How to rectify chapter freeze?

[DVDRink]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with a set of DVD's I have. These are wedding films that were burnt to DVD for me. The issue I have is that when I reach a chapter point (according to the title menu) it pause for about 3 seconds. This would be okay but there's quite a few chapters. I'm quite confident myself with DVD authoring when I do this from scratch but am very puzzled on how to fix this issue.

I want to somehow, remove the chapter index from the DVD or reauthor the DVD do that I can put in my own chapters.

I have tried to use DVDShrink to reauthor but get an error message when opening the DVD files that it is not in the correct structure

I have tried IFOEdit and created a new IFo, this resulted in a bad DVD when played on my standalone.

I have tried TMPGENC DVD Author but when getting to the last stage I get an error regarding a module in TMPGENC.exe (i searched the net for the error and it suggested that there may be a problem with the vob files)

I'm beginning to think that this is unfixable....

I don't mind (if possible) converting all the vob files to say Mpeg files and then converting them to m2v files, running through TMPGENC and then through TMPGENC DVD Author. My main concern is keeping the quality of the film.

Does anybody know of an easier way I can do this???

PS, I have tried in on other DVD Players and it does the same thing

Thanks

[Baldrick]

try demux/split to m2v and ac3/mp2 files with pgcdemux and then author them to a new dvd with for example tda or some other authoring tool.

[DVDRink]

Thanks for this, will give it a shot tonight!

[Sartori]

I also had this when I took an already authoured dvd and remade it with tda (after making it from scratch from the ripped mpg , just couldnt get rid of it at all . I tried different methods of burning as well , from ISO and from the folders . But I didnt do as Baldrick suggested above and demux them , didnt think of that , I`ll give that a try as well .

The TDA error - the only thing I can think of is that you dont have MPG2 or AC3 codecs installed , as I have them installed I cant try out this theory , it depends on what sound is on the dvd for the AC3 codec of course and to play back the video in its editor I would presume it needs an MPG2 codec on the system .

[GKar]

Have you tried FixVTS then reauthor?

[guns1inger]

Are you sure they are chapters, and not a set of small titles ?

If it is the latter then the simplest fix is to get them all in a single title in TDA, remove the automatic chapter stop added at the start of each clip, then reauthor and test.

Otherwise you will have to edit them all together into a single title.

[mazinz]

dvdremakepro can do what you want. If it is an actual chapter issue (and not title sets). In the app it will let you see the chapter breakdown and tell you the command after each chapter, of course you can alter that to fix your problem if indeed it is a time pause.

[DVDRink]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Last night I used the PGCDemux software as advised by Baldrick. Stripped out the elementary streams (m2v & ac3). This seemed fine. However when I added them to TDA, it only showed the first 10 minutes....

I opened the m2v file with Windows Media Player and it was the full film. I tried it with DVDAuthor GUI and the same thing.

I thought I would try the 10 minute clip with TDA but when I got to the stage to create the VIDEO_TS output I got the same error again....

Will try some of the other points/software you guys have raised

[DVDRink]

Also guys, I've just thought that this may be title sets because when I look at the original menu for the DVD, each set has a time value, the first frame says 13:25 and the next is 16:46 (I know that this one is actually 16 minutes long)

Sorry if Im confusing you....

[DVDRink]

Guns1inger........

How do I do your method???

[DVDRink]

Hi Guys again!!!

This is definitely Titles and not chapters. Is there any way I can merge the titles into one file?

[guns1inger]

There are a few possibilities, although each has it's own problems.

Probably the best method is to use Tmpgenc DVD Author. There is a 30 day demo, so you won't have to buy it to fix this one problem. Put each of the titles on the one track, in order. Remove the chapter point that TDA automatically puts at the start of each title. Create menus, author and test with an RW. In most cases you will get seemless playback through the titles.

Your other choices involve trying to merge the seperate pieces into one. This is often fraught with audio sync issues, so try the TDA method first.

If you want to join them, you might be able to use VOBMerge, but I don't know if it merges titles, or leaves them seperate but in one big VOB.

You could also look at the append option in Virtualdub-mpeg2. Just append them in order, the use Direct Stream Copy to create a new, single movie. I have done this successfully with Xvid/AC3 files, but other often report audio sync problems after the join.

Finally, you might be able to use a dedicated editor to put everything together. Vegas, or an mpeg editor such as womble VCR can probably do this. Again, test thoroughly for sync problems afterwards.

[DVDRink]

Guys,

I managed to kind of fix this partially.....

I used TDA to output each of the titles to MPEG files. Then I used an MPEG merge tool to join them all together into one big MPEG file. Once this was complete, I used ConvertXtoDVD to author it to DVD format. Although this worked, when I play it on my DVD player it flickers as the camera moves.....

Im thinking whether I should process it through TMPGENC first and then process it through TDA or ConvertXtoDVD....

Any other recommendations......Im nearly there!!!!

[guns1inger]

I wouldn't use ConvertXtoDVD, as this will re-encode something that is already compliant. If you have TDA, author the mpeg with this instead. You can create chapters, menus etc and there will be no re-encoding.

[DVDRink]

I tried TDA and I keep getting this error message when I begin to Output....something along the lines of error in module TMPGDVD.exe......

I'ce tried to reinstall it but just won't work....any other software I can use other than this???

[guns1inger]

Assuming it is still compliant after joining, and DVD authoring software should accept it. You could try the demo of DVD Lab Pro, or the freeware GuiforDVDAuthor.

[borax]

all together into one big MPEG file.

Try to demultiplex this big MPEG file with ProjectX or pvastrumento. If there are no errors reported by these demuxers, you can probably author the elementary streams with any authoring program you like. If there are errors, post them here.

[aedipuss]

start over again with the original vobs. copy just the vobs to a separate folder. they will currently be numbered as different vts's. change the vob numbering, in the order you want them to play, into one vts. as in vts_01_1, vts_01_2 , vts_01_3, etc. run vob2mpeg on the new folder they are in. you will end up with 1 large mpeg without any re-encoding. use this mpeg in an authoring program to create your new chapters, etc.

[DVDRink]

Hey, me again!

I made a lot of progress with this yesterday. After trying what you guys suggested, I decided to uninstall TDA 1.5 and installed TDA 1.6. Took the MPEG files and added them as usual. Got to the stage to create the DVD folder and it WORKED!!!!!!!!!!! Burnt it to DVD and it was all good!!!

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions!!!