Newbie unable to get prgrams to work

[Privateer189]

Hello. I'm a newbie who has been trying to convert his DVD collection to digital formats for viewing on the PC. So far, however, I haven't been able to get a single program to do the job. Both FairUse and AutoGordian Knot freeze up the system in a matter of minues, and I cannot get TempEnc to accept the files I make with DVD2AVI (either version). About the only thing that has gone as planned was ripping the files to disk using DVD Decrypter.

As I've said, TempEnc won't even accept the file. DVDx (I believe) tells me that it has too big of a sample file, but I've tried everything both it and various guides suggest (changing aspect and changing Fps settings), and it still won't work. It will only process about the first five minutes of the DVD.

I've been tinkering with these programs for the past four days, and I can't get any result out of them. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[pyscrow]

Wht not just view the DVD's from the DVD drive? Or your DVD player software may play the ripped VOB's. Otherwise try VOBedit to demux, then feed the resulting files to TMPGenc.

[tweedledee]

Virtual Dub Mod will play VOB's, but why view a collection of movies in this way?

[Suntan]

Here is a copy of a post I made on a different forum for encoding to a pocket PC but quickly edited where needed (so if something doesn't seem to fit let me know) Also, you will need the OggDS filter on your computer which can be found at Doom9 with the other programs and finally, I would suggest using zoomplayer for desktop playback, although pretty much any software player will work if the codecs are installed properly.

And O yeah, watching a collection movies this way kicks ass 8) all the movies are at your fingertips without even having to get up to get the DVD...


You will need the following:

DVDecrypter 3.1.9.0 Found Here: http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm

DVD2AVI 1.77.3 Found Here: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd2avi.cfm

VFAPIConv-1.05-EN Found Here: http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm

Virtualdub 1.5.10 Found Here: http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm

Headac3he 0.23a Found Here: http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm

OggMux 0.9.5.0 Found Here: http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm

Xvid 1.0 RC4 Codec Found Here: http://koepi.roeder.goe.net/xvid.shtml

Not all programs need to be installed (for example Vdub, OggMux, DVD2AVI and Headac3he) however, after unzipping VFAPIConv-1.05-EN you need to double click on “vifpset.bat” to register it, otherwise Vdub will not open the AVI file you make in Step C.

Step A) Ripping the DVD with DVDecrypter
1)Insert DVD
2)Select Tools->Settings…->IFO Mode->Click “Chapter Information-OGG”
3)Select Mode->IFO
4)Select Stream Processing tab->Click "Enable Stream Processing"
5)Select the video stream and the first audio stream aka unselect all of the others (if you want the main English audio track) or any of the other audio streams (if you want director's commentary, etc.)
6)Click "Direct Stream Copy"
7)Select a folder to place the Vobs
8)Rip DVD -> Come back 20 min later

Step B) Demux the AC3 file and create a d2v file with DVD2AVI
1)Open one of the vobs created in Step A (by default DVDecrypter will break the vob into files of 1gb or less for hardrives not formatted in NTFS (win98se, etc.)
2)Click “OK” when it asks to add the additional vobs
3)Select Audio->Output Method->Demux all Tracks (AC3,MPA,DTS)
4)Select Video->Color Space->RGB 24-bit
5)Select Video->Field Operation->None
6)Check for a Progressive Encoded DVD and whether or not “Forced Film” is needed.
A)Press F5 and wait until the preview gets into the main movie
B)Look at the Frame Rate within the preview window and follow the instructions below depending on what you see. The Following is taken directly from the Doom9 guide: http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2avi.htm

Frame Rate = 25.000 fps: your source is PAL. If the frame type is Interlaced, start the preview again and watch closely if you see no horizontal black lines going through the picture then the frames are actually progressive and you're already done here. If there are such black lines, try changing the field order by selecting Video - Field Operation - Swap Field Order and run the preview again. If you can still see horizontal lines reset the Field Operation to None, otherwise leave it as it is.
Frame Rate = 20.000 fps: your source is PAL and you have Forced Film activated. Set Field Operations to None to get the correct framerate.
Frame Rate = 29.970 fps: Let the preview run for a couple of minutes, then take a look at the Video Type: If it's FILM at a percentage higher or equal to 95% or if it only shows FILM you can activate Forced FILM as shown below. Otherwise you will have to perform IVTC (that process will be explained later on).
Frame Rate = 23.976 fps: This is the result of activating Forced FILM for an NTSC movie. If the Video Type is FILM or FILM at a percentage higher or equal to 95% you're all set. If the percentage is lower or the type is NTSC then you have to set Field Operation to None and perform IVTC

C) If IVTC is needed it can be done with this method, however it is more detailed and you really need more info than I can give on a Howto (Hint: Check out www.Doom9.org)
7)Crop off the end credits (if you want to)
A)Move the slider all the way to the left
B)Hit “<” button a few times to make sure you are at the beginning
C)Hit the “[“ button
D)Move the slider most of the way to the right (until the End Credits show)
E)Use the slider and the “<” and “>” buttons to find the start of the end credits
F)Hit the “]” button
8)Select File->Save Project (give it a name like “MovieXX”)
9)Wait about 4 minutes

Step C) Setup Framserving with VFAPI
1)Click “Add Job” (Open the d2v file created in Step B)
2)Click “OK”
3)Click “Convert”

Step D) Encode Video Stream with Vdub
1)Select File->Open Video File…
2)Open the AVI file created in Step C (Should look something like “MovieXX_d2v_vfapi.avi”)
3)Select Audio->No Audio
4)Select Video->Full Processing Mode
5)Select Video->Filters Then “Add…”
A)Scroll Down and Select “Null Transform” then “OK”
B)With “Null Transform” Selected Click “Cropping…”
C)Move the slider to a bright frame and set the crop points to eliminate any black border then Click OK
**Edited**
6)Press Ctrl-P
7)Scroll down and highlight “Xvid MPEG-4 Codec” then Click “Configure”
8)Configure Xvid for the first pass (Leave all settings at their default except as stated)
A)Select “Twopass-1st pass” from the “Encoding Type:” dropdown list
B)Click “More…” next to “AS @ L5”
**Edited**
E)Uncheck “Packed bitstream”
F)Click “OK”
G)Click “Advanced Options…”
H)Select “4-Wide Search” in the “VHQ mode:” dropdown list
I)Check “Turbo”
J)Select the “Quantization” Tab
K)Change the Min I P and B frame Quantizers from 1 to 2
L)Check “Trellis quantization”
M)Select the “Debug” Tab
**Edited**
O)Uncheck Display encoding status
P)Click the “Oks” three times
9)Save the first pass
A)Press F7
B)Give the movie a name like “MovieXX Video Stream”
C)Check “Don’t run this job now; add it to job control so I can run it in batch mode”
D)Click “OK”
10)Press Ctrl-P then Configure
11)Configure Xvid for the second pass (Leave all settings at their default except as stated)
A)Select “Twopass-2nd pass” from the “Encoding Type:” dropdown list
B)Add a size in the “Target size” space, or Click on the “target size” button and input a target bitrate (I usually use a bitrate of about 1500 but YMMV)
C)Click “OKs” two times
12)Save the second pass
A)Press F7
B)Check “Don’t run this job now; add it to job control so I can run it in batch mode”
C)Click “OK”
13)Run the two passes
A)Press F4
B)Click “Start”
C)Optionally, you can check Options->”Shutdown when finished” before you press start if you want the computer to automatically shut down after it is done encoding the video

Step E) Encoding the Audio Stream with Headac3he
1)Open Headac3he v0.23a
2)Click "Source File" button then open the AC3 file you demuxed in step B
3)Select "Vorbis" from the Destination Format dropdown menu
**Edited**
5)Click on "Options" tab
6)Select "Stereo" or Surround or Surround2 from the Downmix Type pulldown menu (surround and surround 2 will give you Prologic & Prologic II respectively)
7)Click on "Options" tab again
8)Use up/down arrows to select "Quality" (I use 4 for 2 CD desktop copy movies the choice is yours)
9)Click "Start"
10)Get sandwich then come back (headac3he will automatically put the Ogg file in the same folder as the AC3 file)

Step F) Mux the Ogg Vorbis audio stream, Xvid video stream and Chapter list with OggMux
1)Open OggMux 0.9.5.0
2)Click on "..." next to Movie blank
3)Select the Xvid video stream
4)Click on "..." in the Soundtracks section
5)Select the Ogg Vorbis audio stream you created in step E
6)Click on the "Add" button within the Soundtracks section
7)Click “Import List” and select the chapter list you created in Step A
7)Click on "..." in the Output section
8)Give the movie a name
9)Click the "Mux File!" button

[Privateer189]

Why view them in this manner? Multiple reasons. Number one, so that they be stored on removable media and shifted from one machine to another even if it has no DVD drive. Also, as long as it is a file, then I can tinker with it, change aspect ratio and what not, without it taking up quite as much HD space as the vobs.

Thanks, Suntan. I'll try that and get back to you.

Quick update in case the suggestion doesn't work: I finally made DVDx work, but like the others it froze the machine in about 15 minutes.

[Privateer189]

Suntan, the VFAPI won't recognize the d2v extension.

Also, TEMPGEnc gave me the error "Cannot load PIII.dll" or something similar. What does that mean?

[Suntan]

Did you execute the "vifpset.bat" file? You need to so it will register Vfapi.

Another possibility, if you are using a version other then dvd2avi 1.77.3 and you pick (1.7.6) output Vfapi will not load that. Pick the other save project as option.

As for TEMPGEnc, that wasn't part of my howto so I can't help you there (I barely use it) other than check out this link http://www.doom9.org/mpg/vfp-faq.htm

Let me know if that helps.

-Suntan