cool new package DVD2DVDR ... !

[joepic]

We are behind the times as version 1.4.2 is now out!

http://www.dvd2dvd-r.de/index.php

Ver 1.4.0a [10.03.2003]
- Loop-Timeout modified

Ver 1.4.1 [11.03.2003]
- now it is possible to specify the Loop-Timeout
- CCE-Standardextension for video is changed from MPV to M2V in the Registry
- small Delays between some actions added
- now using EclCCE 1.1a

Ver 1.4.2 [11.03.2003]
- now using EclCCE 1.2
- support for Cinema Craft Encoder 2.67.00.09 added
- Cinema Craft Encoder 2.50.01.00 now controled by EclCCE

[defense]

Joepic OR Arrogant Bastard, can either of you two verify if you disabled scripts within norton antivirus 2003? Do either of you have NAV 2003? If so, there was apparently a problem that sfxwe mentioned where DVD2DVDR wouldn't run thoroughly if scripts were not disabled within NAV. If either of you have NAV, please let me know if you kept scripts on or disabled them while running 1.40 or 1.40a Thanks

Now I see joepic linked an EVEN NEWER version....lol..wow..Chatwalker must be really working hard.

[joepic]

Joepic OR Arrogant Bastard, can either of you two verify if you disabled scripts within norton antivirus 2003? Do either of you have NAV 2003? If so, there was apparently a problem that sfxwe mentioned where DVD2DVDR wouldn't run thoroughly if scripts were not disabled within NAV. If either of you have NAV, please let me know if you kept scripts on or disabled them while running 1.40 or 1.40a

defense,

I don't use NAV, only McAfee which I have left on with NO problems.

[ArrogantBastard]

@defense

I use Norton SystemWorks 2002 which has Norton Antivirus 2002. I never upgraded to 2003. Mine has scripts turned on and has never had a problem locking up. I think that the 2003 version of NAV was much tighter on its script blocking and analysis.


Looks like LOTS of changes been coming on the DVD2DVD-R front. Anyone out there start working with the 1.4.2 version yet? I am dowloading now and will test later in the week.

AB

[rdalcanto]

What are you guys talking about or changing when you say "N/M=4"?

Thanks,
Rick

[wayned16]

its to do with the GOP stucture of the dvd. If u use CCE usually u know u set the gop to 3:4 but DVD2DVDR is setting it to 3:5. So in dvd2dvdr turn on expert mode then goto the MPEG encoder tab and u can change it.

[joepic]

Looks like LOTS of changes been coming on the DVD2DVD-R front. Anyone out there start working with the 1.4.2 version yet? I am dowloading now and will test later in the week.

I plan to try version 1.4.2 on the new movie I just got NTSC, About a Boy tonight.

I don't think I had any influence on Chatwalker but on Feb 27 I posted this

There is a new utility called Ecl CCE that adds the load/save ECL (Encoder Control List) functionality to the CCE SP 2.66+ trial versions.

More info here:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=145958


Will this utility allow DVD2DVD-R to work with the latest version of CCE?

Now the latest version of DVD2DVD-r is using ECL with CCE 2.67.00.09

[defense]

Looks like LOTS of changes been coming on the DVD2DVD-R front. Anyone out there start working with the 1.4.2 version yet? I am dowloading now and will test later in the week.

Damn, another non-working NTSC version of DVD2DVDR it looks like. Very disappointing to say the least. I installed version 1.4.2 and lead it to my Mpeg Encoder, which is CCE 2.50SP. It ripped my DVD with no problems, but when CCE started up it froze/locked and nothing happened. Can anyone else who does NTSC films report on their success or failure? Until then it looks like i'm actually reinstall version 1.3.2 again.

[Imaginary Voyager]

Looks like LOTS of changes been coming on the DVD2DVD-R front. Anyone out there start working with the 1.4.2 version yet? I am dowloading now and will test later in the week.

Damn, another non-working NTSC version of DVD2DVDR it looks like. Very disappointing to say the least. I installed version 1.4.2 and lead it to my Mpeg Encoder, which is CCE 2.50SP. It ripped my DVD with no problems, but when CCE started up it froze/locked and nothing happened. Can anyone else who does NTSC films report on their success or failure? Until then it looks like i'm actually reinstall version 1.3.2 again.

I dunno about NTSC but i do know about PAL. Versions 1.4 and above don't work. I get freezes and memory full (!) errors on Windows 2000. Back to 1.38 that works GREAT for me.



IV

[rdalcanto]

With 1.4 I had the same problem as SFXWE. With 1.4.2 it is even worse. It locks up after it says starting MPEG encoder. I am using Win XP with Athlon processor. I used the AMD patch for CCE.
Are you guys leaving all the default settings except for changing N/M to 4, and checking progressive, 2:3, drop frame, zig zag, and top field? Do you leave the two autostart boxes unchecked on the first page (when in expert mode)?

Thanks,
Rick

[ArrogantBastard]

Has anyone been successful with 1.4.2 with an NTSC film? I see some people are having lockup problems again. Is the audio is sync or not?

Any feedback is good.

joepic... Were you able to try it on About a Boy?

AB

[defense]

AB, I can't even get this version to start up CCE. I have no clue what the deal is. If anyone can tell me if they were successful even getting CCE to reencode, and DVD2DVDR to finish, I'd like to know. Thanks

Also, one thing that concerns me about changing those GOP parameters, is why did those NOT need to be changed in the earlier versions, such as 1.3.2-1.3.5? And now all of a sudden N/M has to be changed from 5 to 4 for NTSC films? It doesn't make any sense to me. Also, I noticed that DVD2SVCD sets that parameter at 5 as well. I find that very interesting, and info on that would be nice.

[joepic]

Has anyone been successful with 1.4.2 with an NTSC film? I see some people are having lockup problems again. Is the audio is sync or not?

Any feedback is good.

joepic... Were you able to try it on About a Boy?

We need 36 hour days for our hobbies I did not have the time last night to try it but will tonight (About a Boy in NTSC format with 1.4.2). I won't have an answer until 10PM EST if everything goes OK.

I am using CCE 2.5. Someday soon I want to upgrade to 2.67 but I have found that you should only change 1 parameter/option at a time! So will wait unitl 1.4.2 or the next rev is solid before going to latest CCE.

[joepic]

Who has the answer on the correct value for Quantizer Characteristics

DVD2DVD-r sets the value to 10 but in the CCE documentation that I have seen they recommend a value of 60.

Any response would be appreciated

[sfxwe]

The first versions of 1.4 did not work for me and would not complete in Scenarist mode but would complete in IFOEdit mode, but created a video and audio file that were out of sync. V1.4.2 completed for me in Scenarist mode but I am at work and I don't know if the audio is in sync. I will check it when I get home tonight and let you guys know.

[NYPlayer]

defense

Maestro accepts the GOP structures without changing them but in order for Scenarist to accept them it has to be changed to N/M=4. This is simply a change for those that use Scenarist to author.

[defense]

thanks for the info NYP, didn't realize it was solely for scenarist. I knew something didn't seem right. Now I just need to know if anyone was able to get version 1.4.2 to complete the process. Once 1.4.2 starts to execute CCE 2.5 it freezes.

[sfxwe]

@defense .....

I did, read above, will let ya know later if audio was in sync....

[ArrogantBastard]

@All


That makes sense on the N/M parameter. I thought it was the addition of the drop_frame that was putting the audio back in sync. I am still going to keep it that way though.

I'll be home tomorrow night and then will finally get a chance to post the results of my Chasing Amy DVD.

I'm a little worried about the locking up of CCE. Anybody else having that besides defense?

Also has anyone every tried resyncing the audio in Maestro. I came across some instructions to do that on a website today. (See the compile part)
http://www.tcnj.edu/~sarnell2/ART34508/dvd2dvdr/main.html

AB

[joepic]

Let the tests begin.

First a little bit about the hardware/software I am using at home. I have 2 almost identical machines (look at my profile to see complete details) except one has the Sony burner while the other one only has a CDR burner.

On one machine I have DVD2DVD-r version 1.3.4 and the other now has 1.4.2. All of my movies are NTSC with no subtitles.

TEST 1
Several days ago I did K-19 with version 1.4.0 and Scenarist mode without any problems. I am now doing the same movie with version 1.3.4 to see what differences there are. Version 1.3.4 is running while I type this information in and will not be complete for several hours but I thought that a few tid bits of information were important. Things that are different at this time:

1. Bitrates: In version 1.4.0 the Bitrates have increased by .45% for ALL (min, avg & max). For example the MIN went from 2628 in 1.3.4 to 2640 in 1.4.0. This helps to fill out the DVD to the max 4.37GB.

2. Rip time: 1.4.0 took 41 minutes vs 1.3.4 took 25 minutes

Well I just had a big surprise with 1.3.4, a CCE error and all stop . This is the first time that I have had this problem. I had many projects going on this PC before I started this test and did not reboot before I started. My C: drive is a little low on space as I have a lot of junk on it. I will remove the extras, reboot and try this test again. So hold on while I do this

Ok so TEST 1 has been restarted. Lets look at

TEST 2
The movie is About a Boy. I am using 1.4.2. The process has been going on for about 2 hours now and I am well into CCE encode process without any problems.

1. RIP time: 38 minutes.

Well that is all of the news now. I will update this thread later with more information.

UPDATE

It's been approximately 2 hours & 20 minutes since my last post. Lets see where we are in the 2 tests. One item I forgot to mention on the configuration for both versions:

1. Encode Mode: Multipass VBR - 2 passes
2. Encode Options: N/M=4, Force Film, 2:3 Pulldown & Drop Frame all checked
3. CCE 2.5
4. Author-Mode: Scenarist

TEST1
It is well into the CCE encode, far past where it failed the previous time. So what does this say about problems reported at CCE?

1. Reboot your computer and stop unnecessary programs such as NAV.
2. Remaining time is approximately 2 hours. This makes the total time for K-19 about 5 hours for DVD2DVD-r.
3. K-19 playing time, 2 hours 18 minutes

TEST2
It has completed the DVD2DVD-r portion.

1. Total time: 3 hours 50 minutes, the CCE portion took 2 hours 45 minutes
2. About a Boy playing time, 1 hour 42 minutes.

Time to author About a Boy.

[sfxwe]

V1.4.2 has now completed twice for me. I did 2 DVDs, one of the 2 did not sync with the audio. I checked the info.txt file for the dvd that did not sync and the flags I had selected for top filed / progressive/ ziz zag were set to false, BUT I had selected them, so they should have been set to true. It looks like DVD2DVDr is still not keeping the flags we choose.

The other dvd that the audio sync'd CORRECTLY, the flags were all set to true in the info.txt file. All four flags were set to true but I had only selected top field / progressive / and zig zag. The file shows Quantizer was set to true, but I did not select it .

So is the info.txt file correct, and this means DVD2DVDr is not properly setting the flags and if so, is this what is causing the audio sync problems.

I will try to run the OUT of sync video file through pulldown and then see if it syncs properly. I will post my results later.

One more note, the video file that did sync properly with the audio played really wierd in DVD2AVI, the frame rate showed to be like 70 - 90 FPS ?????? All the other files that I have created manually with pulldown and flags set to progressive show a frame rate of 30 FPS. So something is not right.

I think I might stay with V1.3.5 as that version seems to work really well for me, it completes / runs all the way through, but I have to manually set the progresive flags with pulldown after DVD2DVDr completes.

[wayned16]

OK my results. I did a PAL film last night, first of I started with CCE v 2.66.01.07. I got to a certain point when DVD2DVDR 1.42 open CCE and asked me if I wanted to save changes to "noname". Click yes and away it went. 1hr 30 mins later when the VAF pass has been done, 6% into making the M2V file the program froze and I had to crtl alt del it to get rid of it. Once that had closed IFO edit started and continued to do its stuff so I had to end task that as well. So that’s not good for the first set of results.

After that I thought I would go back to CCE 2.50.01.00, the way I usual do it (CCE 2.66 was just experimental). I must say when I woke this morning the PC had shutdown (always a good sign). Turned the PC on and looked in the VIDEO_TS folder and it was 2.2GB in size for the whole movie and the original was over 8GB, so I played VTS_01_03 the last vob file. It said Avisynth caught and access violation.

So I played VTS_01_01 and the video played all the way through the vob file, with the sound in sync to the video. But the VTS_01_02 and 03 would not play.

I must say the last 3-4 releases have just been terrible to say the least. Not one working DVDR from one of them. It’s a good job I know how to do the process of by heart myself...and not an N00b.

Come on Chatwalker I know you are working hard but maybe a working release next time?

[defense]

@ Joepic, just something quick I wanted to mention to you as a tip. First, let me say that sfxwe's observation of NAV 2003 and script blocking was really amazing. I decided to try version 1.4.2 once more with script blocking DISABLED, and SURE ENOUGH, DVD2DVDR completed its entire process! I also want to say that I checked in DVD2AVI and Bitrateviewer and EVERY OPTION that I selected for this movie, which happens to be Terminator 2, is chekced off! zig zag scanning order, progressive frames, and upper field first. The ONLY thing that I did NOT check was Linear Quantizer Scale, and that showed up as true, meaning it read as though I had checked it.

But as I mentioned before, that is the most versatile option because whether you check it or not doesn't seem to make a difference. However, the other options I checked did run through, INCLUDING pulldown! Man, i'm pumped...but I guess I shouldn't be until I author and see if I have any sync issues. I will report back but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Now, At Joepic, and everyone else, just a little tip for you. I read that 1.4.2 is taking longer to rip and when I tested it out, I absolutely noticed it was taking almost twice as long to rip for some reason. So what I did was take a VERY LONG/SEAMLESS BRANCHING movie like T2, rip it to my HD with DVD Decryptor, it took about 10 minutes to rip. Then I started DVD2DVDR version 1.4.2 and let it select the original theatrical release Program Chain, and it ripped the .M2V file in about 12-15 minutes! As you can see, that method cut the total rip time in half! Just a suggestion for anyone who doesn't want to have DVD2DVDR take 40-45 minutes to rip.

[ArrogantBastard]

@defense

I have my fingers crossed for you... It has been such a bumpy ride lately I am hoping for a stable release for a while.

Post you results when you get time.

AB

[wayned16]

defense, on ur next post of ur results tell us if Terminator 2 is PAL or NTSC, and if u changed the N/M to 4.
thanks.

l8a

[joepic]

Now, At Joepic, and everyone else, just a little tip for you. I read that 1.4.2 is taking longer to rip and when I tested it out, I absolutely noticed it was taking almost twice as long to rip for some reason. So what I did was take a VERY LONG/SEAMLESS BRANCHING movie like T2, rip it to my HD with DVD Decryptor, it took about 10 minutes to rip. Then I started DVD2DVDR version 1.4.2 and let it select the original theatrical release Program Chain, and it ripped the .M2V file in about 12-15 minutes! As you can see, that method cut the total rip time in half! Just a suggestion for anyone who doesn't want to have DVD2DVDR take 40-45 minutes to rip.

defense,

Ripping with DVD Decryptor and then using DVD2DVD-r is old news. That is the way I did it before 1.3.4 or maybe 1.3.2 fixed the ripping speed. So Chatwalker has taken a BIG step backward on his ripping time with the current release of 1.4.0 or newer.

I didn't get a chance to complete all of my TESTs in my previous post which I will do tonight. I do have a BIG AUDIO SYNC failure with version 1.4.2 and About a Boy as I did author with Maestro this morning and try it out.

I did author both movies in Scenarist and had the same audio sync issue at creating the .VOB's. Not sure of the exact error message the Scenarist gave but BOTH movies had it when I imported them, something like audio not in sync with video. So it seems Scenarist caught the problem when it imported. Strange things was it did not effect K-19. Also Scenarist is much slower than Maestro when compiling as it creates a MUX directory that contains the all of the .VOB's as a big 4GB file. So it takes up extra hard drive space from what I see. Now Maestro may create a temp file that is erased but it is still much faster in creating the VIDEO_TS directory. From what I can see, stay with Maestro.

So version 1.4.0 worked with K-19 but 1.4.2 failed with About a Boy.

[defense]

Ripping with DVD Decryptor and then using DVD2DVD-r is old news. That is the way I did it before 1.3.4 or maybe 1.3.2 fixed the ripping speed.

lol...joepic, don't take it personally but you are the one who made it a point to mention the huge disparity in rip speeds between different versions of DVD2DVDR. If using another method to rip is old news, then I definitely didn't know about it because I have been using version 1.3.2 to this point and it rips most of my movies in about 15 minutes! That's why I was shocked to see version 1.4.2 took MORE then twice as long to finish.

Either way, this thread is so long it's easy for people to miss things, and I am no exception. If that method has been used before, then great, it's reintroduced and needed if someone wants to conserve 20 minutes or so in ripping. Anyway, as far as my tests results go, I am still testing. First, the version of T2 I am testing is NTSC, like all of my movies. Now, my sync issues are ONLY about ONE or TWO seconds off! That is VERY little and I think I have a feeling I know what it is. I have to test a few more things, but I will report back. Anyway, I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

[joepic]

lol...joepic, don't take it personally but you are the one who made it a point to mention the huge disparity in rip speeds between different versions of DVD2DVDR. If using another method to rip is old news, then I definitely didn't know about it because I have been using version 1.3.2 to this point and it rips most of my movies in about 15 minutes! That's why I was shocked to see version 1.4.2 took MORE then twice as long to finish.

Nothing personal, just added a couple of to get the correct point across

[defense]

no prob joepic...i'm with you man. :hand: Well, I am still experimenting with version 1.4.2 and I CAN'T get SYNC for the LIFE OF ME. Whether I use DROP FRAME or Drop Frame False, I am off by a second or two. Interestingly though, WITH drop frame I am off by about 1 second only! The video is AHEAD of the audio by about a second. However, with drop frame TRUE, I am off by maybe 2 seconds. I would think the diaparity would be greater, I guess it isn't. I'll play around with some other settings and report back...but this is not good news. I can't understand how with OLDER versions the rip speeds can be SO MUCH FASTER, as well as be in PERFECT SYNC from 1.3.2-1.3.5, at least for NTSC films, while the newer versions aren't.

I really hope ChatWalker isn't focusing on trying to DECREASE the file size of DVD2DVDR which is causing some of these issues. I know that may sound crazy, but have you guys noticed that with each and every version AFTER DVD2ONE, the file size has been less and less?

The program was at or over 4 GB's at one time I believe, and with this 1.4.2 version, the file size is LESS then 3 GB's. That's decreasing the file size by about 25%. I hope I'm wrong, but why else would all of these issues be present in all the newer versions and not the older ones. I guess newer is not always better. I will still continue to test other methods to get sync with 1.4.2. 8)

[ArrogantBastard]

@defense

Have you tried syncing the audio in Maestro? I have never tried this before but am curious to whether it helps.

@all

Would anyone be interested in forming a Beta Test group for Chatwalker. Something along the lines of 5 NTSC and 5 PAL individuals who would test one DVD before a release. This way Chatwalker gets some support in testing and Chatwalker can publish known bugs prior to his releases.

I'm not sure if he would takes us up on it... But its a thought. We seem to be doing that as a group anyways.

AB