I'm totally stuck "unrecognised message" and other errors

[marinebc11]

Hi its my first attemp usuing ff.
After quite a lot of probs installing... i started trying to turn a video ts. file into an avi file of god quality. there are a few french subtitles and a special features menu i'd like t include if possible.

the problems i ve encountered are many!! I've follwed the tutorial for converting into avi but some of the options and drop menus dont appear on the (latest) version i have ... anyway.

1) when i open the ts. or when i drop it into the from box.. i get unregonised.. and so the video and audio boxes are empy.

2)so therefore when i try to auto crop i get an error message saying the vidoe/ audio is unregonised.

3) i managed to produce something by trying to hit encode - but all i ended up with was a avi of the copyright message !! When i played this avi in my vlc player it closed after the warning and i got an error log.

so..... how can i burn the whole thing with subs as optional and the special features too, whivh i could find no info on?


please help i've not left my computer for a long long time.

i stripped with mac the ripper if thats any use.

also if i drop the ts file onto my vlc directly it plays everything inc. the special features.

ok whew......... thanks.

[marinebc11]

thats good quality!!!!

[redwudz]

I read through your post trying to reason out 'ff'. Then I noticed 'mac the ripper' and saw that you are a Mac user. You would get many more responses by stating clearly what program you are using in your title. And for Mac questions, posting in the Mac forum, or the ffmpegx forum if that's what 'ff' stands for. Moving you to the Mac Forum.

And welcome to our forums.

[marinebc11]

Thanks for the response, the welocome and the move..

[marinebc11]

just to let people know i'm usuing an itel mac book pro, osx10.4, have used mac the rippper to strip the files to ts.

[terryj]

ok, let's take a breath a step back a bit.

With MTR, the latest version which you'll need if
the disc is a commercial (store bought) to
circumvent new protection schemes, or the
current 2.66 release, you should have ripped
the disc as a Main Feature or, as Title Select mode,
the main feature ( movie).

Once you ripped that, that would be all you have,
no extras, no copyright movie, just the content you want.

Once you had that, and test played it in DVD Player to make
sure it's what you want, then you can use visualhub
(my favorite of late), mpegstreamclip, or handbrake to
get your .avi file.

with ffmpegx, there isn't a way to go from Folder of .VOBs
to .avi, without first demuxing the .VOBs and then joining
them, IIRC. This is why I would reccommend something like
say MpegStreamclip, which would open the first .VOB,
ask to open and "join" all the others to make a complete file,
and then you could export that out as an .avi file,
using the Photo-Jpeg-A setting or the 3ivx DR4.51 codec at 95% Quality
to get a high quality avi file. ( audio can be set to 256kpbs
MP3 if you are an audiofile, I ususally keep mine at 192kbps).

Visualhub, you just set it on AVI, drag in the VIDEO_TS folder,
check the "Stitch together" selection, set the target destination,
and go. Set your Quality slider, to the desired quality.

I don't use Handbrake, but someone will probably chime in
on its steps.

[Case]

with ffmpegx, there isn't a way to go from Folder of .VOBs to .avi, without first demuxing the .VOBs and then joining them, IIRC.

There is a way, as long as the user sticks to a mencoder preset. The issue is that ffmpegX can use a variety of decoders, but only the mplayer decoder will take VIDEO_TS folders, and mencoder in ffmpegX uses mplayer for decoding the source file.

[marinebc11]

meh!
bloody hell... not more new programs... i keep downloading more programs and cant get any to work!

I do want all the extras from this dvd.....

so you've both given me conflicting posts.... can i set it on mencoder( how?) and then inport a ts file?

will i be able to keep the subtitles as optional and keep the menus and extra features in ffmegx/mpeg stream clip?

do i need to join the ts files toghther first and then put it in ffmpegx?


sorry for more questions... i'm REALLY a newbie in case you never guessed!!!

Thank you both for answering.

[marinebc11]

i've got a good idea... will you come to london and do it for me!!!

[mhar4]

ffmpegX is a very powerful application, but it can be very finicky. MPEG Streamclip is sweet, though, and should do the job one way or another.

[Case]

I do want all the extras from this dvd.....
will i be able to keep the subtitles as optional and keep the menus and extra features in ffmegx/mpeg stream clip?

One AVI for each DVD title (one for the main feature, one for each extra, subtitles as separate .srt (or idx/sub) files per AVI. That's how AVI works.
If you do want to keep menus and all content as one unit, you're better off sticking with the DVD format, and not convert at all.

i've got a good idea... will you come to london and do it for me!!!

Always wanted to see London some time. You could buy a whole lot of copies of this DVD instead of a ticket for me, tho'...

do i need to join the ts files toghther first and then put it in ffmpegx?

You could join the VOB files from each VTS (video title set) to one file for more flexibility in conversion options, but you don't have to.

can i set it on mencoder (how?) and then inport a ts file?

Install ffmpegX, including the binaries (mplayer, mencoder, mpeg2enc). Launch ffmpegX. Use the Open button to select your VIDEO_TS folder. Then basically follow the How-to on the website.

[terryj]

thanks case for the heads up....


I'm with Case on this one...if you need all that extra stuff,
why not just backup the DVD and use that?
.avi, as well as .mov, .mp4, are for a simple streamlined
end result, such as you just want to watch the movie.
You just want to watch a part of the movie, your favorite part.
perhaps over and over again.
DVD is for all the extra junk and fancy menus, hence a
disc that with its capacity can HOLD all of that stuff.

[marinebc11]

thanks for answering my posts.... sometimes is very hard to get replys on forums, so really tanks.
i'm going to sit down and try again now. I'm trying to keep the specials features etc to up load on karagarga. they're pretty srtict about their uploads though....which is why i'm a bit vexed.
i'll try you're advice and post the results later.

thanksthanksthanks!!

[marinebc11]

OK.. well i followed the tutorial.. though i did this before as well. I made sure that target format was mcoder... it still will not recognise my ts folder. aaaaaggggggghhhh

am never gonna get this done.

case when you say "One AVI for each DVD title (one for the main feature, one for each extra, subtitles as separate .srt (or idx/sub) files per AVI. That's how AVI works. "

can i do all that with ffmegx?
can i do all that in one go?
or do i have to encode all these things seperatly?
how do i know which part is which in the ts. folder? ie. which bit is a subtitle , which bit is an extra etc
becuase all i have to work with is what mac the ripper produced which is a video ts. folder with lots of different numbered bits of paper. and i cant get ffmpeg to even regonise that!! maybe i stripped the dvd wrong?


bloody hell this is killing me.

[Case]

OK.. well i followed the tutorial.. though i did this before as well. I made sure that target format was mcoder... it still will not recognise my ts folder.

If you ripped the DVD correctly, then Apple DVD Player should be able to play it. If Apple DVD Player can play it, then the VIDEO_TS folder is very likely to be okay. If you installed ffmpegX correctly, then it should have no problem recognizing a valid VIDEO_TS folder. Please verify the rip by trying Apple DVD Player, File > Open, select your ripped VIDEO_TS folder, press Choose, press the Play button () on the console.

case when you say "One AVI for each DVD title (one for the main feature, one for each extra, subtitles as separate .srt (or idx/sub) files per AVI. That's how AVI works."
can i do all that with ffmegx? can i do all that in one go? or do i have to encode all these things separately?

Yes. No. Yes.

how do i know which part is which in the ts. folder? ie. which bit is a subtitle, which bit is an extra etc
because all i have to work with is what mac the ripper produced which is a video ts. folder with lots of different numbered bits of paper. and i cant get ffmpeg to even regonise that!! maybe i stripped the dvd wrong?

You'll have know a little bit about the DVD structure. Each feature is a Title (not to be confused with the movie name), and has a number. A DVD with one main feature and two extras will have 3 titles. To convert your feature 1, 2 or 3, select the corresponding title. The main feature is usually Title 1, but it doesn't have to be.

[terryj]

God Almighty!!

......to up load on karagarga. they're pretty srtict about their uploads though....

If you HAVE to have all the crap, and not just the main feature, then just upload the rip of the DVD, in an .iso format.

your site, allows for this:
Rules of upload

just take the ripped DVD from MTR, and launch disc utility,
and select New Disc Image from folder. Select the ripped output. Select 4.7GB DVD, name it save it.
Make a torrent for it, upload the torrent.

geez, why makes this any harder than you have to?
The site accepts DVD Rips, upload the rip as a disc image,
tell people it is a .dmg of a DVD Rip in the description
of the file, complete with all the crap, and that they can unpack
it and burn it using Toast, Easy CD/DVD Creator or Nero.

geez........this isn't the old days of Usenet. Torrents are meant for large files.
upload the bloody thing and be done with it then.

[marinebc11]

ok... well the dvd player will not open the ts file, but if i drop it into my vlc it does. ... i think the problem lies here....? i used mtr maybe i set it wrong.. am going to have a fiddle now

[marinebc11]

wowow! keep your hair on. i've no idea about these things... i'm trying to learn and i want to put the best thing i can on there. most of the files i ve downloaded are not disk img. i wouldnt know what to do with one myself even. Most things i get are avi's are ready o play.
... ihave to learn some time

[marinebc11]

any way... beceause the ts folder wouldt play in in the mac dvd player i re stripped it.... and it still wont play!!!!!?????
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

sorry please be patient with me... what can i do now?

[Case]

Try ripping by title, instead of the whole disc. This would output one big VOB file for each time you extract a title, which then can be format-shifted (converted).

[marinebc11]

thanks.. will try it now.

[terryxpress]

I think terryj is on to it. I've had to come at this problem thru a different door, converting Pal to NTSC, when software "with one click" DON'T do it in one click, or at all.
To get from separate vob files to Avi:
I use MTR whole disc extraction, then DVD2OneX movie extraction. Then I have to load all vobx.x files in D-Vision (free) to convert into one large vob file. Then I have to load this into MPEGStreamClip, specifically use the Remove Time Codings feature from the Menu itself, (not just the 'removal' it does with the prompt message it gives) - I won't go into what happens otherwise), and then use its Save to Avi function. (I then use the target movie.avi for my purposes.)
The problem here that needs to be clarified for marinebc and me is : he wants to include subtitles, which are separate from the actual movie vobs, since one can choose for them to play from the Menu as the original disc plays ie they're not imbedded into/an integral part of the movie proper) using its inbuilt house-keeping files.) Are subtitles in some (separate) vob form on a rip of the whole disc???. In other words, it's (relatively) easy (as above) to convert vob to avi, but how does one include the subtitles? If they ARE in vob form, and are chosen along with the others, does this in effect embed them into the movie when you combine all the vobs??? Terryj seems to indicate that his method, not needing all this Avi conversion, will work and be acceptable for uploading.

[terryj]

If the GOP structure is such that, then the subs will be hard encoded.

When using MTR, go to TITLE mode, select the TITLE you want,
and turn on the language you want, and then the subtitles
you want, and then rip. If the GOP is such that say,
you rip the title with English subs and the GOP says "always on",
then they will be "always on". But some mastering houses
make it so that the GOP for subs are selectable, and thus
they won't embed into an avi when making it through Streamclip
from the VOB. ( I tried)
The only way at this point is to either (a) demux everything and
put it all together ( not pretty) or, "hijack" the VOB, through
DVD Player or VLC, using iSquint, and with the subs on,
record them into a new file where they'll be burnt in.
( much faster and easier). But you will trade a little on quality.

which is why I say for all this trouble, just upload the .dmg of the DVD.