My Technique for backing specific titlesets in Linux

[geminidomino]

My first post to dvdrhelp.com: hopefully someone finds it useful.

Information on DVD backups in linux being hard to find on google (due both to scarcity of content and google spammers), if you run into problems following the info that IS available, you're pretty much on your own AFAICT. So in the interest of maybe helping someone out in the future, this is my technique that I developed after 20 hours of research, man pages, and good ol' brute force trial-and-error.

If you have a DVD that you want to back up, but it is too large to copy outright (DVD-9, for example) , you generally have three choices:

1) Transcode it.
2) Split it to multiple discs
3) Backup Only the tilesets you want, getting rid of special features, etc...

I wont go into #1, as that is the most common method shared on the net. In this case, I specifically wanted to avoid that option, as the DVD I want to back up is a rare anime. I often like to watch anime in Japanese with subtitles, but also in english, so I wanted to preserve the audio tracks and subtitles.

I used the following tools:
vobcopy: http://freshmeat.net/projects/vobcopy/
mkisofs 2.0 (included in the /ap/ section of slackware 9.1. Check your distro)
dvdauthor: http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net


dvdbackup(optional): http://dvd-create.sourceforge.net
dvd::rip(optional): http://www.exit1.org/dvdrip/
transcode (required for dvd::rip, optional otherwise):: http://www.theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de/~ostreich/transcode/


First, a note on the tools I labelled optional. Some people prefer vobcopy to dvdbackup. I like vobcopy. YMMV.

Sometimes it's a pain in the neck to identify which titlesets you want to extract, especially in multi-episodic discs. For this, I personally use dvd::rip.I find that the extra time spent ripping twice would be spent anyway when I screwed up and ripped the wrong titleset. However, if I try to use the VOBs copied from it directly (Skipping the VOBCOPY step) dvdauthor screams and dies horribly, usually ending up in a segfault. Again, YMMV.


So, on to the procedure I used:
Assuming a working directory at /home/user/work (this could be wherever you like) and a DVD called Firefly:The Movie (a bit of wishful thinking on my part )

To extract Titlesets 2 and 3:

mkdir /home/user/work/Firefly

Create a working directory for this particular project

mount -t udf /dev/dvd /mnt/dvd

Mount the DVD

vobcopy -o /home/user/work/Firefly -n 2 -l

vobcopy -o /home/user/work/Firefly -n 3 -l

Extract the VOBs from the DVD into one large VOB file (per titleset. I found that dvdauthor tends to choke if I don't make the ubervob. I haven't tested it on multiple VOBs from different titlesets yet. That is next on my list. I will post a followup when I know for sure.) Note, that is a lower-case "L" at the end

dvdauthor -o /home/user/work/Firefly/image /home/user/work/Firefly/*.vob

dvdauthor -T -o /home/user/work/Firefly/image

Use dvdauthor to split the VOBs, generate IFO files, etc.... generally create the DVD structure, then call it to generate a TOC for that structure

mkisofs -dvd-video -udf -o /home/user/work/Firefly/Firefly.dvd.iso

Before burning, I suggest testing it (DVD media is EXPENSIVE). You can do this with the loopback device.

su

] Become root (duh!)

losetup /dev/loop1 /home/user/work/Firefly/Firefly.dvd.iso

Link the loopback device to the iso file using losetup. man losetup for more info.

mplayer -dvd-device /dev/loop1 dvd://

Play the ISO as if it were a DVD. If that works out, then burn it with whichever dvd burning method you prefer (I know of dvdrecord and growfs, and use dvdrecord myself). If you want to split it, to put the special features on a 2nd disc, for example, just repeat as above with the other titlesets.

This works for me on my system, so I thought someone else might find it helpful. I disclaim all responsibility for any and all bad things that might happen from reading this post or following any of the instructions therein, etc... [/code][/url]

[geminidomino]

Self-followup:

Yes, the above technique DID work with the multi-episodic disc. No menus, but the chapters were preserved.

Groovy.