FixVTS Version 1.25 (New version)

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version 1.25 is available! see below
FixVTS Version Beta 0.98 is available!
FixVTS is a very tiny tool that allows you to adjust your DVD files into better DVD compliance, so they can be opened in DVDShrink or vobblanker. FixVTS can help fix problems encountered with copy protected DVDs which DVDShrink can have serious problems opening. It works well in conjunction with the PgcEdit PSL2 plugin.

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/693/fixvtsapp8sh.png (http://imageshack.us)

FixVTS is somewhat similar to an IFOEdit Mock Strip, except that it's faster, does not adjust as many things (just the minimum in fact, to allow Shrink to load) and does not mess the cell flags or the cell commands.

The main page is here (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/)...

Some random features:

You can process a single VTS, or the entire DVD
You can process "in-place" (fast) or from a backup (slower).
You can remove un-referenced cells and blank packs, or leave them in (but then blank packs are replaced with more compliant stuffing packs).


Enjoy!
jeanl

[2COOL]

First of all, thanks for a wonderful tool jeanl! :D I finally had a chance to try it out. Looks good so far! Just wondering if you'll implement a logfile on what changes have been done for us curious advanced users. ;)

[jeanl]

Well, it's already there, kinda... If you have a C:/temp/ folder, FixVTS creates a log in that folder. It isn't very detailed (it was originally intended to help debugging) but it has some info in it.
jeanl

[2COOL]

Thanks jeanl! I didn't see it documented on the home page.

[jeanl]

You're right, I forgot! I'll add that... I also forgot to mention where to send bug reports! ;)
jeanl

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 0.99
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/) the latest beta for FixVTS.

Only 1 bug fix, but it's potentially important so there...

FixVTS crashed during the IFO update if there was no VOBU_ADMAP table. This is fixed.


Enjoy!
jeanl

[2COOL]

Minor bug. If I aborted or completed a fix session, I cannot drag files into it again. I have to close and reopen FixVTS and do process again.

Recommendation for FixVTS guide on homepage.

If you just want to work on a specific VTS, you can just drag the first VOB. e.g. VTS_XX_1.VOB. This will exclude its associated VTS menu VOB if it exists.

If you just want to do a specific menu VOB, then just drag it in. When doing so, FixVTS will automatically exclude the associated VTS title VOBs.

Suggestions for FixVTS

1. Process whole DVD without menu VOBs
2. Process whole VTS with menu and Title VOBs
3. Convert the status window to a scrollable log

[jeanl]

Thanks 2COOL, these clarifications will help, you're right.
About the feature requests, there's other things (in addition to what you list) which would be interesting, but I need to keep the UI as simple as possible. Maybe an "expert" mode with many more options would answer the problem.
I'd like to add the possibility to process the vobs without updating the ifos, and vice-versa (it's not very useful in general, but in some cases - i.e. debugging - it's extremely useful, for example to find out if a problem comes from the vob or the ifo)...

jeanl

[2COOL]

You might want to change your thread title in regards to your new version out, jean. ;)

[petermarina]

Hi Jean,
just tried FixVTS 0.99 for the first time and it seams to crash at the very end. I was trying it in hopes to fix some DVDs that my player doesnt like to play. They play in 2 other set top boxes, in WinDVD but not in MY set top box. Anyhow the original files where processed with DVD shrink and Dvd Rebuilder and in both cases crash at the very end.

Here is a copy of the end of the log file.

Thanx

Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 0 packs removed
Processing C:\Documents and Settings\Peter\Desktop\DVD HC16\DVDFILES\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT
Now updating navpack info

[jeanl]

petermarina, thanks for using the log file (that's exactly what it's intended for!!!). Of course, it does not tell me enough to pinpoint the problem exactly! but I suspect the kind of problem I saw yesterday with an empty VOB.
Is VTS_01_0.VOB or VTS_01_1.VOB empty?
Can you send me the IFO at jeanldvd at free dot fr so I can take a look at it?
Thanks a bunch!
jeanl
P.S. You're having the very very same problems as this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=745101#post745101) and I'm not sure FixVTS will help you here!

[petermarina]

Salut Jean,
I just sent you the requested info. Keep in mind that the first attempt was with a DVDShrink output. The second was from DVDRebuilder with HC16 that was orginaly riped with DVDshrink. As for the link you suggested, it doesnt give me much to compare to my problem, but it could be similar... I hope not :) . Anyhow thanx for the quick responce.

Peter

[jeanl]

Thanks petermarina,
I found the bug, which was again a problem with a non-existing table. This has now been fixed. I'll post an update soon. Sorry about that! I guess that's why I'm still in beta!
jeanl

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 1.01
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/) the latest beta for FixVTS.


Fixed another bug that occured when an empty table was encountered (this time VTSM_PGCI_UT) and another one introduced in the previous version.


Enjoy!
jeanl
EDIT: Had to update the version, another bug!

[influenza]

Nice work jeanl.

[ron spencer]

can anyone explain when I would want to use this? If you use ANYDVD would you need to...or dvdFab Decryptor?

[influenza]

Well you use it on dvds that has structure protection. Those dvds can be ripped fine in most cases (at least with some help), but their structure is messy. Some programs choke on that messy stucture. You use this to clean it up and have more compatibility with other programs.

[ron spencer]

I though proggys like anydvd and dvdfab decryptor did this for you? do they not do it correctly?

[jeanl]

If you find that everything works fine, then you don't need FxVTS. If your dvd does not load in Shrink, then you probably do...
Jeanl

[ron spencer]

ok..great...thanks for the tool!!!!!!

[Grumpy Troll]

jeanl,

Thanks for the new, and smaller, prog. I've downloaded and installed it and am looking forward to using it, soon. Keep up the work, amigo, for ignorant, NOT stupid, persons as myself.


With high regards and admiration,
Grumpy Troll

[Grumpy Troll]

can anyone explain when I would want to use this? If you use ANYDVD would you need to...or dvdFab Decryptor?

Oh...I dunno. Maybe because this prog doesnt cost $39.00?

Oh, and a big thanks to Jeanl for all of this, great job. I tested everything offered on an Arcoss disk from "Wream Dorks" whom had a "difficult" encryption (I know, I tried to back it up) and it went thru it like a hot knife thru melted butter. :) :)

[blutach]

@Ron Spencer - although AnyDVD is being constantly updated, so is Fix VTS and the PSL2 plugin. There's some new and interesting things out which I am sure will be attended to immediately by their respective authors whereas the commercial progs might lag a bit.

I'd treat it as another weapon in the arsenal. It is costless after all.

Regards

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 1.11
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) the latest beta for FixVTS.

This release fixes some problems that occured where DVDShrink reported completely erroneous sizes... Thanks to jsoto for figuring out what was going on.

The VCIDs are now remapped if needed, so the Cell IDs are in consecutive order and start at 1. The VIDs are not modified.
The VTS(M)_C_ADT table is now ordered the proper way in the case of ILVU or multi-angled DVDs.
The PGC duration is now correctly computed in the case of multi-angle PGCs.
The TMAP_TI table is now updated too. DVDShrink does not seem to need that table though.


Enjoy!
jeanl

[Cyberace]

@jeanl, any chance you could/will release the latest source code for it? please :cool:

[blutach]

@Cyberace

My understanding v1.12 will be released very soon. AFAIK, the prog is still very much under development (we had 3 releases in a day last week). This might mean that the source code goes out of date almost as soon as its released.

Might be better to wait till it's stable don't you think?

Regards

[jeanl]

Don't worry, I'll release the source code asap...
Just out of curiosity... Why do you ask? Are you making your own customizations? ;)
jeanl

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 1.12
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) the latest beta for FixVTS.

Zavlakas found a bug with 1.1 and 1.11 that sometimes caused DVDShrink to report the right sizes, but put the entire movie in unreferenced material!

Fixed the input/output navpack map.


Sorry about that...
jeanl

[Cyberace]

Don't worry, I'll release the source code asap...
Just out of curiosity... Why do you ask? Are you making your own customizations? ;)I was thinking it would be nice if the FixVTS code could be implemented somehow as a on-the-fly parser in 'XBMC's DVD-Player (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=100024)' to make more DVD-movies compatible with it (especially the DVD-menu/nav part), ...maybe you are even interesting in coding a patch for it yourself?, (do you have an Xbox and if you do is it modded?), (I myself am not a programmer but I have a spare-modchip I could send you if you agree to make the patch).

:thanks:

[jeanl]

I don't have an Xbox and I'm really not familier with the project you're mentioning. What kind of compatibility issues do you have? I suspect what FixVTS does probably wouldn't help that much...
jeanl

[Cyberace]

Fist I have to appologuise in advance because I know this is going to sound like a sales-pitch from me;

I'm suprised that you haven't even heard of XBMC (XboxMediaCenter) (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com), it's a free and open sourced software that you can install on your Xbox (the game-console by Microsoft) if you have modded it first (via either a software-hack/exploit or a modchip (http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox-tutorials.php)) to allow you to run homebrewed applications like XBMC on it. XBMC is very popular with a guesstimated 2,000,000+ users, in fact many people only buy an Xbox because of XBMC. XBMC have become so popular because of many reasons; an Xbox is cheap and convenient in your living-room (replacing you standalone DVD-player), it plays practially all audio/video/picture formats you through at it, (it can do so because XBMC uses a ported version of MPlayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu) as is core-player), it also have a very nice-looking and simple-to-use GUI interface, plus it can do so much more than just play the audio/video files which by the way can stream from the network or play from its built-in DVD-ROM drive or harddisk-drive, (XBMC has database functions which download information about movies and music-artist from the internet and makes it easy to search and browse among them, it displays nice visualizations, slideshow your pictures, and of course since it's a game-console can load games from the Xbox built-in harddrive, read more at www.xboxmediacenter.com (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com)).

...however one thing that MPlayer can't do is play DVD-Video movies with menus, so the XBMC developers have therefor programmed their own software DVD-player (using open source code/libraries such as libdvdnav/libdvdread and FFmpeg as a base) that plays just DVD-Video and is integrated into XBMC, (which means that if you want you can keep all your DVD-movies on either the Xbox harddrive or on the network as a DVD library and XBMC can play them from there like a DVD jukebox, XBMC can even parse and play DVDs that are in an ISO and in RAR/ZIP archives). But because they use open source code/libraries which have been reversed-engineered by hobbyiest from other players it's not fully compatible with all DVD-Video movies or their menu system (especially not if those have been badly authored or been corrupted with errors on purpose), which it why and where I think the FixVTS code would come in handly, if it could pre-parse all the files (and keep the changed files in RAM memory) then XBMC should have less trouble with the majority of DVD movies menus.

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/info_project.htm
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.pl?act=ST;f=5;t=10877 <= XBMC DVD-player discussion
http://chokemaniac.loafamotive.com/gallery.php?cat=pm3 <= screenshots from XBMC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC

PS! Fun fact; MediaPortal (http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net)'s GUI is ported from XBMC, and MediaPortal (http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net) founder also founded XBMC

[Orion|69]

Sweet little tool :)

[DDogg]

jeanl, I don't know if this is useful for you, but I was trying to acquaint myself with your program and selected VTS_02_0.VOB from a ripped copy of The Matrix and chose full DVD. I got several "get mapping failed" messages as the files were being written. I realize the program is not needed on this source, but as said, was just playing around a few minutes to see what it did and thought you might want to know of the error.

Also, since the files are large, or might possibly be mounted on a virtual drive, it might be convenient to have the option of pointing the output file to another destination HD.

[jeanl]

Hi DDogg,
mmm, this "get mapping failed" is NOT supposed to happen! I'll have to look into it.
jeanl

[jeanl]

@Cyberace, I'll look at your links, but I really doubt that FixVTS can be of any help, unfortunately...
jeanl

[jeanl]

@DDogg
I found the problem (I'm guessing some of your VOB files were empty, right?). It will be fixed in the next release.
As to the option for a different output folder (possibly to another drive), I know that would be nice, but I'm not sure whether I'll do it. I'm trying to keep this app as simple and easy as possible, since it's meant to be used by real nooobs. But I agree it would make things faster when not in-place...
jeanl

[jeanl]

There's an unofficial version beta 1.15 that has a few improvements and bug fixes:
- Fixed a couple bugs when the vob file was empty to begin with, or the IFO didn't exist.
- FixVTS now has an option to renumber the VIDs as well as the CIDs. This is now on by default.
- FixVTS now checks for empty output vobs and rename accordingly.
- Restore backups now works better (won't forget files)
- Fixed a bug that occured when the last cell of the last vob was removed.

It's only at the downloads page:
http://www.videohelp.com/~menushrink/FixVTS/Downloads

DDogg, this should fix your problem. Let me know if it does not... and thanks for the bug report!
jeanl

[arsmori]

jeanl, what a busy little beaver you are :eek: ! You can add me to the list of converted. I just had my first occasion to try this on a whacked VTS instead of going with the true and tried IfoEdit mock strip and wow, That Was Easy™. Is it ready for mass consumption, i.e. may I pimp this outside specialized boards?

[jeanl]

Did someone just called me a beaver?! :D :D :D
Well, arsmori, FixVTS is still in beta, and I'm still finding little twists to it. But feel free to publicize it wherever you see fit.
Note, however, that an IFOEdit Mock strip does a lot more than FixVTS does (and probably ever will). The one thing that FixVTS does that IFOEdit does not is the renumbering of the VCID which in some cases can be really crucial for DVDShrink to report the correct sizes...
The next best thing after an IFOEdit mock strip is a vobblanker process....
Jeanl

[blutach]

And an IfoEdit mock strip only strips by VIDs and not by CIDs within a VID you wanna keep. This is where FixVTS and VobBlanker come into their own.

Regards

[Cyberace]

@Cyberace, I'll look at your links, but I really doubt that FixVTS can be of any help, unfortunately...that's cool, hope you will keep releasing the latest source code on a regular basis anyway :cool:
...maybe even make it a SourceForge.NET (http://sourceforge.net) or Savannah (http://savannah.gnu.org) project under GPL or LGPL license ;)

Keep up the great work, it's a sweet tool you got there!

[DDogg]

jeanl, I repeated the actions reported above and the error message is now gone. Thanks!

[weiqj]

Hello,
I tried your program but the "corected" vob file still had problem with nero recode. Any idea why?

[jeanl]

weiqj, I'm not sure. Can you post the resulting IFOs (for me to check that fixvts did indeed do the right thing)?
Jeanl

[davemorell]

Hi' It seem to be it will be a very handy prog, thanks for it :)

I have found an issue, which not solved yet (probaly you don't know about it): before I run FixVTS on a full dvd, CloneDVD2 will open it fine. After I run FixVTS on the full dvd, CloneDVD2 cannot open the DVD (Unable to read files, unexpected error... Details : "DVDManager 0 invalid AdaptedDisc Type").

Everything else (VB, PgcEdit, PgcDemux, IfoEdit, VobEdit, DVDReMake) can opened the processed dvd but CloneDVD2 not. I saw someone reported Nero Recode has got some problems too. I hope this problem will disappear in the near future.

If you need anything else to find out what 'cause this error please let me know...

Greetings'

[jeanl]

davemorell, this is the first I've heard about this issue, but I don't use cloneDVD2, so I've never tested that. I've got some questions for you:
1) Could you possibly send me the IFOs before and after FixVTS at jeanldvd at free dot fr?
2) Is there a trial version of CloneDVD2 so I can do some tests and try to figure out what it is it does not like in FixVTS's output?
3) EDIT: I would also need the FixVTS log so I can see what it did. It's in C:/temp/ if you have that folder. If you don't you'll need to create it to get the log, sorry... :(

Thanks for the bug report and any future help!
jeanl

[dirio49]

Yes, i believe that you can try it for free 21 days
http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html

[jeanl]

Great! Thanks dirio49, very useful.
@davemorell
Then I also need the log from FixVTS... It's in your C:/temp/ folder if you have one (if you don't, you'll need to create one to get the log, sorry about that, I'll change that soon).
If I can't figure out the problem, I'll ask you to run some tests using vobblanker or IFOEdit...
jeanl

[davemorell]

@jeanl : mails sent, if everything goes fine you will get it right now. I can do some tests if you can't work it out (approx. from wednesday).

[weaver4]

I have several movies that the VOB files play properly, but when you Encode these files into DIVX using DrDivx, AVI.net or AutoGK the audio is out of sync very significantly. These are typically movies that are protected by arccos. Will FixVTS fix these audo sync problems if I use it before I decode?

[jeanl]

weaver4,
I've heard of these problems, but never seen them myself! I don't quite understand how this can happen, but I doubt that FixVTS will fix it, unless you use the option NOT to remove unreferenced material. My guess is that removing the blank frames that DVD Decryper leaves behind alters the audio/video sync (although there's really no reason for that!).
Try using FixVTS with the option to remove unreferenced material off (you'll have to try that on the original, right after the rip). This will replace the blank packs with standard stuffing packs, but otherwise shouldn't change anything to any timing, the output DVD will be quite similar to the original.
Let me know if that works.
jeanl

[jeanl]

@weaver4,
Come to think of it, I think it's possible that removing the blank packs would cause the video and the audio to no longer be syncrhonized, if the encoding it's very smart about it. I've never used the programs you mention, so I don't know if they work on a cell-by-cell basis, and if they look at the PTS (presentation times) of the audio and video to synchronize the two (which they should) or simply rely on where the audio/video packs fall to do that (which would be bad, and could explain the mis-sync).
Do the experiment I suggest if you have some time, and let us know what you find out!
thanks!
Jeanl

[jeanl]

@jeanl : mails sent, if everything goes fine you will get it right now. I can do some tests if you can't work it out (approx. from wednesday).
Thanks davemorell! I'll look at it tonight, but I'm not sure I'll be able to reproduce the problem with a different DVD than the one you're using (which one is it by the way)?
In the meantime, if you have some time on your hands, and you're willing to do some experiments, here's what you could try:
- Setup FixVTS to process from backup (i.e., not in-place) so you can revert to the last version.
- From the original, run FixVTS on 1 VTS at a time, and each time, see if the output can be opened OK in CloneDVD2: start with VTS1, then VTS2 etc. Finish with VIDEO_TS.VOB. At one point (I suspect at the very end, with video_ts.vob), the DVD won't load successfully. That's where you want to stop.

At that point, you have the output IFOs and vobs in the current folder, and the IFOs/vobs prior to processing in the backup folder. Let me know which VTS seems to be causing the problem, and send me the IFOs before and after...

Thanks in advance!
jeanl

[weaver4]

@weaver4,
Do the experiment I suggest if you have some time, and let us know what you find out!
thanks!
Jeanl

I'll try it and get back with you.

[davemorell]

@jeanl
I found the problematic vob file with your method. It was video_ts.vob as you assumed. Then I made another test: made the cleanup without removing the unreferenced material and blank cells, and guess what? CloneDVD2 successfully opened it. So the error occured only when I cleanup with remove unref and blank cells. I hope this get you more closer to the problem.

also I sent you the necessary files

ps.: I talkin' about The Longest Yard (R2) DVD

[jsoto]

@jeanl,
I'm very interested. If the problem is in the algorithm, it will also be in VB. Current version (the one I'm working on) is already able to renumber the VID/CIDs.

jsoto

[jeanl]

jsoto, it's not in the algorithm. I found the problem, and it's something that FixVTS seems to be doing, which I don't quite understand !!!! Apparently, in the output IFO (from FixVTS) the data in video_ts.ifo at offsets 2c, 2d, 2f and 2e show FF FF FF FD, instead of 00 00 00 00 in the original. VB obviously won't have that problem!
Now I have to find out why FixVTS changed these values! It must be something quite stupid, but I have to find it!
jeanl
P.S. I knew it wouldn't take you long to add that renumbering! ;)

[jsoto]

... in video_ts.ifo at offsets 2c, 2d, 2f and 2e show FF FF FF FD, instead of 00 00 00 00 in the original....

Do you really mean 2c, 2d, 2e & 2f? Are you modifying intentionaly these offsets? Why? What do they mean?
P.S. I knew it wouldn't take you long to add that renumbering! ;)Yeah, remumbering is quite easy (although I had to do it many times in the code, because how it is structured), but I'm stumped (as I was expecting) with cell split. I need to modify (and sometimes grow) the IFOs in memory and it is not easy to do w/o affecting other parts of the code...it is not ready to grow the IFOs.
jsoto

[jeanl]

Do you rewally mean 2c, 2d, 2e & 2f? Are you modifying intentionaly these offsets? Why? What does they mean?

They mean nothing as far as I know, and I have NO IDEA why FixVTS modifies them!!!!! But I'll know tonight (I'll do some tests using the IFOs that davemorell sent me). I've create a small stupid program that you might find interesting: it creates a VOB file according to an IFO: you start from an existing vob from any DVD you have and it removes or add navpacks, renumbering them as needed, according to the IFO. Of course, the resulting DVD is completely broken from the video/audio point of view, but it does have the VOBU structure of the original, and oftentimes it's enough to test simple bugs.

Yeah, remumbering is quite easy (although I had to do it many times in the code, because how it is structured), but I'm stumped (as I was expecting) with cell split. I need to modify (and sometimes grow) the IFOs in memory and it is not easy to do w/o affecting other parts of the code...it is not ready to grow the IFOs.
Jsoto, I'm not sure how you do your stuff, but to grow my IFOs, I simply copy all the data that's beyond what I need to grow by the necessary amount of LBAs, and I update the pointers that point beyond the LBA where I'm growing. I'm not sure why I'm telling you that, cause that's very obvious. If you say your code isn't ready for that, you must have a good reason. :(
jeanl

[jsoto]

Jsoto, I'm not sure how you do your stuff, but to grow my IFOs, I simply copy all the data that's beyond what I need to grow by the necessary amount of LBAs, and I update the pointers that point beyond the LBA where I'm growing. I'm not sure why I'm telling you that, cause that's very obvious. If you say your code isn't ready for that, you must have a good reason. :(
jeanl
Yes, I have. I'm addressing part of the IFOs with pre-calculated pointers, stored on memory. So, each time I grow the IFOs, I need to update these pointers. This can be done, but the same pointers are used by the GUI to show the different things/lists. In example: the cell number in a PGC will change (increased by one or more) if a/some previous cell/s in the same PGC is/are splitted. And this cell number is used to store what to do with the cell (replace, blank, etc)
So, seems I need to duplicate the set of pointers, keep the originals to be used as they were before, and use the new set to update the IFOs, updating themselves accordingly.
I'll take some time thinking on it...
jsoto

[jsoto]

They mean nothing as far as I know, and I have NO IDEA why FixVTS modifies them!!!!! But I'll know tonight (I'll do some tests using the IFOs that davemorell sent me). It's difficult to believe that these values make CloneDVD to fail... But may be FixVTS is done anything more wrong in this situation....
jsoto

[jeanl]

Well, you read the message from CloneDVD2:
"DVDManager 0 invalid AdaptedDisc Type"
somehow it reads these values as part of the disc type, the volume number and the side ID are not very far, actually...
I sent davemorell a modified IFO with these bits set to 0, and he replaced the one from FixVTS with the new one, and everything opened fine. Then replaced the old one again and everything failed. I checked that the difference between the two was ONLY these 4 bytes. So I'm pretty confident that that's the problem.
I'll tell you guys tonight what the stupid bug was! :)
jeanl

[Drinken]

I've create a small stupid program that you might find interesting: it creates a VOB file according to an IFO: you start from an existing vob from any DVD you have and it removes or add navpacks, renumbering them as needed, according to the IFO. Of course, the resulting DVD is completely broken from the video/audio point of view, but it does have the VOBU structure of the original, and oftentimes it's enough to test simple bugs.

I'd be very interested in checking out this piece of code, mind sharing it? :)

Dr.

[jeanl]

OK guys, it was indeed a STUPID bug (aren't all bug stupid? most for sure!).
I've posted version beta 1.16 here:
http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/Downloads/

FixVTS -- Beta 1.16
- Fixed a bug in the IFO class that cause data to be written in the wrong place, which caused CloneDVD2 to refuse to open the DVD (but otherwise had no other side-effect)...
- FixVTS now updates the last navpack pointers in the menu domain as well, if they're incorrect.

This should fix the CloneDVD2 bug. Davemorell can you check that indeed, this does the trick?
Thanks!
jeanl

[jeanl]

I'd be very interested in checking out this piece of code, mind sharing it? :)
Dr.
Oh I don't mind one bit. I have to clean it a bit before I do that! As it stands some of the stuff is hard-coded. What would you use a tool like that for?
jeanl

[Drinken]

Not sure what to do with it, consider it educational... I'm guessing that it might be helpful for fixing some old butchered rips I got. VB refuses to process them, but with the "proper" vobs present I think it will. Easier than creating dummy vobs and go through PGCedit/VB mock strip ++ steps.

Did that make any sense? (Disclaimer: I'm NOT talking about downloaded material here, but old backups made with very old software and a stupid guy behind the keyboard (namely me). Sorry that I can't go into more detail, I also got teflon inside my head.).

Dr.

[jeanl]

Drinken, I think my little app wouldn't help you with that: it creates vobs that are completely useless because it totally messes up the video (sometimes replacing video and audio packs by navpacks) and completely messes the original GOP structure (replacing original navpacks with video packs if the IFO does not want them there!).
But you can still try to run FixVTS on your messed up DVDs, and see if that helps. No need to remove unreferenced material.
Why does vobblanker refuse to process your DVDs? What's the error message?
jeanl

[Drinken]

Well IIRC it's mostly vobs for non existant extras that it chokes on, but I might be wrong. There's also some with unsynchronised vob errors (which this surely wouldn't do much for). Haven't looked at it in ages. I was about to post that FixVTS might accomplish the same thing but you beat me to it. :)

So I guess it's not a big deal.

Dr.

[jeanl]

Well, who knows, give it a shot. The one thing that vobblanker does NOT like (and which FixVTS does not fix) is pgc cells that point to vob cells that don't exist. VB complains and won't open the DVD saying something like "cell not found"....
jeanl

[jsoto]

These cells can be easily removed with PgcEdit, but
VobBlanker also does not like :
A) Wrong references in C_ADT tables (FixVTS fix them )
B) Unsynchronized VOBs:
B.1---> Null packs, produced by DVDdecrypter while reading errored sectors. Fixed by FixVTS
B.2.---> Really unsynchronized, i.e. an offset of some bytes. Very rare, and I think FixVTS is not able to fix it. Is it?
jsoto

[davemorell]

FixVTS -- Beta 1.16
- Fixed a bug in the IFO class that cause data to be written in the wrong place, which caused CloneDVD2 to refuse to open the DVD (but otherwise had no other side-effect)...
- FixVTS now updates the last navpack pointers in the menu domain as well, if they're incorrect.

This should fix the CloneDVD2 bug. Davemorell can you check that indeed, this does the trick?
Thanks!
jeanl

I have just tried your newest release, and it is working like a charm. I tried two ways: video_ts alone and the fulldvd too, and CloneDVD2 had no problem with them.

Thanks for the great work :)

[Drinken]

Well, who knows, give it a shot. The one thing that vobblanker does NOT like (and which FixVTS does not fix) is pgc cells that point to vob cells that don't exist. VB complains and won't open the DVD saying something like "cell not found"....
jeanl

I think that's the error I got on several discs actually. I think I solved it on a couple by copying a small dummy vob to the missing ones (IIRC I just deleted the unwanted material, as I said, butchered). PGCEdit kill playback and some mucking about usually fixed it so VB was able to process it afterwards.

It's a wonder most of those discs actually works. Well if you don't click on anything outside of "Play" that is... that's probably the only thing that works.

I've learned alot since then though. :)

[r0lZ]

Yes, if you have accidentally ;) deleted a VOB by hand, or if you can't rip it from a damaged DVD, you can use PgcEdit's Blank Out All PGCs in Domain function to recreate a valid dummy VOB file. In a menu domain, you can even use the option to remove the VOB file completely. In both cases, it fixes the IFO tables.

[weaver4]

I'll try it and get back with you.

I tried it both ways and the audio is still out of sync. Any other ideas?

[bourtzovlakas]

From my experience...
If you use the "remove crap" operation of the psl plugin and then you use FixVTS, you won 't have a/v desync, when you encode to Mpeg4...

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 1.17
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) the latest beta for FixVTS.


FixVTS now renumbers the VIDs as well as the CIDs.
FixVTS now checks for empty output vobs and renames the others accordingly.
Restore backups now works better (won't forget files)
Fixed a bug that occured when the last cell of the last vob was removed.
Fixed a couple bugs when the vob file was empty to begin with, or the IFO didn't exist.
Fixed a bug in the IFO class that cause data to be written in the wrong place, which caused CloneDVD2 to refuse to open the DVD (but otherwise had no other side-effect)...
FixVTS now updates the last navpack pointers in the menu domain as well, if they're incorrect.
The log is now in the default directory pointed to by the %TEMP% environment variable. To open the log, right-click on FixVTS title's bar, and chose "Open Log".


Enjoy!
jeanl

[r0lZ]

Thanks, Jean!

[dirio49]

thanks Jean :)

[jeanl]

I tried it both ways and the audio is still out of sync. Any other ideas?
I'm not sure... You're saying that you tried running FixVTS without removing the unreferenced material, and you still got a large a/v missync? I'm not sure what that could come from, but I'm not familiar with the tools you're using...
sorry...
Jeanl
r0lZ, dirio49, you're welcome!

[jsoto]

You're the fastest. Thanks.

[jeanl]

jsoto, this wan't a race! It so happened that it was fairly easy to add renumbering to FixVTS. Plus I'm not implementing the cool split-cell feature!!!
jeanl
P.S. It was easy, but I still managed to include a couple bugs! Thanks to r0lZ for the early testing!

[setarip_old]

@jsoto

Hi!

VobBlanker also does not like :
B.1---> Null packs, produced by DVDdecrypter while reading errored sectors.
Perhaps I've misunderstood you but, I just used DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4 to rip "Valiant" to my hard drive. It identified and replaced two areas with dummy sectors. I then simply used VOBBlanker to "Process", and it did so without any "complaints" - and then successfully used several different (I like to experiment ;>}) compression programs to compress to 4.36Gb.

Did I misunderstand what you were saying in the quote above?

[r0lZ]

@weaver4
Try the PSL2 plugin, and do the remove crap pass.
If there is still an audio desynchronization, load the DVD in PgcEdit, and select the main title PGC. Then use the plugin menu Tools -> Display PGC starting time (SCR). It will not fix the problem for you, but you will know the exact timing to substract to the audio to have it in sync.

[jeanl]

r0lZ, do you understand what's going on here? Cause I don't! :confused:
jeanl

[jsoto]

@jsoto
Hi!
Perhaps I've misunderstood you but, I just used DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4 to rip "Valiant" to my hard drive. It identified and replaced two areas with dummy sectors. I then simply used VOBBlanker to "Process", and it did so without any "complaints" - and then successfully used several different (I like to experiment ;>}) compression programs to compress to 4.36Gb.
Did I misunderstand what you were saying in the quote above?
VobBlanker does complain accessing dummy sectors, but if the dummy sectors are in unreferenced (or blanked) material, VobBlanker will never try to access them, so it doesn't fail.
Anyway, I'll change the code to skip the dummy sectors with a warning instead of an error in the next release (seems easy).

jsoto, this wan't a race! I know. Just pointing out your continuous effort.

jsoto

[jeanl]

I know. Just pointing out your continuous effort.
jsoto
Yes, but I didn't take a vacation :(
Soon though!!!
jeanl

[jsoto]

a/v synch issues...
I've never seen one (but I do not have many protected DVDs)
But,
IMHO, there are two cases:
a) the tiny cells in different VOBid. The main movie starts with a new VOBid, non-seamless linked. In this case there are no issues.

b) the tiny cells in the same VOBID than the main movie. Deleting one more than the real weird ones will produce an a/v missynch. In example, I've one DVD where
1/23 is 12 frames. video is a black GOP starting in PTS="a". audio starts also in PTS="a" (a/v delay =0)
1/24 is where the video really starts (PTS="a"+12 frames), but audio starts in PTS lower than "a"+12 frames. (a/v delay "negative" in the "isolated" cell)

So, if you remove the 1/23 cell (because it is only 12 frames) an a/v synch problem will appear.

EDIT: Just to clarify: The PSL2 plugin does not select 1/23 to be removed.

jsoto

[jeanl]

jsoto, I agree with your analysis, but weaver4 says that even if he does not remove anything he has an audio/video mis synchronization...
jeanl

[jsoto]

Ah!
This can be the root cause....
the PGC is composed by many (blank?) cells at the begining w/o audio, but they are in the PGC
The ripping packs, probably decode the cells following the PGC order, so the video is including the frames of the blank cells, but the demuxed audio (which does not start until cell # 20 or 30) will not have "black" frames.
I think he should delete (or at least remove from the PGC) the fake cells.
jsoto

[bourtzovlakas]

I repeat...
From my experience with the latest Greek releases, the a/v desync occurs when you use only FixVTS after the rip...
If "remove crap" is performed and then the files are processed with FixVTS, no desync problem occurs...
I encode to Mpeg4, using AutoGK...

[r0lZ]

Bourtzovlakas, you're right. But I've seen one DVD where there is a desync of the subpic stream, even after remove crap and FixVTS. The DVD is Seinfeld Season 4, DVD 4 (VTS 3), where all cells of the first title are made of the same V/CID 1/1. I guess the problem with the subpics can occur also with the audio. But I agree it's a very special case. Most of the time, it should work w/o problems.

The same problem can theorically occur even if the CIDs are different in all cells, but when the VID is identical. See Jsoto's post, above.

Also, the program you use to encode to MPEG4 may be sensible or not to this "bug" in the VOB files.

[bourtzovlakas]

Τhe problem with the desync subpics is present in all ARccOS releases, when encoding to Mpeg4, unfortunately...
...but it is much easier to fix....

Obviously it is a problem with the specific programs, that were not designed to handle such irregularities...

[setarip_old]

@jsoto
VobBlanker does complain accessing dummy sectors, but if the dummy sectors are in unreferenced (or blanked) material, VobBlanker will never try to access them, so it doesn't fail.
Thanks for clarifying that ;>}

[jeanl]

For those interested, I posted the source code for version beta 1.17 on the FixVTS page (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/).
jeanl

[Cyberace]

For those interested, I posted the source code for version beta 1.17 on the FixVTS page (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/).thank you :)

[JoeBG]

@ jeanl

Is there any possibility to use your tool with commandlines so that it works automatically? Would be a great help :)

[r0lZ]

Yes! Have a look at the About screen (available in the Windows system menu of FixVTS.)
FixVTS is used via CLI by the PSL2 plugin for PgcEdit.

[JoeBG]

@ r0lZ

Puuuhhh: I can´t find the commands, sorry. Maybe I´m a little stupid.
Can you tell me the commands? Or an example?
Maybe the following in cli:
Remove unref. and blank Cells In Place of VTS_01_1.VOB. Do it for the hole DVD.

Thank you :)

[jeanl]

Right click on the top bar of the app, and chose "about", you'll get all the command line options. In your case:
fixvts.exe -u -i -s -f vts_01_1.vob

jeanl

[JoeBG]

Right click on the top bar of the app, and chose "about", you'll get all the command line options. In your case:
fixvts.exe -u -i -s -f vts_01_1.vob

jeanl

Thank you very much. Works great :)

[CoNS]

jeanl, first of all, thank you for another great tool. :)

A couple of small requests related to the GUI: Could you add an overall status indicator when processing a whole disc? And "Load" and "Quit" buttons?

Also, when you look at the GUI for the first time, it's a bit unclear what the two main options do, even after reading the tooltips? ("Cleanup" vs. "Full DVD"). Could you elaborate?

Wrt the ongoing discussion about fixing a DVD with an IfoEdit mockstrip, a VobBlanker processing or FixVTS, one of the strongest arguments for not using IfoEdit have long been that the cell commands are lost for the PGCs in the processed VTS. However, when I do an "in-place" mockstrip with IfoEdit, I don't seem to loose the cell commands. They are the same when I check before and after in PgcEdit...?! Maybe Derrow fixed this issue in v0.971?

[blutach]

@CoNS

No, the issue still remains. The commands, IIRC, are still there but are lost in the PGC table - check it out in PgcEdit (http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html).

Regards

[jeanl]

jeanl, first of all, thank you for another great tool. :)

A couple of small requests related to the GUI: Could you add an overall status indicator when processing a whole disc? And "Load" and "Quit" buttons?

I should add that, it's easy enough, but I like drag/drop so much myself :)


Also, when you look at the GUI for the first time, it's a bit unclear what the two main options do, even after reading the tooltips? ("Cleanup" vs. "Full DVD"). Could you elaborate?

Yes, I should replace "Cleanup" with "Process this VTS". or something like that...

Wrt the ongoing discussion about fixing a DVD with an IfoEdit mockstrip, a VobBlanker processing or FixVTS, one of the strongest arguments for not using IfoEdit have long been that the cell commands are lost for the PGCs in the processed VTS. However, when I do an "in-place" mockstrip with IfoEdit, I don't seem to loose the cell commands. They are the same when I check before and after in PgcEdit...?! Maybe Derrow fixed this issue in v0.971?
blu's right. The command are still there, but they're lost in the PGC (if you had cells that had commands, they no longer have them). Same with the cell flags... Lost...
jeanl

[CoNS]

No, the issue still remains. The commands, IIRC, are still there but are lost in the PGC tableAh, ok, so the "assignment" is lost? For example if cell no. 2 originally was assigned to cell command no. 1, it's assigned to cell command no. 0 (= none) after an IfoEdit mockstrip?

Same with the cell flags... Lost...What does cell flags do? And what are the consequences of losing them?

Btw, does "Full DVD" process both menu and title domains in the DVD?

[jeanl]

Ah, ok, so the "assignment" is lost? For example if cell no. 2 originally was assigned to cell command no. 1, it's assigned to cell command no. 0 (= none) after an IfoEdit mockstrip?

yes

What does cell flags do? And what are the consequences of losing them?

They can be pretty bad. Some of the flags ensure seamless playback (i.e. no gap between cells) others are angle flags and they're absolutely crucial.

Btw, does "Full DVD" process both menu and title domains in the DVD?
Yes. Full DVD means all the vobs are processed, menus and titles...
jeanl

[foobaz]

@setarip_old

. . . and replaced two areas with dummy sectors. I then simply used VOBBlanker to "Process", and it did so . . .
Hey man, I tried to send you a private message but couldn't. No offense, but I do wish you would discontinue your recent habit of using blue fonts. That was, up until now, the kind of trademark of Blutach. Every time I see blue text I think it's Blutach posting. Really confusing. Maybe you could choose a different color if you want to distinguish your posts. . . .

[blutach]

@foobaz - don't sweat it man. I'm flattered there's another convert to the blue team. Just look for the kangaroo in the avatar mate :)

Merry xmas.

Regards

[foobaz]

@foobaz - don't sweat it man. I'm flattered there's another convert to the blue team. Just look for the kangaroo in the avatar mate :)

Merry xmas.

RegardsHey don't encourage him. Please. Let him choose his own color. There's plenty of 'em. As for avatars I turn them off. (I don't like them, no offense. :( )

[mp3boy]

FixVTS crashed,

just now I was trying to fix the whole dvd
and the FixVTS crashed now my VTS2 is 0 byte
both in main and backup folder and I don't
know what to do with it...

[blutach]

@mp3boy - what version of FixVTS (www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) do you have? Latest is 1.17

Remember to use the wizard to rip - it guides you through all the steps. See Kill ARccOS in my signature.

Regards

[mp3boy]

I have 1.17, and I didn't see any wizard except drag'n drop, anyhow I got a damaged dvd here, how to fix the thing?

[foobaz]

I got a damaged dvd here, how to fix the thing?See:
Repaired a scratched disc with Rain-X (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=101467&highlight=rain-x)
Also:
IsoBuster (http://www.smart-projects.net/cdrecovery.htm)
It's free and it works.

[jeanl]

FixVTS crashed,

just now I was trying to fix the whole dvd
and the FixVTS crashed now my VTS2 is 0 byte
both in main and backup folder and I don't
know what to do with it...
mp3boy, it's strange that you have a 0byte files in both your main and backup folders. If this is the case, you're going to need to rip again :(.
Do you have the log from fixvts? This might help us figure out why it crashed!
jeanl

[Drinken]

I converted some NTSC VCDs to DVD with Nero Vision Express, and ran it through FixVTS just for fun. I was surprised to see that FixVTS displayed PAL in the status window.
I opened the project in PGCEdit, and sure enough, it was now showing the frame rate as 25 fps, and complained that the time was incorrect (sorry I don't remember the exact error, but I'm sure you know what I'm referring to). It offered to correct it and did.
If you need more details let me know.

Dr.

[jeanl]

Drinken, normally FixVTS find the video type from the video frames. It might be that I have a bug in there. Can you send me the very beginning of the vob (say about 1MB) so I can look at it (send it to jeanldvd at free dot fr)? I'll take a look at it (it's important because it's the same code that finds the frame rate in fixvts, dvdsubedit and menushrink!)...
Thanks for the bug report!
jeanl

[Drinken]

Sorry to say I don't have the files available anymore, only the corrected ones. This isn't the last transfer I'm going to do, so I'll make sure to test it on the next set and if the same happens I'll send vob + ifo before/after FixVTS. Sorry, I was really low on space and had to delete as much as possible since the next project required 10 times as much space. :(
I guess it could very well be a bug in Nero too... I'll double check next time by opening in PGCEdit before and after FixVTS.

Dr.

[jeanl]

Wait, I might be able to make do with the "corrected" ones.... I think my code has a bug, as it only checks the height and only if it's 480 is it flagged at NTSC, so this does not cover half-resolution which might be what you had in your original... Silly mistake, dates back to the early menushrink days. I'll have to fix that...
jeanl

[Drinken]

The menu is 480 while the rest is 240. I'm pretty sure all of them was affected, but there's a chance that the menu wasn't. The more I think about it... I'm getting old and confused. I'd better go get some sleep, closing in on 6am. :(

[jeanl]

Drinken, it was a bug in my code. A resolution of 240 (instead of 480) was flagged as PAL, instead of NTSC... This will be fixed in the next release!
Thanks for the bug report!
jeanl

[mp3boy]

mp3boy, it's strange that you have a 0byte files in both your main and backup folders. If this is the case, you're going to need to rip again :(.
Do you have the log from fixvts? This might help us figure out why it crashed!
jeanl

there was no log created by fixVTS or at least none that I'm aware of... which folder I should search for it?

[blutach]

I believe your temp folder. Type %temp% in any address bar.

Regards

[mp3boy]

well, I coudln't find it there but I tried the fixVTS again and it didn't crash but still ended up with 0 bytes VTS_02_0.VOB and the last VTS is missing which was about 90mb


PROCESSING FULL DVD
FixVTS -- Beta 1.17
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_0.VOB -- from backup
Remove unrefed is ON
Found VCID 1/1 at LBA 0 (0 out)
Found Video Format: NTSC

Format Video: NTSC

Found VCID 2/1 at LBA 4 (4 out)
Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 0 packs removed, 0 navpack remapped
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_0.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT
Now updating navpack info
Now updating PGC playback times
Now updating VTS sectors
Now writing IFO file
Now updating video_ts.ifo vts sectors
Now writing video_ts.ifo

FixVTS -- Beta 1.17
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_1.VOB -- from backup
Remove unrefed is ON
Found VCID 1/1 at LBA 0 (0 out)
Found Video Format: NTSC

Format Video: NTSC

Found VCID 2/1 at LBA 209 (209 out)
Found VCID 3/1 at LBA 28044 (28044 out)
VCID 3/1 is unreferenced...
Found VCID 3/2 at LBA 46159 (28044 out)
Remapping 3/2 to 3/1
Found VCID 3/3 at LBA 57390 (39275 out)
Remapping 3/3 to 3/2
Found VCID 3/4 at LBA 100145 (82030 out)
Remapping 3/4 to 3/3
Found VCID 3/5 at LBA 132597 (114482 out)
Remapping 3/5 to 3/4
Found VCID 3/6 at LBA 186701 (168586 out)
Remapping 3/6 to 3/5
Found VCID 3/7 at LBA 203263 (185148 out)
Remapping 3/7 to 3/6
Found VCID 3/8 at LBA 240946 (222831 out)
Remapping 3/8 to 3/7
Found VCID 3/9 at LBA 296499 (278384 out)
Remapping 3/9 to 3/8
Found VCID 3/10 at LBA 303174 (285059 out)
Remapping 3/10 to 3/9
Found VCID 3/11 at LBA 331911 (313796 out)
Remapping 3/11 to 3/10
Found VCID 3/12 at LBA 358233 (340118 out)
Remapping 3/12 to 3/11
Found VCID 3/13 at LBA 452850 (434735 out)
Remapping 3/13 to 3/12
Found VCID 3/14 at LBA 478922 (460807 out)
Remapping 3/14 to 3/13
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_2.VOB
Found VCID 3/15 at LBA 62822 (62822 out)
Remapping 3/15 to 3/14
Found VCID 3/16 at LBA 93192 (93192 out)
Remapping 3/16 to 3/15
Found VCID 3/17 at LBA 147001 (147001 out)
Remapping 3/17 to 3/16
Found VCID 3/18 at LBA 232173 (232173 out)
Remapping 3/18 to 3/17
Found VCID 3/19 at LBA 420489 (420489 out)
Remapping 3/19 to 3/18
Found VCID 3/20 at LBA 505725 (505725 out)
Remapping 3/20 to 3/19
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_3.VOB
Found VCID 3/21 at LBA 4152 (4152 out)
Remapping 3/21 to 3/20
Found VCID 3/22 at LBA 68685 (68685 out)
Remapping 3/22 to 3/21
Found VCID 3/23 at LBA 227623 (227623 out)
Remapping 3/23 to 3/22
Found VCID 3/24 at LBA 342785 (342785 out)
Remapping 3/24 to 3/23
Found VCID 3/25 at LBA 427139 (427139 out)
Remapping 3/25 to 3/24
Found VCID 3/26 at LBA 489155 (489155 out)
Remapping 3/26 to 3/25
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_4.VOB
Found VCID 3/27 at LBA 12526 (12526 out)
Remapping 3/27 to 3/26
Found VCID 3/28 at LBA 71894 (71894 out)
Remapping 3/28 to 3/27
Found VCID 3/29 at LBA 138895 (138895 out)
Remapping 3/29 to 3/28
Found VCID 3/30 at LBA 180803 (180803 out)
Remapping 3/30 to 3/29
Found VCID 3/31 at LBA 228316 (228316 out)
Remapping 3/31 to 3/30
Found VCID 3/32 at LBA 427347 (427347 out)
Remapping 3/32 to 3/31
Found VCID 3/33 at LBA 498244 (498244 out)
Remapping 3/33 to 3/32
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_5.VOB
Found VCID 4/1 at LBA 3713 (3713 out)
Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 18115 packs removed, 11881 navpack remapped
VTS_01_4 is empty... removing.
VTS_01_5 is empty... removing.
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_01_0.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT
Now updating navpack info
Now updating navpack info
Now updating PGC playback times
Now updating VTS sectors
Now writing IFO file
Now updating video_ts.ifo vts sectors
Now writing video_ts.ifo

FixVTS -- Beta 1.17
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_02_0.VOB -- from backup
Remove unrefed is ON
Found VCID 1/1 at LBA 0 (0 out)
Found Video Format: NTSC

Format Video: NTSC

Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 0 packs removed, 0 navpack remapped
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_02_0.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT
Now updating navpack info
Now updating PGC playback times
Now updating VTS sectors
Now writing IFO file
Now updating video_ts.ifo vts sectors
Now writing video_ts.ifo

FixVTS -- Beta 1.17
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_02_1.VOB -- from backup
Remove unrefed is ON
Found VCID 1/1 at LBA 0 (0 out)
Found Video Format: NTSC

Format Video: NTSC

Found VCID 2/1 at LBA 209 (209 out)
Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 0 packs removed, 0 navpack remapped
VTS_02_1 is empty... removing.
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VTS_02_0.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT
Now updating navpack info
Now updating navpack info
Now updating PGC playback times
Now updating VTS sectors
Now writing IFO file
Now updating video_ts.ifo vts sectors
Now writing video_ts.ifo

FixVTS -- Beta 1.17
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VIDEO_TS.VOB -- from backup
Remove unrefed is ON
Found VCID 1/1 at LBA 0 (0 out)
Found Video Format: NTSC

Format Video: NTSC

Found VCID 2/1 at LBA 63 (63 out)
Found VCID 3/1 at LBA 127 (127 out)
Found VCID 4/1 at LBA 1573 (1573 out)
Found VCID 5/1 at LBA 1782 (1782 out)
Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 0 packs removed, 0 navpack remapped
Processing D:\DVDs\Bound - Region1\New\VIDEO_TS.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT
Now updating navpack info
Now updating PGC playback times
Now updating VTS sectors
Now writing IFO file
Now updating video_ts.ifo vts sectors
Now writing video_ts.ifo

[dirio49]

well, I coudln't find it there but I tried the fixVTS again and it didn't crash but still ended up with 0 bytes VTS_02_0.VOB and the last VTS is missing which was about 90mb


VTS_02_1 is empty... removing.
VTS_01_4 is empty... removing.
VTS_01_5 is empty... removing.

Maybe that's why the last VTS is missing

[mp3boy]

but its stupid, its not empty. I can see a file there

[jeanl]

mp3boy, this looks like a bug! You're right, it should not remove vts_02_1.vob... Somehow, FixVTS thinks that the output file has 0 size (this could be true if there was only blank packs in it, but the log does not show that packs are removed). I can only guess I have a bug. Can you send me the original vob file (it looks small) vts_02_1.vob at jeanldvd at free dot fr? I'll take a look...
Sorry about that! :(

jeanl
P.S. To see the log, right-click on the title bar of FixVTS and chose "Open Log"...

[CoNS]

I have an old Pentium III 450 mhz PC. When I run FixVTS the old IfoEdit speedup trick (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=268704#post268704) (moving the status indicator below the desktop area) seems to work in this app, too... Or is it just me who's dreaming?!

[mpucoder]

This will work with any application that has a progress/status bar or updates information displayed in the window. Hiding whatever is being updated eliminates the graphics overhead of redrawing it. How much speedup depends on how intelligent the code is (whether it redraws only if the graphic needs changing, or every time values are computed) and how often the values are computed.

[jeanl]

FixVTS tells you how many MB/s it's processing, so you can actually quantize the difference, if you want to (except that you won't be able to see that if you hide the status, damn!). In any case, if it's significant, I can do something about it. But my understanding is that any active code is dwarfed by the I/O delay (disk access)...
jeanl

[jsoto]

But my understanding is that any active code is dwarfed by the I/O delay (disk access)...
jeanl
Mmm, screen drawing is also time consuming..
In VobBlanker, I'm updating the progress bars each 1000 packs or 10 complete VOBUs (and only if the percentage changes)
jsoto

[CoNS]

Jean, maybe you could put the completion percentage (as numbers) in the title line of the status window, like in IfoEdit's status window when doing a mockstrip?

[jeanl]

How would this help though? I suspect it's just as time-consuming to refresh the window title as it is to display a string on the dialog. I'm surprised that you find any speed improvement... Are you able to actually quantify it? On your machine, is the CPU meter all the way up to 100% when you use FixVTS (it's far from it on my machine)...
jeanl

[dirio49]

http://www.videohelp.com/~DVDSubEdit/

on this site when you go to other tools.
and you click on
fixvts, link points to dvdsubedit.

[jeanl]

You're right! I'll fix it soon...
jeanl

[goonix]

I've tested the IFOEdit speedup trick on FixVTS 1.17.
There is no difference for me.
FixVTS needs ~5:00 min for a full DVD in both cases.
CPU meter was between 20% and 30% on my P4 2.8GHz machine.

goonix

[jeanl]

There's no difference for me either... However, if you process twice the same VTS (depending on your memory) the speedup can be dramatic the second time, because of caching...
jeanl

[blutach]

Jean

FixVTS may have a little problem. Man Of The House R1 - VobBlanker (http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/vobblanker.htm) apparently works while FixVTS does not.

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=59815

Regards

[jeanl]

It's hard to tell exactly what's going on with this post.. I might ask someone to try it and tell me what's going on...
jeanl

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 1.20
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) the latest beta for FixVTS.


Empty vob files are now removed in the menu domain.
The DVD was flagged as PAL when the vertical resolution was 240. This has been fixed.
In command-line mode, FixVTS behaves nicer if you try to open a non-existing file.
There's a -a command line option to reset all angle/ILVUs pointers.
The -v command line option can be used to not renumber VOBIDs.
Minor cosmetic changes.


This should fix complaints from Nero about empty vob files....
Enjoy!
jeanl

[zacoz]

Thanks for all your efforts jeanl :)

This should fix complaints from Nero about empty vob files....
Uggh....Best way is to fix complaints from Nero is to not use it. :sly:

[jeanl]

I couldn't agree more!
J.

[jsoto]

Thanks for the update....
There's a -a command line option to reset all angle/ILVUs pointers.
jeanl
What does it exactly mean? Are you adjusting the angle/ILVU pointers inside the VOB?

jsoto

[blueboyec]

Thanks for the update....

What does it exactly mean? Are you adjusting the angle/ILVU pointers inside the VOB?

jsoto

Also when and how would you use this feature? After keeping one angle?


BB

[jeanl]

This is an experimental feature, which you can use if you're only keeping 1 angle. Note that FixVTS will not modify the IFOs accordingly (i.e., you'll have to reset the angle flags, make sure all the cells for the other angles are no longer referenced etc). As I said, that's experimental.
@jsoto, no, I don't update the angle pointers in the vob! I reset them, that's somewhat easier :D! But that's all you need to do to keep 1 angle (and the ifo cleanup).
jeanl

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version Beta 1.22
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) the latest beta for FixVTS.


Fixed a problem that occurred when the last cell(s) in a vob was/were removed and prevented Shrink from opening the DVD.


Sorry about the multiple releases....
jeanl

[blutach]

Thanks Jean - little error (not bug) - it still says 1.17 when you hover the mouse over it.

Regards

[jeanl]

I'll never learn! :D
jeanl

[dirio49]

while you are at it,
in the config file there is no line for reset all angle/ILVUs pointers.
as it was before.

[jeanl]

That's right and it's by design. You really don't want the app to remember that!!! Imagine that, you process another DVD and suddenly FixVTS removes the angle pointers from under you!? BAAAAD.
At the moment, this option is only available through the command line. If there's enough demand for it, I can work a bit more on it (make it so FixVTS does what's necessary in the IFOs), and offer it on the UI...
jeanl

[dirio49]

make it so FixVTS does what's necessary in the IFOs :)

That be nice..

Thanks for the fast reply.

[CoNS]

Jean, since the purpose of FixVTS is to fix discs that won't load in DVDShrink, I thought I'd report this incidence:

I'm helping a friend repairing some of his old backups, which won't play properly on his new standalone. The problem is that he has done a lot of butchering when he initially backed up the discs. For example, in a particular backup the main movie is located in VTS_01. In order to save space to avoid shrinking, he has simply deleted VTS_02_0.VOB, VTS_02_1.VOB and VTS_03_0.VOB, VTS_03_1.VOB and so on, in Windows Explorer...!!

This results (of course) in a fatal error in DVDShrink ("Missing vobs"). Nothing is changed when I run it through FixVTS... I can fix it in PgcEdit, by blanking out the menu and title domains of the missing VTS, one by one, which will put in empty 10 KBs VOB files and update the IFOs - but maybe you could also take such deleted/missing VOBs into account in FixVTS? At least by issuing a warning to the user...?

[jeanl]

mmm, well, it's true that fixvts will not fix the IFOs if it does not find a vob to process... I guess I could add that to the "Full DVD" option... I'll think about it...
Jeanl

[jeanl]

I added the feature that CoNS suggested. In "FullDVD" mode, if FixVTS encounters an empty vob, but an existing IFO, it will update the IFO to clear up the C_ADT and VOBU_ADMAT tables. Note that this just makes it possible to run in through shrink, but it does not mean the DVD is valid! Especially if some PGCs reference the missing vob!
Anyway... Find the exe here:

Beta 1.23
http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/Downloads/

jeanl

[blutach]

Jean - is this an official release? Shall I update the installer? (Plus you haven't learned again BWAHAHAHAHA)

Regards

[jeanl]

no no no no, this one is JUST FOR CoNS!!! :D
And you're right, I haven't learned yet! Man this is too much for me! Can't remember this stupid microsoft idiotic version shit...
Anyway...
Jeanl

[blutach]

Ach - we have jumped the gun then!!!

Can it be a release??? Jolie s'il vous plait.

Regards

[jeanl]

oh no problem, it works fine! Don't worry about it. I simply didn't do a new official release because for most people the new feature isn't going to mean much (and besides, "I'm lazy", to quote our friend jsoto!).
:D
jeanl

[CoNS]

if FixVTS encounters an empty vob, but an existing IFO, it will update the IFO to clear up the C_ADT and VOBU_ADMAT tables. Note that this just makes it possible to run in through shrink, but it does not mean the DVD is valid! Especially if some PGCs reference the missing vob!Thx. Ok, I see... If FixVTS should really fix the DVD and make it valid in case of a missing VOB, it should insert an empty 10KB VOB file, right?

[r0lZ]

IMO, as you made it, this feature is dangerous. For example if a VOB file is missing because the user has not copied it, it's easy to fix the problem by copying the missing file. IMO, you should display a warning, and ask the user if the tables should be removed or kept. (But maybe it's the way it works right now? I haven't tested it.)

[jeanl]

No, there's no warning... Maybe you're right, maybe it's not a useful/desirable feature...
jeanl

[jsoto]

Yep, I've also though on it in VobBlanker, but I prefered to keep it as it is (because I'm lazy, for sure...:) ). VobBlanker complains about the missing VOB, but you always can select all the PGCs and blank it, so VobBlanker will produce a VOB, plenty of blank cells, but matching with the IFOs.
jsoto

[nikos_gr]

thanks

[Hagrinas]

I tried out 1.24 to do some cleaning up after PGCEdit. FixVTS said it was done. But there were a couple of strange things. When I told it to Delete Backup, I noticed that the backup folder was still there with lots of big files in it. I then tried to burn the disk with Nero and got: "DVD-Video files reallocation failed. The resulting DVD-Video might be unplayable. Do you want to continue?"

The files did not have that problem with Nero prior to using FixVTS. I suspect that there may be issues related to full hard drives. The program never told me that I was out of space, but I ended up suspiciously close to full when it said it was done. I was down to a few MB. Or this may just be coincidence. Has the issue of sufficient disk space been looked at yet?

[jeanl]

Hagrinas, usually the Nero warning is issued any time you have a 0-byte file in your DVD, even though this isn't a problem and is completely legit, Nero still complains about it. You can safely ignore the warning and burn your output with no problem. The backup not being cleaned up is a known issue, but has no consequence on the output. The lack of space on your hard disk does not seem to be an issue here, or FixVTS or other programs would have complained/crashed...
jeanl

[setarip_old]

usually the Nero warning is issued any time you have a 0-byte file in your DVDIt also issues this warning if it finds that a .VOB is not properly associated with an .IFO. This seems to occur most often when "Easter Eggs" are on a DVD. In any event, as already stated by "jeanl",You can safely ignore the warning and burn your output with no problem.[/Quote]

[r0lZ]

You can burn, but, of course, be sure to not include the backup folder and files. It is better to remove them manually before burning with Nero. (Or use PgcEdit to burn! ;))

[setarip_old]

You can burn, but, of course, be sure to not include the backup folder and files.NERO won't allow inclusion of any backup folder in its RED "VIDEO_TS" folder...

[r0lZ]

Yes, but it has many problems (at least in v6) whan it finds several versions of the IFO files in the hierarchy! It's a known bug of Nero.

[dirio49]

Jean
in the latest version of fixvts (1.24)
does it automatically create a backup of the ifo?( if you check in place)
because the ones before did.

thanks

[jeanl]

Well, it creates a backup directory only if you didn't select "in-place".
jeanl

[dirio49]

if it creates backups of the ifos only.
not the vobs.

[heisthl]

Great piece of software - has really come in handy One question: Any idea why FixVTS does not fix the output of AVS Smart Converter to work with Shrink DVD?

[setarip_old]

@heisthl

Hi!

According to the website of "AVS Smart Converter"
( http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoConverter/OnlineHelp/Wizard/overview.aspx ) , "AVS Smart Converter is a wizard-styled application and a powerful tool, which allows the user to convert DVDs or video files and save them in MPEG-4 format". Please correct me if I'm wrong but, it doesn't appear to be capable of creating compliant DVD format(s).

MPEG-4 is a format that neither DVD Shrink nor FixVTS process - They both ONLY deal with compliant DVD format...

[jeanl]

I'm curious, what happens when you try to open the files with FixVTS?
jeanl

[andyfav]

Hi, I've a little problem with a menu.
Menu is large 610MB but 11 cells (33MB x 11 =360MB) are not never access by navigation. These cells are crap.
The only method in order to remove these cells is one-by-one with VobBlanker or PGCEdit.
FixVts can't delete these cells.

Bye

[dirio49]

fixvts only removes cells that are unreferened in the ifo.
if they are reference than fixvts does not touch them.
if you cells in the menu. you can use menushrink.

[r0lZ]

If the cells are never played because they are in another LU than the default one, you can remove the LUs with PgcEdit, and then use FixVTS to strip the VOB cells.

[maxwell_s]

hadda post. i d/l'ed fixvts beta 1.24 yesterday. always impressed with something so small that can do so much. i've had "dawn of the dead" on my hd for a loooong time and had resigned myself to the fact that there it would sit until i got some dvd-r dl's. i tried my entire arsenal of software to compress it and long since gave up. i dragged the uncooperative vob into the fixvts window and five or ten minutes later, i was compressing with dvd shrink. later that night, i popped some corn and watched my favorite of the holy trilogy. thx so much, for a great prog.

[jeanl]

Thanks for the nice feedback maxwell_s! Appreciate it!!
Jeanl

[setarip_old]

@jeanl

Did I read correctly somewhere, that FixVTS is now incorporated in AnyDVD?

[jeanl]

Yes you did. One of the authors (or the author) of AnyDVD incorporated FixVTS into AnyDVD-ripper. That tool is free, even if you only have the trial version of AnyDVD (I insisted that it should be free, since they grabbed the code without my consent). The main advantage is that FixVTS runs while you rip, thereby saving quite a bit of time. I"m not sure, however, how good a ripping job anydvd-ripper does... I'm wondering whether it messes some things up as it rips... But I must say I have not tried it yet (they did give me a key though)...
jeanl

[setarip_old]

they grabbed the code without my consentHow rude and ungentlemanly, to say the least!

Are they yet another company in a safe haven country (Mainland China or other), who feel they can simply appropriate your fine effort?

[jeanl]

Take it easy setarip! We fixed it gentlman-style. You have your own beef with them apparently (or so you said at one point), but I don't!
jeanl

[setarip_old]

Take it easy setarip!Not a problem.We fixed it gentlman-style.Glad to hear that ;>}

[HKT3020_1]

Yes you did. One of the authors (or the author) of AnyDVD incorporated FixVTS into AnyDVD-ripper. That tool is free, even if you only have the trial version of AnyDVD (I insisted that it should be free, since they grabbed the code without my consent). The main advantage is that FixVTS runs while you rip, thereby saving quite a bit of time. I"m not sure, however, how good a ripping job anydvd-ripper does... I'm wondering whether it messes some things up as it rips... But I must say I have not tried it yet (they did give me a key though)...
jeanl

This was in the log of AnyDVD 5.9.1.1, I assumed that the creator of FixVTS and AnyDVD both worked on it. Reason because that is kind of the word going around at the cdfreaks forum. :confused:

5.9.1.1, 2006 02 15
It is identical to FixVTS (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/) but instead
of fixing problems "in place" it copies the files to your harddisk directly
from the source DVD. It fixes the problems while the files are copied.
Some DVDs which have severe mastering defects e.g.,
"Menace II Society" R1 (US) can now be copied with all DVD copy tools
(elby CloneDVD, DVDShrink, etc.) Many thanks to the author of FixVTS!

I did use this on Disney's latest Lady & the Tramp DVD. It went through without a problem, at least the ripping part did. I then blanked the FS version of the movie with PgcEdit and used the Jump to Menu function. :)

[setarip_old]

@jeanlThe main advantage is that FixVTS runs while you rip, thereby saving quite a bit of timeWould YOU be able add this automatic running of FixVTS to either DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter?

If so, I believe this would provide the simplest yet way to rip "RipGuard"-protected DVDs - the present iteration of which IS readable by DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4...

[jeanl]

@jeanlWould YOU be able add this automatic running of FixVTS to either DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter?

If so, I believe this would provide the simplest yet way to rip "RipGuard"-protected DVDs - the present iteration of which IS readable by DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4...
Setarip, the source code for DVDD and DVDShrink is not available to anyone, and certainly not me. So no, I can't add the kind of stuff that FixVTS does (which really isn't much, to be frank)...
jeanl

[jeanl]

This was in the log of AnyDVD 5.9.1.1, I assumed that the creator of FixVTS and AnyDVD both worked on it. Reason because that is kind of the word going around at the cdfreaks forum. :confused:

5.9.1.1, 2006 02 15
It is identical to FixVTS (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/) but instead
of fixing problems "in place" it copies the files to your harddisk directly
from the source DVD. It fixes the problems while the files are copied.
Some DVDs which have severe mastering defects e.g.,
"Menace II Society" R1 (US) can now be copied with all DVD copy tools
(elby CloneDVD, DVDShrink, etc.) Many thanks to the author of FixVTS!

I did use this on Disney's latest Lady & the Tramp DVD. It went through without a problem, at least the ripping part did. I then blanked the FS version of the movie with PgcEdit and used the Jump to Menu function. :)
Yes we did work it out...
And I did exactly the same thing as you on Lady and the tramp! Kept the WS version, removed the FS, and used jump to menu and also changed the FS button to play the WS version :D ...
Thank r0lZ for PgcEdit!
jeanl

[heisthl]

Thanks for the responses:
According to the website of "AVS Smart Converter"
( http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoConvert.../overview.aspx ) , "AVS Smart Converter is a wizard-styled application and a powerful tool, which allows the user to convert DVDs or video files and save them in MPEG-4 format". Please correct me if I'm wrong but, it doesn't appear to be capable of creating compliant DVD format(s).

MPEG-4 is a format that neither DVD Shrink nor FixVTS process - They both ONLY deal with compliant DVD format...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm curious, what happens when you try to open the files with FixVTS?
jeanl
__________________
AVS Smart Converter will also write to DVD or in a hard drive directory(.ifo, .vob .bup) - but these files cause problems in DVDshrink(memory exception error) - It would be great if FixVTS could make them work as well as other files I've had to feed it to make Shrink happy.
The AVS software will shrink to 4.7 DVD but I would rather reauthor, resize and save to .ISO with DVD Shrink.

[heisthl]

To clarify further: the output files of AVS video converter 4 are processed by FixVTS without error but the resulting files still will fail during the DVD Shrink encoding.

[MysticE]

Just want to say thanks for a great program. Used it 4 times on some problem DVD's and it fixed them all. Too easy.:thanks:

[jeanl]

thanks for the feedback MysticE!
Jeanl

[lamster]

Just had FixVTS (Beta 1.24) crash on me. It processed all 27 VTS_nn VOBs, and was working on VIDEO_TS, when I got:
The instruction at 0x004051b4 referenced memory at 0x00920000. The memory could not be written.
The last thing in the FixVTS window was:
Processing IFOs
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT

The last few lines of the log were:
Done with VOB files. 0 navpack pointers adjusted, 0 packs removed, 0 navpack remapped, 0 navpacks ILVU flags reset
Processing C:\DVD_Videos\Madagascar\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
Now cleaning VTS_C_ADT

After this, the DVD wouldn't play using IfoEdit, and when I tried loading it into PGCEdit, it said there were problems.

I tried processing just VIDEO_TS.VOB, and got the same result. I then copied VIDEO_TS.IFO from my PGCEdit backup directory and verified that I could play the DVD again, processed just VIDEO_TS.VOB, which ran OK, then processed the entire DVD successfully (all the other VOBs had already been corrected by the first run; only change listed was 10158 navpack remapped in VTS_08).

In all cases, I had "Remove unref." unchecked, and "In place" checked.

[jeanl]

mmm it's hard to see what went wrong... But it looks like something definitely went wrong... :(
jeanl

[blutach]

FWIW - I did Madagascar (R4) with FixVTS (www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) post processing the wizard with no problems.

Maybe try again lamster.

Regards

[jeanl]

FixVTS Version 1.25
Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS) the latest release of FixVTS.
It's not a major update, simply a couple bug fixes/improvements.


Fixed the problem with the INI file path not existing in wine.
Fixed a problem that could occur when a PGC cell's entry sector and last VOBU start address didn't point to a navpack.
FixVTS now only reports 30 blank pack replacements. This will make the log file a bit more manageable!
FixVTS now updates the number of titlesets in the DVD.

Note that there's a tiny user manual on the webpag in the features (http://www.videohelp.com/~FixVTS/Features.htm) area...

Jeanl

[dirio49]

Thanks, Jean:) :)
Great program.
:thanks: :thanks:

[Adub]

Great man! I use this program often to fix my "dummy" DVDs.
Thanks dude!

[BOB66]

Hi Jeanl,

at start with the new version 1.25 I get the error :

FIXVTS caused an error by an invalid side in module MSVCRT.DLL at 01cf:780130e0.
Register:
EAX=00000000 CS=01cf EIP=780130e0 EFLGS=00010246
EBX=00000000 SS=01d7 ESP=0063b424 EBP=0063b448
ECX=81de9d48 DS=01d7 ESI=00000000 FS=4a77
EDX=78034be2 ES=01d7 EDI=78015ac7 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8a 06 0a c0 74 0a 46 0f a3 04 24 73 f3 8d 46 ff
Pile values:
00000000 80000400 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00770c50 0063b460 7800f839 00000000 78034be0 00000000 00000000 0063b6f0


Version 1.24b works.
I use Windows ME
Any questions?

BOB66:)

[jeanl]

DARN! This is really annoying. The code is essentially the same, but my build machine has changed. I'm willing to be that if I compiled it on the old machine, you wouldn't see the crash (unfortunately, this isn't easy for me). I'll investigate...
Jeanl

[jeanl]

BoB66, to help me solve this problem, could you possibly send me an email at jeanldvd at free dot fr ? I will send you a 1.24 version that I just compiled on my new machine. If this does not run well on your machine, it will be a sure sign that something in my build environment is screwed up (I have seen many problems with DVDSubEdit as well, I'd like to get to the bottom of that!)...
Thanks in advance.
Jeanl

[canuckerfan]

how would I process an entire DVD with this tool?

EDIT: i got it. WOW, don't know how i missed that!!?!?!?

[jeanl]

YOu're not the only one. I think the button labels aren't as clear as they should be! Sorry...
Jeanl

[canuckerfan]

what would probably be the best order? fixvts, then vobblanker or vice versa?

[linx05]

canuckerfan, I think we're supposed to do it last. But then again, I'm not too sure. I use AnyDVD and now I am wondering if it does it automatically when you use their ripper or only when you have "remove unreferenced and blank cells" selected.

So that would mean I would have to do it again after all that crap (vobblanker etc)? I'm confused now. I've asked a similar question (http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=177667) in the AnyDVD forum but no response yet.

[jeanl]

For the purpose of "cleaning up" a DVD so it will open properly in Shrink, you can use either fixvts or vobblanker. You don't need to use both. If you're going to edit your video as well (cut segments out and so on) then only use vobblanker.
I don't know much about AnyDVD ripper, so I can't answer your question there... But you should be able to see for yourself whether a protected DVD opens or not in Shrink after ripping...
jeanl

[jeanl]

BoB66, to help me solve this problem, could you possibly send me an email at jeanldvd at free dot fr ? I will send you a 1.24 version that I just compiled on my new machine. If this does not run well on your machine, it will be a sure sign that something in my build environment is screwed up (I have seen many problems with DVDSubEdit as well, I'd like to get to the bottom of that!)...
Thanks in advance.
Jeanl
For those of you interested... Apparently 1.24 "new build" does not crash BOB66's machine, so the problem must be with something I introduced in the code between 1.24 and 1.25. I'm currently investigating.
jeanl

[dirio49]

For those of you interested... Apparently 1.24 "new build" does not crash BOB66's machine, so the problem must be with something I introduced in the code between 1.24 and 1.25. I'm currently investigating.
jeanl

Thanks for the heads up jean
I tested on xp pro sp2, everything is working fine.:)

[jeanl]

Thanks dirio49, that's also what I have and it works fine on my machine. BOB66 is currently doing some tests to get to the bottom of that silly problem!
jeanl

[blutach]

@canuckerfan and linx5

See Kill ARccOS in my signature.

Regards

[selyb]

Feature Request: Option to create backup in root folder if the current folder is VIDEO_TS
PGCEdit does this

[jeanl]

Not sure I undestand you.. YOu mean, put the backup in the same folder as VIDEO_TS instead of inside VIDEO_TS?
jeanl

[r0lZ]

Yes, it's probably what selyb wants. PgcEdit has an option to do that.

[jeanl]

OK I'll put that in the todo list...
jeanl

[Ander]

FixVTS is awesome. Thank you.

Has this already been suggested?: It would be great if FixVTS would let you save the converted files to a different drive. That could speed it up a lot.

Cheers

[jeanl]

Yes, it's been suggested. Unfortunately, that would require a bit of a rewrite... That will have to wait! My favorite mode is "in place", I find that that's the fastest way, if you don't remove unreferenced material...
Jeanl

[Ander]

My favorite mode is "in place", I find that that's the fastest way, if you don't remove unreferenced material.
With all respect, it's always faster to write to a separate drive, especially if it's on a different channel.

It can even be faster to write to a different folder on the same drive, because it's more likely to be on a different platter. Perhaps you'll try some speed tests sometime.

FixVTS is actually the only file-conversion utility I know of that doesn't offer a target-folder option. I wouldn't bother you about it, but I imagine that people often use FixVTS to copy several GB. That's a lot, even on a fast machine.

Thanks again for your great utility. Cheers, Ander

[jeanl]

With all respect, it's always faster to write to a separate drive, especially if it's on a different channel.

You're right in general, but, it's faster to just read, than read and then write! In many cases, FixVTS does not need to write anything because nothing needs to be modified. For example, when processing in-place and not removing unreference material, there's always the same number of packs before and after, and all that FixVTS has to do is write NavPacks back after modifying them (and only if they need to be modified!). Since navpacks are far in between, this is quite efficient.
If you have to write every pack, then it's a different story, and indeed, it would be somewhat faster to write to another disk, hopefully on another channel.
I'll think about adding that in a future release...
Jeanl

[PBear]

Dear jeanl,

The homepage for FixVTS says it can fix video recorded on VR mode discs so it can be opened in DVDShrink. How? FixVTS won't even recognize the files copied from my VR disc to my hard drive.

Naming convention for these files is not standard DVD (they come from my JVC standalone DVD recorder): there are no VOB files and no VIDEO_TS folder. Instead, the video is recorded to a single file named VR_MOVIE.VRO in a folder named DVD_RTAV.

I know the VRO file is not corrupt and is basically just a renamed VOB because, if I rename the extension back from VRO to VOB, I can open the file in DGIndex (DVD2AVI) and extract it as a D2V project.

But, even if I rename the file extension to VOB, FixVTS still refuses to open it (giving the usual error message about only being able to open VOB files).

How is it, then, that FixVTS supports "VR" DVDs?

:thanks:

[blutach]

FixVTS also needs IFO files to work with, IIRC.

If you have a vaid VOB, use IfoEdit (http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/) to create IFOs.

Regards

[PBear]

FixVTS also needs IFO files to work with, IIRC.
If you have a vaid VOB, use IfoEdit (http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/) to create IFOs.
Regards
Doesn't work. Disc already has IFOs (VR_MANGR.IFO/.BUP). If I rename them to VIDEO_TS.IFO/.BUP, as well as renaming VR_MOVIE.VRO file to VIDEO_TS.VOB (or VTS_01_1.VOB), I find I can now run the VOB thru FixVTS. Results from FixVTS produce "Invalid Navigation Structure" error when trying to open them in DVDShrink.

When I use IFOEdit to remake the IFOs, I get error from IFOEdit "No Navigation Pack Found in VOB Files." It will proceed to make another copy of the VOB file and make new IFO files, but these files produce the same error from DVDShrink - even if I run them thru FixVTS again.

Wish someone could examine the original files and figure out what's going on with them. All I'm really looking for is some simple program that can convert VR disc files to regular DVD files so they would be usable with all the various DVD tools that I use.

Thanks again.

BTW: What is "IIRC" (in your first sentence above)?

[blutach]

Yes, it sounds like you have an invalid structure. Every DVD Video needs a Video Manager (VIDEO_TS.IFO and BUP) and then some titlesets (VTS). The titlesets need to be properly referenced in the manager.

Possibly the easiest thing for you is what I said before. Create IFOs for your VTS VOBs. Then create a Video Manager - the old free version of DVD Fab (www.mrbass.org/dvdfab) is good at this in one click.

Regards

[bigotti5]

http://www.authoringware.com/vro_main.htm

BTW: What is "IIRC" (in your first sentence above)?

IIRC = If I Remember Correctly

[BigCondor]

IIRC - If I Recall/Remember Correctly

[blutach]

LOL - I forgot to answer :D

Regards

[r0lZ]

Obviously, the VR files produced by your recorder are NOT equivalent to the VOB files, as the very important Nav Packs are missing.

It is certainly possible to recreate a real DVD-Video by reencoding it and remultiplexing it. But you will loose some picture quality, and it's a slow and relatively difficult process.

I don't know if a tool to convert directly VR files to regular VOB exists, but you are probably not the first wanting that. Maybe PVAStrumento can do that? If it doesn't work, try to search google...

Also, look in the setups of your DVD-recorder. Maybe you missed an option to output directly regular VOB files?

[edit] I haven't noticed page 12 of this thread before posting my reply. DVD Integrator might be the tool you want, as Bigotti5 said.

[PBear]

Obviously, the VR files produced by your recorder are NOT equivalent to the VOB files, as the very important Nav Packs are missing.
I don't know from NavPacks - all I know is, if I change the extension from VRO to VOB, the video and audio are there and usable, just like in a VOB.

It is certainly possible to recreate a real DVD-Video by reencoding it and remultiplexing it. But you will loose some picture quality, and it's a slow and relatively difficult process.
There should be no need to re-encode, just demux/remux. I can do that already with DGIndex and any remuxer, but it's dicey trying to find the exact borders between the clips in DGIndex (since up to 4.37 GB can be stored in a single VRO file, holding any number of clips of widely varying specs - all different video resolutions and audio formats) and it sometimes requires multiple tries. (That's why I'm looking for an easier solution.)

I don't know if a tool to convert directly VR files to regular VOB exists, but you are probably not the first wanting that. Maybe PVAStrumento can do that? If it doesn't work, try to search google...
I have a copy of that somewhere; I'll dig it out and try it, thanks.

Also, look in the setups of your DVD-recorder. Maybe you missed an option to output directly regular VOB files?
No joy there.

[edit] I haven't noticed page 12 of this thread before posting my reply. DVD Integrator might be the tool you want, as Bigotti5 said.
Tried it - can't see its usefulness, as it does not create IFOs for the converted VOBS. When I try to create IFOs from the VOBS it makes, using IFOEdit, IFOEdit just crashes when it gets to the write phase.

Here's the rub, really: If TMPGEnc DVD Author weren't so damned insistent on DVD format compliance, there wouldn't be any issue and I wouldn't need any other program to convert my VR files to standard DVDs.

It's already a cinch to convert VR files using TMPGEnc DVD Author, which can read the VRO file and show a perfectly readable list of all the titles on the disc ready to be imported into a regular DVD ... if, and only if, every clip in the VRO is absolutely DVD compliant (meaning 720x480 or 352x480). DVD Author refuses to import any clips that are non-compliant, even though both the JVC DVD recorder and my regular DVD player (an LG model) have no trouble playing back any of the out-of-spec recordings the JVC makes -- which is very hard for me to anticipate, since the recorder just has settings for XP/SP/LP and manual duration by length in minutes, and I can never remember what the output resolution is going to be for any particular setting.

Since TMPGEnc DVD Author can author separate title sets, it would be a breeze to import clips with different specs into different titles and save them as separate VOB sets, after which I could mix and match clips using DVDShrink in Re-author Mode - if TMPGEnc would let me override those freaking non-compliant error messages. :mad:

OK, enough of this tangent. My original post was to inquire after FixVTS's claim that it can handle VR discs and convert them to standard DVDs that can be loaded into DVDShrink. I guess the answer is that FixVTS can handle some VR discs, but only those which use a standard VOB/IFO structure (which maybe they could clarify on their home page).

:thanks:

[jeanl]

Well, I must admit I don't have any direct experience using FixVTS to handle VR files. It put that line in the home page in connection with a discussion found here
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=292808
but I don't think the discussion was about VR file, so the home page is poorly written. I think what was meant was "created by DVD recorders", and then only "some" DVD recorder would be more accurate.
So, sorry that FixVTS can't help you with your problem.
Jeanl

[PBear]

So, sorry that FixVTS can't help you with your problem.
Jeanl
Thanks, jeanl. That's what I needed to know.
;)

[CoNS]

jeanl, in FixVTS 1.6 I can't open the log file. Nothing happens when I choose Open LOG from the menu after processing files. No matter if it's a Full DVD or just a Cleanup processing.

It doesn't seem to be a path problem. I can't open the log either when I place the program in the root of C:\

I'm (still) using Windows 2000 Danish...!

(BTW, there's a tiny cosmetic "bug" in the GUI: When detecting PAL/NTSC that weird | character is shown after "PAL" or "NTSC", just like in early versions of DVDSubEdit)

[r0lZ]

And the "Format video" message is in french. It's probably a debug message forgotten by jeanl.

[CoNS]

jeanl, I think the problem was caused by the fact that the log file extension (.log) was unknown on my system.

I turned out that the log file was indeed created correctly each time, but it just didn't open in Windows until I associated Notepad to files with the .log extension. It may be better to change the log file format to .txt instead?

[john clevenger]

Hello, I attempted to download this newer version but received messsage that the file was either corrupt or invalid.

Please advise.

Thank You,

John

[blutach]

Something wrong with your connection I think john. I just downloaded it OK. Try again, perhaps after clearing out your Temp cache.

Regards

[john clevenger]

Thank you for recommednadation, blutach. Cleaned up unnecessary files on my c drive and DVD FixVTS worked.
It just seems that I am not downloading and installing updates to RipIt4 Me and DVDFixVTS correctly. My homework!

Happy Holidays,
John

[setarip_old]

@john clevenger

Hi!It just seems that I am not downloading and installing updates to RipIt4 Me and DVDFixVTS correctly.Have you tried using the installer available for download from the "RipIt4Me" website at?:

www.ripit4me.org

[Surgeon]

Hey Jeanl,

Great util! Use it all the time in "Full DVD/In-Place" mode after "clearing the trash" from dvds with PGCEdit.

Got a question and a request:

Q:
What's up with FixVTS when it finishes a "Full DVD/In-Place" operation but displays the "Full DVD" option button again? It only happens ocassionally, as normally the "Full DVD" button is hidden once it completes... I've observed this with several different versions and was wondering if it meant that another pass on the files was needed or if it is just an ocassional glitch?

R:
How about adding a nice "-x" option to the CLI so FixVTS will automatically terminate & exit when it finishes processing? I'd like to be able to add it to a script so it automatically runs between my TitleWriter and Copy2DVD apps, but as it never automatically exits it's hard to tell when it's finished...

Thanks!
-Surgeon-

*UPDATE* Ignore the "-x" request -- I just tested it and now realize that if I specify the "-s" for AutoStart mode it *ALREADY DOES* the exit/terminate when it finishes! My brain-fart for not trying it first! -Surgeon-

[jeanl]

No, there's never any need for a second pass on any given file. THe second pass wouldn't change anything. I'm not sure what's up with the grayed/not grayed button...
Jeanl

[Mtz]

Did anybody encountered this: after running FixVTS, the buttons from menu are showed about 0.01 seconds in PowerDVD? The original backup made with RipIt4Me working fine.

enjoy,
Mtz

[r0lZ]

I have had a similar problem with one menu of one DVD only! Furthermore, it played fine on my computer, but the menu was looping too early in one of my standalones.
Anyway, I doubt that this problem is caused by FixVTS. Have you used another tool before (MenuShrink for example)?

[blutach]

MenuShrink (http://jean.laroche.free.fr/MenuShrink/) causes this problem in cells with multiple sets of buttons. Not sure about the exact source of the problem, since the highlights look right in DVDSubEdit.

DVD Remake Pro (http://www.dimadsoft.com/dvdremakepro/index.php) does things correctly.

Regards

[Mtz]

As I said, I used RipIt4Me (latest version), including the fixvts internal options, but when I loaded the DVD in VobBlanker I was scared about many many warnings. Before FixVTS step I used DVDRemakePro. The DVD exported from DVDRemakePro cannot be opened by DVDShrink, so I processed the files again with FixVTS and DVDShrink accepted. But the cells table was modified a lot, the duration of time was doubled. Maybe some people ask: why DVDShrink? Because I made 2 very long encodes with the output from DVDRemakePro using DVD-RB and the result was.... an error. I think if DVDShrink accepted the file, also DVD-RB can encode it to the end. But I was tired after 2 days fighting with the DVD.
I don't want to talk more about this DVD because made me nervous and I distroyed it and deleted all files.
I didn't ask for help, just wanted to know if another people had the same problem. Thanks r0lZ for the answer.

enjoy,
Mtz

[blutach]

Use FixVTS as part of the ripping process before you load into DVDRMP.

Regards

[Mtz]

I know my english is not good but I said the same thing like you: "I used RipIt4Me (latest version), including the fixvts internal options, but when I loaded the DVD in VobBlanker I was scared about many many warnings."

enjoy,
Mtz

[blutach]

VobBlanker (http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/vobblanker.htm)'s warnings can be just information - things like pointer mismatches and not one-sequential PGCs. You'll need to be more specific.

And as you have found out, the DVDRMP output will not load in DVD Shrink unless FixVTS has run first. The process should be:

RipIt4Me -> FixVTS -> (editing program) -> (shrinking program)

Regards

[john clevenger]

Sure feel stupid about this but cannot upgrade to current version.(1.603)

I save extract zip files and download but when I run Ripit4Me.....receive message that I am running an older version of FixVTS??


Can you get me back on tack.

Thank You,

John

[jeanl]

2 solutions:
- Download the RipIt4Me installer. This will put FixVTS where it should be and make sure that RipIt4Me points to it.
- Fix the path yourself in the preferences in RipIt4Me: Open the preferences, and in "Path to FixVTS" make sure that you're pointing to the latest version that you downloaded. I'm willing to be that it's pointing to an older version that you have somewhere else...
jeanl

[john clevenger]

appreciate you getting back to me. I did download from RipIt4Me site and received message that I was running an older version of FixVTS 0.0.0.0 and should upgrade?? Received message after I downloaded, extracted and then, ran application.

Thank You,
John

[john clevenger]

Well I'm going to simply say thank you as I do not feel very bright.(right now)
RipIt4Me was pointing to an older version so now I am back on track.
Sincerely,

John