Re-authoring DVD project [Update: DVDSP and video formats]

[C_S]

Ok, I'm trying to tackle a pretty big project here... It involves:

a.] Ripping single-layered DVD to hard drive [COMPLETED]
b.] Creating English subtitle track [INCOMPLETE]
c.] Creating DVD menus and burning newly created subtitle track with DVD files [INCOMPLETE]

Ripping the DVD was easy... But I have no idea how to go about creating a subtitle track to import into DVD Studio Pro [ver. 2.] I have both TitleLab and STLEdit 1.4, but I am not sure which to use. I am assuming TitleLab is the better choice because it has an 'Export to DVD Studio Pro' option.

As I create a subtitle track, how can I view the ripped DVD files to get the timing right? I know I can play VOBs in MPlayer or VLC, but neither of these players display the timecode as xx;xx;xx;xx (they don't display frame numbers, in other words.) How do I test the subtitles as I get further along?

Also important to note is that the DVD does include subtitle files for both Japanese and Korean, but I cannot use that timecode because I will undoubtedly have to change a few things.

EDIT: Or, creating subtitles WITHIN DVDSP:

Is this more effecient than creating subtitles in a different program? What are the advantages / disadvantages?

Also important... What do I need to do to the VOB files before I can import them into DVD Studio Pro? DVDSP does not support importing VOBs directly, and I do not wish to lose any video quality... So what do I do? What should I re-encode them as?

I do have more questions, but I should probably take this one step at a time.

Thanks a million for the help.

[thoughton]

I'm afraid you haven't made as much progress as you thought - you're going to have to re-do step 1 You probably want to rip the movie as a single giant vob (YadeX or 0sex) and then demux it (ffmpegX). The demuxed video and audio should be accepted by DVDSP. Alternatively there are a raft of conversion to DV apps (DropDV etc) out there, that approach should also work (but I have no experience with them).

Sorry no clue about subtitles. Good luck!

[C_S]

Ok, that helps. But how can I demux the VOB without losing any quality? Any tips?

Thanks a lot.

[deadsierra]

Ok, that helps. But how can I demux the VOB without losing any quality? Any tips?

Thanks a lot.

Demuxing doesn't affect quality.

[C_S]

Ignore that.. I wasn't thinking straight.

I've got my .m2v after demuxing in ffmpegx, but no audio... Do I have to actually encode the original VOB to get an audio stream? Can I do the audio by itself? [I tried it, but it didn't work...]

[Maybe the title of this thread should be: what am I doing wrong now?]

Thanks for all the help... I'm not used to all this just yet.

[thoughton]

Do you know what sort of audio your vob contains?

[C_S]

One plain old stereo track [PCM 2ch 16b, 48khz.]

[terryj]

No what he means is,
is your audio AC3 ( most likely)
or is it AIFF ( unlikely)?
Open this audio file in QT and what does the Get Info say?
If QT won't open it, it is most likely AC3, and you will need
mAC3dec to create an AIFF of it, as it might not be in spec.

Here are the steps I would have taken for step one.
Rip the DVD using OSEX as Elementary streams
Open DVDSP2, tried to import both assets.
.m2v should go fine. if the audio gets an error, then
use try to use mAC3dec to convert to AIFF 16bit 2Channel 48khz.
If mAC3dec can't handle the file, then I would
go back to the VOB, and play the VOB through
[hijacked] VLC, using Audio Hijack Pro to record the
audio to a new AIFF 16bit 2Channel 48khz file.

Then I would import the audio into DVDSP, so long as it didn't
exceed a certain size, such as 1.2 GB. If it does, then I would
process it with A.PACK, and get a smaller AC3 2channel uncompressed
48khz file.

Then, import and set up in DVDSP2.

As for your subtitle question, its really simple as it has to do with
creating overlays. The DVDSP2 help file talks about this,
you can get more info there.

[C_S]

Ok, my mistake... I did not use elementary when I first backed up the DVD with 0SEx. I used progressive. That is why it did not create an audio file along with the .m2v. [Numerous .ac3 files were deposited in the destination folder as the DVD was being ripped in the progressive format, but they were all 0kb and disappeared as soon as the DVD was done being backed up.]

I'm re-ripping using the elementary format now.

[EDIT: I am now converting the AC3 file as an AIFF with mAC3... The .m2v is fine and in DVDSP. Once the AIFF is done, this step should finally be done. +_+]


Thanks yet again for the quick responses.

[thoughton]

Sounds good. I'm not actually sure why we need to convert the ac3 to aiff, I would have just used the ac3 in dvdsp, but hey, if it ain't broke ...

[C_S]

Sounds good. I'm not actually sure why we need to convert the ac3 to aiff, I would have just used the ac3 in dvdsp, but hey, if it ain't broke ...

Ack. Another problem. Well, 0SEx gave me a .PCM when I ripped the DVD in Elem. format... and DVDSP did not accept the .PCM.

And it turns out mAC3 gave me a busted .aiff after converting the .PCM. [A 6.6MB file with nothing but noise...]

Using Audio Hijack Pro seems a little inefficient... Any ideas?

[willrob]

Use Soundhack. All you need to do is change the header and it will save as AIFF.

[TugBoat]

Using Audio Hijack Pro seems a little inefficient... Any ideas?

Have you tried extracting the streams with YadeX verses 0SEx? I've never had any problems with the streams from YadeX.

[C_S]

YadeX gives me a similar .PCM file [though a little larger? huh?]... And mAC3 gives me the same result when I try to convert it -- a busted file.

willrob - About this Soundhack... All I have to do is change the settings in Hack > Header Change? [I would presume to - Sample Rate: 48000, Channels: 2, Encoding: 16 Bit Linear?] And how would I save it? But the file does not play in the program, anyway...

EDIT: If it makes any difference, mAC3 is reading the .PCM as a 48khz dual mono AC-3.

[thoughton]

If the Soundhack thing doesn't work you could try PCMtoAIFF
http://home.comcast.net/~appleguru/

[TugBoat]

Does seem strange that you keep getting a 'busted' file. I assume you've tried the PCM in ffmpegX using the preset 'audio file to anything'?

ah, a dual mono AC3 is not a PCM....

[C_S]

If the Soundhack thing doesn't work you could try PCMtoAIFF
http://home.comcast.net/~appleguru/

Perfect. I finally have a working AIFF.

[Believe it or not, only the .PCM file ripped by YadeX converts properly... The .PCM obtained through 0SEx has constant noise after being converted to an AIFF.]

Glad that is finally over. Time to finally move on to the good stuff.

I truly appreciate all the info. Thanks everyone.

[terryj]

Sounds good. I'm not actually sure why we need to convert the ac3 to aiff, I would have just used the ac3 in dvdsp, but hey, if it ain't broke ...

as you can see by the later subsequent posts, this is why...!


And for all that bouncing through two other programs,
(Soundhack and Yade X) had you just
used Audio Hijack Pro, you could have been done sooner..?

But i'm glad you got your files.
Your welcome for the help.

[C_S]

Quick question regarding video formats and DVD Studio Pro:

Since this .m2v is fairly hefty at 50 minutes, my system experiences just enough slowdown that setting subtitles and testing them is not as accurate as it could be.

If I had a lower quality video file as a placeholder for the current .m2v, DVDSP would not chug as hard as I run and test the subs. But what kind of video file can I encode that DVDSP will accept and won't kill my system?

[MacFan]

Easy way to do all of this in DVDSP.

First we need to know what version of DVDSP you are using?
If it is below 2 than the subtitles are different from the 2 version and upwards.

First things first: Ripping a dvd use the freeware app called Extractor, or get the shareware version of Cinematize. Ripping a DVD is easy with those two apps and it doesn't take much time either than using other apps for encoding. Note: Cinematize does handle PCM and DTS better otherwise use extractor this is the fastest vob demuxer there is. There will be a m2v and a ac3 file, make sure it is in one peace saves alot of problems.

Subtitles: When downloading subs open it in Titlelab and make a rough sync of it and save it as subs for dvdsp. The file than is a .txt file that can be imported straight in dvdsp 1.5, if you want to import it in dvdsp 2 and up you need to do some work first. Open the file in your texteditor and replace the space between the time codings by a comma and replace

by a | sign. This is enough and save the file, if and only if you can also add information about where you want the subs be placed or what font you want to use.
Like: $FontName = Comic Sans MS
$FontSize = 24
$Bold = True
$HorzAlign = Center

This is not nessesary since you also can do this within DVDSP 2 and up.

When having Synching problems use SubSyncX, just place a subs at the beginning and at the end for synching and SubSyncX does the rest.