Revamping a DVD... I have much problem

[ssalim]

Hi,

This may/should be in 'DVD Rebuilding' category, but I'm not sure.
I have a DVD (2 actually) made from a camcorder.

I need to cut out multiple areas (don't want them).
I then also need to replace multiple areas with my own song (I have wav files ready).

What tools do I need?

I have: DVD Lab Pro, Sony Sound Forge 8, Cuttermaran, BeSweet (and the GUI) and I just downloaded quEnc 0.71. I also have AviSynth but I don't know how to use it (yet).

First method I tried: I used Cuttermaran to cut the heck out of the original video. The video is made by: DVD (disc) --> dvd decrypter --> VOB files --> DVD Lab Pro --> demux to elementary streams --> mpv and ac3 files
After cutting the mpv files using Cuttermaran, they become one mpv file (much smaller because I cut a lot I guess). Sometimes it went from "NTSC[DF]" to 0-GOP or 3:2 Pulldown (or something like that). DVD Lab Pro said those. Those with 0-GOP is said to have open GOP and needs to close when encoding. I have no idea how to do that using Cuttermaran (maybe using encode with quEnc 0.71?)

But I ignore them. I somehow managed to combine them to become NTSC[DF] so DVD Lab Pro doesn't complain anymore. I forgot what I did, heh heh.

So next - I use Sony Sound Forge to 'arrange' one wav file (48kHz, 16 bits, stereo, PCM). I copy-paste the heck of the original (source) wav files such that the final wav file is what I needed. I got the source wav files from recording using Sony Sound Forge 8 and a website. Sometimes the wav files are marked as Dolby and so DVD Lab Pro complains that they are not the same (they need to be all PCM)... so I use BeSweet to 'convert' them from ac3 --> mp2, then I use DVD Lab Pro audio transcode to 'convert' the mp2 to become wav. The result is wav with PCM... I don't know if I did that right, lol.

Then after I got the final mpv and wav files, I put them into a VTS (in DVD lab Pro) and start compile (build). After it's done, I see VOB files just like a regular DVD. So I open it using VLC player, but it freezes (only the movie, the program is fine) after 3 seconds (or so). I close VLC and open the VOB using Windows Media Player. It plays fine but it 'jitters' ... or whatever you call it -every 2 seconds it 'brakes' and continues. The audio sounds fine, though.

So I tried removing the audio track and recompile... the result is no more jitters. So now I'm wondering what I did wrong with the audio track, or the video track... or even both!

I'm confused. I need lessons, tips, guides and tutorials on how to do this properly :).

Any help would really be appreciated.

Thank you!

[Mug Funky]

besweet should be able to go ac3 to wav without the mp2 step in the middle (mp2 is fugly unless the bitrate is above 224, preferably higher, and transcoding audio is something that shouldn't be done).

the stutters are most likely because LPCM has a huge bitrate and when combined with video that was encoded to "fit" with much lower bitrate ac3, the total bitrate is too high and hence you're getting buffer underflows. DVDlab really should have either warned you of this or just flat refused to compile (like Spruce, Scenarist, or muxman do).

so... you have the wavs you want to replace the audio with - just encode them to ac3 using something like aften (it's free, and craploads faster than any commercial ac3 encoders. quality is indistinguishable and in fact probably better).

Sometimes the wav files are marked as Dolby

i can't make sense of this. i've never seen an ACM wav file with ac3 data in it, though it's theoretically possible, no sane program would output such a file. it's either .wav or .ac3 AFAIK. the difference being that wav (PCM) is lossless and high bitrate and ac3 is lossy at a low bitrate (think mp3 with a slightly different structure, 5.1 ability and broadcast specific metadata).

if you have wav files that are synced with the edited m2v, then just encode it to ac3 and drop it into DVDlab. it should compile fine without the stutters (if i've understood the situation correctly).

[ssalim]

Finally a reply, thank you :)!
I will try this... "Aften" program.

Will get back to you...

[ssalim]

Well!

I tried one part of the movie and it did work after converting the wav to ac3 (from 19?? average bitrate to 384 kbps).

Now I'm muxing the rest of the movie and will test.
Hopefully this will solve my problem.

One thing though, it sounds like it's softer (volume)... how do I make it louder using Aften?

Thanks!!