in your windows desktop—not the IFOedit application.. DO NOT create this temporary folder in your VIDEO_TS folder. That is a no-no. I put my temporary files under c;/demux/temporary vob files. In this temporary folder you will put your second movie here. So if you did not close IFOedit yet, please close it and reopen it to reset it and select DVD Author. And do everything as you did the first time when you multiplexed your first movie’s m2v and ac3, but PLEASE make sure your directory is set to mux in the temporary folder you created. Wait until the process is done and close IFOedit.

If you only had a movie that is ONE VOB you will see something like this in your temporary folder:

TS_Video (Backupfile of the IFO file)
TS_Video (DVD Movie INFO)
VTS_01_0 (Backup file of the IFO)
VTS_01_0 (DVD Movie INFO
VTS_01_1 (DVD Movi)e


Now in your TEMPORARY FOLDER please TRASH the following items:
TS_Video (Backupfile of the IFO file)
TS_Video (DVD Movie INFO)


Now in your TEMPORARY FOLDER, rename, using right click in the windows operating system, all VTS files to 2. So if you had ONE VOB, your new titles would be:

VTS_02_0 (Backup file of the IFO)
VTS_02_0 (DVD Movie INFO)
VTS_02_1 (DVD Movie)

In some versions of windows you might have to write the extension .vob, but most likely you will NOT have to. And the writings next to the VTS stuff are just NOTES --what it says under the file name in the windows explorer—not part of the file name. I think you knew that though.

Guess what? NOW, drag and drop everything into the VIDEO_TS folder. So, if you have two movies that are only 1 VOB each, your VIDEO_TS folder should look something like this:

TS_Video (Backupfile of the IFO file)
TS_Video (DVD Movie INFO)
VTS_01_0 (Backup file of the IFO)
VTS_01_0 (DVD Movie INFO
VTS_01_1 (DVD Movie)
VTS_02_0 (Backup file of the IFO)
VTS_02_0 (DVD Movie INFO)
VTS_02_1 (DVD Movie)

Again, it is VITAL that you DO NOT accidentally throw anything from the above list unless you want to start all over again, which is fine by me. But let us avoid that. Also; it is very important that you DO NOT confuse your VIDEO_TS IFO files. Make sure the one on the above list is from the FIRST MOVIE you muxed together because if you forgot to trash the VIDEO_TS IFO Files from the SECOND MOVIE and this is the VIDEO_TS IFO folder from your SECOND MOVIE, you already SCREWED UP. Now if you are 100 % aware of what you did and did it correctlym then TRASH that empty temporary folder so it does not confuse you. From now on all files will be used from your VIDEO_TS folder.


Now, it is time to FIX the video_ts IFO file. So what you are going to do is open up IFOedit, and open up the VIDEO.TS IFO folder that should be under ……../VIDEO_TS. Do NOT select a vts. Ok. Once you have opened up your video_ts IFO file (and it should not have a problem finding it because it should be the only ifo file available to you with this name in the suggested folder), then it will be time to change some settings.





IN THE UPPER SPACE IN IFOEDIT, PLEASE CLICK ON THE PLUS NEXT TO THE DIRECTORY THAT LEADS TO THE IFO FILE VIDEO_TS.ifo.

NOW IN THE UPPER WINDOW OF THE IFOEDIT application, click the section that says: VMG _VTS _ATRT.

Mouseover and double click on “Number of Video Title Sets and when when the windows pops up enter in 2, or whatever movie this is.


Next SELECT:
“VMG_ PTT_SRPT”

IN THE LOWER SPACE WINDOW OF IFOEDIT, LOOK FOR:

“NUMBER OF TITLE PLAY MAPS”

Mouseover those words and double click. A small window pops up. In the value field you want to enter in “2” Hit OK. This means you will have two menu items. If you have more than 2 movies, write in the total number of movies.


In the same window you will notice that some new data shows below with some new table info.

Please mouseover the words:
“Title_2: playback type”

Double click it and when the small window pops up type in the number 20.



NEXT IN THE UPPER PART OF THE WINDOW UNEXANPAND THE DIRECTORY TREE BY CLICKING ON THE PLUS SO IT JUST BECOMES ONE LINE. This refreshes it.

Now, in the same area EXPAND THE TREE DIRECTORY AGAIN and mouseover “VMG_ PTT_SRPT” where you were. Now just for the heck of it mouseover the same phrase “Title 2: playback type.” Now even though you already typed in the number 20, just double click on it again, and enter in 20, and hit ok. I have strange feeling that the first time I do this whole process, sometimes it doe not work, but it works on he second time around, so I just like reassurance. So I do this anyway.




Now mousover “Number of Angles.” This number can vary depend on the number of angles your movie has. It is most likely 1.. So double click here and when the new window pops up enter in “1” or whatever your movie has.

Now in the same window mouseover: “Title Set Number” Double click and when the window pops up enter in the number 2 and hit ok. The reason for this is because this is the second movie. So if it was your 3rd movie on the disc, then you would enter that number and so on and so forth.

Now in the same window mouseover and double click on “Title set title-number” When the window pops up enter in the number 1. I think and I am NOT SURE this means that the previous movie was the first movie. Hit ok.

Oh and of course mouseover in the same widow to “number of chapters.” Here it is whatever number of chapters is in your second film that you are connecting here. Once the window opens punch in the appropriate number and hit ok.

All right. Wasn’t that fun? Next you want to select


NOW IN THE UPPER WINDOW OF THE IFOEDIT application, click the section that says: VMG _VTS _ATRT.



Mouseover and double click on “ VTS_2:number of audio streams in title(VTSIT_VOBS” and enter in the appropriate number. Mine was 1 stream so I entered in the number 1 and hit ok. If you do not know, I guess it would not hurt to type in the number 1.

Mouseover and double click on “VTS_2: number of subpictures in title.” Quite honestly, I do not know this type of stuff so I just left it as zero. If you know, then you know what to do.

In the UPPER PART of the window you want to mouseover the plus, so the whole tree directory goes to only one line (I guess unexapand it?). Once it is close and you select the first line of the directory, in the lower part of the window, the VMG OVERVIEW stuff is seen below, select the VTS TITLE SET 2 and mouseover and double click on the line that says what the audio is and a new window pops up letting you select AC3(or whatever) and what language your audio is in. By default, the program is set to dutch, so I had to select ENGLISH. Once you are done with correcting anything you could correct in the VMG Overview, then it is time to close the tree directory above so it unexpands.

And sometimes I refresh the directory tree again, just because it sometimes does not work.

Now on the BOTTOM of the application, hit the button SAVE. And save it as what it says “VIDEO_TS” and it will also say something like “do you want to update the bup aswell” hit yes. Now hit the button “get VTS sectors”

A bunch of pop-ups will come up and keep on hitting OK. It is basically updating the IFO file.

Now close IFOedit.

As a test, open up your application for DVD players, such as Nero or PowerDVD, and see when you hit the next button see if it goes to the next chapter, if it does YOU ADDED A SECOND FILM/MOVIE USING IFOEDIT.


Again, for some reason the first time I do this process it does not always work, but I do it a second time and it works. It is VERY WEIRD how that works out.



So now, the cool thing is that you have a video_ts file so you could stop here or you could download the program: TITLEWRITER. It IS in the downloads section on this website after all.


All you have to do is open up this application and lead to to where all your IFO and VOB files for your movie are and it will allow you to start making MENUS. Now, it is a nice menu editor but it has BUTTONS it automatically PUTS on your DVD MENU even if you do not have that feature—such as a menu for second audio track or whatever. The second thing is that your VIDEOS are AUTOMATICALLY linked to the menu as you make it. And once you make the menu , you can save or update the IFO file and you do not have to do anything more in the means of changing numbers in IFOEDIT. But one thing you can do is just for reassurance is open up the IFO in IFOEDIT and if you want to save it and do VTS sectors again just for the heck of it, that is fine. But the thing that is NICE about IFOEDIT is that it has a create image selection. So once you actually make the ISO with IFOEDIT, you can just burn it with DVD decrypter.


So as you see guys, you really DO NOT have to MAKE DUMMY FILES after all. And when you are using TITLEWRITER, IT will DO the complicated work for you of working the menu into your IFO file, so you do not have to do nothing. The add menu options wsd a little confusing at first, but after awhile you will get a hang out of it.

[usually_quiet]

"TITLEMAKER" was used instead of "Title Writer" in a few places, which is somewhat confusing.

This is very convoluted procedure if its purpose is to create a playable DVD (that uses titlesets and has a menu) from demultiplexed streams. Using an authoring program that accepts demultiplexed streams as sources and supports menu creation plus titlesets would be a far more straightforward way of doing the same thing.

[Krelmaneck]

"TITLEMAKER" was used instead of "Title Writer" in a few places, which is somewhat confusing.

This is very convoluted procedure if its purpose is to create a playable DVD (that uses titlesets and has a menu) from demultiplexed streams. Using an authoring program that accepts demultiplexed streams as sources and supports menu creation plus titlesets would be a far more straightforward way of doing the same thing.

Regarding the first sentence: Oh, I bet it IS confusing. Welcome to my world! I corrected each word that I typed out as titlemaker and rewrote it as TITLEWRITER.


Regarding the next section: don't be so critical. There have been quite a few people who have wanted to use IFOedit including myself not knowing how to start from scratch from IFOedit. But you can start from scratch. It says it is a basic DVD authoring application.

[usually_quiet]

"TITLEMAKER" was used instead of "Title Writer" in a few places, which is somewhat confusing.

This is very convoluted procedure if its purpose is to create a playable DVD (that uses titlesets and has a menu) from demultiplexed streams. Using an authoring program that accepts demultiplexed streams as sources and supports menu creation plus titlesets would be a far more straightforward way of doing the same thing.

Regarding the first sentence: Oh, I bet it IS confusing. Welcome to my world! I corrected each word that I typed out as titlemaker and rewrote it as TITLEWRITER.


Regarding the next section: don't be so critical. There have been quite a few people who have wanted to use IFOedit including myself not knowing how to start from scratch from IFOedit. But you can start from scratch. It says it is a basic DVD authoring application.

Grow up. Learn to accept a little mild criticism. Your title is confusing too, by the way. I thought I would be reading something about joining files, as in editing, not something about making a DVD compilation.

IFOEdit includes basic authoring for making menu-less DVDs. It is also great for correcting mistakes in IFOs. I use it frequently for both things. Title Writer isn't really an authoring ap either. It is for adding a menu to an existing set of DVD files, particularly those produced by DVD Shrink in re-author mode, and for making a DVD_TEXT folder.

If this were a real guide to using either IFOEdit or Title Writer for their intended purposes, I would be happier with it but it isn't.