How to convert a multi-feature DVD to DivX/XviD with ease using freeware

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

How to convert a multi-feature DVD+/-R to DivX/XviD with ease using free software

The guide has can be found: HERE

[festmaster]

Well done. I do alot of Xvid conversion of episodic TV shows for my laptop and handheld as I do extensive travelling for my job. I have two different methods that I favor, both of which use different tools than you describe. I would not say better, just different. I like to rip with either DVDShrink or SmartRipper (an ancient ripper that has some nice features), and then I like to use avi.net over AutoGK for speed converting the files to Xvid.

Good job writing the guide.

[Reginald476]

Thank you for this this was both simple and free! I just wanted to say to speed up the ripping proccess I created a batch file ( I am not sure how complicated this would be to explain) but I found that it was nice to put in a disk and walk away come back after 20 minsa and change disks

This is what I have:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Starting Batch Proccess
ECHO Ripping episode 1
"c:\program files\dvd decrypter\dvddecrypter.exe" /MODE IFO /SRC G: /DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e17" /VTS 1 /PGC 2 /SPLIT NONE /START /CLOSE /NAMING PGC
ECHO Ripping episode 2
"c:\program files\dvd decrypter\dvddecrypter.exe" /MODE IFO /SRC G: /DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e18" /VTS 1 /PGC 3 /SPLIT NONE /START /CLOSE /NAMING PGC
ECHO Ripping episode 3
"c:\program files\dvd decrypter\dvddecrypter.exe" /MODE IFO /SRC G: /DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e19" /VTS 1 /PGC 4 /SPLIT NONE /START /CLOSE /NAMING PGC
ECHO Disk 5 is Finished
PAUSE

You can add as many of these as you like and run it from the command line.

All anyone would need to change is the "/SRC G:", to what ever drive leter yours is, and the "/DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e17"", to where your files are going to be stored. The other two things are the "/VTS" and "/PGC" these will depend on your DVD so if it is all the same series it should be the same but I would check the disk to see prior to ripping.

If you would like to add any of this you are more than welcome to, your guide was helpful, it would be nice to have the info all in one place.

-Reg

[Methanoid]

Great guide... Q: How does AutoGK cope with widescreen or full screen titles, trimming off bars from letterboxed material or badly sized stuff or with resizing anamorphic 720*576 into say 640*352 Xvid ?

[kschang]

From what I remember, AutoGK takes the first few seconds of the film and runs a black space analysis, and comes up with an auto-crop value, that'll trim the black bars. But you can customize that in the options, I think.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

Great guide... Q: How does AutoGK cope with widescreen or full screen titles, trimming off bars from letterboxed material or badly sized stuff or with resizing anamorphic 720*576 into say 640*352 Xvid ?

Just to back up kschang's comment:

AutoGK will maintain the aspect ratio, following the information it receives from DGIndex (which is one of the applications that comes bundled with, and is used by, AutoGK). If DGIndex, for some reason, detects an incorrect aspect ratio it is possible to override it using the "Aspect ratio" setting within the 'Hidden Options' (Press Ctrl & F9 in AutoGK to access). So, if the source is mis-detected as 4:3 or 16:9 then you have a choice of manually setting the correct aspect ratio.

AutoGK also auto-crops the black space that you sometimes find in the margin of DVD video, but it still maintains the aspect ratio!

So, using this 4:3 example and using the same settings as in this guide:

This 720x576 .VOB:



...would become this 640x480 .AVI:



It may appear to you, in this example, that AutoGK has cropped more from the top and the bottom than the left and the right, but this is correct as there was a lot of black on the left and right in this .VOB, so AutoGK has had to crop a similar amount from the top and bottom to maintain the aspect ratio, else the video have would become "squashed" (for want of a better term).

It is possible to tune the auto-crop feature, by the way, from within the hidden options (which I mentioned just now), but personally I find the defaults work perfectly.

[jimmalenko]

Thank you for this this was both simple and free! I just wanted to say to speed up the ripping proccess I created a batch file ( I am not sure how complicated this would be to explain) but I found that it was nice to put in a disk and walk away come back after 20 minsa and change disks

This is what I have:

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Starting Batch Proccess
ECHO Ripping episode 1
"c:\program files\dvd decrypter\dvddecrypter.exe" /MODE IFO /SRC G: /DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e17" /VTS 1 /PGC 2 /SPLIT NONE /START /CLOSE /NAMING PGC
ECHO Ripping episode 2
"c:\program files\dvd decrypter\dvddecrypter.exe" /MODE IFO /SRC G: /DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e18" /VTS 1 /PGC 3 /SPLIT NONE /START /CLOSE /NAMING PGC
ECHO Ripping episode 3
"c:\program files\dvd decrypter\dvddecrypter.exe" /MODE IFO /SRC G: /DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e19" /VTS 1 /PGC 4 /SPLIT NONE /START /CLOSE /NAMING PGC
ECHO Disk 5 is Finished
PAUSE

You can add as many of these as you like and run it from the command line.

All anyone would need to change is the "/SRC G:", to what ever drive leter yours is, and the "/DEST "C:\_Installs\Working\Smallville\Smallville S2e17"", to where your files are going to be stored. The other two things are the "/VTS" and "/PGC" these will depend on your DVD so if it is all the same series it should be the same but I would check the disk to see prior to ripping.

If you would like to add any of this you are more than welcome to, your guide was helpful, it would be nice to have the info all in one place.

Maybe https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1373527#1373527 explains it more comprehensively ?

[Karen Navratil]

Karen Navratil here, What a great "HOW TO" you made!!! I wonder if someday you can
make up a "HOW TO" on converting VOB shows recorded from TV and commercials edited
out to DivX/Xvid. I've tried DivX convertor, Dr. DivX and a few others and they all come
out looking very poor, sound is not sync to picture by 2 to 8 seconds and for a 1 hr.30 minute
movie I get file sizes from 300 MB to 1,500 MB. I'm new to all this encoding and pulling
my hair out. - Tks Karen

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

Karen Navratil here, What a great "HOW TO" you made!!! I wonder if someday you can
make up a "HOW TO" on converting VOB shows recorded from TV and commercials edited
out to DivX/Xvid. I've tried DivX convertor, Dr. DivX and a few others and they all come
out looking very poor, sound is not sync to picture by 2 to 8 seconds and for a 1 hr.30 minute
movie I get file sizes from 300 MB to 1,500 MB. I'm new to all this encoding and pulling
my hair out. - Tks Karen

Hi Karen,

I'm sorry to hear you are having issues. I gather you have already searched this site for a guide? There are some like this which may help: https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=904#904

Unfortunately I am going to be without internet access for the next few weeks. If you cannot find a guide on this site and if you haven't done so already, post to the "How To Request" thread (https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=97743) detailing in full what it is you want to be able to do (as in what files you want to convert, and what you want to convert them to - file type and/or codec).

If nobody comes up with a guide (or points you in the direction of an existing one), drop me a line and I will have a look into this when I get my internet access back and see I'll see if I can help you out. You'll probably need to give the details of the hardware and software (if applicable) you are using to capture the TV shows, in case there are any known issues and/or work around for getting perfectly sync'd video and audio.

Cheekie_Moonkie

[xenon1nonex1]

It it possible to improve the quity to HD upscale with a program
so many of the older TV reruns could do with a improved picture

[crut]

For the life of me, I can't find 'Input' in DVD Decrypter. Is it not a part of 3.5.4.0? Or am I just an idiot.....

[jimmalenko]

For the life of me, I can't find 'Input' in DVD Decrypter. Is it not a part of 3.5.4.0? Or am I just an idiot.....

Go to Mode > IFO

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

For the life of me, I can't find 'Input' in DVD Decrypter. Is it not a part of 3.5.4.0? Or am I just an idiot.....

Apologies crut. I have updated the guide to include this minor, but important, detail!

Thanks again jimmalenko.

[samandangel]

Hi, I would like to thank you for all your help. I have been trying to convert a TV series by following your directions and everything is great except the audio. The picture quality is good but the sound is 1-2 seconds of and I have tried everything from setting the audio in advanced settings from what you have suggested to "Auto" and I always get the same results. Could you please tell me how to get the sound right? Thank you

Samandangel~

[ninofrewat]

Subtitles Problem

Hi, I followed your tutorial step-by-step, but without installing the batch files, and even though I can chose the subtitles option in autoGK and the preview button shows them, when the episode is converted and i watch it in media player classic or WMP or on my DVD player, the subtitles wont show. I check the subtitles files in agk_tmp and they're both there: an idx file and sub file. Subtitles used to work fine, before I changed the settings in DVD Decrypter to the ones you recommend here, do you think this is what's causing the problem?

EDIT: Version 2.37b of AutoGK fixes it. I tried another episode from friends and the subtitles showed well.

[pooplefronk]

I have used the guide with great succes. Thank you for making it almost foolproof.

However, I have encountered something odd when I have converted files from DVD to xvid. Sometimes when I click on a file, it displays an error and crashes to the desktop closing all Windows windows.

I have tried to re-convert the faulty file from scratch but the problem still remains.

Have anyone heard or experienced anything like this and more importantly, do you know what to do?

[jimmalenko]

I believe that this may be a problem with the xvid codec itself, and/or the way WMP uses it. I have some xvid AVIs that do this also, yet others play fine. I can play the "faulty" files in VLC without a drama so it makes me lean more towards a WMP problem. I'm yet to work out exactly what causes it.

[guwapo]

thanks for your tut! auto-gk is really a good choice. it takes a load of work (comparing to gk itself) but without a loss of quality or usability.

still I felt in need of making my own batch which meet more my requirements:

this is my tribute: http://in.thedoghouse.bz/downloads/batch/tsmda-0.2a.zip

why?
your batch had some probs:
1. not simple enough!
2. have to change to many things in the batch
3. lazy to type in >20 dirs.

so what does my batch do?
1. it will ask for title (e.g. Buffy), season (e.g 01) and episode number (e.g. 20) [ typing "SKIP" as title will skip this procedure)
2. with a loop it will create dirs "TITLE".S"SEASON"xE"EPISODE(1toN)", for example:
Buffy.S01xE01
Buffy.S01xE02
Buffy.S01xE03
etc...
NOTE: it will place a 0 on episode numbers lower than 10 (01, 02, 03, 04, 05, etc...)
3. the batch will pause and you can start ripping the dvds into the dirs and start auto-gk
4. when auto-gk is finished, press any key in the batch, now the batch will rename the containing .avi in the dirs (made bei agk) to the foldername and will move each avi into the folder "all" (so if you want to burn all avi's you will have them all just in one folder).

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

Hi, I would like to thank you for all your help. I have been trying to convert a TV series by following your directions and everything is great except the audio. The picture quality is good but the sound is 1-2 seconds of and I have tried everything from setting the audio in advanced settings from what you have suggested to "Auto" and I always get the same results. Could you please tell me how to get the sound right? Thank you

Samandangel~

Hi samandangel,

I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you as I haven't come across this specific issue. If I was you I'd try playing the .VOB in a player (like Power DVD) to see if the audio-sync issue occurs within the actual .VOB. If it does, the issue is likely to be with the DVD or DVD Decrypter. If it seems ok, then the issue is likely to be with AutoGK.

You may find that there are 'Cells' in the DVD that DVD Decrypter may be ignoring, which is causeing the issue. If you think that might be the case, have a play with the "Uncheck Suspect Cells" setting. You could also try a different ripper.

If all else fails, you could try to fix your .AVIs. After a quick search I've found the following guides (there may be more), which seem contain information on fixing audio-sync issues:

How To Fix Audio Sync Problems 102
How to fix gradual loss of sync once and for all
VirtualDub procedures (Doom9) (See "Manual synching" section)

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

I have used the guide with great succes. Thank you for making it almost foolproof.

However, I have encountered something odd when I have converted files from DVD to xvid. Sometimes when I click on a file, it displays an error and crashes to the desktop closing all Windows windows.

I have tried to re-convert the faulty file from scratch but the problem still remains.

Have anyone heard or experienced anything like this and more importantly, do you know what to do?

Hi pooplefronk,

What are you using to play the files? Did you have any success with jimmalenko's suggestion of trying another player? I use WinAMP to play XviD. I don't tend to get any issues with it.

If changing players doesn't help, what version of AutoGK are you using? Are you using the latest version (currently 2.40)?

You could try converting files to DivX, although I personally prefer XviD.

[ATimson]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like the DVD Decrypter batch file can handle DVDs with non-sequential episodes? That is, one VTS with one PGC per episode, but they're, say, VTS 2 & 9. (Farscape region 1, BTW. These DVDs embraced Murphy's Law during the authoring process. :P)

[professor812]

Hi all,

I followed your guide and downloaded DVD-Decrypter and AutoGuardian. I am trying to rip a DVD-R on which 6 eps have been burnt. Thing is, DVD Decrypter recognises the DVD-R (meaning that the tracks are shown) but the Decrypt button never gets highlighted.

Should I be using some other software for ripping DVD-R's ? I cant play this CD in Windows Media Player but I can play it in Power DVD or any other standalone DVD player.

I'd be really grateful for any help on the same...I tried Smart Ripper and it rips the actual VOB file for me but that again plays in Power Dvd - I'd ultimately like an AVI file.

thanks again for your time,
Manjusha

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't look like the DVD Decrypter batch file can handle DVDs with non-sequential episodes? That is, one VTS with one PGC per episode, but they're, say, VTS 2 & 9. (Farscape region 1, BTW. These DVDs embraced Murphy's Law during the authoring process. :P)

Hi Andrew,

If you are talking about DDMFRip.bat, then you're not wrong. As at the current version (1.01), DDMFRip.bat will only rip sequentially. If you'd like me to try and include a feature whereby you can specify specific VTS/PGCs that are not sequential, then I might be able to add a feature along those lines as, in essence, the functionality (I.E. the commands within the script) would be similar to those that allow you to manually enter chapter numbers (when the script is in chapter mode).

So, just to get this straight... lets say you had:
Episode 1 at: VTS "1", PGC "3", Chapters "all"
Episode 2 at: VTS "3", PGC "1", Chapters "all"
Episode 3 at: VTS "4", PGC "2", Chapters "all"

You'd like to be able to specify the number of episodes on the disc (E.g. 3). Then the VTS for episode 1 (E.g. 1), the PGC for episode 1 (E.g. 3) and the chapters for episode 1 (E.g. "all"). Then the VTS for episode 2 (E.g. 3), the PGC for episode 2 (E.g. 1) and the chapters for episode 1 (E.g. "all"), etc. etc. Is that right?

PM me to let me know if that's correct. When I get the time, I will try and add the functionality to the script. If I can get it to work (no promises), I'll PM you a copy to test.

Hi all,

I followed your guide and downloaded DVD-Decrypter and AutoGuardian. I am trying to rip a DVD-R on which 6 eps have been burnt. Thing is, DVD Decrypter recognises the DVD-R (meaning that the tracks are shown) but the Decrypt button never gets highlighted.

Should I be using some other software for ripping DVD-R's ? I cant play this CD in Windows Media Player but I can play it in Power DVD or any other standalone DVD player.

I'd be really grateful for any help on the same...I tried Smart Ripper and it rips the actual VOB file for me but that again plays in Power Dvd - I'd ultimately like an AVI file.

thanks again for your time,
Manjusha

Hi Manjusha,

Assuming you have the options set correctly (as per the guide) and that you are running DVD Decrypter in "IFO Mode", you must highlight the PGC you want to rip, before the decrypt button becomes enabled.

If you can't get that working, you can of course use SmartRipper instead (in "movie" mode).

[ncarty97]

2 Quick questions:

1) when I first started with this method, I had no problems (Sopranos Season 5 and 24 season 1). Now the last two discs I have tried (Band of Brothers and Sopranos Season 4 disc 1) are coming in with the audio being significantly lower. Any ideas what might be causing this?

2) Is it possible to extract the episodes from a DVD that you have already ripped to your hard drive by a similar method?

Thanks

[manono]

Hi-

1. What kind of audio is it? AC3? If AC3, the audio is unchanged from the source. If MP3, not sure why there would be differences between discs, unless an upgrade of AutoGK changed something in the way audio is converted. I have read claims, though, that the audio isn't being normalized.

2. PGCDemux can demux the episodes into audio/video/subs (SUP files), or into single vobs (by ticking "Create a PGC Vob").

[ncarty97]

manono,

Thanks for getting back so quick.

1) The problem seems to occur when I rip the disc, before I ever convert it to DivX, so I assume it is still in AC3.

2) Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[manono]

Hi-

1. Ah, OK. Then I suspect the AC3Filter or whatever you have decoding the AC3 isn't as loud as you might like. The AC3 at that point is exactly the same as on the DVD. Anyway, I boost the volume by going into the AC3Filter Config and changing the default Preset to Loud.

[RedKev]

Hey,

This is a great guide, but I seem to be crapping out before it gets till the end. It pops up with a warning telling me another application is using my filename.avi file. Any ideas why this is happening?

What info would you need me to post? Sorry for my ignorance on this, but it's all new to me.

Cheers,
Kev.

[Cheekie_Moonkie]

Hey,

This is a great guide, but I seem to be crapping out before it gets till the end. It pops up with a warning telling me another application is using my filename.avi file. Any ideas why this is happening?

What info would you need me to post? Sorry for my ignorance on this, but it's all new to me.

Cheers,
Kev.

Hi Kev,

Could you give the details of the point in the guide that you are at when this is happening? Also, what version of AutoGK are you using?

[HGC]

What a great guide. For the first time I have been able to successfully convert
a DVD episode to AVI. I do have one question/request pertaining to the DDMFRip.bat
file though. As DVD Decrypter starts to rip each episode, I get a dialog box telling me
"Possible RCE protection found!" and to select the appropriate region. This is even
though there is only one region available for selection (1 USA) and it is preselected.
So, is there any way to avoid having to respond to this question for each episode?

I have tried it with "Remove RCE Protection" under Tools/Settings/IFO Mode both
selected and not selected. Same result.

Thanks