Super newbie guide for DVD to DVDR (both dvd9 and dvd5)

[Faustus]

*Ultra Update June 23rd 2003*

Ok this guide is partly based on the work of mij for the DVD9 to DVDr stuff using the dvd2svcd method, but I hope it helps clarify some stuff as well as give the many many newbies we are seeing a heads up and a faster path to a working method, even if just a basic one. If I've made any errors or left anything out feel free to let me know.

There are 4 sections to the guide, I highly suggest reading through the entire thing first so for each disc you can select the correct method that needs to be used

Section one Cover DVD9 to DVDr movie only when reencoding is needed.

Section two covers DVD 5 Backup, its very easy.

Section three covers DVD9 when the main movie will fit without reencoding but you just need to lose everything but the movie.

Section four covers how to do most episode disc to 2 DVDrs

For help burning the files with Nero go here:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127624
For RecordNow max it should be simple, or just do a forum search.


*Section 1: DVD9 to DVDr movie only, with reenoding*

Software needed for DVD9 to DVD-R:
Cinema Craft Encoder SP ver 2.50 (On your own with this one)
DVD2SVCD ver.1.0.9 build 3 (www.dvd2svcd.net)
DVD Maestro (On your own with this one also)
IfoEdit (got it from doom9.org under downloads~vobtools)
Nero (latest, guess what? On your own!)
ChapterXtractor (got it from doom9.org under downloads~vobtools)
DVD Player software for your PC (also also On your own)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Setup:
Ok, you need to install the newest version of DVD2SVCD and also CCE2.5... Once installed, we start DVD2SVCD and you need to change a few default parameters -

1) Go to the "Misc." tab and change DVD2SVCD level to the "Advanced" option. Also set default output folder to a dir where you have about 25 gig Hard Drive space free (make a dir so you know where all your outputted files will be). Then make sure in "Input file type" DVD is selected, and in "Output file type" MPEG-2 is selected, and "Don?t delete any files" is ticked.

2) Go to "Frameserver" tab and change "Resize to" option to DVD (720x480/576).

3) Go to the "Encoder" tab and set "Multipass VBR" to 2 passes. (2 passes is usually enough for good quality and more then 2 is insane even on my fast system).
Then click on the "Advanced settings" option (still in Encoder tab) bottom right corner and tick ?Close all GOPs? and ?DVD Compliant?.

4) Go to "CD Image" tab and select "Don?t make Images".

5) Go to "Audio" tab and select "Do not convert audio (use source audio)" (This will allow you to retain the AC3 track)

6) Go to "DVD rip" tab and tick "Activate DVD ripping"

7) Go to "DVD2AVI" tab and select "Automatic' in the NTSC Field Operation (Force film) box.

8) Go to "Subtitles" tab and untick "Rip subtitles"

9) Go to "Bitrate" tab - change "Max.' to 8500, "Min." 300, "Max. avg" to 4500 .. Now this bit seems to confuse some people - you will see the ?CD size? options - the first row will say (as default) Between 0-50 mins. Use 1 CD Size 740...This is how you tell CCE what size output file you require to fit the DVD-R. We need to change ALL of the CD Sizes to 4200 -(just highlight them and overtype what is already there) and then you need to change all of the
Use 1, Use 2, Use 3 etc options to 1 (all 6 of them). Now untick "Warn if the total bitrate is too high" and "Min. Avg". Also, 4200 is a safe size to choose, you can experiment and increase this to completely fill your DVD-R or, half it for 2 films on 1 DVD-R. Lastly if the DVDs that this process makes seem to large you can lower it to 4100, however I've had no problems so far.

10) Now breaths deep? cause its over.


Note about IFOedit:

Many people have reported issues with IFOedit under Windows XP especially with the DVD Play option used to check your work. If you have problems right click the ifoedit.exe file go to the Compatibility Tab and Select to run it as a Windows 2k compatible program, that should fix ya right up.


--- Now that your setup heres how you use the software --

This is the most common type of commercial disk and therefore also the hardest to work with? funny how that works.

Prep steps:

1) Open the DVD in a DVD player application and play the first few seconds of the movie, this will unlock the drive.

2) Open the DVD itself up and see which of the VOB sets is the largest this is almost always the main movie files.

3) Open Chapter Extractor and open the Ifo with the same name as the largest vob set.

4) On the pull down menu in ChapterXtractor that says "presets" and select DVD Maestro. The list should look like this:

$Spruce_IFrame_List
00:00:00:00
00:03:42:50
00:10:01:43

5) Lastly save the file somewhere you will not lose it. And be sure to change the type of file from .txt to .chp.


Rip and Convert:

1) In DVD2SVCD go to the "Conversion" tab and click the CD icon (or alternately you can browse to the IFO file). This will automatically load up the largest IFO file (which is generally the movie on the disc). The movie length will load up and also the aspect ratio... Now, even if you do not have a widescreen TV yet, if the DVD is Anamorphic (16:9 / Enhanced for 16:9 TVs.. whatever you want to call it) select the option "Anamorphic, no borders added" If its standard old wide screen it SHOULD id that automatically if not you should select it. Then hit the Go button and select preview - click next a few times and it will give you a preview of what you are encoding - check for any interlace ... If there are interlace problems, there are different deinterlace options there to chose from (select one and it will preview the option you chose in real time)

2) Which sound stream you want to keep is 99% of the time selected for you, it keeps the 6ch AC3 usually which is fine. You can change this at this time by selecting a different one. Later when we learn more about making new menus we can select multi tracks and keep them all, but for not just pick one.

3) Before you move on be sure to note if you?re 4:3 or 16:9 for sure because you don?t want to have to wonder about it later.

4) Hit the Go button and select Rip and Encode. You are now in for a very long wait.

5) Browse to the output dir you created and the only 2 files you are interested in are our newly created (and resized) m2v file and the AC3 file... You will notice that the combined size of the AC3 and mpv file equals the size we entered in the CD Size box in the Bitrate tab) The mpv file should have the word PULLDOWN in its name, and the AC3 file is super easy to spot.


DVD Maestro: The hard part! Not that hard though?

1) Open DVD Maestro, in the lower right hand corner you should see a box that is gray with nothing in it. Right click there and select "Import Media Asset" then goto the dir with your dvd files and select the movies MPV file (should have the word pulldown in it) and the main audio stream, then click OK. It will now take a while to check out your files and make sure there are no problems with them.

2) When its done if you look on the left hand side of the app you will see a place that says "Movie1" double click there. What you should see then looks much like a traditional Video editing application (meaning there are lines to drop video tracks, and lines for audio tracks), except that it will have a chapter bar as well as multiple audio tracks and even a subtitle track.

3) Drag your video file from the Asset window (lower right) to the video line in the main window, then do the same for the audio track.

4) Be sure on the main window to select 16:9 or 4:3 depending on what you had to encode as. (See, I told you to write it down for a reason!) You should never have to use the "16:9 Pan-Scan" option here so just ignore it.

5) In the main window go to the track line that?s for chapters (top one) and right click then select properties. In the Auto Name box set it to index based, in the "Snap chapter to GOP" leave it at Closest GOP, then make sure unique name check is selected, then just click Ok.

6) Right click the chapter line again and select "Import chapter list" then just browse to wherever you saved the chapter file from ChapterXtractor and load it. (Usually I check out how many chapters there are at this point by opening the .chp file in notepad, that way I can make sure they all imported correctly. If the file list 20 chapters usually it will say 19 imported when its done as the first chapter is always 00:00:00:00 and already in the movie from when you imported your files.)

7) On the Right hand side of DVD Maestro you will see a Menus Folder on the tree, under it is something called "menu1", click it once then hit the delete key and remove it. We are not using a menu.

8) Goto the connections window (one of the windows in the main areas of the program if not visible the fifth icon on the tool bar from the left should toggle it on and off) and find the one at the top called "First Play" if its not there try clicking on the Connection Sequences" folder on the left first, that should make it appear. Right click in the blank box for first play and got "Movies" then "Movie1" and select the first thing on the list, that should be chapter 1 at the start of the movie

9) At this time click file and save then name your .dvd project anything your like, it hardly matters as we are almost done with DVD Maestro.

10) Select the Tools menu at the top and of the screen and click compile. It will ask you where to compile to so be sure to point it somewhere when you have plenty of space free (at least 5gb). Now go grab a coke or something this will take about 10-15 min.

11) When its done it will likely give you a few errors in a box, ignore them. Click Ok and then close DVD Maestro

13) Go to the directory you compiled/dumped the DVD into and there will be 2 folders in there. VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS open the video folder and delete the .lay file as it can sometimes cause problems with NERO, and its an unneeded file at this point also. The hard part is now over? we are very close to home.



Check your work: A few min now can save you a lot of coasters.

1) Open IFOedit and click open, then browse to the directory you compiled/dumped you DVD files into. Open the main .ifo file in the VIDEO_TS folder. (should be VIDEO_TS.IFO) Select the VIDEO_TS.IFO into IfoEdit and press the Region free button.

2) Then click the "DVD play" button. It should play your movie file, if not you did something wrong. Also make sure the aspect ratio looks correct. If it does not automatically start playing when you click DVD play you MIGHT need to click the play button first.

3) If everything is ok quit the DVD play and load any other .ifo files in the DVDs directory (usually there will only be two) then click ?Get VTS Sectors? then when its done click quit. When you Get VTS Sectors its just might give you some messages, if so just click ok through them, they will look something like this:

Last Sector of blah blah blah
Start Sector of blah blah blah
And so on?.

Now go burn the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders that were created:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127624



*Section Two DVD5 (single layer disk) to DVDr Process*


Software needed:
DVD Decrypter - from www.dvddecrypter.com
Ifoedit - latest from Doom9.org
Nero - latest version your own your own getting it.

This is an easy one, so here we go?

1) Play the DVD for a few seconds on the PC with your DVD player software to unlock the disk.

2) Open DVD Decrypter and make sure its on file mode from the pull down menus (if it shows you a file list on the main screen your good.

3) Hit control-A to select all the files

4) Click the button to rip the DVD and go for a smoke or some food or something, cause it can take up to an hour.

5) When it?s done close DVD Decrypter and Open IFOedit.

6) Open all the Ifo files that were ripped to the hard drive in IFOedit at the same time and click "Get VTS Sectors"

7) Click OK on any messages that pop up. Close IFOedit

8) Make a folder in the directory that has the VIDEO_TS folder in it called AUDIO_TS. Now your ready to burn.

Just burn the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders onto a DVDr using Nero:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127624



*Section 3 DVD9 disc that just MIGHT fit if its movie only*

Tools needed:
DVD Decrypter
DVD Maestro
Ifoedit
NERO

or for an easier time

DVDShrink 2.3 or higher

Some DVD9 disc if you use only the the video and one audio track come in under the size for a DVDr in this case if you only want the movie there are 2 ways to tackle this problem, the second being the most easy.

1st way: You just rip the video and audio track wanted off the disk With DVD Decrypter in stream process mode, be sure to select to Demux the Video AND Audio tracks you want to save. Also you want to make sure DVD Decrypter's settings save things to one big file instead of splitting them up, its in the options.

Then reauthor with the process given for Section one starting at the DVD Maestro steps. The Exception here is if the file name of the AC3 soundtrack has a delay in it (it tells you the delay in the name of the file) , in that case you can use an application called AC3Delay to remove it, either try the tools section on the left to find it OR google it. Its very very easy to use so I'll leave no directions.

2nd way: This is Even Easier! Just use DVD Shrink and open the DVD, select reauthor at the top of the screen. Drag the main movies PGC (watch the preview for a few seconds to be sure) into NEWDVD window on the left, then in the right hand box select only one audio track and one subtitle track. If the movie is small enough it will fit fine. Just click "BackUp" at the top of the screen. If the movie is not small enough you can either have Dvdshrink make it fit, OR goto the normal DVD9 to DVDR directions in section one top to retain as much quality as possible.

When you done Just burn the files:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127624
Be sure there is both an AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders on the disc.


*Section four" Episode Disc to 2 DVDrs* Aka the Big one.

Most episode disc have each episode inside its own PGC, this is easy to take care of.

Software needed:
DVD Shrink (2.3 or higher)
Menuedit (shareware, in the tools section)
IFOedit.
Burning software.

Open DVD Shrink and select "Full disc" at the top of the screen. View the video in each PGC to make sure they are in order (meaning PGC1 is episode 1, PGC 2 is episode 2) they almost always are but a few disc will throw you if your not careful like some of the Buffy disc.

Now once you figure out what the first half of the episodes are, just leave them alone. The other half however compress all the way to still frame. 99% of the time it now fits. Disable extra audio tracks if needed to make it fit. Click Backup and let it do its works.

Next use Menuedit to open the Vob file that contains the main menu, its usually VTS_01_0.VOB or VTS_02_0.VOB, but it could be different depending on how the DVD was authored. It will not be as big as the movie Vobs under almost all curcumstances.

Expand the Vob IDs by clicking the plus buttons, and find the one that looks like it contains the correct number of buttons to be the main menu. Double click on its Cell ID. This loads up a version of the menu that shows the button placement but not pretty pictures.

Now simply click on the buttons for the episodes you compressed to still frames and click the Delete button at the bottom of the program. When the dialog comes up tell it to "Remove from Menu" and click the ">>" Button. Now click okall the still framed episodes buttons have been disabled, it will now ask if you want to resave the files, let it do so. Close the program

Now I usually run Ifoedit at this point to remove Prohibitited action (you can find info on this all over the forums) as well as a last second Get VTS sectors which is performed by opening all the ifos at the same time in IfoEdit then clicking the Get VTS sectors button.

Now just burn the files making sure there is both an AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folder on the disc, for help go here:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127624

For disc 2 you just do the exact same thing except you compress the other half to still frames and disable the exact opposite buttons.


Any suggestions? Any corrections? Remember I'm trying to keep it fairly simple for now... well I guess it really not THAT simple...

[74gibson]

I am following the guide. After I am finished with the dvd2svcd part, I have my pulldown video and ac3 files. I add them to DVDMaestro I insert the chapters created by Chapter Extractor. I save and compile. It says it completes okay except for 4 error messages at the end which talk about
4 Warnings :
- No First Play assigned.

- Menu Menu1 : No Background Image defined, use default blank image!

- Menu Menu1 : No Buttons defined!

- Menu Menu1 : No Subpicture defined, use default blank subpicture!

It does say compile succesful at the top. But when I try to play the file from my hard disk, it just sits there, even after I hit play (powerdvd4)
I can compile it with Spruceup 1.1 and it works fine. I have tried DVDMaestro with and without the chapters, no luck. Any Ideas? I would really like to have chapters included

Thanks,
Phil

[74gibson]

I just realized I downloaded the open source version. My mistake, although I may have to try it on my Gnome machine! I found the right version.

Thanks anyway

Phil

[spudz2]

All you have to do to make the movie play automatically when you insert the dvd is in Maestro right click on the empty box beside "First Play" under "Target" and chose movies/movie1/chapter 00:00:00

Then when you put the DVD it will play automatically.. Also you won't get the maestro error when compiling as you mentioned you do..

Also I never use the Get VTS thing in Ifoedit at all and all my dvd's work fine..

Lastly your dvd5 to dvd-r guide is a lot harder then it needs to be.. Just use DVDdecrypter with ISO READ option to read the dvd to a .iso file and then burn that back directly with the ISO WRITE right in DVD Decrypter.. One program 2 steps!

Good luck.

Spudz

[Faustus]

The maestro thing I will check out and then add to the guide after this weekend. The other well I've run into a few curcumstances were after changing reigon info you needed to run the Get VTS sectors options or you would have issues with some settop players. A recent direct copy of Footloose for a friend did this until I reripped it and got the sectors it would display half of the second menu on top of the first. Not to mention if we get them using IFOedit now then later it will be easier for them to figure out how to do advanced stuff with it, I'm kinda looking at this from the point of view of "you are new and know nothing and want to burn right now? Then do this and it will get up and running as well as set you up for more advanced stuff in the future."

oh yeah and thanks for the input.

[mij]

Hi, in Maestro if you right click on "untititled project" in top left you can change some settings such as the title and TV system and the aspect ratio, also after loading assets and adding the chapters you can delete menu 1 if you are not using a menu, also in the connections workbook right click in the blank box to the right of "First Play" and click on "Movie 1:Chapter 00.00.00.00." to make the disk autoplay.

mij

[LUISMA]

Hi flaystus,
I have followed your advice on the guide, but i dont seem to get a "m2v" file. What do you think I have done wrong?.
TIA

[Faustus]

Oh many files are there altogether? Besure to uncheck the option to delete files else the file you need will be seen as w work file and deleted. I would double check you DVD2SVCD settings...

[andre.holz]

I have the problem, that when i try to impot the chapter list it doesn't work correct.

Because the imported .m2v has an offset of 1 hour. So i had to correct the chapterlist with my nodepad-editor. Any suggestions to avoid this step?

[pallain]

Im new to the scene, Last night I began my 1st rip, a DVD5 movie. I didnt play the DVD for a few seconds on the PC with the DVD player software to unlock the disk. But was able to extract etc and made an ISO file. I didnt read this until today. Does DVD Decrypter allow an extract of a DVD movie if this isnt done? If not normally is it cause I have SteinbergDVDMovieCopySuitev6.5 installed and it had a codecs that allowed bypasses copyright protection? The DVD I believe is a coaster though. One reason I used a DVD+r and my new Sony DRU500. Also might try using roxio to burn the ISO if possible. So if it isnt the copyright issue I can cross that off as what went wrong.

Thanx for any help!!

[mpb]

Aye, that's a good guide. However I think you might be running things a bit more complex than they have to be. I copy DVD9-DVD5 regularly, including transcode, and I need far fewer tools to do it and a much simpler process. The DOOM9 guides taught me the way. No need to frameserve, no need to use so many tools.

Rip with DVD Decrypter.
Strip with IFOedit.
[transcode with rempeg2 if necessary]
[remux and] reset sectors with IFOedit.
Burn with Veritas PrimoDVD, Nero, or other data burning program.

It's really that simple. The best way to calculate out the transcode amounts is with just raw data, like the doom9 guide suggests. I have found that there's a multiple to use for the audio size on the VOBs. The audio on the final DVDR will run between 300 megs and 600 megs depending on film length. For a 2 hour movie, 450 megs is about right. You can then use 3.84 divided by (the current vob size minus 450) to get the ratio needed, and I always go one percent lower than necessary just to be on the safe side. For MOST movies this means 77-84% ratio down. That's assuming you have to transcode at all to begin with.

If the ratio is under 70 percent, I scale down to 352x480 instead of 720x480 in rempeg2, because you then get near-identical picture quality at 51-69% of bitrate (due to halved frame) instead of blockiness (which shows up at 720x if you have to ratio down too far).

I have copied more DVDs than I care to count with this method. I can help people with specific titles if they want. Only a few have been true mystifiers. Qualifier: I have not done Lord of the Rings yet, so don't ask.

-MPB/AZ

[Faustus]

I and alot of others find rempeg to be a little lacking in the speed and quality areas, this lets you do the same thing using CCE without having to manually follow the robshot method (which is better but uses alot of hands on time)

Personally I got sick of rempeg bombing out and sometimes providing horrible quality seemingly at random. Rempeg is ok but without active development (which is doensn't have) it will never be up to the task, CCE on the other hand is first class, of course its all a matter of opinion and you know what they say about those.

Oh yeah and what takes up to 7 hours using Rempeg on my 2200+ can be done in about 4ish under CCE.

[Faustus]

After a couple of personal message I realized that the file you need for the video is .MPV and NOT .M2V so I updated the guide to reflect that. Over the next few days I will either update with info on how to set first play (its already in this thread though) or change it to use IFO edit for the updating.

[zr1]

i have tried this method and in DVD Maestro when i select compile it starts and after a few seconds Meastro gets the illegal operation and closes im running win xp. i saw a someone else had this problem on another thread and no one posted a reply.

[Faustus]

I cannot claim to be a DVD Maestro expert my any means and also I've never had it crash on me.

What type of file system are you using?
Also make sure your audio and video tracks are the same legnth, cause I've seen Scenarist crash for that before on me.

[zr1]

i use ntfs and i did notice that the ac3 file was 1/2 a second shorter than the mpv file. why a dont know. im using the latest build of dvd2svcd with all the settings indicated. ive never had any problems with making svcd's. i just bought the new sony burner and wanted to start doing dvdrs.

[marscable]

zr1

under the bbmpeg settings change the "movie offset seconds" to "0"
that might help...




:^)

[leebo]

Over the next few days I will either update with info on how to set first play (its already in this thread though) or change it to use IFO edit for the updating.

Can you tell us how to do that with IFOEdit please?

[zr1]

i gave up on it. i found dvd2dvd-r and the newest release 1.2.0 11/12/02 supports ntsc now. worked perfect even has settings so you can author with ifoedit v0.95 and up. the install is in german but the program is in english

[Faustus]

It suppots NTSC now? Wicked cool... linkage?

There is a good guide on how to author dvds with Ifoedit over at www.doom9.org

[zr1]

i found it at http://www.magazinwelt.de/forum/software.html
i have run into a snag. i played the dvdr on my pc and it was perfect but on my pioneer the picture is jumpy when there is action. slow background images look fine though.

[zr1]

i think i solved my problem, when encoding it had upper field first. so i tried a trailer off the dvd unchecking upper field first and it played fine on both so im going to do the movie again and see if that was it.

[Faustus]

Thanks for the linkage, I'll check it out this weekend.

[KradLrobR]

Any luck with DVD2DVD-R 1.2.0? I am playing with it now, but it looks like I am still going to get a file too big for a single DVDR.

[KradLrobR]

I am currently playing with this tool. I have one problem however...it will not install and the error message is in German. But during the VB wraper install (setup.exe) it gives me a familiar message (although in German) about it needs to update components on my machine. I tell it OK and it wants to reboot. Next time I log into my machine a start the installer again, it gives me the same message.

I finally resorted to extracting the CAB file and putting the contents into a "DVD2DVDR" folder under "C:\Program Files". I am able to launch the program and I am ripping now. However I do not know if all necessary components have registered correctly since I did not use the installer. I will let you know in about an hour. I am trying "8 Legged Freaks" right now...which once you strip out extra audio and subs, it will fit on 1 DVDR without re-encoding.

Stay tuned...

John

[KradLrobR]

Just figured out the problem with the installer. it requires SP3 for Win2K. I'm dl'ing it now...will update everyone later.

[Faustus]

Yes its seem to be working well under WinXP, but I need more time to play with it before I totally switch. Anyway I think we should take this discussion out of the guide section....

[Kugels]

Hi,

I tried your dvd5 instructions - a couple of questions to ask.
In INFOedit how do you select all the Ifo files at once? When you click open on the bottom it will only let me select one file at a time so thats what I did.

Also the after burning with Nero its says successful, but during the play back of the dvd-rw i tested it on it freezes during playback about 10 minutes into it, other ones I have tried it jumps and skips like in slow motion. What could I possibly of done wrong? And is there anything else I can do to make it so it does not skip.

My computer is a Sony RZ16G 2.66GHz, 1GB Of Ram PC2100 with a Pioneer A04.
I am trying to watch them on an Apex 1500, Apex 1100W and an Apex 500AD.

If anyone can shed some light on this it would be great

Thanks in advance.

[Faustus]

You can't select them all in IFOedit, you have to open each of them one at a time until they are all loaded into the program...sad but thats the best way.

Skipping and Locking? Ok I have a A04 with a Apex AD-1500 and it works great... what type of media are you using? It sounds like the player is having trouble reading the disk.

[Kugels]

I am using Sony DVD-RW at the time to learn on so I do not waste dvd-r's.
Could the dvd-rw's be the problems.
I also have TDK DVD-R to use - do you think that will work better?

Also in IFO edit i opened one at a time and did the "Get TVT Sectors" one at a time - could that also be a possible cause?

Also have you ever tried using these dvd-r's - Princo White Tops.
http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=1636-1...tegory_Code=DM

Sorry for all the novice question but am very new to this.

Thanks for your help.

You can't select them all in IFOedit, you have to open each of them one at a time until they are all loaded into the program...sad but thats the best way.

Skipping and Locking? Ok I have a A04 with a Apex AD-1500 and it works great... what type of media are you using? It sounds like the player is having trouble reading the disk.