DVDPatcher: Patch once or twice?

[moxiecat]

Today I discovered that Adobe Encore DVD insists on re-transcoding perfectly compliant MPEGs because they are 704x480, rather than 720x480. Some helpful folks online directed me to DVDPatcher in order to change the MPEG's header from 704 to 720, and sure enough, Encore is tricked and the MPEG is imported as "don't transcode."

However--after much online searching, I can't find agreement on the final step of this process. Some people say that after Encore has built the DVD files, you must then run the resulting VOBs back through DVDPatcher in order to reinstate the "704" value. Other instructions don't give any step like that, and say that the DVD files that Encore builds will work fine in a DVD player.

Is anyone out there familiar with DVDPatcher? Which is correct--can you just patch in the beginning, or do you need to re-patch the files again when you're done? There's not a lot of instructions out there for DVDPatcher, and the Read Me with the file is in German. I figure there must be a reason for either doing it once or twice, though I'm not technically proficient enough with DVD technology to know why!

Any insight as to what works is appreciated. Thank you.

[Alex_ander]

You have to select 'patch the whole file' (not just the header) at patching and patch back all the VOBs after authoring. There's a detailed explanation on www.doom9.org in svcd to dvd conversion manual.

[moxiecat]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the tip. So this process has worked for you?

See, that's another discrepancy--I found a couple postings where people give instructions to only set the first header, and not the entire file. Actually, I think more say to just do the first header. What is the difference?

I'm mainly interested in hard instructions from someone who has successfully done this procedure though--I'm doing this for a friend and don't want to mess up the video he already encoded, just to make the file readable by Encore (which shouldn't be so picky, IMO). So if the "whole file" and second patching is what works, then it's fine with me.

Thanks again for the help.

[Alex_ander]

I successfully used it for authoring (TDA) from SVCD files (with 48kHz audio). Just followed the guide mentioned (always trusted people from doom9), it is directly linked to from DVDPatcher site. Don't know exactly that difference but felt it more reliable to do so: if the info is stored not just in header, some authoring application might require it e.g. at creating chapter points or smth. and react with error message. Anyway it's safe and is redone after authoring. Patching back is important for bringing back correct data to the files: some hardware or software player may use pixel numbers for resizing to displayed AR (though in your case the difference in numbers is not fatal, unlike in case of SVCD or DVB).